Paint Colors
A great variety of color schemes was used
on warships during the course of the pre-dreadnought era, but in general these
schemes tended to use similar basic colors. Many fleets used bright color
schemes for peacetime and more drab color scheme for wartime. Peacetime colors
tended to be black, white, light grey and/or ochre. Wartime colors were usually
some shade of medium or dark grey. Below is a table of the colors we use to
paint WTJ fleets, followed by more nationality-specific outlines.
| Paint
Type |
Usage |
| Manufacturer |
Number |
Color |
General Notes |
| Vallejo |
951 |
White |
Common lifeboat
color |
| Vallejo |
950 |
Black |
|
| |
|
|
|
| Vallejo |
862 |
Black Grey |
|
| Vallejo |
870 |
Medium Sea Grey |
|
| Vallejo |
991 |
Dark Sea Grey |
|
| Vallejo |
992 |
Neutral Grey |
|
| Vallejo |
883 |
Silver Grey |
|
| Vallejo |
913 |
Yellow Ochre |
|
| Vallejo |
967 |
Olive Green |
|
| Vallejo |
866 |
Grey Green |
|
| Vallejo |
821 |
German Beige |
|
| Vallejo |
872 |
Chocolate Brown |
|
| Vallejo |
898 |
Dark Sea Blue |
Used to paint sea texturing for bases |
| Vallejo |
540 |
Matte Medium
(primer) |
Used as undercoat for
paint |
| Vallejo |
520 |
Matte Varnish (sealer) |
Used to seal painted ship |
| Vallejo |
510 |
Gloss Varnish
(sealer) |
Used to seal textured
base |
| Vallejo |
400 |
Plastic Putty |
Used for sea texturing model
base |
| Citadel Colours |
61-17 |
Bleached Bone |
Common deck color for
most nations |
- Japan
- Peacetime: Black hull, funnels and ventilators with white
upperworks and turrets. Masts would be black or have black bases and ochre
tops. One to three white I.D. bands around upper 1/3 of funnels. Wartime:
Neutral grey (992) all over with top 20% of funnel black. Some larger vessels
had their mast tops painted black down to a point even with the black funnel
bands.
- Russia
- Peacetime: Most ships had white hulls with ochre funnels and
a black band around the top 25% of each funnel. Wartime: The Baltic Fleet
– including those ships which sailed to Tsushima – had black hulls
with ochre funnels and a black band around the top 25% of each funnel. The war
time colors used by the Pacific Fleet are still somewhat of a mystery. It has
been reported that they began the war painted a very dark cinnamon color. This
was probably meant to be the same black as the Baltic Fleet, but black paint at
that time was usually lamp black which can have a brownish hue. Later in
1904 the upperworks (funnels and superstructure) were painted a lighter color
and the rest of the ship painted a medium shade, giving a two-tone color
scheme. These last two colors were probably khaki and a kind of olive-drab,
both of which can be arrived at by mixing various ratios of lamp black, ochre
and white.
The color I've settled on for the Port Arthur squadron's
early war lamp-black scheme is one part chocolate-brown (872) to one part
black-grey (862). People who prefer a richer, darker color can use black red
(859) instead of chocolate brown. Or you can use a higher proportion of
black-grey in the mix – maybe 3:2 – for a slightly darker, grayer
appearance.
The colors I've settled on for the two-toned livery for
late siege Port Arthur ships are: Two parts olive-green (967), two parts
chocolate-brown (872), one part silver-grey (883) and one part neutral grey
(992) for the olive-drab hull and one part chocolate brown (872), one part
ochre (913), two parts silver grey (883) and two parts medium sea grey (870)
for the khaki upperworks. You can use German Beige (821) to avoid mixing
altogether, it gives a slightly darker, yellower khaki but it's very close. I
use olive-drab all over for the Vladivostok cruisers and khaki all over for the
smaller cruisers at Port Arthur.
Port Arthur Squadron - Custom
Colors
|
Vallejo Paints |
| SHIP
COLOR |
Chocolate
Brown |
Ochre |
Olive
Green |
Silver
Grey |
Neutral
Grey |
Med Sea
Grey |
Black
Grey |
| Olive
Drab |
2 |
- |
2 |
1 |
1 |
- |
- |
| Khaki |
1 |
1 |
- |
2 |
- |
1 |
- |
| Lamp
Black |
1 |
- |
- |
- |
- |
- |
1 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
- Spain
- Peacetime: Most ships had a black hull with white upperworks
(superstructure) and ochre funnels. Some light vessels were seen to have all
white hulls and upperworks with ochre funnels. Wartime: No special wartime
colors are known.
- United States
- During peacetime US ships tended to have white hulls with
ochre upperworks and funnels. The boundary between the white and ochre was
different in different ships, and often passed horizontally across major
features, especially gun turrets. So that the top half of a turret might be
painted ochre and the bottom half painted white, especially in the lower aft
turrets. Gun barrels often painted black. During war time they were painted
Medium Sea Grey (870) all over (except maybe lifeboats, which can still be
painted white with brown wash on top).
