"French hull color" Topic

I'm looking for recommendations as to the best color for French WW2 naval hulls and if available, the wood decks. My sources all show a fairly light gray for hull and upper works with natural wood decks that did not seem as faded as the holystoned US and British decks. I'm only focused on the early war French navy as the US and UK schemes for Free French ships are well documented. If possible, I'm hoping for a recommendation by manfacturer such as Polly S Ocean gray or Vallejo light sea gray. Thanks in advance.

UMMMM I painted my French WW1 ships Ocean grey. But added some white to lighten the color. I used Poly-S. Vallejo light sea grey has a blue tint and is much lighter in color vs Polly Ocean Grey. Wish I could be more of help. I also checked the internet but could not locate anything.

Thanks Larry. It seems in the black & white pictures to be a very light gray but as you said, the number of resources pointing to an accurate color are pretty slim.

Tell ya what. I will check with a buddy today and see if he knows. It will be later today or Sunday before I get back

Any help is appreciated. Between my sons' soccer tournament, playing FOW this evening, finishing some Peter Pig 15mm Old West and hopefully catching an glimpse of EPL on Fox Soccer – the weekend is committed and the French can sit in primered drydock a bit longer.

"the French can sit in primered drydock a bit longer."

A-ha! I like gamers who use historical deployments!

I've found this:

picture

Good luck, McKinstry!

OK. Here's another link. I Googled "Richelieu 1939" and got this:

picture

So, what's the verdict?

By the way, here's the site it came from:

shipmodel.ru/Richelieu.htm

Thanks Saginaw. I never thought the gray had such a bluish cast. I think a couple of Polly S colors will come quite close.

That first picture is unusual. I don't think it is the US MS-32 she was painted in post US refit but I don't think I've ever seen a reference to the French adopting a native scheme.

Glad to be of help, McKinstry. :-)

I've always thought that the pre-war Marine Nationale (French Navy) painted their ships' hulls a somewhat light color, judging by the numerous black and white photographs I've seen. I believe the U.S. Navy painted their pre-war ships' hulls haze grey, which photographed very, very light, and it does seem like most of the other world's navies also had a light-colored pre-war livery.

McK

I spoke with my buddy late last night. He tells me a light grey would be proper. But darker then USN pre-war.
He always just eyeballs colors since salt water has a habit of fading paint fast.

Wish I could be more helpful

LH

By the way. What scale of ships are you painting?

1/6000 and I'm one of the compulsively fussy painters that will put the correct color scheme including both the faded wood and darker corticene on my decks along with numbers and deck markings on the carriers, the red and white stripes on my Italians bows, all the various US and UK measures (Western Approaches white/green/light blue on my UK DD's), the German black and white splinter with varied turret tops etc. My WW1 Germans have the slightly two tone hull and upper works, dark gray turret tops and that white 'O' on B turret.

I primer them white and go a bit lighter in shade since such small ships show darker,black wash, dry brush and then put in the decks. I know that level of detail can't really be seen from table height but I know the detail is there and it works for me.

I was in heaven when I found Testors Marine Arcylic colors with the 4 Japanese base grays.

I totally agree with you, McKinstry. The Testors Marine Acrylics were the "bullseye" needed for naval ship painting. It was probably the first time I've seen U.S.N. Haze Gray in person, and their Japanese hull colors are perfect.

Not to mention the Navy and Panama Buff colors for those of us really into that white hull/tan upperworks pre-dreadnought livery that I think looks so good on US ships prior to 1905. My Spanish-American War 1/2400 US fleet is all in the tan over white scheme even though I know they repainted with gray the second the war broke out.

I'm trying to expand my WW2 French fleet, and I need to find out how to paint the DDs. I'm especially concerned about deck colors. Can anyone suggest schemes, or better yet, references?

- Ix

Re: WW2 French DD colors

Warship International (magazine) had articles on the large French DDs
known as "contre-torpilleurs". The 2 classes covered were the Le Fantasque (#4, 1974) and the "2400 tonne" class (later issue). Among other details, these articles described deck colors, including "wine-red" linoleum on the quarterdecks and around gun mounts.

A 1:6000 example can be seen here:

TMP link

The photograph of the model of Richelieu listed as 1939, is quite incorrect. The ship is clearly carrying the armament and other details of its 1943-44 refit in the USA. The French certainly didnt have quad 40mm in 1939…and in fact nobody else did either. The ship also has lots of 20mm singles and so forth. I would not put any credence to the colour scheme its painted because on emerging from the refit mentioned, the ship was in a US camouflage measure with a few French alterations.
I presume that someone has just guessed at colours.

I realise this is an old topic but I thought it was better than starting a new one. I have just ordered a small Navwar 1/3000 French WWII task force.

So I was looking for the colours to paint them. Some of these posts say the decks were "natural wood" and not faded like US and British ships. What colour would that be? is it a darkish brown, tan?

I followed these links for some nice models is the right direction for colour scheme and shades of grey?

picture
picture

I am new to WWII naval. Can anyone recommend any good resources books or website about the French navy and its ships in WWII. I have wikipedia'd the ships I have on order but some nice pictures or colour illustrations would be nice.

Thank you
Richard

Hi.

You could try here (lots of drawings, don't know about their accuracy though):

link

Regards,

Eric.

WARNING: the site link frojm Eric Noe above put "Downloader" on my PC, according to Symantic Anti-Virus
************************************************************

Hi Brother Richard,

You have (above) referenced 2 images of my 1:6000 French ships, from about 10 years ago. Some additional comments:

1) The greys in the images differ from those on the actual models, which were photographed with a film camera, digitized by Kodak, and imperfectly restored by me in Photoshop.
2) The greys on the actual models were educated guesses. My personal philosophy is to have different greys for each country, based on my references and what "looks right".
3) The "wine-red" linoleum at the stern of the DD is from the Warship International article referenced in my previous post above.
4) The deck of the Bearn image is probably wrong. There is a model in the Musee de Marine in Paris which shows a brownish color deck. See this TMP link: TMP link

Another comment on colors is that many navies (including the British and French) often used different colors in warmer areas such as the Mediterranean (usually lighter). The dark-looking grey on the Musee de Marine model, even assuming it is representative of the real ship, and even assuming it is reproduced correctly on your monitor, may not be universal, therefore. Best bet is to look at the evidence, pick something plausible, lighten it a bit to get "scale color", and go with that.

***WARNING: the site link frojm Eric Noe above put "Downloader" on my PC, according to Symantic Anti-Viru

Awfully sorry about that ! I wasn't aware of it.
I use AVG anti-virus, and it didn't pick anything up. I'd better have a quick scan of my hard disk !

Eric.

Eric,

It was one of the subsidiary links, btw, but I don't remember which. One of the "switches" on the left perhaps.

Richard,

The "2400 tonne" 1:6000 DD image makes it look as if the superstructure was painted a lighter color than the hull. This is not the case (bad photo); both are the same medium-light grey on the original model. Deck is a darker grey, except for the "wine-red" color on the quarterdeck.

Mark

Here's a link with French ship plans, which Symantic AV likes better:

link