Jump to content

Best Matching Flat Light Gull Gray Paint Revealed


Recommended Posts

We now take a look at all Flat Light Gull Gray FS 36440 from various paint manufacturers and compare them to AMS Standard 595A color chip.

 

ColorChip.png

 

All pictures are taken with my Nikon Coolpix B700 digital camera in uncompressed RAW format without any pre or post image processing.  The images are then saved in lossless PNG format for web viewing.

Link to post
Share on other sites

Thanks! Excellent work. Very interesting. Model Master eh? I wouldn't have figured them to come out on top. BTW, is there any appreciable difference in hue between the previous two "Gull greys" (16440 and 26440) that your first post displayed and 36440? Just curious.

Link to post
Share on other sites
17 minutes ago, Mstor said:

is there any appreciable difference in hue between the previous two "Gull greys" (16440 and 26440) that your first post displayed and 36440?

 

No difference in hue regarding the AMS 595A color chips.

Link to post
Share on other sites
2 hours ago, RichardL said:

 

No difference in hue regarding the AMS 595A color chips.

 

I didn't think there would or should be.  Just thought I'd ask to be sure. Thanks.

Link to post
Share on other sites

Yes, and it is strange that they even produce them in the three sheens.

 

Hasn't been a need for that for a couple of decades. They could make the set cheaper by just doing the chips in Semi-gloss.

 

The sheen is controlled by the specs used to produce the paints for the real item being painted. And the chips aren't produced to those same coating specs.

 

Individual chips are too expensive to try and buy just one of X6440 or X4088 or something like that,,,,the whole set is still cheaper than "one of each."

 

Once the colors got run together, one chip for each color is all they needed to do.

Link to post
Share on other sites

Bear in mind that color matching can vary from lot to lot.

 

There is no guarantee that the bottles you have are the same the rest of us might have.

 

I used to work in the printing industry and I learned never to use different die lots of the same color in the same job.

Link to post
Share on other sites

Of course,,,,,,but any differences are very small. And some model paints sold as one color are so far off that they match a completely different FS chip, whether in the old system, or the new. Yarn was the same way,,,,,and often a person could find a match from different dye lots that was so close that there was 0 difference in them. (I used to be the one that ran to the five and dime for my mother, since I could match the colors up if there weren't enough skeins in one dye lot to get all that she needed for a project)

Link to post
Share on other sites

Great comparison, thank you for the systematic, consistent and clear approach. Illustrates the facts objectively.

 

Subjectively, looking at the coupons, any of these colors will be fine on a model, i.e., they will not look wrong. 

 

What would be super interesting is the following: Now that you have these, perhaps airbrush a thick coat of clear gloss on each of them (maybe several layers), then apply dullcoat. I am curious how much of a shift in the hue we would get, if any. I could try this myself (without the benchmark standard chip) but I am shamefully lazy. 

Link to post
Share on other sites
1 hour ago, Janissary said:

What would be super interesting is the following: Now that you have these, perhaps airbrush a thick coat of clear gloss on each of them (maybe several layers), then apply dullcoat.

 

Will do it on a different batch.  I suppose I can apply gloss clear and dullcoat on just one color to check.  Any preference on what gloss clear and flat clear to use?  I think I have every single one of them.

Link to post
Share on other sites

I would use Future, but any gloss coat would do. I'd only insist to get the surface as glossy/deep as possible. Then, I think Testors dull coat might be a good one to dull it down. 

 

It would be super informative if you could split your existing coupon into left-right halves by masking one side and applying the gloss/dull coats to the other only. That would enable both a relative (left versus right) and an absolute comparison (against the standard chip) all at the same time.    

 

Since the MM enamel was the winner, I would go with that one for the gloss test :)

Edited by Janissary
Link to post
Share on other sites

My 'hope' is that the gloss coat experiment will result in a major shift in the tone. The idea being, when a fellow modeler is sweating the actual color match, we'd point to this thread  and say: "Given all the clear coats you will apply,  color matching is unnecessary, futile, and disgraceful :) 

Link to post
Share on other sites

lol

 

And then when someone says "help, I have bought a ton of railroad colors on the super cheap, and want to know which ones fit aircraft and tank models",,,,,,we just say, no one can help you, matching them is impossible.

Link to post
Share on other sites
  • 3 weeks later...
On ‎4‎/‎11‎/‎2018 at 8:06 AM, Janissary said:

What would be super interesting is the following: Now that you have these, perhaps airbrush a thick coat of clear gloss on each of them (maybe several layers), then apply dullcoat. I am curious how much of a shift in the hue we would get, if any. I could try this myself (without the benchmark standard chip) but I am shamefully lazy. 

 

I decided to do a test on acrylics first by spraying six coats of AMMO of Mig Glossy Lucky Varnish on AMMO of Mig FS36440, followed by two medium coats of AMMO of Mig Ultra-Matte Lucky Varnish.

 

The gloss coats did indeed darken the original color.  However, the flattening agent in the Ultra-Matte Lucky Varnish lightened the color back to the original color when viewed perpendicular to the surface.  When viewed at an angle, the coated color is slightly darker than the original color. However, in this case, the coated color matches better to the color chip.  See picture below:

 

acrylic_clears_test.thumb.jpg.10845cd285004648a735891974e46835.jpg

 

I will repeat the experiment with Model Master enamel plus Model Master lacquer clear coats.

Link to post
Share on other sites
On ‎4‎/‎11‎/‎2018 at 12:53 PM, Janissary said:

My 'hope' is that the gloss coat experiment will result in a major shift in the tone.

 

It turns out numerous gloss coats and flat coats did not drastically alter the tone of the original color (at least for acrylics), as the picture below shows.  This picture was taken at 45-degree viewing angle.  Left half is the original color.  Right half has eight coats of gloss and flat clear on top of the original color.

 

ammo_plus_clears03.jpg.d664d2e42ccac3f6fd5c8f19d6f4d961.jpg

Link to post
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...