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Happy New Year Everyone!
I am having a bit of difficulty locating a decent aircraft gray or Boeing gray in gloss to use for panels, coroguard, wing fairings, flap/spoiler trim, etc. Anyone have any suggestions as to where I could find something in the USA, since shipping paint from over seas is usually prohibited? I’m not opposed to mixing for airbrush or using a process to achieve the desired finish in gloss, i.e. using flat and then covering in clear gloss; I’d just like to find something that is accurate and pre mixed.
Thanks for the input!
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I’m not familiar with paint ranges in the USA but conventional wisdom has it that FS16515 (Canadian Voodoo Gray) is a close match to Boeing Gray. I expect you can get that in one of the military paint ranges although you may have to buy it matt and gloss coat it.
Here in the UK we have an auto-accessory chain called Halfords and they sell a paint called Racking Grey (UK spelling !) which is a close match to FS16515. It’s enamel, gloss and very quick drying. It comes in a spray can but it’s easy to decant it into an airbrush which I always do. If you have a similar auto-accessory shop near you it might be worth having a look to see if there is anything equivalent.
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You’re asking different questions. For one, word descriptions are basically useless. That’s why color designation systems are created – to prevent confusion. There is no such thing as “Boeing Gray” or “Aircraft Gray”. They could be any of a million different colors. The standard gray that Boeing uses on wings, nacelles, etc is BAC707 Gray. There is no other name for it. It is the same (for all practical purposes) as FS595 color 16515, which has been marketed in the past by Testors as “Canadian Voodoo Gray”.
Second, Corroguard isn’t a color. It is a mixture of a clear carrier with ground aluminum. The actual perceived color you see is highly variable, from very dark to very light gray. The real thing does have some metallic flake to it, but on a scale model almost any attempt to put metal into it is going to make it look like metal flake paint, which isn’t (to my eye) appealing or accurate. Unfortunately you can’t really get scale size aluminum particles.
Finally, BAC707 Gray is a very neutral gray (don’t believe everything you read about it). It’s best mixed (IMHO) from plain old black and white model paints. When aircraft go through D checks and are repainted, the gray that is used for the things you mention might match BAC707 or it might not. Also note that some airlines (Lufthansa and Continental/United) use a different color for the lower fuselage and nacelles, etc. It’s not BAC707. Also, age and weathering can have an effect on the color, as does the scale size effect. If you use an exact match to BAC707 on a 1/144 model, it’s going to look too dark to the eye.
HTH,
J
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I can only second what Jennings says. I work a lot with the UK based enamel tins from Xtra Color and all Boeing Grey / BAC707 colors or ADC greys appears too dark though they might be correct. In turn, and because I like weathered models, I use lighter grey tones and found Tamiya AS-16 to be damn close to what aged “Boeing grey” may look like. I compared AS-16 holding it against real aged Boeing planes and it was unbeatable close in color tone. However, I am not sure that is available in the US.
And almost every panel on the real plane feature different shades of that grey due to bleaching, weathering, repainting, dirt … so I found it most useful to identify a particular plane to model
and try to replicate all these different shades, panel by panel.Cheers,
Christian
Christian Klepp
Lightyears Landscape Photography
Where Geoscience Meets Art
www.christianklepp.comI think one has to decide if they want a near exact match or just close enough…..
Two close enough’s for me for the Boeing gray are 1. in enamel Testors Camoflage Gray and 2. in laquer Tamiya light gray primer. Both need to be gloss coated with Future
I realize neither is an exact match but they are both available in spray cans
Corogard is a different story. I’ve mixed/matched many paints and haven’t found one that I’ve decided I’m completely happy with. What with weathering and lighting the real Corogard can be very varied.
So far no one has told me that my grays or Corogards are “off” so I’m happy with them.
Ken
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Also note that the British have a military aircraft colo(u)r called “Light Aircraft Grey” which is a very warm, brownish gray, similar to USN Light Gull Gray. I’ve seen people swear up and down that it’s an exact match to BAC707, and I can state categorically, with 100% certainty that it most assuredly is not. I had an actual 4×5″ sample of actual BAC707 paint, and it comes nowhere close to the BS381c swatch for Light Aircraft Gray.
Another note – I also had a paint sample of the light gray that Airbus uses similarly to BAC707, and for all practical purposes, they are identical.
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