"Vallejo WWII Air Force and Naval color equivalency table" Topic

8 Posts

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weedsrock2	26 Jan 2017 8:41 p.m. PST
I have previously posted this in the naval section, but since the important update this time is air force colors I am cross posting here as well. I have updated my Vallejo WWII naval and air force paint equivalency tables once again. I have finally added the Italian Air Force colors. "Officially" this finally completes this project that I started about 9 years ago. Unofficially, I am always making little tweaks when I get new information. Plus I need to reorganize the US Air Force, Navy, and Marine Corps air color section. It is a bit of a mess because I started with the USN/Marine Corps air colors (naturally) and then added Army Air Corps colors much later. The two services settled on a common set of colors in 1943 and that is not clear from the way I did the tables. Plus there are some Air Corps late war colors missing because of way I did it. Anyway, still a project for another day! Updates in the January 2017 document: 1. I have finally added the Italian Air Force colors – Go Regia Aeronautica! 2. Added color mix for Royal Navy color B55 3. Revised some of the USN 1944/45 neutral gray mixes 4. Added Netherlands East Indies green camouflage colors (educated guesses) 5. Added Tashkent's "powder blue" color in Soviet navy section (another educated guess) Here is the updated link to the file: link Note: You can tell what version of the tables you have by looking at the footnote at the bottom of the page that lists the references. I have put my initials "MSD" and the date the document created there. I have always done that. This latest is January 26, 2017. Happy painting!
John Armatys	27 Jan 2017 3:01 a.m. PST
Many thanks for this – a useful resource.
Vigilant	27 Jan 2017 4:16 a.m. PST
Terrific work. Thanks very much.
Jeigheff	27 Jan 2017 6:27 a.m. PST
Thank you for sharing this with us. I admire the historical expertise and the eye for color needed to differentiate between many dozens of shades of gray, tan, etc.
weedsrock2	28 Jan 2017 12:14 a.m. PST
You are very welcome!
weedsrock2	04 Jul 2019 8:22 p.m. PST
I have significantly updated my Vallejo WWII color charts again. In particular, I have added all of the WWII US Army Air Force and Navy/Marine colors and I have about doubled the number of Luftwaffe colors and updated the rest based on newly acquired references with paint chip samples. I have also added some of the newly revised Royal Navy colors that have been proposed by the excellent research done by the Royal Sovereign hobby guys. However, these are "best estimate" color matches based on their published internet documentation. I am in the United States so I cannot get the actual new Colourcoat paint samples that I would obviously like to use. I have also updated a scattering of other colors in the document. The new link to the document is: link Please let me know if you see any typos or errors. And I would always be interested in alternate color mix suggestions.
weedsrock2	04 Jul 2019 8:23 p.m. PST
Here is a "change log" if you are interested. Additions and changes to Vallejo WWII mixes – July 4, 2019 Royal Navy Added 507A/G10 alternate Emergency mix medium grey 507C/G45 alternate Dark Deck Grey B5/B15 alternate G5 Changed Cemtex (late war) G45 (1942) B55 (1942) G45 Neutral Tone (1943?) B55 (1943) United States Navy Changed Cavite Blue 5-S Sea Blue B Italian Regia Marina Changed Verde Chiaro Soviet Navy Added Medium Blue Grey (Northern Fleet) Changed Dark Grey Tashkent Blue Colors for wood decking Added Weather beaten deck tan Royal Air Force Changed RAF Sky Type S Middlestone United States Air Force and Navy/Marines Newly expanded and updated Germany Luftwaffe Newly expanded and updated Japan Changed Light Ash Grey – "J3 towards Ameriro" for early war Zeke Blue Black (cowling) Romanian Air Force Added IAR 80 colors Reference list expanded with new acquisitions. All references are in the personal collection of the author. --------------------- I guess I should add that I continue to update this list because I mostly paint WWII miniatures. I use the Vallejo Model Color paints because they are optimally formulated for brush painting, are easily thinned for airbrush, and there is a wide range of colors to work with. I have no connection to Vallejo either monetarily or personally. Disclaimer: I am not a paint "historian" or researcher. I just attempt to match the colors that other researchers and references have provided. With all the variation out there I often just have to make my "best call" on a paint color. Your mileage may vary. I would always be interested in hearing about alternative mixes.
weedsrock2	17 Jul 2025 7:51 p.m. PST
Vallejo 'upgraded' their Model Color line in the fall of 2024. In the process they removed about 30 colors and added about the same number of new colors. As bad luck would have it, about 40 of my color mixes in my charts used Model Color colors that were cancelled. So I have had to go back and work out entirely new mixes for those colors. In the process I also saw opportunities with the new colors that Vallejo added to improve some other mixes either by creating a closer match and/or using simpler mixes. So there are 73 mixes that have been replaced (out of 427) and I also added two new colors (one RAF and one USAAF color). The new mixes are in bold font. Note that I did not match the new mixes to my old mixes. I went back to my original references, paint chips, etc to make the new mixes from scratch. Let me know if you find a mix that doesn't make sense. As many times as I proofed this, it is so easy to transcribe a number or make a 'copy and paste' error. And if you think you have a better mix please let me know and I will give it a try. Let's hope I don't have to do this again! I hope you enjoy it. Links are the same so the file name is still 2019, but the date on the document at the end of the references section is 2025. New link

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