Mixing Paint Colours - online tool

[Noel]

Before mixing paints using online tool like the one below can be useful to get an approx idea what colours to mix and in what quantity.  Mixing any of the three primary colours Red, Yellow and Blue can make any other colour.  When buying paints you only need to buy 5 colours, these plus white and black.

http://trycolors.com

White and black can be used to adjust the resultant mix if needed.  Paints that come in bottles with a tip nozzle can easier to measure a mix because you can count the drops therefore using smaller quantities rather than a scaled hypodermic syringe, etc.

When mixing actual paint always start with the lighter colour and add the darker.  e.g. Various mixes of Yellow+Red (+ tiny Black) can give every shade of CIE/IR orange or tan used over the decades.  Apps like the above just point you in the right direction.  You will have to try with real paints and suggest testing the mix on a strip of plastic card that already has been primed with a grey primer of your choice.  When it dries you will know if it works and you can retain the strip for comparison with future re-mixes.

Some of the forums talented air brush maestros like Richie, Popeye, Eoin, etc, can no doubt add more useful details on paint mixing and alternate tips from their experience.

Edited December 28, 2017 by Noel
typo

[Noel]

Vallejo paint bottles can be recycled as mixing bottles.  I didn't realise the top section lifted off which facilities pouring paint into the bottle.

[jhb171achill]

Very useful! The standard "green" above is close enough to post-1955 diesel loco and coach green.

[popeye]

The colour wheel is very useful.

And the only way to get a colour you are happy with is to mix it.

Unless there is a ready made paint colour that is just right.

[jhb171achill]

I have found the codes for CIE's original darker green and also the lighter "eau de nil".

Apparently, Vinny Byrnes of Santry and Ballyfermot can make it up. 

Dark body colour: BS 381C 226

Lighter shade for snails, numerals and lining: BS 381C 216

[Glenderg]

@Warbonnet @Garfield @BosKonay Please star the above post, under "mighty"  

 

[murrayec]

Here is that chart, BS 381C, there are a few other colours on here that the ref might come in handy;-

[popeye]

That's more like it. 

[jhb171achill]

Looking at that chart, the 216 and 226 that I was quoted don't look right at all. The EDN is too yellowy by far, and the 226 too dark - it's more like UTA green.

[popeye]

1 hour ago, jhb171achill said:

Looking at that chart, the 216 and 226 that I was quoted don't look right at all. The EDN is too yellowy by far, and the 226 too dark - it's more like UTA green.

Are you sure? i think the 216 looks ok, i don't see any yellow in it at all.

and the 226 looks ok to me.

[johnminnitt]

3 hours ago, jhb171achill said:

Looking at that chart, the 216 and 226 that I was quoted don't look right at all. The EDN is too yellowy by far, and the 226 too dark - it's more like UTA green.

I thought 225 looked more like it.

[Glenderg]

Looking at it now, I'd agree with popeye. I reckon that 216 should be 226 with loads of white in it

[jhb171achill]

3 hours ago, popeye said:

Are you sure? i think the 216 looks ok, i don't see any yellow in it at all.

and the 226 looks ok to me.

 

1 hour ago, Glenderg said:

Looking at it now, I'd agree with popeye. I reckon that 216 should be 226 with loads of white in it

 

2 hours ago, johnminnitt said:

I thought 225 looked more like it.

Could be the computer screens.....

Possibly best to look at original. What I might do is take a scoot up to Enniskillen some day.

I actually have a bit of metal at home here with the dark green on it. If anyone has the technology or something, to copy it accurately, please ping me and I'll make it available.

[Noel]

One of my colour test cards with various shades of tan and orange.  I tend to spray or hand paint test samples on top of the same grey primer I use on a models as it can have a significant bearing on the final colour.  You have to be careful with colours because even these test cards can look quite different under different light conditions and with different cameras.  White balance on cameras can really mess around with colours.

Edited March 22, 2018 by Noel
lexdysia again

[Noel]

Shades of orange - MM Mk2 coaches over the years. Interesting comparing the colours.

