Painting 1/2400 Micronauts

[BCR 570]

Now that I am retired I would like to get back into painting my 1/2400 ship models, which I have not undertaken for many years. I am looking for some authentic paint colours which can be applied with a brush, preferably matched to the Snyder and Short paint chips. I am also wondering if Tamiya surface primer would be a good base to start with?

I am looking for an authentic set of Royal Navy colours, Regia Marina, Kriegsmarine, and Imperial Japanese Navy to start. Any suggestions welcomed. A visit to the local hobby shops was disappointing as I saw very little for authentic naval colours.

Tim

[pmskaar]

Hi Tim

I cannot offer any recommendations as to a paint manufacturer that gives exact color matches as you have asked for. I know a while back, in Testors Model Master acrylic line, they did have the 4 Japanese main gray colors plus some of the others.

When I have painted ships in the past, I have been okay with approximations in my colors. While maybe not an exact match to a particular gray or blue, they seem to look about right after accounting for scale and weathering. I know that U.S. Navy blues such as Navy Blue and Sea Blue would tend to gray out a bit with the ship at sea for a while.

I also remember going up on the Steel Navy page and you would see several models of the same ship with different "interpretations" of the colors used, even deck colors.

I have done painting for the GHQ catalog and I have done my best on the ships I have painted to be reasonably accurate although maybe not perfectly so.

[foxbat]

Hello, Tim.
Going to double down on what pmskaar told you : weather and sea will quickly alter the color of any ship deployed for some time, so you can enjoy a good degree of licence when painting your ships.
Furthermore, if like me, you use washes and drybrushing to highlight your models' details, it becomes even harder to find a paint that will be historically faithful. At that scale, I try to be as accurate as possible but in the end discrepancies are unavoidable. Lighting, when photographing models, will also alter colors slightly, but noticeably when you compare the results.

[Winks]

One factor often overlooked in painting ships (or any small scale miniature) is scale effect. That is, colors lighten and gray out with distance. So looking at a 1/2400 scale ship on the game table is like looking at a full size ship some distance off. How much should colors be lightened? The well accepted ratio for scale models is the square root of the scale. Hence, a 1/2400 scale ship should have the colors lightened by around 50%. I usually use 30-35% myself. Once a dark wash (I love Ammo's enamel Dark Wash) and then dry brushed, it looks right. I usually lighten colors with a light gray (never pure white) and dry brush with the original unlightened hull gray (Tamiya Sky Gray for modern ships) and dry brush over that with Ammo Cobra Motors Paints A_Mig-0301 Off White.

[STS]

Now that I am retired I would like to get back into painting my 1/2400 ship models, which I have not undertaken for many years. I am looking for some authentic paint colours which can be applied with a brush, preferably matched to the Snyder and Short paint chips. I am also wondering if Tamiya surface primer would be a good base to start with?

I am looking for an authentic set of Royal Navy colours, Regia Marina, Kriegsmarine, and Imperial Japanese Navy to start. Any suggestions welcomed. A visit to the local hobby shops was disappointing as I saw very little for authentic naval colours.

Tim

One document I have been using for orientation for a while, is this one:

https://i.4pcdn.org/tg/1474297046471.pdf

Vallejo paints are wideley available, have a huge range and being arcylic (water-based) the'yre easy to work with. Other than that I've been using "LifeColor" sets. An Italian manufacturer that has themed acrylic paint sets. They have sets like "Royal Navy Western Approaches - late war".

As far as primer and base coat is concerned: If you're aiming at a larger number of ships, consider getting an airbrush. Even one of the cheaper airbrush sets will help you in getting thin layers of paint on your model and save some of the more intricate details.

[BCR 570]

Thank you all for your replies. I found a Lifecolor set for Royal Navy in a local hobby shop which I brought home, and found that they also offer a set for Regia Marina so have ordered that online. I will see how those work.

I also found a company called True North which offers RN, USN and IJN colours, but havent found anyone who sells them.


Tim

[ed*b]

If you are willing to deal with enamel paints, White Ensign has a very complete line, though often specific colours are out of stock. Of course, getting them may be an issue since enamel paints (and thinners) are banned in Canada. If you are in the Greater Vancouver area, you should check out Burnaby Hobbies and Imperial Hobbies (Richmond). Also, if you have an interest in WW1 and WW2 naval miniatures gaming, I am part of a group that regularly attends the Trumpeter Tabletop Games Society monthly meetings and puts on naval scenarios.

https://www.whiteensignmodels.com/c/Nav ... ts/1256/1/

[BCR 570]

Thank you for your suggestions; I have been to Burnaby Hobbies and Imperial Hobbies but not much there in the way of naval paints. I did find hte Lifecolor RN set at Burnaby Hobbies, and I found the Lifecolor RM set online which is en route to me.

The Colourcoats paints were a wonderful range but they have been discontinued.

I have been in touch with the owner of True North paints and will be ordering some of those.

Yes I would be interested in any local gaming; I was involved in a few scenarios while at university many years ago but nothing since.


Tim

[nashorn88]

I found that most paints are made for larger scale models.
For 1/2400 it’s too dark
I think lighter the better also add color to make them pop
Hard to post pics here but check out FB
https://m.facebook.com/groups/412676189 ... tid=wwXIfr