For you Color and Paint folks.
I am old fashioned enough to just " Eyeball it" you know " If it looks right, it must be?" Why? Well I got involved with a retired Art teacher. She promptly pulls out a Good Old "Color Wheel". Out of Curiosity we searched various Sites and Hard places( Paint Stores) and guess what? there's at least forty different methods for deciding what Color( Base) or Blend is correct for a given object based on It's Size, Shape and Surface features!
If you do Armor, You might be surprised to find out your M1-A1 Abrams in 1/35 Should be lighter in Base Color than one in 1/16th Scale! Yup, and the same applies to Planes, Ships and the list goes on. Why? Well, remember, The smaller an object is the harder it is to get colors right. I have seen model Armor, Planes and Ships at contests and shows that were way to dark for their size.
For instance, on a Ship You might want to do the waterline down in say a shade of Rust Red! It would be correct if in some cases it was lighter than it comes from the Bottle and if It was representative of Before fresh yard time or Months at Sea! Same with a Tank in service. Dirt, Dust and just General grime change the color. It sometimes is very hard to make it look like it has seen service without using to many washes to get just that " Right " look.
Cars in miniature look funny in Glass smooth, Highly reflective colors Because there isn't a car made, as Glossy and Perfect as what some do their models in! Case in Point! Last show I went to, there was a 1/25 Cobra " Flat -Fendered Roadster, In Shelby Grey. It looked like it was made of old grey molten Glass. Not right for the scale! The paint was to thick and dark for the contours and size of the Model
Remember this, Light Reflects of color in a strange way. Why? Well, take some Sand tan. Now paint a circle on both dark and light primers. The color reflected in Sunlight looks like a different tone and color. Why? Look at the tan on the light base in the sunlight with a Magnifier. See the little sparkles? That is the light reflecting off the Pigment Particles. It's brighter and lighter because of the background. If you do the same to the color on the darker base, You'll see darker sparkles in the pigment because the dark base makes the darker molecules " Pop" in the paint. So!
You will have different shades of the same color from the same batch if you use darker or lighter base colors or Primer. This is a given in house painting, car painting and just color in general! Just remember there are color wheels or graphs that can help you make better choices. Try it You'll Like it !