• LHS = Bachmann/Murphy Models Mk2a (more red in the mix)
• RHS = Murphy Models Mk2d IE (more yellow in the mix)

Edited March 26, 2018 by Noel
typo correct red/yellow lexdysia

[popeye]

So the question is, were these coaches different shades in real life too?

[Noel]

54 minutes ago, popeye said:

So the question is, were these coaches different shades in real life too?

I presume they were different colours based on reading past posts from folks like @jhb171achill , @Glenderg and others.

There was some discussion on colours here: http://irishrailwaymodeller.com/topic/3996-mk-2-supertrain-coaches/?do=findComment&comment=62728

Richie has done a lot of resprays of mk3 and mk2 so he is probably best placed to answer.  The thing is its impossible to tell from photos, varying light, white balance, etc.  Even photos I've taken of the same coach a day apart in slightly different light conditions make the shade of orange look quite different.  

Forgive the humour, but the mk2d coaches seem day-glo bright orange enough for a ground marshal to use.  

[Glenderg]

Ral 2011 is the actual MK3 "tippex" orange. It, however, does not scale at all well on the Mk3 models, has a real "bloom" to it. The shade as picked by Murphy Models for the 141/181 is the standard that I work to. Next time I'm out in HQ, I'll get the RAL cards up against a 181. There's pages upon pages of stuff on the effects of UV light on early paint as on MK2 and 3, deterioration of top coats, the effect of daylight, colour scaling, the list is almost endless.

There's a fair time period between those two produced models, both from two different manufacturers, and the trouble is the colour conversion system used in China (PCS?). RAL colours are interpreted into a native version, translated to models via airbrush, or sometimes coloured plastic pellets and the results can vary. A few weeks ago, Rapido Models, had to bin several thousand loco shells, because the other factory producing batch B, had interpreted a green slightly differently, and if you had a double headed train, there would have been a serious discrepancy. 

There is no "right" colour. It is a minefield that I cross, with what feels like a combine harvester at full pelt, at least once a month, and it's terrifying. 

Paddy's 181 - colour match that, you'll be fine. 

R. 

 

[popeye]

That's it. It's all down to what you are happy with.

[David Holman]

Only just found this and its very useful indeed.

However, before anyone gets hung up on colours, remember, not only is everything very much in the eyes of the beholder, males of the species need to be aware that our perception of 'green' changes as we grow older. Unlike females, whose colour perception remains strong throughout like - which enables them to delight in telling us the faults in our dress sense! So, if you want to know if colours look right - ask a lady, especially if the colour is green.

[Weshty]

those deteriorating cones and rods will get you every time eh?

[Noel]

On 9/4/2018 at 10:12 PM, David Holman said:

Only just found this and its very useful indeed.

However, before anyone gets hung up on colours, remember, not only is everything very much in the eyes of the beholder, males of the species need to be aware that our perception of 'green' changes as we grow older. Unlike females, whose colour perception remains strong throughout like - which enables them to delight in telling us the faults in our dress sense! So, if you want to know if colours look right - ask a lady, especially if the colour is green.

One of the things I've learned is that the concentration of pigments in different colours can vary dramatically.  When mixing colours always start with the lighter colour and progressively add very small amounts of the darker colour until it looks right by eye, not by volume of mix.  This is particularly true of Vallejo paints, Tamiya less so.  As you say the 'beholder' and lighting conditions can also be a big factor.

I've started using sheets of plasticard primed with the same colour primer I intend to use on models so when a test sample of a paint mix is applied over the primer one will see how it really looks (when dry). Hair dryer can be used on such test samples to accelerate drying.

[David Holman]

Sounds good to me. Another key factor is to paint with the same sort of lighting you intend displaying under. Flourescent tubes are terrible at leaching out colour if you painted under incandescent bulbs. I have both in my workshop and with just the overhead flourescent on, colours are flat and lifeless.

 These days, I exhibit with LED lighting, but again, there are various tones. I use a combination of warm and cool white, which seems to work well as a bright cloudy day.