jinx46 Posted February 2, 2013 Report Share Posted February 2, 2013 (edited) Hello friends, I am posting an image which shows the real document that was sent to the French Air Force units for painting their aircraft. The document says 1940, but I assume these colors held true until 1945 at least. It was sent to me by a French friend, Roger, who now is an advisor for Heller, a company that has relaunched and will bring out fine kits. A few notes may be of interest: The color "chamois" was used on landing gear legs. The color "bleu nuit mat" was used for the interior of cockpits. Roger told me it on the phone it was almost black. My advice is to paint it a couple of shades lighter, for scale effect. I have uploaded the image to Photobucket. I will post the name of the site I got it from (if this is allowed) as it has tons of good stuff, color profiles, photos, rare old photos, and lots of things I have yet to discover myself. The link is here: http://mobmg.photobu...pg?t=1359831291 This second link below will give you a better view of the whole image, I hope: "Pour les couleurs camouflage français 1940" is what Roger wrote in his email to me. It means "For French 1940 camouflage colors" http://memorial.flig...r/nuancier.html Now if you search the links upwards and downwards on that web page you shall find many useful things, color chips, photos of real a/c, walkarounds, old photos, etc etc. I speak, read and write French, so it is easier for me but I think many will manage the tour with success. Click on "Home" at the bottom right of page and start from theire.... Good luck! I would like to add here that I posted this in a model forum in my country and they moved the color chips image to a post where a guy was asking for the color of cockpit inteirors, as a token of their isupreme ntelligence, thus depriving thieir members of the chance to spot the topic and the color chips, which I find of great use. I also find I cannot post or modify my posts in that forum for two days now. It might be a temporary ban, though I did nothing to insult them. I live in Greece but have studied in Portland, Oregon in the U.S. Best Regards Nick NB My first-link image shows half of what it is and I will try to upload it elsewhere and add a new link later to this post. Sorry for the bug... Edited February 2, 2013 by jinx46 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ClareWentzel Posted February 2, 2013 Report Share Posted February 2, 2013 Hi Nick, After I sent my last comment, I found this second posting. The hyperlink now shows eleven colors but the resolution is even worse - 150 x 240 pixels. Again, I would love to see a higher resolution version of the chart. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jinx46 Posted February 2, 2013 Author Report Share Posted February 2, 2013 (edited) ClareWentzel, I know and you are right. How can I pm you or email you and send you the original image so you can upload it properly for me? That would take care of it for the time being. Edited February 2, 2013 by jinx46 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ClareWentzel Posted February 2, 2013 Report Share Posted February 2, 2013 Hi Nick, I just sent you a PM with my e-mail. You can send me a copy of the chart if you wish. I think that I can get it posted. Note, your latest edit to your message listing the Memorial Flight web site shows the entire document very well. Interestingly enough, most of the colors are virtually the same as those contained in the old ABT booklet. Clare Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jinx46 Posted February 3, 2013 Author Report Share Posted February 3, 2013 (edited) Clare, I think it is the original ABT document because: First, there is a photo of the original Air Force service document at the top, with the fold-out chips on the right, and second, the text says "base sur un nuancier original", which means "based on an original nuancier", and therefore this is not the original,but the ABT reproduction of the chips. Teintes means tints in French, "nuancier" means shade variations in free translation (nuance in English is from the same root word, Latin origin). So you are right in your suspicion. Still, it is very useful afor mother modellers and restorers of aircraft and today I will call Roger in Normandy and ask about details for the chamois colour relating to the landing gear and report my findings. He may have meant the gear wells were painted it chamois and I may have misunderstood... Cheers Nick Edited February 3, 2013 by jinx46 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ClareWentzel Posted February 3, 2013 Report Share Posted February 3, 2013 Nick, The ABT that I mentioned was a company that provided after-market decals. The full name was Max ABT and I believe that they produced products in the late 60/s and early 70's. They were a french company and the French Aircraft color chart is the only one that they published to my knowledge. They are not the source of the paint chips listed on the Memorial Flight web site but they may have copied them. I note that the photo at the top of the page that you reference seems to have more than the eleven chips shown. Therefore, the ABT chips may be a copy of the set shown in the photo. I am sending you a scan of the ABT chips. You will note that there is a Chamois Brillant color listed. It seems to be listed for fuselage interior and cowling interior protection. Check with Roger on this info. Clare Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jagdtiger46 Posted March 21, 2013 Report Share Posted March 21, 2013 Nice link, thanks. This may come in handy when I do my Tamiya D.520 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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