Hi All,
A friend of mine is building a 1:35th scale US Navy Bofors Gun emplacement and wants to know what color to use. The kit directions don’t mention any color scheme. Preferably Tamiya paints if possible, thank you!
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Thank you Gino. Would you happen to know a Tamiya equivalent? I don’t do ships ( actually I did a Hornet Carrier and used Testors Model Master colors many years ago) and my friend is figure painter.
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Depends on what ship, where on the ship and what Measure (camo) scheme was on that ship at the time, measures change over time.
Example, USS Alabama
Or USS North Carolina in Measure MS-32 10D
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Thank you Littorio, i see there’s a few colors he could use yeah.
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Richard, your friend would best pick a ship and date but also know if that ship had twin or quad Bofors at the location for that date as there could be both on a ship at the same time or only one type.
Just to give you an idea this link to Snyder & Short website lists all the paints used on US ships during WWII
Paint formulas
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Littorio is correct. My recent trips to the Intrepid and Alabama show them in all gray only because the ships were painted all gray.
Intrepid:
Ah, get a good walk around so you’ll know what to touch up in brass.
Alabama:
Research will show they were indeed cammoed along with the ship. Easiest references to find are deck guns on US subs, although those are smaller
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Yeah I think Haze gray is a good start. Tamiya XF-66 plus white I heard as well.
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My friend tells me there is no color call out in the instructions. I don’t even know what kit he’s using come to think about it.
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Unless he is building them to represent a specific ship at a given time, I would still go with an overall battleship gray for a generic dual 40mm Bofors mount.
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I agree; he’s doing a full crew as well which I think was 11 for a quad, but he only has 9 lol.
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Note that the recoil springs and the area under them were heavily lubricated during their service. Those areas were not painted. The lubricant appears as a greasy brownish-black oil.
The paint on the conical flash suppressors at the muzzle would burn away quickly during service leaving a bare, gunmetal color. The hex nut attaching the flash suppressor to the barrel appears brass colored.
If he is making the gun with a shield, the exterior shield color should match the camouflage pattern of the ship. The interior shield color may or may not match the camouflage pattern of the ship. In the photo of USS Missouri BB-63 below, you can see the Bofors mounts’ shield exterior and interior color matches the color of the superstructure. This was common, but not universal. The color here is “5-H Haze Gray”. It is a medium gray (see paint chip below). There were actually two different Haze Grays in use during World War Two. One was a pure gray, the other had a more bluish tone, almost lavender.
Hope this helps.
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Thank you Steve those details will help with the painting/ weathering for sure.
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Thanks Stik, great pics
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This bottom photo would look great in a 35th dio.
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Indeed. I have some of those for my research when I build my Zimi kit, but did not have time to search yesterday due to studies. Even if we were to accept “battleship gray” as a default, the Navy even had several shades of gray, as Model_Monkey was kind enough to point out.
Richard, I’d highly recommend the Zimi figures for that kit to your friend as well. They are outstanding.
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Thank you Robert, he already has a set of fig’s from a company called Toucan. I think they are 3D printed. They look great but it’s hard to tell while they’re still on their sprues(?).
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My bad. Those are the same ones. They were sent from Zimi, but I think they’re part of the same company.
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