Mark M. Posted January 30, 2008 Share Posted January 30, 2008 Hi all, got a bit of a question for you. I'm working on the Leading Edge Decals for the tiger-striped CF-18 from 1992. Here's the progress thread: http://www.arcforums.com/forums/air/index....howtopic=138093 The stripes are decals, and I recall another build with the same decals (perhaps in 48th scale?) that said the perfect match for the stripes was MM Gunship Grey. Even the color profile has a color square that says "Gunship Grey" with a FS# by it. However, I went out and bought some PolyScale acryl Gunship Grey and put a large dot on the lid of the bottle (it's what I do so I can put all the bottles next to each other when I need to find a color amidst a sea of black lids), and when it dried it was nowhere close to the stripes already applied to my drop tanks. I held a drop tank right on top of the dried paint on the jar's lid and it's very noticably lighter. Did I goof? I thought PolyS and MM were both owned by Testors, so should have the same colors. Did I just get the wrong color, or did I get the wrong brand? I know I need to touch up one of the drop tank pylons, and I'm 99% sure I'll need some touchups when I put the fuselage decals on. I can't custom mix it that well nor can I make sure every custom-mixed batch matches the previous batch. I need something in a jar that'll be the same color every time I use it. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Mark M. Posted February 4, 2008 Author Share Posted February 4, 2008 (edited) As a reference to other folks, I found the page that I'd read before mentioning what the stripes looked like. It lists Gunship Grey, but the review of the decal sheet I was thinking of said they're a much closer match to "European Grey" and listed an FS number. Colors listed with the instructions: Med blue: FS 35237 Gunship grey: FS 36118 L. Ghost Grey (minor bits): FS 36375 Approx stripe color European Gray: FS 36081 (All FS #s taken from decal review, I don't have the instructions with me at work) Putting the numbers together, you can see the base color, the gunship color, and the euro color all side by side for better comparison. You can see how the gunship is no match for the darker grey? http://www.colorserver.net/showcolor.asp?f...118+35237+36081 Now I just need to get home and compare this on a good monitor with the decals I have. I may go pick some up, if it's a good match. That will save me oodles of time mixing and test-painting, and waiting to dry, and comparing, and re-mixing (and so on). EDIT: Med Gray 35237 doesn't look right (looks too light) here at work. I have to check what I used -- I'm sure I've got the right color as it looks spot-on, but the FS# might be different. Edited February 4, 2008 by Mark M. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Mark M. Posted February 8, 2008 Author Share Posted February 8, 2008 HAH!!!!! I'm such a moron. I *HAVE* FS# 26081!! I used it on my last 3-tone hornet! I made a test smear with some of it, put a bit of Future on top, and it's very very close. It looks a shade off, but that might be because of the texture of the surfaces (and may disappear when future or dullcoat is added on top of both). I'm going to try it on a spot (I would have last night, but I only found I had this paint this morning!) on the model where I need a touch-up, and then put future on top of both and see if you can tell where the paint stops or not. I'll let you know how close the match is. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Mark M. Posted February 18, 2008 Author Share Posted February 18, 2008 Couldn't reply because the forums were down. Euro Grey I does work really well. It's the same color, almost, but it has more of a brown tint, while the decals more a blue tint. It's very subtle and so far once you put future on it, the difference is almost imperceptible. Here's hoping it doesn't show up suddenly when I dullcoat!! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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