Having ended up with a few Revell kits, my question is : Have any of you more expert modellers ever worked out how to get around the ridiculous Revell idea that you have to mix up half the shades of colours needed for their kits yourself ? My 2 attempts so far have been miserable failures. Any info on how to avoid the need to mix my own paints would be most useful. If anyone has already found any alternatives to Revell’s dippy colour ideas please let me know.
On the Bench :
Revell 1/32 Hawker Hunter F.6 ( This is how Brits USED to make aircraft before the Euro Committee bean counters took over )
Eduard 1/48 Bristol F.2b ( No I didn’t choose a bi-plane with PE for a return to modelling and a nervous breakdown, it was a gift )
Staring at me from the shelf waiting their turn :
Revell 1/72 Corsair F4U-5 ( Yanks show how they CAN make a real cool airplane )
Revell 1/72 Euro Fighter Typhoon ( Is it better than the Raptor ? hmmm )
Airfix 1/72 Avro Anson 1 ( First airplane I ever saw for real )
Airfix 1/72 De Havilland Dragon Rapide ( How can you not love an airplane than wears spats )
Valom 1/72 Lockheed XFV-1 Salmon ( Nice try Yanks, ended up buying Harriers though )
Best wishes to you all, have fun, I am.
Mick C.
That is the trouble with Revell making their own paints as they would rather have you mix two or three of their colours to get what you need than quote you an exact match from someone elses range.
You can try using a paint comparisom chart to see if anything is closer from another manufacturer. Here is a link to one:http://www.fortunecity.com/meltingpot/portland/971/reference/humbrol.htm
Also, sometimes Revell will quote an FS or RLM or RAL number as being the intended shade with their mixture ratio. Often, this is available as a colour from someone. Try the White Ensign Colourcoats range, the Xtracolour range or Humbrol.
Thanks for the info David, I’ve started to realise that it’s better to get in here and do some reading than wrestle with Revell’s strange way of doing things, they seem to have a very weird way of doing things, as an example, for the 1/72 F4U-5 Corsair, they give you : 20% Anthracite Grey Matt + 80% ‘Lufthansa’ blue Silky Matt for the main body colour !! No reference to anything in real life or other standards. Obviously this is supposed to be the all over blue used by the American airforces. So why not just give a reference that says so. I believe for the Korean war Marine version in the kit it would be FS 15042 glossy Sea Blue or FS 15044 Insignia Blue, I’m still working on which is correct. Being more into British aircraft my knowledge of American colour schemes is limited, so thanks again for the link, pointers and guidence.
I’ve just realised this post might have been better in the Painting forum, oops… lol
Best Wishes
Mick C.
15042 Glossy Sea Blue is the color needed for the overall color.
I dont care for that either. I do tend to do a good deal of mixing and modifying colors as it is without the instructions making me. I do find it useful to have an artists color wheel sitting nearby. If I start head scratching, it usually tells me what I want to know, i.e. add yellow.
Many Thanks Wayne,
Appreciate the guidence, one less to have too look up. lol Internet is very useful for references I know, till you realise you are even more confused than when you started; understand now best place to go is here, where all the great modellers are [bow]
Best Wishes
Mick C.
Thanks TwelveAlpha,
There you go, see I’d have never thought of getting a colour wheel, great idea for shades and stuff. Nice tip, thanks.
Best Wishes
Mick C.
I beg your pardon, but is it not what Tamiya also advocates ? I saw no complaint about this. It is obvious that Revell producing their own paints ( though it is probably Humbrol made, as Airfix and Heller paints were ) they are promoting their own products. The narrower range you have, the more “aerobatics” you must do to reach this or that colour. Nothwithstanding that there is no consensus among references or publications about one very colour, be it without scale effect or not.
Viper;
Have you Humbol Paints instead? I know they went out of business last year but there should be a bunch of their paint floating around where your at, also have you tried Gunze paints or Testors these two companies have the correct colors for just about anything produced for all the militaries around the globe
I’v had seen that on my current model. Mixing paint is not for me. Try out some of the model master 2 system. [2c]
Mick,
Another good online source for paint comparisons is the IPMS Stockholm Web site:
http://www.ipmsstockholm.org/colorcharts
It has a variety of charts showing alternatives. It can take a little cross-referencing, but it’s a good place to start.
Hope this helps,
Thanks to all,
Appreciate all the hints and comments, have more or less figured out how to sort this little problem now, I guess the worst thing about it is not just that Revell expect you to mix your own colours, but on most of their instruction sheets they don’t even tell you what the final colour is. Took me an age to work out what the interior cockpit colour was for my Corsair F4U-5 simply because I had no idea at the time what 60% matt yellow + 40% matt bronze green even looked like. I’ve found some very good replacements now, and learnt and awful lot about Zinc Chromate Primer in the process.
No problem with Revells kits, good quality and fairly priced; silly attitute to the paints though.
Best Wishes
Mick C.