Below-waterline red, what color to use?

Well I remember a U boat website I visited a while ago and the vociferous arguments going on there about the reality of waterlines on U Boats. The general opinion was that they did not have them? It does seem like something not really needed on a boat that spent most of its life totally submerged. If I remember the site I'll let you know. I think it was a link on that U.Boat PC game SILENT HUNTER 2

lolok, thanks for the reply. Actually, U-boats WERE painted a different color below the waterline. Some were painted red, and some painted black. U-boats spent most of their' time surfaced as the battery power for submerged operation was limited. It wasn't until the late-war U-boats like the type XXI's came out, that the Germans had a true submarine that could spend most of it's time submerged.

DJ

You can try Floquil "Tuscan", this is a deep red brown which by any other name would be called Maroon.

Sorry guys, no red on wartime Type IX subs. Some Type VIIs early on, but by 1940 the Germans had started painting lower hulls dark gray, upper hulls a lighter gray.

I typically use Tamiya German Gray and US Neutral Gray for the colors. I add some light gray to the German Gray, and a touch of IJN Gray to the US Neutral Gray to give it just a hint of blue tint.



Here's how it looks on my Amati 1/72 Type VIIC U-boat. I know, Amati doesn't make a Type VIIC. I converted it, here's the article:

http://www.modelwarships.com/reviews/ships/dkm/u-boat/TypeVIIC_build/amati.htm

Regards,

Jeff Herne
Modelwarships.com

Jake, thanks for the color ref. But I guess it doesn't look like I'll be using it on this model

Jeff, much thanks. I'm really disapointed with my Osprey reference book which shows numerous type IX's with red below waterline. What I was planning on doing for the upper hull was mixing Light Sea Grey with a little blue/grey added. For the deck I have Graugrun. Can you tell me exactly what colors you used for the below-waterling dark grey?

Beautiful VIIC

DJ

You know it's ashame that sometimes I can't read what's written, I knew what Jeff said, but I did not pay attention to the post, .......Woe is me.

Hey, I do that all the time!! I think it's called CRS... LOL.

I used Tamiya German Gray (aka Panzer Gray) with a little US Neutral gray added to it...about a 75/25 mixture of dark gray (75) to Neutral gray (25). It comes real close to the 1929 Munsell code I have (somewhere) for the color.

With regards to Osrey, well, I guess I'll just say 'no comment' when it comes to their ship titles. Another good reference are the pictures of U-995 in Laboe. There's some color photos on the net that are well done, ie., lighting is good etc. It's not really a matter of the colors being perfect as it is about the contrast of the two colors, the upper and lower. As long as the contrast looks good, you can use just about any pair of grays within reason.

Regards,

Jeff