WWII German Destroyer Color

There is a nice guide at the following address. The article is titled "Kriegsmarine U-Boat Colors and Markings" by Dougie Martindale, but it gets into surface ships as well. I just did a search under the title of the article and it came right up.

Also, you could try the Lifecolors Kriegsmarine paints available at Pacific Front Hobbies online, the naval wing of Freetime Hobbies.

www.artitec.nl/downloads/instructions/uboat/uboat...

Bill

I think I should have said "air" not oxygen.

What I do is mix up a sizable batch of my mixture paint into a pimento jar.  Mix it up real good, use it, put the lid on, and pop it in the fridge.  It can last for weeks.  I learned this trying to do glue-ups in my wood shop in the winter.  The glue just would not set up.  Things like glue and paint need two things to set up, heat and oxygen.  So deprive your mixture of both.

W

From reading the forum above it seems to me the hull and superstructure would be painted RAL 7001 and the deck RAL 7016, for which Vallejo says their 990 (Light Grey) and 995 (German Grey Dark) are matches.  Though the Paint Conversion Chart says Vallejo 870 (Medium Sea Grey) is a match for RAL 7001.  Model Master enamels 1725 (Nuetral Grey) and 2101 (Anthracite Grey) look to be good matches also.  Model Master acrylic Graublau also looks to be a good match for the hull and superstructure.

If nobody has any major contentions with what I wrote above, then that will be my starting point for painting the Z-39.

If you are going for something close, go with something a bit lighter.  Environment tends to lighten colors (chalking, bleaching, fading).  Not much darkens colors other than grime, which a wash afterwards may do better than a solid color effect.

No easy answers in this business, and even if there were, that would be no fun.

You are correct in assuming that a gray mix with no color is not going to be accurate, and for the question asked, you need to find the answer.

Here are the two best places to start in WW2 ship modeling color references.

www.shipmodels.info/.../viewtopic.php

www.shipcamouflage.com/colourcoats.htm