Bluewavestudios

Looking every inch an SE5a now Grahame, can't wait to see her painted up ready to go.

Regards..........Mark

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Greyhead

I’m also looking forward to getting some colour on, but what colour is the question? The answer would at first appear simple; PC10, but that is where the problems really begin! I’ve done a lot of research and the only firm conclusion I’ve arrived at is that nobody knows what colour PC10 should be.

PC10 was not primarily a colour, PC stands for Protective Coatings and protection of the fabric from UV light, fuel and other contaminates was its main purpose. As such it was as much about the under coats as the final colour coat and more about the quality (ie proportions of solids to solvents etc) than the actual colour of the paint. Only later in the war as aircraft became more capable and any aircraft caught on the ground was a “sitting duck” the idea of using the paint as camouflage was developed but the colour seems to have varied from a fairly bright green through many shades of brown to almost black.

I did find a recipe for “PC10”; it was like something from Shakespeare


Seriously it had several variables, use this or this, and measured some ingredients in so many “handfuls” so it’s not surprising that the colour varied.

I’ve decided to use “Warbird Colors” from http://fighteraces.co.ukfor no better reason than it is a shade of PC10 that I like, an added advantage is that it’s water based, but it’s not cheap!

gilesfordcrush

Hello Graeme, I'm using the PC10 from the Warbirds chap, Im hoping to be spraying it in the next week or so. Are you spraying or brushing?

Giles

Greyhead

Giles

It was very rare indeed for any WW1 aircraft to be spray-painted so brush painting using a soft brush is the best method for a realistic finish. The under surfaces were just clear doped linen (CDL) and I’m still debating whether to use the “linen” paint or to “age” the Solartex by staining it; apparently cold tea does the job but I’ll have to do some experimenting first.


I’ve heard good reports about Warbirds paint so I hope they’re born out in practice, I like the sound of it; water based and fuel proof!

Grahame

Greyhead

In my reply to Giles above I stated “It was very rare indeed for any WW1 aircraft to be spray-painted”; I should of course have added the caveat “ to the best of my knowledge from the research I have done.” in fact that caveat should be inferred for any “fact” about the original SE5a that appears anywhere in this thead!

The Internet is a wonderful thing but it can sometimes be a case of too much of a good thing and you can get contradicting information. Whist researching PC10 all the references I found referred to brushing the paint but I also found a photo of an SE5a which appeared to have sustained some damage to the fin, the repair had the (silver?) undercoat applied and it appears to have been sprayed on.

So we appear to have photographic evidence of spray painting but there is no write up about the photo so we don’t know really what it shows, it’s just conjecture, the photographic technology at the time wasn’t the best so it may not even really be spray-painted.

I suppose, if you’re trying to reproduce the model as it would have been during WW1 and not as a restoration, you can do whatever you like and no one can prove any different.

alan2525

All this talk about spray painting - does anyone know when spray painting first became widespread?

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gilesfordcrush

I painted my SE5 last night with the Warbirds PC10 - I'll be posting pics to my build in a day or so. It is a little bit on the olive green side of things, but the sparying went well. I'm not very experienced with spraying, but the paint seemed easy to work with. The reason I chose to spray rather then brushing is although I want to make my model as scale as possible I also like a smooth paint finish! My brushing is very poor!

gilesfordcrush

Hey Grahame, I'm thinking of brushing on my linen paint rather than spraying - do you think a soft brush will help reduce the appearance of brush lines?

Giles

PS I've updated my build with pics of the PC10 - olive stylee!

Greyhead

Giles

I’d use a soft brush about 20mm wide and don’t over brush too much, the finish shouldn’t really show brush marks as such but it’s definitely not a “spray” finish. Don’t be too worried about the finish; remember that they didn’t have the filtered air painting booths that are used today! Your models looking good by the way, I can’t remember if I’ve already posted a link to your build thread somewhere in this thread but here it is anyway.

http://www.rcmf.co.uk/4um/index.php/topic,33284.0.html

Grahame

My experiment of “aging” the Solartex by staining with cold tea has failed; a great pity, I like to get away with using “free” materials! The fabric just wouldn’t take up the colour, perhaps it has to be a natural material such as silk, it’s a long time since I read the article and I honestly can’t remember details.

wonwinglo

Cold tea will not adhere to the Solartex as you have found out,this is due to the glaze finish,try using watered down artists acrylic paint,yellow ocre should do the trick applied very thinly,once applied give a quick coat of Krylon clear to seal the finish.
To thin the paint buy some acrylic medium,this is better than water as it will assist in adhering to the Solatex.

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