The Ship Model Forum

Could anybody give me the FS numbers for Navy Blue 5-N and Deck Blue 20-B? I can't find them anywhere. Thanks

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"Going insane is how we keep our sanity"
-Ryan Smithson
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IPMS# 46658

Don't quote me on this, as I can't remember where I got these FS numbers but here goes.

Navy Blue 5-N
FS 35044

Deck Blue 20-B
FS 35042

They look pretty close to me but I'm not an expert when it comes to colors so... Hope that helps.

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Drawing Board:
1/700 Whiff USS Leyte and escorts 1984
1/700 Whiff USN Modernized CAs 1984
1/700 Whiff ASW Showdown - FFs vs SSGN 1984

Slipway:
1/700 Whiff USN ASW Hunter Killer Group Dio 1984

There is NO comparison between the FS charts and the WWII standard colors. They had completely different methods to define the colors. Some model paint makers (WEM as an example) make up their paints to match the original chips/formulas.

That is about as much of a PAINT expert I am.

Rick is correct. The FS-595A Paint "system" dates to the 1950s so the paints used by the Navy in the second world war pre-date it and were never matched and given numbers. The best you can do is to either buy the White Ensign Colourcoats or to use someone else's interpretation to get close.

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Tracy White -Researcher@Large

"Let the evidence guide the research. Do not have a preconceived agenda which will only distort the result."
-Barbara Tuchman

The stuff is going to fade in the sun and vary from batch to batch anyway. And that is not even taking into account "scale effect", which, if you decide to do, would require lighter shades as the scale of the ship increases (1/700 models would be lighter than 1/350 models of the same ship in the same colors).

Refer back to Kelly Qirk's Truman, where he masked off and painted hull assembly sections slightly different shades to indicate where sections were assembled.

WEM does a fine job of matching colors, and I have used their great paints. But you could model a freshly painted ship all painted in the same measure or FS color, and the real ship still would not be uniform.

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Les Foran
On the Oregon Trail

In other words, "FS" stands for "Federal Similarity" and not for "Federal Standard"? I would have assumed that the scope of a standard is to provide uniformity ...

Happy painting ~ Olaf!

They do to a certain extent, but how much money do you want to spend to attain ABSOLUTE uniformity. Specifications do usually provide some allowance for variation.

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Tracy White -Researcher@Large

"Let the evidence guide the research. Do not have a preconceived agenda which will only distort the result."
-Barbara Tuchman

Now it's me who has a paint question ...

I'm in progress of building a WWII carrier, USN, in MS22. I have all the paints I need except the one I could use on railing dodgers. I assume they were NOT incorporated into the overall camouflage of the ship and maybe left in their original (canvas?) colour. Would it be something 'beige-ish' or could it be compared to let's say Haze Gray 5-H (or whatever grey)?

Any help is highly appreciated...

Happy modelling ~ Olaf!

Let me look; I have some documentation that certainly predates the use of dazzle (called for canvas to be dyed to the equivilent of Deck Blue) but when looking for that recently I came across a later copy that might have been applicable on dazzle schemes. I would say though that generally they would probably try to dye them the color of the bulkheads behind.

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Tracy White -Researcher@Large

"Let the evidence guide the research. Do not have a preconceived agenda which will only distort the result."
-Barbara Tuchman

Thanks Tracy, that's excellent news and helps a lot. I'll give it a slightly more faded look, just to fool the eye (what modelling is about ... ...).

Happy painting ~ Olaf!