would this be a crime?

They used what was available to them. No running down to the local hardware store and looking at color swatches and leaving with a few hundred gallons of paint. Black and white were often mixed with other colors to stretch the paint.
 
Wow thanks for all the advice guys, I had no idea it was in fact common to use paint on bulwarks.
BTW only doing the outside, inside will be finished wood
Have a wonderful modeling day,
Steven
 
I'm sorry to hijack this thread but Jim, could you post a picture of page 273. I want to read about removing names from ships:):)
 
Jimsky said:
No hay tal cosa como estropearlo. Prefiero una superficie de madera clara (sin pintura), varias capas de aceite de linaza o Tung harán el trabajo a mi gusto personal. ¡Me gusta este método desde hace años! ¿Por qué alguien diría que es incorrecto? Es mi modelo y lo construyo como me gusta.

Pinta el tuyo como quieras, a menos que sea importante lo que otros dijeron:frio:
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The slightly orange red you see on old ships is red lead. It was also used below the water line as anti-fouling. This is a twice-oxidized lead and has been used as a wood preservative since antiquity. It is available as a artist's color, where it is called "Minium," if you want total authenticity.

Please do not use this knowledge to fashion scale models of conflict vessels. Please build models that represent joy and production, not fear and destruction. Please do not show war implements to children.
 
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Dave Stevens (Lumberyard) said:
this turned into a great topic and i see it is more than an old wives tale, red was used and still used along with other colors.
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I agree--sounds like a rich subject for more research. I wonder if the actual colour schemes were also determined by (1) what happened to be available, (2) a colour that would make it lighter and easier to see in the dark below decks or (3) because of the reference to Ajax having different colours on each deck possible a way for the sailors to be able to tell which level they were on in the heat of battle?
 
Thomas, I don't think they ran between decks much during battle. except for the "powder monkey's". Everyone then. just as now in the Navy had an assigned station to man. "Man your battle stations".
 
You paint it any colour you like mate, it's your model and you are the one and the ones you live with who will be looking at it the most, whether it's historically correct or not doesn't matter a jot in my book as long as you're happy with it that's all that counts.
 
Bwb1cdn said:
I agree. I tend to vary the colours to suite my taste not always historical correct and I do like to use a dark red
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I have been kit bashing a Del Prado HMS Victory on and off for the past 25 odd years because as i became to realise it was a crap kit to begin with, and i want to to make it as historically correct as i possibly can with my ability and tools available and i've purchased more tools over that time, which has certainly made life easier and improved with the help and inspiration of other modellers and the work that they do, and sometimes i think we can get hung up on what's right and wrong and get so intense that we forget we do it it because it's fun, i think back to when i was a kid drilling a hole into an Airfix Spitfire, sticking a banger in it on bonfire night, lighting it and chucking out of a top floor window and watching go bang in mid air, that was fun, my dad didn't think so he moaned about the burnt bits of plastic in the garden (back yard) , i'm an awful lot older now and to have a first rate that you've built and can display proudly and talk about the history, workings and life of the ship and it's men because you've done your research, it becomes a passion, but let's not forget it's fun, if i can get a galleon for 20 quid i want to get my air gun and Thai dye it, give it a bit of ballast and set it off on a local pond on a windy day and see what happens, that'd be fun, it's your model do what you want, enjoy.
 
Before I retired my occupation was paint manufacture and colour chemist and during that time I done some research into traditional pigments and dye stuffs. The red referred to for coating inner works, deck fittings and gun carriages was almost certainly red iron oxide, a bit like the colour you see coating industrial steel beams these days. Bright reds, (the few shades that there was) would have been too expensive to use on large areas and would have been kept for decorations. The dark soft green that was mentioned, I suggest would have been a mixture of yellow oxide and Prussian blue, a pigment that came into being early in the 18th century and was the first quite light fast blue pigment manufactured in quantity. Other blues from around that time faded rapidly in sun light.
 
Jack Jäger said:
Before I retired my occupation was paint manufacture and colour chemist and during that time I done some research into traditional pigments and dye stuffs. The red referred to for coating inner works, deck fittings and gun carriages was almost certainly red iron oxide, a bit like the colour you see coating industrial steel beams these days. Bright reds, (the few shades that there was) would have been too expensive to use on large areas and would have been kept for decorations. The dark soft green that was mentioned, I suggest would have been a mixture of yellow oxide and Prussian blue, a pigment that came into being early in the 18th century and was the first quite light fast blue pigment manufactured in quantity. Other blues from around that time faded rapidly in sun light.
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1. You obviously have a wealth of authoritative and accurate information on this subject. Have you ever thought about writing an article for the Nautical Research Journal about paints in the 16th, 17th and 18th century? I for one would very much like to know what was actually being painted,what color and why.
2. I am inclined to believe that there is a wide audience for this info out there. The editor of the journal is Paul Fontenot. You might consider contacting him. I have to believe he would be receptive to some conversations with you.
3. I am currently building Ancre.com's version of L'Hermione'. I do not paint anything. I use the colors of various wood species for contrast (sometimes referred to as painting in wood). I have used "chakte viga" (a red south american hardwood wood that darkens and intensifies with exposure to sunlight) to berth the interior bulwarks. The color is apparently a lot closer to the actual colors used than I thought. Without your input, I never would have known that.
 
The “biggest crime” I see being committed in painting our models is using colors which didn’t exist in those days. Paints then mostly used organic or mineral derived ingredients and solvents which might be crude rum, natural oils, fats, etc. German chemists created colors by synthesizing them in the 1900’s. So (in my opinion) colors like fire engine red, titanium white, gloss black and more are not historic. Ship Modellers Shop Notes, chapter 11, has discussions about historical paint colors and paint components.
 
MikeC said:
The “biggest crime” I see being committed in painting our models is using colors which didn’t exist in those days. Paints then mostly used organic or mineral derived ingredients and solvents which might be crude rum, natural oils, fats, etc. German chemists created colors by synthesizing them in the 1900’s. So (in my opinion) colors like fire engine red, titanium white, gloss black and more are not historic. Ship Modellers Shop Notes, chapter 11, has discussions about historical paint colors and paint components.
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Agree with you 100% Mike. My biggest crime I see is using the wrong blue on ship models.
 
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