Custom Paint Colors

[Roger Pellett]

I have been thinking ahead to painting my Benjamin Noble Lake Freighter Model.  She was launched in 1909 and I want to accurately duplicate the industrial colors used back then, among which is the red lead paint commonly used as bottom paint on the Lakes. 

 

My first stop was Eric Ronnberg’s great article from the Nautical Research Journal about Nineteenth and Early Twentieth Century paint colors.  This article used to be included in the Resource section of the Guild’s Web Site.  For reasons utterly beyond me it is no longer there.  Fortunately it can be found in Volume 2 of the Guild’s Shop Notes.  In addition to including color chips, the article discusses muting  colors for different modeling scales.

 

The article, however, does not include formulae for mixing the colors represented by the paint chips, but after rereading the article I discovered that each paint chip is identified by two codes.  Each code representing a different color standard, one of which is the Munsell standard.  Each Munsell code represents a different unique paint color.  This means that if you know the Munsell number for a particular color, someone should know how to mix it.

 

So, I typed in the Munsell number that Eric provided for his red lead color chip into my Internet search engine, and sure enough, up popped several sites for red lead color.  At least one, was a company that offered to duplicate it (lead free.)  The service is not cheap.  There is a $25.00 fixed charge plus the cost of the paint.

 

Another possibility would be to see if commercial paint retailers can match Munsell Numbers.  Some of the lacquer based auto body paints might be suitable.

 

Roger

 

 

 

 

[Jaager]

Roger,

 

I am a a heretic about something like this and I think that his whole exact color thing has too quick sand a foundation to warrant becoming OCD about it.

First off, unless seen in person, any color captured on film, tape or electrons is going to be different.  Even if you had the exact RGB number - every computer screen is going to do its own interpretation of it.

Close enough is good enough.

 

If you have a color chip or equivalent  I would use a color wheel  to get most of the formula.

https://www.highlandwoodworking.com/artistscolorwheel.aspx

Now that I know what they really are I would use artist's oil  (40ml tubes)  and mix my own 

One of the companies may have a ready made that is close or only needs more black or white or ....

A little linseed oil and mineral spirits and you are set.

[Bob Cleek]

30 minutes ago, Jaager said:

Now that I know what they really are I would use artist's oil  (40ml tubes)  and mix my own 

One of the companies may have a ready made that is close or only needs more black or white or ....

A little linseed oil and mineral spirits and you are set.

What Jaager said. However, be sure to buy quality artists' oils, which have finer-ground pigments, not cheaper "student" or "hobbyist" grades. These will have "purer" colors which are more likely to blend as expected. Sometimes, non-primary colors are a combination of colors which don't behave exactly as expected when mixed with other colors. Given the usually limited palette of ship models, It only takes a few tubes of colors to give one the ability to pretty much everything they'll ever need. 

 

However, if you really want to stick with premixed paints, check out Tru-Color Paint. I've not used it myself.  It's a relatively new company and isn't as widely distributed as some of the other brands, but it is getting really good reviews from the railroad and armor modelers. They will mix custom colors, I believe. That said, their color selection is so broad that I don't think you will find it all that difficult to get a match. Check out their color charts. See: https://trucolorpaint.com/

Edited October 18, 2021 by Bob Cleek

[Roger Pellett]

Jaager,

I certainly agree that close is good enough.  Especially in the day when painters mixed their own paints.  Eric also makes the point that these oxide paints were especially subject to variation because the natural pigments varied.

 

I have never tried to use a color wheel.  For my last model, I mixed artist’s acrylic pigments by eye.

 

Bob,

My reason for posting this was to encourage more modelers to push their limits a little; away from premixed paints.  This is an alternative.  

 

I have found that quality artist acrylics in tubes mix up and spray well.  For my last model, though, I bought  a huge tube of yellow ochre at WallMart for something less than $5.  The grains of pigment could have been used for aggregate to pave your driveway.

 

Actually, I found an unopened bottle of Floquil SantaFe orange in my stash.  I think a slight red tint and Eric Ronnberg’s system of adding grey to mute the intensity should do the trick.

 

Roger

[Jaager]

10 minutes ago, Roger Pellett said:

have never tried to use a color wheel.

I think it is worth the $10  just to play with the devise.  It offers a wealth of possibilities as far as what can be done in color witchcraft.

 

I think it is good that you have a reasonable and economical solution to solve your goal.

[Bob Cleek]

Hey, Roger, I can save you ten bucks. Check out this free interactive online color wheel:  https://www.rapidtables.com/web/color/color-wheel.html

 

You just click on the area of color you want on the color wheel or type in the Hex, RGB, or HSL code and you get a "chip" of the color in the large square to the right of the color wheel. The colors on either side of the color you pick are the colors that yield the color you picked when mixed together. Red and yellow make orange, yellow and blue make green, blue and red make purple, and so on.

 

 

[Bob Cleek]

1 hour ago, Roger Pellett said:

My reason for posting this was to encourage more modelers to push their limits a little; away from premixed paints.

Absolutely!  A bit of thinner, turpentine or mineral spirits, or a bit of acetone if I'm spraying, which allows building up a coating without waiting so long for it to dry, a tiny dash of flattening paste, if needed, a tiny dash of Japan drier to speed up drying even more if needed, a bit of raw linseed oil to slow down drying if need be. pour it into an empty pill bottle with a half dozen bee-bees and shake her up good. Getting in touch with my inner mad scientist. Life is good!  

 

Big tubes of some high quality colors can seem a bit pricey, but I sure don't miss paying eight bucks for a third of an ounce of pre-mixed paint anymore, that's for sure. 

Edited October 19, 2021 by Bob Cleek