Mixing paint

[timgParticipant @timg12590]

Hi All

For my current tug build I need to paint the hull a certain green , I normally brush paint using Humbrol and Revell enamel tinlets (I can’t use my airbrush during the winter months ) but they don’t have the colour /shade I’m after.

Would I be better to mix the paint by added a dark green to a light green or white to a dark green ?

Any suggestions welcome

Thanks

Tim

[timgParticipant @timg12590]

[ashley needhamParticipant @ashleyneedham69188]

Tim. There is no method to this other than to mix some up using brush loads until you get the right colour, and then mix the appropriate proportions in a tin.

Dark greens often have a lot of blue in them, and lightening dark green, or darkening light greens do not give the same hues.

Its trial and error I am afraid. Personally I try and use a tin colour as later on when you need to touch up the paint, suffering from all that hard use on the pond, opening a tin guarantees almost a perfect match, whereas otherwise you will have to re-mix something, and that rarely matches.

Even if you are careful, over the years some repair will be needed just due to ageing, and you have the same issue.

There is something to be had in using acrylics nowadays, especially as they have improved vastly over what was available years ago in that in theory they do not age and change colour like oils. I varnished one side of our bare wood living room door in polyurethane clear varnish years ago and you can see the nice yellow mellow colour now, but the hallway side was acrylic clear coated, and to this day it still looks just like bare uncoated wood, as it did when originally painted.

White especially bad for this.

Ashley

[Chris EParticipant @chrise]

Mixing paint colours is a real skill.

It is easier to make a light colour darker than it is to make a dark colour lighter.

Remember those pots of water on schoolkids desks where it always ends up a muddy brown.

[Malcolm FraryParticipant @malcolmfrary95515]

Nearest match to a shop-bought tin any time. The only exception to that was back when Humbrol were ruining their reputation having out sourced to foreign parts where it seems that the paint mixing department was using the local colour blind. It's taken them a long time to live that down.

Using a catalogue colour gives a much better chance of getting a later match when the inevitable touching in is needed after a bit of real life weathering.

Oil based varnishes tend to oxidise over time, which causes them to gain colour, usually yellow-ish. Acrylics don't.

[Chris EParticipant @chrise]

Beware oil based house paints – particularly white. The solvent that they use has changed and whites now turn a horrible yellowy colour very quickly (or at least all the ones that I have heard of/tried do). Acrylics do not have this problem.

I guess all colours have the same problem but it is very obvious with white.

Colour change makes matching for repairs etc very difficult.

[Richard SimpsonParticipant @richardsimpson88330]

Whatever you mix make sure you mix up enough not only for the job you are doing but have spare for future use. Mix the paint in a paint tin so it can be sealed again properly.

If you run out part way through the job and have to mix up some more you will be very lucky to get a perfect match.

[Kev.WParticipant @kev-w]

I tend to stick to what Humbrol produce, but have found that for these pale & pastel colours, Tamiya acrylics have a better range.

Failing that, our local Hobby Store have quite a range of artists acrylic paints in handy sized tubes, for not a lot of cash.

[timgParticipant @timg12590]

Thanks for all the replies,

That would be just my luck not to mix enough lol,

Unfortunately I have already painted the hull in Revell 37 (red oxide colour more or less) so I don't really want to start using acrylics now.

As for mixing the paint I will only use the same make of paint, I do remember seeing what happend when my own kids have mixed paint and ended up more or less brown which is what I'm trying to avoid..

I will have a go over the next few days with different colours to see what happens if not like Malcolm has said I will use just use the closest colour I can buy

Thanks again

Tim

[Richard SimpsonParticipant @richardsimpson88330]

If I'm mixing paint I tend to use plastic pipettes and count the drops that go into the mix. I have always found this a fairly accurate method of creating the colour I am after, and repeating in the future if necessary.

[timgParticipant @timg12590]

Quick update

I have had a go at mixing a few different colours together this week and i found it very difficult to match or not as the case may be lol , pictures to follow soon

Tim

[timgParticipant @timg12590]

Posted by timg on 19/03/2021 18:46:25:

Hi All

Picture attached ( hopefully)

Just a few coats of paint to see what it looks like on the hull , pretty happy with the result, it does look a bit lighter green outside ( depending if the sun is out).

Thanks

Tim

[timgParticipant @timg12590]

Hi All

My build is moving along (very slowly due to it being silly season at work) looking abit more like a tug

[Richard SimpsonParticipant @richardsimpson88330]

The green has worked out very well and suits the model. I'm sure she will look the part on the water.

[timgParticipant @timg12590]

Thanks Richard,

quite a bit to do yet as most of the fittings are scratch built ( the hull is grp and bought a good few years ago ) I will post a few on the water pictures when it happens

[timgParticipant @timg12590]

Hi All

A few pics on the pond from a couple of weeks ago, now quite finished yet, a little more information needed on the steering components/deck fittings . I'm happy with the result so far.

Thanks for looking

[Richard SimpsonParticipant @richardsimpson88330]

She looks superb. The green works perfectly and makes for a really eye catching and unusual model.

[timgParticipant @timg12590]

I should have added the model / vessel details

The real tug

50ft motor tug built in 1963 by Drypool Engineering & Dry dock company in Hull ,for Gilyott & Scott freight company. She still operates up and down the river Hull for her new owner John Dean tugs.

The model is 1/24th scale , 27.5" long grp hull, most parts are scratch built .

I live in Hull and see the tug most weeks although she now has a completely different bridge after a refit a few years ago, which may be a future project .

Timg

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