Hello Mudway,
Thank you for the photos and the information concerning paints.
I shall be researching that helpful information later.
The whole area of paint tone is fascinating to me at least, but no doubt to others also.
Whilst bearing in mind that one builds and creates one's model to ones own ability and desire etc it remains, as in most subjects, that there are definitives that give rise to better accuracy or aesthetic pleasure etc. due to perspective and scale just as in a painting of a landscape in artwork.
How often has a perfectly good model perhaps been spoilt by over gauge rails and stanchions or a thick and gloss paint job.
In art landscapes any colour is progressively more blued or greyed the more it recedes in to the distance.
Clearly when we see a ship in the dock or at close quarters we might see that it is painted in brilliant gloss white and rich blue, especially if it is a ferry about the UK seas.
However, when seeing the same vessel from a distance, although our brain reminds us of the colours, we do not actually see such but rather a greyer more matt versions less intense version of the colours. Black hulls look effectively to be shades of dark grey in reality if we suspend our mind saying it is black. Roads are a classic example of where what we know to be black tarmac looks grey when we analyse what we are actually seeing.
Further we cannot see the whole of a full-size ship and we tend generally to be overwhelmed by the size of scale and the brilliance of tone in which the vessel is painted. However, in regard to model boats and painting pictures invariably tones have to be subdued. We can usually see the whole of a model and if there be myriad bright red painted fittings on board, these become a total distraction to looking at the model and appreciating the over all lines and features of the vessel. Firstly because the eye always looks for red and even if the red used is a match for that on the full-size vessel the gaudy bright red blobs will draw our eye from the over all sense of the model. That is, bright red fittings with a boat attached rather than a boat with some fittings in a red colour. Artists include red where they want to draw the eye in a painting so such has to be used wisely.
So as the full-size ship becomes further away it becomes duller and lighter in the sense of brilliance and colour respectively. Perspective in the sense of colours. Further we see more of the whole ship and less of its specific deck features and so on. This is perspective in the sense of scale. So in order to create a realistic model if that is what the builder is after achieving then these matters are important.
It is similar when a model has rivet detail and weathering. Suddenly the model looks more constructed and fitted and the weathering makes the model look heavier and used looking. This brings the model closer to the reality of the full-size vessel in the mind of the viewer thus achieving a satisfying experience of viewing the model.
In your photos showing how light and angle reflect what you think you see rather than what is the case also proves the point of perspective and proportion of colour intensity.
Many boats look huge in the workshop but once on the water at the pond some can somewhat vanish in the scale of things.
This subject can also be used concerning lights on models. LEDs are super things but without control are simply too bright in the scale of things. It is bad enough seeing a model of Titanic with all the lights on at once but when over bright any sense of realistic effect is totally lost because the brightness far exceeds the scale of the model boat.
A model railway enthusiast demonstrated that scenery on a layout has to be painted at the intensity of scale. That is, albeit one is standing next to the layout, the scale perspective could mean that one would be hundreds of feet away in reality. The amount of detail and strength of tone in the paint choice is vital in order to correctly achieve an effective model railway layout sense of scale and distance and for things to blend rather than distract.
Toby
I wouldn’t put too much credence on a wargaming creation. Their scheme looks more post 1943 than 1942 when colours changed.
When John Lambert was writing, the details on WW2 RN paints was a bit sketchy, these days a lot of research has been undertaken to identify the colours. John probably never realised that the National Archives held samples of the colours in their records. If 328 used B5, a blue grey, it had a reflectance of 15% whereas the RAL colour is only 4%. Sovereign Paints have the colours in their range.
I matched the light grey and blue grey to dulux paints with the help from a friendly Dulux person. The MGB attached is in those colours. The photo also shows why you cannot really trust photos. Despite the appearance, the side flash & decks are the same blue paint. The forward grey and superstructure grey is the same pale grey even though it doesn’t look like that in the photo. The photos show how the colours can appear different under different lighting conditions and angles.
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Topic: Fairmile C motor gun boat (Read 6584 times)