RN WW-I grey

Mickel · Post by **Mickel** » Sat Oct 27, 2007 11:52 am

Hi All

I'm about to start painting Beatty's battlecruisers for WW I. As I understand it, the RN ships started out in a dark charcoal grey, but this was lightened later. Does anyone have any suggestions for the lighter grey I should be using? I tend to use Humbrol enamels, but I'm sure I can find a conversion chart on line for most brands.

Also, apparently some of the battle cruisers wore a dark strip mid-ships on the hull to make the ship appear shorter. Any ideas which ones?

For the 'holy-stoned' wooden decks I'm intending to use a very light tan. I suspect it'll will be one coat over the white undercoat, and if it comes out a little uneven then that's probably not all bad.

Since the mid-ships on the model of the cats doesn't have planking I presume they'd be black decks (which I'll make a dark grey - panzer/tank grey?).

Any thoughts? This is a new period for me, so all suggestions welcome.

Mike

battlewagon · Post by **battlewagon** » Sat Oct 27, 2007 8:15 pm

Mike,

I use the Model Master paints myself and I have been painting a lot of WW I ships lately. I have been using the Euro 1 Gray for the 1914 Home Fleet dark gray and I use their Neutral Gray for the lighter gray used from 1915 on. Decking in the superstructure often had Cortecine (linoleum) over the metal. I use the Military Brown color for this, some ships painted metal decking around funnels black. The remainder of the horizontal surfaces I leave the same color as the hull. Many of the ships also painted the main turret tops Brunswick Green, which is a very dark green. Osprey has put out books on British and German battlecruisers 1914 - 18 that I highly recommend as they include many photos and several color illustrations. For that dark band on the hull, I would go with the Euro 1 (Charcoal) gray. I have recently finished one of each of the British battlecruisers and one of each of the Germans except for Moltke (haven't taken her out of the blister pack yet) If you have additional questions, post them here and I will see what I can do. I hope this helps.

Matt

Mikee · Post by **Mikee** » Sat Oct 27, 2007 11:44 pm

Mike:

I'm painting GHQs WW I ships right now. I've been using White Ensign Models AP 507B medium grey for the HMS WW I warships. This was an RN medium grey in WW II, and seemed to be a reasonable color. For deck surfaces I use AP 507A dark grey. Haven't tried to find out what surfaces were covered with corticine. I'm also using WEM teak for the decks. It seems a bit light, so I've only been using it on UK ships. A color called Gulf War Sand Tan seems to be a likely teak color for my other fleets.

Mikee

Mickel · Post by **Mickel** » Mon Oct 29, 2007 11:09 am

Thanks guys. We don't seem to be a million miles apart on colours. Mikee, remember the holy stoning made the decks very light. So I don't think you could get them too light, unless you painted them white.

Mike

tstockton · Post by **tstockton** » Mon Oct 29, 2007 6:45 pm

Mickel,

Re: deck color

A popular choice in the 1/1200 - 1/1250 ship community is a color called something like "old concrete" or "aged concrete". It is a pale yellowish-grayish-tan, and is supposedly a good match for sun-bleached teak. I think many of the paint manufacturers carry this or a similar color.

Hope this helps!

Regards,
Tom Stockton

Mickel · Post by **Mickel** » Sat Nov 17, 2007 8:26 am

Thanks Tom, I had considered something with grey in it, but the list of possibilities in this part of the world is short. I've wound up using 507b and teak, rightly or otherwise.

Next question is ships boats - are these grey & teak too? I've had the hard word from the owner of the German BCs to get a move on so I guess I'd better get them sorted out.

Rust colour for the torpedo net cables?

Thanks for the help guys. I'll post some pics when they're commissioned. Then it's on to River Plate.

Mike

battlewagon · Post by **battlewagon** » Sat Nov 17, 2007 9:30 am

For the ships boats, I would recommend the ships hull color for the boat hull and seat and teak inside the boat hull. (I user Model Master Military Brown). For the anti torpedo nets I use either black or a very dark gray. I base this on the many drawings and photographs I have looked at. I would also go easy on the rust...a little goes a long way on a ship model this small.

Matt

tstockton · Post by **tstockton** » Sat Nov 17, 2007 7:20 pm

battlewagon said:

For the anti torpedo nets I use either black or a very dark gray.

I concur, but with a hearty emphasis on the dark gray. "Black" black at these smaller scales is too black -- a "scale black" or "weathered black" or charcoal gray will give a "less-contrasty" and a better overall representation.

Having said that... I will recommend the "black" black for picking out the very top of the funnels -- where you want to represent a large opening going down into the ship. However, that is my personal preference -- as they say, "your mileage may vary".

And one other note -- if you don't like the finished look, it's not like the results are carved in stone -- you can always strip the paint off and re-paint it!

Hope this helps!

Regards,
Tom Stockton

Mickel · Post by **Mickel** » Sun Nov 18, 2007 4:00 am

And one other note -- if you don't like the finished look, it's not like the results are carved in stone -- you can always strip the paint off and re-paint it!

A thought that might be a little more appealling if I didn't have 27 US ships in need of that treatment.

But for now, they can stay as is. They're serviceable enough for the table top.

tstockton · Post by **tstockton** » Sun Nov 18, 2007 5:22 am

Mickel,

True, true... but try a color or a technique on one or two... then if you like it, you can work your way through the rest of your fleet as time permits and/or "the mood strikes"

And if you don't -- well, you only have a couple to re-do!

And sometimes... "serviceable" is good enough!!

Regards,
Tom Stockton