The Little World

I have discovered many interesting things about colour since I returned to scale modelling – both upon the original subjects and on our models:

a. The best colour reference is the actual article – untouched by time and not modified by any curators or experts. The fact that nothing is ever this perfect is beside the point. We can all search for the holy grail of FS 34905. Beware of stealing airplane wings from museums to serve as colour guides. Sidle through the doors as discreetly as you may, they will still be suspicious if you have a aileron sticking out of a coat sleeve.

b. Everyone knows that the correct colour for the inner port engine nuts on a Nakajima Dolores flying boat are light mauve green-khaki with an orange tinge. Everyone. Except you. You are wrong. Stop waving that flaming Japanese engine nut at me.

c. If there is a colour needed for a specific airplane or tank, a manufacturer will make it. Of course that paint maker will not make all the paints needed for that model. No, you’ll have to go to three other companies to get those. And those paint factories will have different distributors and those distributors will call at separate hobby shops.

Basically, if you want 6 pots of paint you’ll need to visit 8 different shops in three different states.

d. Bad news – all those different pots of paint will need different thinners.

e. Jesus, stop crying. This is a fun hobby.

f.  The Internet is your friend, if you are accustomed to move in low circles. You can take colour references from Google pictures but remember that you are going to be seeing someone else’s photography with their settings in camera and during post-processing. They may have been photographing a museum piece that has been repainted by volunteers with donated paint. If the colour of the Heinkel looks suspiciously like Dulux Mission Brown, do not base all your hopes on that picture. Your own computer or tablet screen may be wildly off-colour as well.

All that said, I did nail the colours of the IDF in ’56 from a museum example in Israel. It’s weathered a lot, but we understand the effects of sunlight here at home. There is a wide scope for variation.