plasticutter Posted September 27, 2016 Report Posted September 27, 2016 Am building the Hasagawa 1/48 Draken kit, and want to do it as an Acro Delta. Have the Two Bobs decal set for it, but the problem is painting the vertical stabilizer the same shade of light blue as the national insignia! Testors light blue enamel (in the square 1/4 oz. bottle) is close, but seems (to MY Mk.1 eyes) to be a little darker than the blue in the national insignia. Question is, how much should I lighten it, and should I use white to do so? I hate color mixing, but it seems I've got no other option for this! Thanks for any help!
ghodges Posted September 27, 2016 Report Posted September 27, 2016 I just ran into the same problem on my German F-104J, trying to match the blue checks in order to touch them up in spots. I'm surprised that the TwoBobs decal sheet doesn't recommend a specific brand/color of paint for the fin in order to match their printing. If they didn't, they should have! First, if you can, expand your search to other brands of paint you wouldn't normally consider, such as craft paints and oil paints at Walmart and/or your local art store. Take the decal sheet with you and see if you can find a color that looks like an exact match to your eye. Second, if you have to mix to match, I recommend the following: grab as many empty soda bottle caps as you can find. Use those to do your mixing in. IF you have pipettes or eye droppers, those would be very helpful too. Always start with a half cap of your base blue color. I recommend using gloss white to lighten the mix. This should lighten it without "graying" it. Add 2-3 drops of white, mix it with a toothpick, and then apply a drop of the new lighter mix to a piece of plain white copy paper. Compare that to both a drop of the original color as well as you decal color. Keep working at it, adding no more than 1-2 drops of white at a time, and keeping track of how many drops you've added overall. If and when you get a match acceptable to you, keep in mind that if you're going to airbrush it on the fin, that may change the hue a bit. If you apply a heavy coat of paint, it may be a bit darker than you want. Also, if you apply it over plain gray plastic or primer, it may not be light enough or bright enough. Remember, you matched it on white piece of paper, so if you can, applying it over white primer might give you the best result. Best of luck! Hopefully someone else will chime in with a better method or an answer to the exact paint you need! GIL 1
cbush Posted September 28, 2016 Report Posted September 28, 2016 I test colors on plastic spoons. If your model is primed, use the same primer on the spoon. Cheap, and avoids messing up your model. This is a car modeler trick I learned from Dr Cranky. You can find his videos on YouTube. HTH.
plasticutter Posted September 28, 2016 Author Report Posted September 28, 2016 Thanks for the replies. I thought I may have to do a mix, as Gil suggested, but was 'hoping' that I wouldn't have to go that route!
Gromit801 Posted October 1, 2016 Report Posted October 1, 2016 If you know a graphic artist, compare the decal to a Pantone wand. Might be easier to cross over.
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