Bridge colour

[RumrationParticipant @rumration]

Hello all,

I'm building a pilot boat and am wondering what is the standard colour I should use for the inside of the bridge? If it is white(walls and ceiling) the is it normal to paint the ABS plastic as it is already white. The outer surface will be orange.

Hope you can advise please,

Regards Glyn.

[RumrationParticipant @rumration]

Correct colour for bridge internals

[BanjomanParticipant @banjoman]

Hello Glyn,

I have no idea whether or not there is any standard colour for these boats (I assume this post means you did go for the Aeronaut Pilot boat in the end?!), but if I had to guess I would suspect that that'd depend on country (Germany, Denmark, Sweden …) and vintage. White is indeed a possibility, but so might light grey be, or yet other colours.

How picky you want to be with the colour scheme of course also depends on whether you aim to build your kit based on a specific prototype, in which case you might want to do some further research, or just go for something that'll look good and generic enough to do — as would for instance white or light grey.

Some googling turned up this 2013 article from the Wilhelmshavener Zeitung about their (then) new pilot boat the Warnemünde, which looks quite similar to the Aeronaut kit, and which includes a photo with a (limited, but still) inside view of the bridge. It is not easy to make out what colour is used on the bulkheads, but at least one can see that the steering pulpit is bright red! The article if of course in German, but the photos speak for themselves: **LINK**.

In any case, I would say that yes: even were you to decide to have white bulkheads or whatever, it is most likely to look better if you paint them white rather than just rely on the colour of the ABS plastic. Otherwise, you will get a noticeable difference of structure between anything painted and not painted.

Mattias

 

Edited By Banjoman on 09/01/2017 09:37:59

[BanjomanParticipant @banjoman]

Some more photos — all external views, I'm afraid — might also be found at the website of the Dockstavarvet (Docksta Shipyards) in Sweden, where many of these modern pilot boats are built: **LINK**.

I also see from their website that they have several new pilot boats on order from Germany, and you could alwys try dropping them an e-mail to ask whether there is a standard colour scheme for the bridge interiors on German pilot boats and, if so, what it is … They will have no problem answering an e-mail in English, I'm sure!

Or you could even try to get in touch with the German pilot company for Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Lotsbetrieb GmbH: **LINK**. Again, given the international aspect of Pilot work, it would very much surprise me if they were unable to answer an e-mail in English …

Good luck and good information hunting!

Mattias

Edited By Banjoman on 09/01/2017 09:52:23

[RumrationParticipant @rumration]

Hi Mattias,

Thanks for all that info, much obliged. I will indeed email as you say, won't be a problem as I am fluent in German.

If I get a reply I will let you know the result. You are also correct I did plump for the Aeronaut kit in the end. It's a challenge, progress is slow, but no mistakes yet, as far as I know! I'm getting a lot of super support from a very experienced modeller, on the Mayhem forum. Who's building the same kit, but is way ahead with the build.

Thanks again for your help, appreciated

Kind regards Glyn.

[RumrationParticipant @rumration]

Mattias,

I did contact the boatyard in Sweden, here is there technical directors nice rely:

Dear Glyn



I will do my best to answer your questions.



The interior colors are much depending on the customers selection, so it does depend a bit on which boat you are replicating. However in general we are quite often using the following painting scheme:



Roof in wheelhouse: Black non-woven fabric

Floor: Plastic mat Tarkett Granit 283 Grey

Bulkheads below windows in cox position: Wood veneer Formica K7016 Finn Beech

Bulkheads in windows level and above cox position: Black paint or leather imitation. RAL 9005

Complete instrumentation panel: Depending on customer, for German Pilots always Red RAL 3024 otherwise Black RAL 9005



Roof in Pilot area: Non woven light grey

Floor: Plastic mat Tarkett Granit 283 Grey

Bulkheads: Wood veneer Formica K7016 Finn Beech

Window frames: Black paint or leather imitation. RAL 9005





Hope that this helps!

[BanjomanParticipant @banjoman]

Glyn,

That is great news, and indeed very helpful information! Unless you want to go for a specific, named vessel, you should be able to achieve a close-enough-for-jazz representation of a typical German Pilot boat interior!

If you want to compare the RAL references to available model paints, there is a smartphone app called iModelKit, geared towards the plastic kit community, that allows you to do just that: ifor RAL 3024, for instance, it provides a graphic comparison table with some 80 or so different brands of model paint! I use it on an iPhone, but I woukd be very surprised if it didn't exist for Android as well, if that is your flavour.

As for the Finn Beech veneer, you can find samples on the Formica website: **LINK**.

My favourite technique for reproducing wood in paint is to use oil paints! For an example of what I mean, have a look about two thirds down on page 6 of my Eilean Mòr thread here on this forum, where there are a couple of photos of how I painted the white metal steering wheel of that ship to look like wood: **LINK**, and on page 20, where I painted the jolly boat rudder and tiller in the same way: **LINK**

The technique is to first paint the whole object/area in a monochrome base wood colour, essentialy a td lighter than the lightest shade yoiu want in the finished thing. For this bit you use whatever model paint you haver to hand; I used a medium brown Vallejo Model Air acrylic paint here.

Once the base coat is dry, you get out your oil paints. Please note: these must be the old fashioned type of real oil paints that you mix with a turpentine based medium, and not the modern, water based version! You then use a series of very thin feather strokes with some sort of thin or feathered paint brush to put on small amounts of first the lighter bits and then any darker spots and swirls, and play around with those feathering effects until you get a nice wood-like pattern of the right colour. You can see some of the paints and brushes I use in the photo below. The odorless white spirit is of course for cleaining the brushes.

You will also find that you can be very sparing with the amount of paint you use compared to the amount of medium.

Typical colours that come in handy are various pale and medium yellows, siennas, umbers and the like. Any shop selling artist's materials will have what you need.

Now, the great thing about oil paints for this job is that they are very slow to dry, so you can really experiment to your hearts content, and play about until you are happy with the result. Also, if you mess up a piece, the oil paint can easily be wiped off with a touch of medium!

The drawback is that they are very slow to dry! Once you are happy with the result, you really need to give them at least 4 to 5 days, and preferably a full week, before you attempt to touch them again! But it really is surprisingly easy to get a wood effect this way, and thus, I'd say, well worth the week spent watching paint dry!

Anyway, I'm really happy that my fellow countrymen came up trumps and were able to provide you with the info you needed!

Good luck with the upcoming paint job and all that

Mattias

[RumrationParticipant @rumration]

Thanks for that Mattias,

I'll have a go at eventually, so thank you for all your help.

Glyn

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