Colors for Lozenge

[robvd]

Today I purchased Montex masks for four and five colored Lozenge.
Does anybody know what colors from teh Gunze acrylic range are suiteable for the lozenge colors?

with Regards

Rob

[ALBATROS1234]

not an easy question. i have been working on lozenge paint colors for years. for one thing the data and knowledge is always changing, getting more refined and accurate so to speak. to my eye the aviattic stuff looks the most accurate but there are those who will disagree. the subject has been debated to death and still variations exist. personally it took alot of work to get upper 5 color, upper 4 color, and lower 5 color mixs which i used the doug baumann data. i wanted to be able to touch up when there was a decal tear or in the case of dougs home printed inkjet decals sometimes if the clear cote wasnt brand new a crack could cause the ink to leach/bleed out giving you white voids. doug doesnt do decals anymore(at least thats what it seems like) and i have since fell in love with aviattic stuff which is similar to dougs stuff albeit better, better quality and colorwise plus fabric texture. perhaps you can download and example of the art even if it has a company logo across it and use that as color chips and then do some mixing. i doubt if there is anything close strait out the bottle, i have 500 or so jars of paint,humbrol enamel,model master enamel and acrylic,tamiya,gunze,polyscale acryl(both red and green label),flouquil enamel, misterkit, testors, i know of nothing i would use strait from the bottle to match lozenge colors. let me know what you end up doing. perhaps i can help in some small way if you get stuck.

[robvd]

Thank you for your excellent explanation of this issue.
 I guess it will be wise to order some decal sheets to see what colors is used  on them and mix the colors for spraying the colors

With regards

Rob

[ALBATROS1234]

if you want but i spose i could do some color chips if you want. send me a pm.

[robvd]

Thank you all,

ALBATROSS 1234  if I did it correctly then PM is send. At least if I did it correctly I guess I am one of the few left who has a love hate relation with a computer.

Red Baron thank you for the tip

With regards

Rob

[vincentm]

I'm a newby in WWI a/c modelling, so I tried to figure out what should those famous "lozenges" look like a few months ago. I didn't want to simply rely on commercial decal sheets but make my own idea. So I collected information. You have a "translation" of the colors into Methuen references in some Windscok Datafile books. I got this result by coloring the pattern in a paint program:


The problem is that what is described is the color of dyes. But those dyes were translucent and the final color of the printed fabric would vary depending on the fabric's color. This could vary from light tan to medium brown, which means the end result could be totally different. I made experiences in my paint program, by making a tranlucent layer with dye colors, applied above various shades of tan or brown. This is an example:


Another problem I met when trying to print my own conclusions on clear decal sheet, was the balance of colors. Should the green be too bright and the blue too greyish, the plane will look rather green from a distance, and of course, same with the other colors. I agree that Aviattic decals look rather close from what my searches led me to, except the blue that looks a little too purplish to me. Here's a sample of the basic pattern I use for printing my own lozenges:

[Ian from Doncaster]

Just my opinion, for what it is worth, and this goes for any debate on colour be that lozenge, PC10, CDL etc:

The main issue is whether the modeller is attempting to reproduce a perfectly accurate historical model, or to make a model they are happy with as a representation of the original.

Both viewpoints are equally valid, and the research work done to determine the correct colours is invaluable. 

[vincentm]

Perfect accuracy is definitely a dream, an "utopia", moreover since no living pilot of this era remains, who could tell us what was "the real thing". We have only testimonies, descriptions, old pieces of printed fabric, and our imagination.

Another problem is that a single aircraft could look quite different depending on its age or operational history. At one point, it has been brand new with bright colors. At another, it has been worn and dirty (whenever it had enough flying time to...). So I would say, all variations are allowed and pleasant to see.

Also, when converting RGB images to CMY for printing, differences appear with some colors, especially green and blue for what I've noticed. And this must be the case either way (ie when converting from paper pix colors to digital images).

[robvd]

Ian an Vincent thank you for the answers.
I am striving for the most accuarte models but i also know that complete accuracy is not possible I guess but one can try  to achieve the best look.
beeing an airbrusher at heart I like to play with paint , I know that applying Lozenge will be a complete other challenge then making an portrait for instance.
But like I said I like the challenge and propably it will go wrong in the beginning but in the end it will look good i hoope and also I think that any damages in the colors during construction  will be easier  but once again I have to find out.

Thank you all foor the kind help so far

Rob