Accurate Aircraft Paint & Colour Discussions

[Clint Mitchell]

Well I thought I would start the ball rolling. Any takers on some contributions? How can we make this work guys? I'm sure it would be good for everyone. It's good to have some RGB values that we can all trust and rely on (print and web) (Pantone manage it why can't we)? The current Simmers Swatches are good but some need addressing. I suppose firstly we could do with some discussion on how we can make this topic work for everyone? Any takers?

John you seemed quite interested?

Simon you would be a great contribution in all things RLM.

John, Simon, Jesters, GFR, Ronnie, Supah, Ugo, Grafiko, Otter, AC Pro, BlowHard, Gaetan, Grubby, Kakukk, Peter.K, Whikea, Vacajun, Wlad.FR, Santo, Logan, Zamex, Mclaring, Clave, mjag, ratfugal, Whiskea, RAF Loke,

And anyone I've forgot lets get this moving?

Come on gents.

Warm Regards

Clint

[JMSmith]

i,m in

[Ugo Crisponi]

Are we going to create a new color swatches? Looks interesting

[pkassak]

We discussed about it, and here it is...
I am in with my little knowledge

[gamary]

I'll contribute wherever I can, but I'm afraid I won't be of much help.

Perhaps we could start with an existing and simple colour swatch (meaning not RLM or Soviet colours primarily) and try to improve it?

[Jesters-Ink]

A gun each, all stand in a circle facing out, count out 10 paces turn and shoot . . . last man standing has the right colours, job done. Other than that, it would be like getting a load of rock music addicts to agree on the best rock band . . . But if we could pull it off, we'd be Gods lolol.

[Jarink]

I'm going to be pretty useless to this discussion as I hardly ever print anything. I think trying to come up with values for viewing on computers is nearly impossible as there is waaaay too much variation in how monitors display colors.

[GrubbyFingers]

I think the idea has great merit and could be very useful.

I have spent hours trawling the web looking for CMYK or Pantone equivalents. I can find plenty of Hex and FS equivalence tables, but not for FS-Process conversions. I have ended up picking colours out of my PMS-CMYK swatch book that look about right and using those values regardless of how it looks on screen. I don't calibrate my monitor or my printer, I just use known CMYK values throughout. I get a print I am happy with first shot about 80% of the time. Then it's just a bit of tweaking to fix the 20% I'm not happy with.

I steer clear of Hexadecinal and web colours completely.

I always work in CMYK mode so the process colour values work well for me. I work in graphics so I understand the CMYK colour space where RGB just does my head in! Using CMYK colour space is quantifiable, consistent and repeatable.

I'd be happy to share any colours I decide on but don't expect me to get involved in any debates about accuracy! It's like scale modelling: there are NO accurate or inaccurate colours!!!! If it looks right, it is right.

I agree with Jarink too that no two monitors will display color the same way so any discussion about how a colour looks on screen is pointless.

Grubby.

[BLOWHARD]

Interesting. I'm not sure how to go about it though. are we talking "true" colors, scale colors, both? Plus, what I use needs to look right under the layers of stuff I put over it, what I use might not look right on others work and the other way 'round.
But I'll pitch in what I can.
I don't suppose anyone here has an accurate way of getting an actual color chip reading? Spectrum analysis type stuff like paint shops use?

Just off the top of my head, perhaps the project should feature a range of color rather than a single definitive color? Experts in color can't agree on many of these colors we'll be dealing with, how would we do better unless we go a multiple type example?

[mclaring]

yikes,

doubt I can be much help, as colours are so subjective. having said that, yes it would be damned useful to have rgb settings for some 'standard' colours such as RAAF and RAF camo. perhaps thats a start?

Mclaring