- United Kingdom
- Peacetime: Black hull with white upperworks and turrets and
ochre funnels and masts. Great Britain appears to have adopted overall grey
peacetime colors very early (maybe by 1903 or so). The black hull often had a
narrow white band just below its upper edge, all the way around the ship.
Sometimes (rarely, seen once on HMS Nile) the black was carried up onto the
upperworks as high as the edge of the spar deck, making the turrets black
instead of white. Ships on tropical station would usually have white hull with
white or ochre upperworks and ochre funnels. Wartime: Dark Sea Grey (991) all
over (except maybe lifeboats, which can still be painted white with brown wash
on top).
- France
- Peacetime: Hull is black with upperworks and funnels either
silver grey (883) or ochre (913). Boundaries between hull and upperworks colors
tended to vary widely, some placed very high on the ship at spar deck edge, and
some lower at main deck edge.. Best to find photos of actual ships. Wartime:
Unknown, probably a Dark Sea Grey (991) or Medium Sea Grey (870) all over. Some
sources quote French ships having a distinctly greenish grey, which is
supported by some builder's models still in existence.
- Germany
- Peacetime: In European waters the hull can be one of several
possible schemes: Medium Sea Grey hull (870) with Silver Grey upperworks (883),
or silver grey all over. Also, Silver Grey hull with White upperworks would be
another possibility. Other variations seem to have included white turrets (on
the Brandenburgs) and dark grey turret tops on the newer battleships. For
tropical service cruisers would have their hulls white with upperworks painted
Ochre (913). Unknown how their battleships were painted for tropical service,
which would apply only to the Brandenburgs. Wartime: Unknown, probably Silver
Grey (883) all over, which is what we use. An extra note on German battleships,
aerial photos indicate that their decks were noticeable darker, so a medium
brown or tan-earth would probably be more accurate than using the light deck
tan typical on other ships.
- Italy
- Peacetime: Typically a Black hull with White or Silver Grey
(883) upperworks. The transition between black and white could be along the
edge of the main deck, or sometimes down the middle of the amidships
bulwarks/casemates. The funnels and masts were commonly painted ochre, and in
some cases - such as vessels like Italia or Andrea Doria - the lower half of
the funnels would be white and the upper half would be ochre. In vessels with
superheavy guns, the gun barrels were sometimes painted black or dark grey.
Wartime: Unknown, probably Dark Sea Grey (991) all over.
- Austria
- Peacetime: As with other European fleets, a Black hull with
White or Silver Grey (883) upperworks and funnels. Unlike the rest of the
upperworks and funnels, the ventilators, gun barrels and masts were commonly
painted black like the hull. Turret tops seemed to be dark grey. Wartime:
Reported by Jane's as being Sea Green. The best combination for this seems to
be a 1:1 mixture of Medium Sea Grey (870) and Grey Green (866), although
straight Grey Green also works while giving a greener but darker
appearance.
- China
- Peacetime: Black hull with white upperworks and ochre
funnels. Wartime: Same hull color with the white and ochre painted over with
neutral grey (992).
Painting Tips
WTJ Naval miniatures should
be cleaned and primered before painting, but the primer should be a very fine,
high quality type like Vallejo "Matte Medium" which is a brush-on primer. Other
thicker primers will blunt the details of the models. Another option is to hand
brush several layers in the colors intended for final use on the ship, skipping
the priming step altogether. Remember, especially if no primer coat is used, it
is important to spray or paint a final matte sealer on each ship in order to
prevent loss of paint during handling. Our best experience has been with Krylon
UV-Resistant Clear Acrylic Coating, which routinely leave good flat seals.
Before primering and painting, raw pewter castings should be cleaned under
running water with a soft brush, mainly to remove remnants of any mold release
that might cause beading and general lack of adhesion.
The best way to
hold the ships while painting them is to mount them on a wooden ice-cream spoon
using adhesive mini-dots, both of which are available at crafts stores. One or
two mini-dots will hold a casting firmly in place until it is completed, at
which time it can be pulled off, leaving the adhesive dot attached to the
wooden spoon. Make sure to leave part of the ship's bow or stern hanging off
the end of the holder, otherwise it may be difficult to remove.
Base and Mounting Tips
Typical base sizes used for 1/3000 scale WTJ
Naval are in the 50mm x 20mm range for many battleships; 45mm x 15mm for medium
cruisers and 40mm x 12mm or smaller for lighter ships. Lengths and widths may
vary slightly. For example large armored cruisers like Powerful will use 60mm x
20mm bases, and long, slender cruisers like Dupuy de Lome will use 50mm x 15mm
bases.
Most common base materials are styrene plastic, balsa wood and
sheet metal. The easiest to work with is .020" sheet styrene, which cuts easily
and remains flat during gluing and texturing. Plastic Putty can be applied with
an artist's spatula or orangewood stick to give a realistic looking sea-surface
texture on the top of the base. Paint the dried putty surface dark sea blue and
seal it with a gloss sealer. Use white paint both before or after sealing to
add the foaming water at the ship's waterline.
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