im sure this has been asked. i search two different paint conversion charts and nothing was listed for the conversion of MM FS2052 “raf middlestone”. i was looking for the conversion to tamiya. i heard the tamiya version was light sand?
i been looking for an acrylic match to raf middlestone. my LHS has crap for polly scale. MM doesn’t have it in their acrylic line. gunze is my last choice because i know they make it.
thanks for any help!
Start with Desert Yellow XF-59 and lighten with Buff XF-57 or Deck Tan XF-55.
The Gunze color is pretty solid…I’d have used it but the heat here is causing paints to dust like nobody’s business, and I’ve been having the best luck with enamels, so MM enamel Middle Stone was what I went with. Overall, I’m happy with it.
If you’re willing to order, I believe Vallejo and/or Lifecolor have Middle Stone. The Vallejo Model Color line tends to be a bit suspect in color accuracy, but the Model Air line is very good in that regard, and every Lifecolor paint I’ve touched (all five of them!) has been about as dead a ringer as I could hope for.
thanks for the help! i have a load of MM enamels but never had good results with them. i tried spraying them again last night and it came out great for once. its like my AB doesn’t like enamels. it sprays acrylics fine. i spend half N hour cleaning the AB last night even though i clean it after each use.
Dadgum Doggs your painting skills always amaze me.
Ditto!! What are you using to support the plane??
aw shucks, guys, thanks!
phoneguy - two PVC t-joints. Think they’re standard 1 1/4". Some masking tape along the top to provide a slightly softer surface and not scratch anything.
after reading your blog doogs, i would have to agree on the gunze azure. its looks real blue compared to the MM enamel. i was sitting at my bench the other night looking at them both. im just going to test spray them both first and see.
you model in your garage correct? you have AC in there?
the humidity out here in north carolina is horrible.
drop tank is gunze azure and the flaps are mm enamel azure.
sorry for the low quality picture but you get the idea.
Randy - from the pics, the Gunze doesn’t look as awful as it does in the bottle (but then it doesn’t look as violet in my pics as it does in real life…), though it still seems a bit more purple-heavy than I’d prefer.
I do model in the garage, and no, no AC. The past two or so months have been brutal! Thankfully, the humidity’s been low - around 30-40% most nights. But still…it’s Texas in the summer…
Just be advised that any paint that gives a FS (Federal Standard) match for an RAF color is not going to be accurate–it’s just going to be some manufacturer’s guess as to which FS color comes closest.
RAF colors were matched to British Standards (BS), not a U.S.-based standard; and,
The FS system didn’t come into use until the 1950s, so any so-called match to ANY WW2 color is only going to be a guesstimate.
i had a feeling about this also. thanks for the info. so, who actually makes correct raf colors?
Basic RAF colors matched to BSC can be found from Testors Model Master, Humbrol, Gunze, Xtracolours and Polly Scale lines. Not all colors are carried by all makers though
wish they didn’t discontinue polly scale. damn you testors for buying them out and shutting them down.
Agreed!!!
If you dont need 100% match, in the Testors line British Armor Gulf War Light Stone is not too far off RAF Midstone, just a tad lighter.
i like the MM acrylic line but then i don’t. i was never a fan MM enamels because they always gave me problems.
i sat at the bench the other night to figure out why i could never spray mm enamels so nice. after an hour of trying different things i finally got it to spray the way i wanted.
now…im happy.
what did u do to get it to spray right?? air pressure, thinning? I’ve set my compressor down for enamels and didnt work. Acrylics spray fine.
i think the problem was it wasn’t thinned enough at the bottom of the cup. i tip my AB over and stir the living out of it then block the needle cap with a towel and pulled the trigger back allowing the air to mix up the bottom half of the paint. works every time now. im spray anywhere from 15 to 20 psi. i find 20 to work great with the enamels.
thanks, look forward to seeing w.i.p’s