Finnish Blue and White

[ChrisS]

Guys,

 

I am about to start painting the "whacky" markings of this Finnish 1950 Bf109 "Racer" and need a hand picking out colors for the blue and while Finnish roundels.

 

Does anyone know if Polyscale, Gunze, or Tamy make appropriate matches? Obviously I can handle the white in a pinch, but that blue looks very specific.

 

Ideas?

 

TIA~

[Tony O]

could be a French blue, try revells range of 'odd blue' colours it worked (sort of) for me and the preddy mustang.

PS these are enamel but cut with cellulose dry as quick as acrylic...just make sure there's no bare plastic....

HTH

Tony

[BlueMax]

Chris,

 

This might be a little lengthy in explanation, but I hope the end result will help. Having been in the Graphic Design business for the past 19 years, I thought the use of Photoshop might help. I've included a "step-by-step" of what I did to arrive at the final color info, so that if you have access to Photoshop you can try this yourself. I can't promise this will help, but without some idea as to what the exact color "might" be, I have to say, this will be pretty close. Here's the concept...

 

If the image that you've posted here in this thread is "somewhat" accurate, this may offer you a starting point. I copied your posted photo and opened the jpg. image in Photoshop 9. Once I had the jpg. opened, I changed the "Mode" from RGB (Red/Green/Blue) to CMYK (Cyan/Magenta/Yellow/Black). This is done by going under the dropdown menu: "Image", then down to "Mode" and selecting "CMYK". The reason for this is, that ANYTHING printed, painted, etc. uses this designation for the purpose of mixing colors correctly. RGB is mainly for use with TV, Monitors, etc.

 

In Photoshop, there is a tool called the "Eyedropper Tool" located in the main "tools" pallet at the left of the screen. Using that tool, I picked/clicked on the cleanest spot in your jpg. image which had little or no reflective light on it and that also didn't have any shadowing. The best spot seemed to be right in the middle of the "B".

 

In the "Default Foreground and Background Colors" pallet (just below the "Eyedropper Tool") the foreground color is now the blue which I selected from your jpg. image. Clicking once on the now blue "set foreground color" pallet, a window appears in Photoshop giving the exact numbers and percentages for the color selected.

 

The next step is to click on the "Custom" button. This changes the window to show the "Custom Colors" window. In the left side of this window, a "PMS" color is selected which best matches the color selected from your jpg. PMS stands for Pantone Matching Systems. Here's what just the first sentence in the explanation of PMS says. I think it kind of says it all... "Pantone Matching Systems is a international printing, publishing and packaging color language providing an accurate method for the selection, presentation, specification, communication, reproduction, matching and control of color". Whew!

 

That said, the PMS color selected by Photoshop as the closet match is: PMS 659. Also under the block of color in this window, (at the right) it list the formula for achieving this color as follows (69% Cyan - 38% Magenta - 0% Yellow - 0% Black) If you can find a "Pantone Color Formula Guide", this will help you see exactly what the color will look like when painted. Even better... if you have the actual book that your jpg. image is taken from, take it by a local advertising agency, or a sign shop and ask to see one of their Pantone Color Formula Guides. The guide is designed so you can hold each swatch up to the actual image and get the same results.

 

Keep in mind there is ALWAYS a small variance when dealing with color, depending on MANY factors, which would even include your own eye's ability to comprehend certain color variances. Primarily it's going to depend on what "you" perceive as right. In my book, that's MORE than enough to satisfy any critic here at LSP! Besides, you've done an EXCELANT job so far on your 109!!

 

I realize this is a lot of Blah, Blah, Blah, but I did want you to have some idea as to how I arrived at the color. Hope this at least gives you a starting point...

 

David (a.k.a. BlueMax)

[ChrisS]

 

 

uh....sheesh?

 

 

Great info there. I did those same steps and of course the result was different But I expected that. All that aside, what it DID do for me was exactly what I needed, and that is get a more educated eye on the process. Thank you.

 

Great Pantone chart here

 

Now I can get myself to the hobbyshop and pick a color that makes sense without guessing (too much). Here's what I came up with:

[Pete Roberts]

Hi Chris,

 

Not sure if this is any help, but the paint shops here can computer colour match paint samples, and do you a sample paint pot. Haven't tried this myself, but my guess is that cut with thinner, the paint could spray well?? Not sure if the paint shops in the States do this, but may be an option?

 

PR