US Navy haze grey

Not being snarky, but not for a very long time. I use a lot of etched brass, which needs to be painted. A little filler putty here and there. And I scratch build some little bits, so even if its just a little cylinder of sprue replacing a half round dimple, it shows.

That said, it can be just fine to spray the whole thing gray from a can and call it a day. Esp. modern ships.

The main problem with the bare approach is that the plastic will look like... plastic. The tone, sheen, etc. of the bare plastic will not look good at all. Even if it’s fairly close to the color desired. Even just using basic Testors square bottle paints, of which their Flat Gray is fairly close to Neutral Gray/Haze Gray, is better than staying with bare plastic. 

This is a somewhat compicated question.

First off, just what is "Haze Gray" depends heavily on "when" you are asking about.

The pre-1939 color is significantly lighter thhan after (and there were at least two variations during the War.  Before 1920 (or so) there were differences in how "grey" Haze Gray was between Atlantic and Pacific Fleets.  Before about 1915, "Navy Gray" was a color closer to Panzergrau.  The "Haze Gray" formulation varied from 1948 to the 70s.  Specifications were made to Federal Standard refernce, at least until the arrival of CARC pain in the mid-80s and beyond.  (Modern USN ships, up close, resemble Star Trek 'Aztek' fnishes.)

Then, there's "scale effect" to consider as well.  If you are 12" from a 1/350 model, that the equal of 350'; 700' if a 1/700 scale, and so on.  This significantly lightens the colors, and changes the contrasts (this gets very tricky in the contrast between Deck Gray and Flight Deck surfacing--it's whiy I feel "oil canning" is for other modelers to see ).

That's the really technical side of it, at least.

On average, if you sue Neutral Gray for verticals, Gunship Gray for decks, and something darker for Flight Deck surfaces, you get a result that might want some modulation or filters, but makes for a bpretty solid base to work from.

But, that is only my 2¢

thanks guys.. yes im mainly talking about the modern stuff, LHA's , DDG , Nimitz carriers etc. was thinking hitting it with dullcote might make the original grey look decent , but you are right about the PE, it would most likely look out of place