Need a Consult - 80's USMC Tactical Paint Scheme Color Quandry

[John1]

I need some advice guys.   I'm building a circa 1982 A-4E painted up in the (then) newly introduced Tactical Paint Scheme.     I'm using AK Real Colors paint for the topsides (Dark & Light Ghost Greys).    In the bottle, the paints seemed to look pretty accurate, with good contrast between the two shades.   I've got them on the model but I'm not 100% sure how I feel about the results.    See pics below of my model, just note that my workbench lighting throws off the colors just a bit.   The Dark Ghost Grey on the kit as a slightly more bluish tone than what shows in the pictures.   

 

 

My other concern was how well the decals I'm using (Furball's newly released Low Viz Marine A-4's sheet) would stand out against the grey paintwork.    After staring at the decals quite a bit, I went ahead (a bit foolishly in retrospect) and applied the wing national insignia.   Don't worry about some of the wrinkles on the decal, I'm still in the process of getting it to snuggle down on all those vortex generators.

 

I honestly don't know if I should stay the course or just scrap the applied decal, repaint the entire kit using a darker shade of Dark Ghost Grey and go to a different set of markings.    To make things worse, as I look a pics of the real jets, the colors are all over the spectrum. 

 

 

A later Mike model with a modified scheme compared to the earlier version. 

 

 

Any advice is much appreciated.  

[MikeC]

3 hours ago, John1 said:

just note that my workbench lighting throws off the colors just a bit. 

 

3 hours ago, John1 said:

To make things worse, as I look a pics of the real jets, the colors are all over the spectrum. 

I think you've answered your own question.  Ambient lighting affects how a colour looks, so I'm sure your model is as accurate in respect of colour as it can be.  Carry on as you were, and I look forward to seeing the finished result in RFI.

[Phantom2]

The colors look good to me.    

 

Stefan 

[Shoggz]

Yeah, I agree. Looks good to me.

[csavaglio]

I'm in the middle of painting a USMC legacy hornet in the same colors with the AK 3rd gen acrylics. From what I've seen in person and in photos, the colors look dramatically different in various lighting and are very low contrast to each other, especially with some age and grime. The low vis markings almost disappear at certain angles and lighting. My SO even commented about it at an air show a few months ago. 

 

If anything, I thought both were a bit dark on mine but I haven't taken it into the sunlight.  

 

I think it looks good and the contrast with the decal color looks good. They are low vis, so it shouldn't jump out at you. 

 

I'm on my phone but I'll try to remember to post some pics in a bit from my desktop. 

Chris 

[thierry laurent]

Don't bother that much regarding the hues. Nothing is worse than greys under an open sky to discuss colors... The major trap I already observed is the risk to have one paint color darker than the other one whereas this should be a lighter tone. As far as you do not have that specific issue and have some contrast between your colors (different FS paints and the different decals) you should not be that far from reality. To me this is the only important challenge. 

[Finn]

Here are some A-4s that have the same FS colours but slightly different shades:

 

 

Jari

[csavaglio]

So here's the legacy hornet, same colors but the AK acrylics instead of the real colors...  pics outside are in colorado bright sunlight, brighter workbench one is under 5000k LEDs, the dimmer one and close up are without the bench lights on, just indirect light from the windows.   Preshaded with black and random sponge blotted and smeared with white on the top sides.

Edited October 1 by csavaglio

[John1]

Quick update - I took the model outdoors for a picture in natural light on a cloudy day.   That light definitely brought out some bluish tint and darkened up the paintwork a bit, kinda like the real thing in the pictures above.     The decal is also more pronounced.   Still somewhat concerned about the lack of contrast between Light and Dark Ghost Greys but I'm feeling a bit better about this project than where I was at Monday (and I've got a couple of tricks to address this if I want to go that route).    Thanks to all who chimed in with their opinions and info, it's really appreciated.  LSP is awesome!   On a side note, Kudos to Furball for their awesome decals.   I was really concerned about how well the large national insignia would lay down on the port wing over all those thinned down vortex generators.    After a heavy application of micro sol and some gentle pressing down with a moist paper towel, it went down very nicely.   

 

[allthumbs]

I like the colors!

[ScottsGT]

Looks good to my eye.  Also keep in mind what was the camera settings of all of those pics?  Unless the photographer set up his camera in the same lighting as the subject with a gray scale card, it’s going to vary.  And then you have monitor differences, etc.  

Edited October 4 by ScottsGT

[jeroen_R90S]

Nice! I had the same issues with my F-4S and used the contrast to the decals as my main guide. I ended up lightening the lightest gray, leaving the middel gray as-is, and lightening the medium blue-gray as the decals had a flaw where they were printed an approximation of medium blue-gray and not the gunship or engine gray they were supposed to be. The contrast between it all looks pretty good on your model!

Here's how mine came out with a link to an equally blue photo of the orginal.

(another model I should finish, as it's 95% done now...)

 

Jeroen

Edited October 5 by jeroen_R90S

[John1]

3 hours ago, jeroen_R90S said:

Nice! I had the same issues with my F-4S and used the contrast to the decals as my main guide. I ended up lightening the lightest gray, leaving the middel gray as-is, and lightening the medium blue-gray as the decals had a flaw where they were printed an approximation of medium blue-gray and not the gunship or engine gray they were supposed to be. The contrast between it all looks pretty good on your model!

Here's how mine came out with a link to an equally blue photo of the orginal.

(another model I should finish, as it's 95% done now...)

 

Jeroen

Thanks for the feedback.  Nice work on your Phantom, the weathering is truly impressive.   

[John1]

Figured I'd let you guys see how things worked out.   I was ok with the color tones but felt there wasn't enough contrast between Light and Dark Ghost Greys.   Ended up slightly darkening the DGG and respraying.    Seems to be more in line with the pictures I have of the real VMA-322 jets in that early TPS scheme.    Here's how it came out, just note that the lights on my workbench (or my crappy iPhone camera) tend to wash out the blueish tint a bit.   It doesn't really show in this pic but it's definitely there.    Thank you so much for all the comments and suggestions, it's much appreciated.    

 

[jeroen_R90S]

On 10/5/2024 at 5:54 PM, John1 said:

Nice work on your Phantom, the weathering is truly impressive.   

Thanks John! I really enjoyed doing it, and as I wrote i really should finish that one.......

 

Your last post definately shows as different, now with the half-tone decals on it (especially the fuselage insignia) I can see why it would need tweaking, and I suppose it kind of re-inforces the point trying to match the decals... if the colours are 100% accurate but the decals either disappear or look different it still might look odd.

 

Now that those other decals are on it I can really see the difference & I think you did a marvelous job matching the greys to the half/half fuselage stars/bars & intake warnings. Looks great!