Royal Navy Dazzle Camouflage Paint Schemes?

[Captain Mysto]

Hello,
I've been having trouble finding any good sources online for RN Dazzle Camo. I know there was a great amount of liberties taken when painting RN camo, but was looking for at least a broad guideline. Also looking for info on which ships tended to be painted this way and which were more likely to only be painted in the normal medium gray coloring.

Also looking for deck coloring info. Which ships were wood, which were painted wood (if any) and which may have been steel grey or other possibilities.

Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

 

[Wulf Corbett]

I've been having trouble finding any good sources online for RN Dazzle Camo.

You and me both. There's a thread here called 'Deck Colours (and Colors)' on the subject, and a great deal else has been posted on the subject. I have a couple of books about it, one is by Almark Publications from sometime in the 1970's, the other, which I can't lay my hands on immediately, is, I think, by Clash Of Arms Games (and is annoyingly all in b/w with colours given, but not illustrated).

Despite, as you say, liberties taken with the application, there were DOZENS of official schemes...

Wulf

 

[DM]

Wulf's LAmark book is on eof the best references around. You could also try the following:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Warship-Camouflage-1914-45-David-Williams/dp/0851776647/sr=8-2/qid=1170096514/ref=sr_1_2/203-0526350-9651900?ie=UTF8&s=books

Finally there is an old Blandford book called "Historic Warships of WW2" which is good for camo schemes. You can often pick it up on ebay for a couple of quid.

 

[Fitzwalrus]

Wulf's LAmark book is on eof the best references around. You could also try the following:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Warship-Camouflage-1914-45-David-Williams/dp/0851776647/sr=8-2/qid=1170096514/ref=sr_1_2/203-0526350-9651900?ie=UTF8&s=books

Finally there is an old Blandford book called "Historic Warships of WW2" which is good for camo schemes. You can often pick it up on ebay for a couple of quid.

Also try www.abebooks.com. It's amazing how much money you can misplace in there. :lol:

I've had the Almark book for years: it's an excellent reference, and will also teach you more than you ever really wanted to know about color, chroma, and the principles of camouflage. Most of the schemes illustrated are B&W line drawings, but carefully marked and coded so you can easily figure out the correct colors to use. There are some color scheme drawings and paint color chips as well.

 

[BuShips]

Here is a link that will sell you authentic paint chips as well as possible sources for patterns to paint from. I'm not saying that most should toss off $20.00 US that would be better invested in ship models, but the info is there to use as you see fit.

http://www.shipcamouflage.com/royal_navy1.htm

ROYAL NAVY CAMOUFLAGE Vol. 1, 1939 - 1941, By Alan Raven, Published by WR Press. Soft cover Order No. WRCAMO1 Price $19.95
Vol. #2 1942 $19.95
Vol. #3 1943 $19.95
Vol. #4 1940-45 $19.95

 

[DM]

IIRC the "Warship Camouflage" book by David Williams includes tables at the back telling you which Humbrol paints to use (or in what proportions they should be mixed) to generate the right colours. I think this daya may be for 1/600 - colours for smaller models should be a shade lighter to get the same effect.

 

[BuShips]

Here is a link to some RN paint chip info if it is any help.

http://www.steelnavy.com/rnchips.htm

 

[DM]

Another thing to remember of course is that paint chips are a guide to what the colour was supposed to be. In practice new pots would vary slightly and the colours would fade (or in some cases darken) through aging. A ship tat had been a long time out of refit could look like a patchwork quilt after a time, especially if some of the paint had been reapplied. A modern example I know, but I worked on HMS Cornwall a few years back; her sides, supposedly "light weatherwork grey" were in at least three shades, whilst her nominally dark grey decks were in all shades from near black to faded grey almost the same as the sides.

 

[Kerrigan]

There are some nice pictures at these websites.. and I don't envy you the painting job this will entail at all.

http://web.mac.com/gesamtkunstwerk/iWeb/The_Poetry_of_Sight/Dazzle%20Camouflage.html

http://www.gotouring.com/razzledazzle/articles/dazzle.html