Battleship Grey

[Floyd SimonParticipant @floydsimon93997]

Hi,

Does anyone know the correct paint code for the ministry of defences battleship grey?

There are a few coming up but i want the genuine "as used" by the MOD, not other peoples versions of it.

Thank you.

[Floyd SimonParticipant @floydsimon93997]

[Bill PudneyParticipant @billpudney37759]

Now there's a can of worms!!

Stand by for a surprise, it's probably not called "battleship grey". Also "standard" colours have probably changed over time so if you are looking for the historically correct colour it would be worthwhile adding a date, and possibly even a location (North Atlantic, Pacific etc)

Royal Australian Navy stuff used to be painted "Storm Grey", with a 25% gloss. The apparent difference between 25% and 75% gloss is considerable.

Best of luck!!

Bill

[Michael GilliganParticipant @michaelgilligan61133]

Don’t worry about the document title … There are three mentions of Dark Battleship Grey herein:

**LINK**

http://daimlerferret.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/British-Army-Green-Paints-by-Clive-Elliott.pdf

MichaelG.

[Floyd SimonParticipant @floydsimon93997]

Thanks chaps,

There is indeed version after version of battleship grey. Its all dependant on year etc etc etc. (as Bill rightly suggests)

I have short listed a few versions that i like. Probably BS381c 676 or 677 at the moment.

[Floyd SimonParticipant @floydsimon93997]

I was originally after the correct paint codes for Samsonia Vices (the cast steel version monsters). I believe it was some kind of plum colour but after hours upon hours of trawling, I could never find it. I also have a few Parkinson Handy vices. These are red (one of them still has the original paint). I have managed to match the red due to that vice. My Parkinson table vice also has the same original red paint which is the same used on the Handy vices.

Anyway, to cut a long story short, i want to coat my 2 restoration vices with battleship grey, a colour I have liked since a kid and also nice and neutral. A tin of this will also be going on my restoration of my Q and S donkey saw.

BTW, I have a "thing" for vices, especially (but not limited to) Parkinson vices!!

[Ron LadenParticipant @ronladen17547]

The company I worked for made equipment for the navy and the colour spec given to us by the MOD was BS381C 697, they know it as Light Admiralty Grey, stuck in my mind as I always had a tin of touch up on my bench.

That's current of course, don't know what colour if you go back years.

Edited By Ron Laden on 30/07/2020 07:13:11

[larry phelan 1Participant @larryphelan1]

First find your battleship and proceed from there !

[Neil WyattModerator @neilwyatt]

Humbrol?

Neil

[Michael GilliganParticipant @michaelgilligan61133]

Posted by Neil Wyatt on 30/07/2020 22:00:00:

Humbrol?

Neil

Do you really think that the MOD might use Humbrol, Neil ?

MichaelG.

[Floyd SimonParticipant @floydsimon93997]

Thanks for replies guys.

Ron, thats exactly the answer I was after! I like that shade too, even more now I know it is a "genuine" MOD used paint shade.

Paragon, here I come!

[Nick Clarke 3Participant @nickclarke3]

Dear Messrs Humbrol.

Please supply 35,000,000 tins of your Battleship Grey paint and one No. 6 artists brush ……

Perhaps not, but the Humber Oil Company were industrial paint suppliers in the past.

[Marischal EllisParticipant @marischalellis28661]

I read almost the whole of Michael G's Link with much interest Nearly 70 years on it seems so obvious!. I am sure at that time the colour of one end of a battleship was not exactly the same as the other end. or the bit in the middle. Colour sampling to exacting tinting standards is relatively new for us all.

I can recall a professional group going through much intellectual debate on a suitable grey for something and as it was eventually decided it was obviously the same colour as the lamp posts outside the window…..standard grey!

Best wishes to all.

[Neil WyattModerator @neilwyatt]

Posted by Michael Gilligan on 30/07/2020 22:08:25:

Posted by Neil Wyatt on 30/07/2020 22:00:00:

Humbrol?

Neil

Do you really think that the MOD might use Humbrol, Neil ?

MichaelG.

No, but they do good colour matches and they used to do larger pots of the popular colours – my dad painted a 12' long Warspite in their paints so practical for workshop equipment.

Neil

[Ron ColvinParticipant @roncolvin83430]

Just to tip another can of worms into the saucepan, there is the school of thought that a scale model should not be painted in the same shade of paint as the full size prototype. The reasoning being that visual depth perception would indicate that the colours used, should be made a lighter shade that is based upon the reduced scale of the model.

[Michael GilliganParticipant @michaelgilligan61133]

Posted by Neil Wyatt on 31/07/2020 11:09:44:

Posted by Michael Gilligan on 30/07/2020 22:08:25:

Posted by Neil Wyatt on 30/07/2020 22:00:00:

Humbrol?

Neil

Do you really think that the MOD might use Humbrol, Neil ?

MichaelG.

No, but they do good colour matches and they used to do larger pots of the popular colours – my dad painted a 12' long Warspite in their paints so practical for workshop equipment.

Neil

.

Probably true … but it does seem to fly in the face of the opening post.

MichaelG.

[Trevor Drabble 1Participant @trevordrabble1]

Floyd , Have you tried asking any of the model warship manufacturers such as say Deans Marine , Airfix or Fleetscale ? In addition there's also the Scale Model Warship Society . Trevor. 

Edited By Trevor Drabble on 31/07/2020 14:31:22

[Trevor Drabble 1Participant @trevordrabble1]

Sorry , that should read model surface warship association . DURR !

[Roger BestParticipant @rogerbest89007]

I think that the light greys are the correct colour as that is what HMS Belfast is painted. However my Grandfather worked at Shorts on the Medway during WWII, near to Chatham dockyard. the toys he made where painted a dark grey as I remember it, much like 677 Dark Admiralty grey. A much more menacing colour for a North Sea battleship.

I shall have to get them out. At some point they where repainted with a horrible green that I don't mind scraping to see what is underneath.

https://www.e-paint.co.uk/BS381%20Colourchart.asp

[Floyd SimonParticipant @floydsimon93997]

Sooooo many great greys!!

[Roger BestParticipant @rogerbest89007]

Its fashionable

[V8EngParticipant @v8eng]

There is a WW1 Battleship being restored, apparently they’ve found 38 colours (shades?) on it!

Link to the article here:-

Greys

Edited By V8Eng on 31/07/2020 23:38:54

[Gerry TParticipant @gerryt]

It's true that there are, as many have said, various shades of Grey used by the Admiralty over the years. Personally I've always admired the Dazzle paint scheme [Link]. I know Radar made it redundant, but still, its much more interesting than allover grey.

No idea what a Vice would like painted in that scheme though, you might have difficulty working out if its open, closed or even there!

Gerry

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