The Little World

Or is it gray?

I can never be sure, and I’m sure I don’t care…but I do care about getting the right shade when I start to paint an aircraft. The colour I want right now is the paint that they sprayed on the underside of USAAF planes. The famous Neutral Grey.

Creos GSI list it as H 53 in their aqueous range and 13 in the Mr. Color set. I would happily settle for their No. 13 if it were available in my local shop…but frequently the paint racks come up empty on just the colours I want. So it is a case of testing for a suitable substitute.

Nothing like plating out the paints onto a sheet of foamcore board and looking at them under similar light. I hasten to say the reference colour may not be the proper US colour, but I am looking for versimilitude in material I can get in 10 minutes – not something that has to be mixed in Philadelphia and sent by FedEx.

The ref was the two bottles of something that Tamiya call Neutral grey and the H 53 noted above. They are a lesson in the hobby – they don’t match…that would be too much to hope for. This is not the periodic table of elements and nothing can be calibrated. There is enough wiggle room here to wrestle an anaconda…

Nevertheless it is off to the shop with the plates and a hopeful expression. I have seven Army ships to paint and I want to do it without having the remix.

Addendum: I went to Hobbytech and they had Creos GSI Mr. Color No. 13 in stock…the discussion is closed. It will open up again when I essay to do the Olive Drab on the top of the planes. Though I have vowed to pour three bottles of different OD shades into one big glass jar and spray from whatever it becomes for the next two years. I am becoming cynical.