So far in my modest battling career, I have painted my ships with spray paint, and never done camouflage measures. For those who've done such things (camouflage), what type of paint have you used? (Obviously, on the hull sides and on SS) Thanks!
No, Id imagine it would be a Toucan Sam (cereal mascot) motif. Clark, you may want to try acrylic paints from places like Michaels, as there are lots of different colours to choose from and they don't have a nasty smell. They seem to be the popular paint to use here in the OAF.
I'll check with Hobby Lobby, it's about equivalent and I know they have acrylics. I just wasn't sure if they were water-safe James, just for you, I will do a Hello Kitty convoy.
The BEHR (i think) sample size paints at HomeDepot work well, you can get them mixed to any color you want too which is handy.
I would imagine that Hobby Lobby sells the same brands as Michaels. There can't be that many manufacturers.
I wouldn't have thought they were either. You do need to let them thoroughly dry (like overnight) before you stick the boat in the water.
I use a few brands of acrylics for camouflage, simply because they're brushable, clean up with water, and have no fumes. I have recently discovered that, as long as you let the paint thoroughly dry, they're fully waterproof. Check out this photo. It's my Lützow after spending 31 days on the bottom of a lake. The paint is still intact, although the grays are discolored from algae having grown on them: The art supply store brands, such as Grumbacher and Liquitex (there are literally dozens out there, by the way), are expensive, but highly concentrated. Often a single coat is all that's needed, making them convenient for doing repairs. For sheer volume at a low price, though, Behr Premium Plus, sold at Home Depot, is hard to beat. The wonderful thing about them is that you can buy them for a couple of dollars in what they call Sample sizes (7.25 fl. oz. in a plastic jar with screw-top lid). What's even better is that they will mix these sample jars to match any color sample you give them. The red on the hull above is Kriegsmarine hull red. The light superstructure is Baltic Hellgrau, and so on. The black stripes are Grumbacher Mars Gray, because I happened to have some, while the white stripes are Liquitex Titanium White, for the same reason. All three brands held up well, except that the Behr Premium Plus red on the hull developed "pimples" of lake water that I had to pop, then iron back down. The Behr grays I repainted, while the black and white stripes showed no damage from 31 days of immersion - I'm guessing because I painted them on without thining them. Rob
I will be going to Lowe's this weekend with color samples! The Profile Morskie color plates of Roma have color panels to use. Excellent post and the pic is truly inspiring. After 31 days, she rises from the briny deep!
If you are really hardcore on historical accuracy, you can find a guide to match WWII naval colors to the later Federal Standard colors. Many FS colors are available from Testors in enamel and acrylic. I did my first ship Richelieu, in Testors acrylics for Measure 32
By the way, if you need color samples and are not hard core enough to order actual paint chips, this web site http://www.jpsmodell.de/dc/schiff_e.htm has colors and even camouflage patterns for a lot of ships. It looks like most of the information is for US ships, but they also have German, Italian, and Japanese.
