The Colors of The Gomix/Fly Model 1/200 Titanic
Hi jkrenzer,
The colors of the real
RMS Titanic are seemingly a subject of endless debate and discussion, for example, the color of the funnels - the so called 'White Star Buff'. As there are no ships left that have not been scrapped up, no one really knows for sure. However, there are some coloring guidelines on the web, for example at TMRA - the Titanic Research and Modeling Association:
http://titanic-model.com/articles/p...Paint Reference Main Page.htm#white star buff
I made some preliminary Photoshop coloring tests, based on scans of the Fly Model Titanic sheets, when it was released, and this is roughly what I came up with for the funnels (the tubing is not color corrected, for a comparison of the original Fly Model Titanic):
Another difficult coloring decision are the pine-planked decks, which were made out of very bright varnished 'Yellow-pine' planks (except for the well decks, the poop deck and the forc'sl deck, which were made from another, slightly darker wood). Natural pine is very bright in color, a yellowish-green white shade.
The Fly Model decks are perhaps a tad too dark red-brown and a bit too saturated, so I did this somewhat brighter version, with which I am not entirely satisfied (it´s still too green in color - it needs to be less saturated). However, this is in fact the poop deck planking, which should be a bit darker than the boat deck and promenade decks.:
Peter-Davies Garner´s huge wooden model has authentic wooden pine decks and they are a big help for selecting a color for the deck planking (see also next photo after this one):
This is the boat deck of Peter´s model, with the lower funnel color also visible (in bright daylight, by the way):
Then there is the 'Red Lead' rust-protective hull color below the waterline. The original color was very dark brownish red, whereas on the Fly Model sheets it´s a bit pinkish red, very heavily saturated and much too bright. I tried to darken the color a bit (see X-marked area), but I believe it should be darker still and more rust-brown (and also less saturated):
My biggest problem is now that I have no A3 size scanner, in which to fit the big Fly Model sheets for color corrections. So, I have to save up some money for this and other larger projects.
Will you be using the 1/192 scale photo-etched brass 'RMS Titanic Rails Set' from Tom´s Modelworks? These sheets are amazing in detail - scroll down for Tom´s Modelworks - the big sheet looks just like the smaller 3511 rails version:
http://rivetcounter.txc.net.au/Tutorial/Alteration_Pages/06Support_Products.html
I look forward to seeing your continued work on the boats, the triple screws, the poop deck bridge and the railings. You have really performed wonders so far.
Keep up the good work!
All the best,
Bengt :thumb:
