Modern USAF jet cockpit color

[Zero77]

Hi,

 

If i am correct, the modern jets USAF cockpit color should be 36231, but any picture of F-16 or F-15 i'm looking at doesn't seem to match my FS36231 color.

I am painting a F-15E cockpit that i've started more than 1 year ago, and i first strip the paint as i did not like it (it was painted with tamiya XF19, which match FS36231 pretty well).

 

Finally, after trying 50 shades of grey ( ), i've repainted it with FS35327 which i find a pretty good match regarding all the references pictures i can see, being either displayed on screen or paper printed. The color on the pictures change from one to another, depending on the light, i guess, from violet grey to sky blue grey, but none looks like FS36231 which is a bit lighter and a bit greenish in my opinion.

 

How one can explain this? Are my FS36231 (or 35327?) references wrong, or is it my pictures? Or am i a kind of grey color blind?

Edited February 7, 2015 by Zero77

[Barry]

There are so many ways to make the color gray shift. Go with the spec. color.

[Guest Peterpools]

Trying to match the correct color from photos or on line, is IMPOSSIBLE and you can get only close at best. 

On line: The problem is two fold: How the image was taken and processed and how your screen or monitor displays the colors. I'm very committed to serious photography and unless you invest in a color monitor system such as: http://www.colormunki.com, it is 100% impossible to obtain and see the correct colors and hues on your screen or monitor.  It's also 100% impossible to adjust the color on a monitor or your screen by the naked eye to be dead on the money, no matter what the computer manual says. So to believe a color is actually FS35327 instead of FS 36231 is not true. That's why you need to use the FS number. Go back one step further and now there is a whole new set of variables of how the image was made and how the photographer manipulated the image, knowingly or not.. even something as simple as whether the image was captured as a RAW or JPEG file, makes a tremendous difference.

Print: Books, magazines and printed images: Even worse as all of the above will apply and then add in the printing process.

Go back even further: Film ... a whole new ballgame and for those that remember; just shoot the same scene using the difference chrome films of the day: Kodachrome II, Ektachrome 64, Velvia, Fujichrome, Agfachrome .. all see the scene and colors differently. Now the processing and printing and it's all over the place.

The only accurate way to interpret colors is go by the actual specs, FS numbers ANA or whatever. But when someone points out that this photos is proof of the color, the chances he is correct is a million to one.

For my money, if I'm close and it looks good, I'm happy. If I want it to be exact, I'll research or ask for help in determining the correct color by spec and not by photo.

Sorry to be so long winded but everyone seems to always get hung up with matching photos for color and it just can't be done.

Peter

Edited February 7, 2015 by Peterpools

[Zero77]

Thank you guys.

 

Of course Peter, i am aware of that.

But on dozens or hundreds of pictures, i can find no one even looking alike FS36231, or at least the FS3231 i have in my paint stock (gunze H317, and Tamiya XF19 according to the F-15E kit instructions).

However, IPMS color chart give the tamiya XF54 as FS36231, and it seems to be a better match to the pictures.

 

I think i'll try the XF54.

[Guest Peterpools]

I would still use the accepted, documented FS number fort the color, as it seems the best avenue for the correct color.

Peter

[Zero77]

That's what i am going to try.

XF54 matches the FS36231 according to the IPMS color chart.

 

http://www.ipmsstockholm.org/colorcharts/stuff_eng_colorcharts_tamiya.htm

 

However, the F-15E kit instructions indicate XF19 which doesn't seem to the good choice.

[Sgt Shultz II]

I think it's all due to the MK 1 eyeball. In a large area like the real 1:1 cockpit the correct shade of gray will look lighter, since more light gets to it, and a small scale cockpit will look darker as less light gets to it. A long time ago modelers used to lighten up colors a little to get a better effect specially in cockpits.