Been a very busy boy today. Not had any chance to model as I have been wrecking my brain over paint conversions.
As Many of you know I enjoy using Vallejo Paints, and with this being a
Revell Kit, I only get the
revell paint codes.
Having a little OCD where everything has to be spot on or it drives me mad, I have had a nightmare. Not all The
Revell No. go directly into Vallejo and also there is some blending of more than colour in the instructions as well ( Real Head F**K) But I think I may have cracked a crazy way of doing things.
I have basically created a small table with conversions on it. I have used 3 standards as well to help get matches.
Basic Conversions I have done:
Revell – VMC
Revell – VMA
Revell – RLM
Revell – RAL
Revell – FS
VMA – VMC
RLM – VMC
RAL – VMC
FS – VMC
VMC – VMA
RLM – VMA
RAL – VMA
FS - VMA
VMC = Vallejo
Model Colour
VMA = Vallejo
Model Air
FS = Federal Standard
RLM =Reichsluftfahrtministerium - the German Ministry of Aviation
By Moving
Revell into the 3 colour standards I can check for colour accuracy while doing the conversion. This in theory should make getting a close match to the real aircraft possible. In reality it show just how much colour variation there is between standards and that you will only ever get a similar / close match, Never a perfect match.
My Aim is to buy all the Vallejo colours listed on the conversion and make best judgement as to what I think is a good choice for the model by ways of doing colour test and swatches.
Here is the table : https://www.dropbox.com/s/73jf0vz85aea1fr/
Revell Paint Conversion Westland Wessex Has 3.pdf
Now for the really hard part, Matching those last few blended Colours from the instructions. The Interior Colour, Exterior Blue / Grey colour and the exhausts. Also wanted to find the exact yellow for the outside. I knew seeing as the helicopter was flown by the RAF that the colour standard used would have been British Standards. But there are a few types of British Standard, and I was unsure of what colours where used. I placed a few phone calls to Aircraft Museums and asked a few small questions.
What Colour Was the interior?
What Colour Was the Yellow?
What Colour Was the Blue/Grey?
To my amazement they came back with some exact names.
Raf Interior Green.
Rescue / Golden Yellow.
Raf Blue / Grey.
After a little looking I matched the colour names to BS 381 C. This information gave me the chance to match the British Standard Numbers out to Vallejo, But Vallejo do not use or show the British Standard in there Equivalent Guide, So I need to convert to RAL, RLM and FS so I could convert back out to Vallejo.
BS381 283 Aircraft Grey/Green ( RAF Interior Green) – FS 34226 or FS 24172
RLM 2
BS381 356 Rescue / Golden Yellow - FS 33538
RLM 4
RAL 1003 or 1017
BS381 633 Raf Blue / Grey – FS 26044 or FS 25042
RAL 5008
Armed with this information I did another little chart.
Chart here: https://www.dropbox.com/s/6qrk7395c5ptaiy/British Standards Conversion Westland Wessex Has 3.pdf
Notice how the rescue yellow matches out on both the VMC and VMA conversions to the First Conversion list. This is giving me confidence that I have found the right colours for the Interior and Exterior.
For the exhaust I just plan on using what ever colour I decided best at the time prob with a wash.
Having Spent 2 – 3 hours planning and writing all this out, I hope its correct and not to much of a head spin.
Looking forward to Making some colour Swatches and choosing the final colours now.
If anyone wants a break down of how I did my conversions please Pm and I will send the links to the websites and the information I used.
All The Best
Matt