I restarted modeling after I retired and have completed about 16 so far. I have been lucky in that none of the paint schemes called for mixing paints. However, my Revell De Havilland Mosquito includes mixes. My question is how? How to measure 25% of one and 75% of another or 33%, 33%, 33%. I have small plastic cups (about 15 ml) that I can mix in. Any tips appreciated. Thanks
You can get pipettes that have measurements embossed on them. I know those can be ordered in bulk. That’s if you want to get technical. You can simply “eyeball” it, and get close.
Personally, I find a picture of the plane (or whatever) and choose and /or mix colors that are close enough. By the time all is said and done (clear coats, weathering, etc), that “authentic” color is no longer the same as when it went down. Plus there’s the whole “scale effect” thing. I tend to mix colors a bit lighter than what is called for.
“Close”, counts in horse shoes, hand grenades, and scale modeling!
One thing you might consider is to buy the colors outright. Many hobby paint companies make those exact colors, and sites like cybermodeler.com list the product numbers. As far as mixing, droppers will work as you can ration the colors out by how many drops of each you’ll need to get the ratio. Art stores carry those. I have found that plastic cups don’t take enamels and thinners very well, I use glass jars or metal cups to mix.
Or get an idea of what exactly the color is without mixing by matching using Model Master enamels. That’s typical of Revell calling out the colors by percentage instead of giving it the color name. Try going by typical RAF colors instead. For cockpit and wheel well areas I use British Interior green for most of my WW2 RAF aircraft.
Yes, if you research the aircraft paint scheme, many companies have the colors ready available with no mixing required. I know that both Humbrol and Model Master have the RAF colors you would need in their enamel lines.
Revell of Germany offers a conversion chart for Revell to Testors brand paints, and they intend to broaden it to include the Tamiya line in the near future. You can access it by going to Revell.com, then to Revell of Germany where you’ll see a link to the chart; Germany Paint Chart.
If you have the time, paint4models.com is a comprehensive cross reference for many brands. It’s a valuable reference, but it takes a lot of effort to navigate. I used to be able to use the search feature in the online version, but that no longer works for me, so I download it and scroll to find the info I need.
As for mixing, I also use the eye dropper method. I get the droppers at my local big box drug store. My mixing containers for small quantities are tattoo ink cups, which you can get by the hundred on eBay for cheap. I clean and save used up glass bottles for larger quantities and lacquer based paints.
Mike
Yes but paint conversion charts are not exact matches in many cases. Take Olive Drab for example- Revell, Humbrol, Tamiya, and Model Master all have different takes on that color. And when your mixing colors, that will definitely throw your final result off.