Tamiya Paint Database – US Federal Standard Colours

Go check out a user by the name of “Casey” on Britmodeller. She’s been testing paints against official color chips using a spectrophotometer, and has arrived at some interesting conclusions.
 
Look here. This thread is about Vallejo.

She’s done a couple other lines and is working on Tamiya now I believe. This involves buying EVERY color paint. Of every line she intends on testing. Also, the paint chips aren’t cheap either - I think the book of FS colors costs around $800. And she’s got RLM and BS and probably a couple others.

Somewhere on the page is a button to open a description of her methods.

I believe this is the ONLY way to accurately compare paint colors across different lines.

Anyway, I’ve seen her in at least a couple threads come up with better mixes for a given color. For Tamiya. I think she has software that does it based on her measurements.
 
I'll check out what she's doing .
I certainly respect this type of inquiry but I always use my eye .
Even if you replicate an exact color on a 1:1 subject you still need to account for scale effect and you're at the whim of the lighting regardless .
One color can look 100 different ways with only very slight changes of lighting -- and surrounding colors .
You can't avoid the subjective end of color .

all this ignoring monitor differences .
 
urumomo said:
I'll check out what she's doing .
I certainly respect this type of inquiry but I always use my eye .
Even if you replicate an exact color on a 1:1 subject you still need to account for scale effect and you're at the whim of the lighting regardless .
One color can look 100 different ways with only very slight changes of lighting -- and surrounding colors .
You can't avoid the subjective end of color .

all this ignoring monitor differences .
Click to expand...

Some people think the scale effect is BS, and I really haven’t decided for myself. But there’s something to be said for knowing you have the closest representation of the specified color for its intended use.

All I know is all those paint converter apps are fundamentally flawed, as are the digital paint swatches provided on manufacturer’s sites. And by association most of the charts online such as Cybermodeler or Urban…
 
The scale effect is real .
The human brain is wack .

I don't even use Tamiya paints but I saw this over on Kitmaker and I know this is one of the most common paint questions .
The how to mix and match .

I'll check her out over on Britmodeller in the next few hours .
 
Don't buy it myself. A Ferrari painted with lightened paint to account for 1/20 scale isn't red, it’s pink. Color doesn’t change depending on how far you are away from it. Luminosity does.
 
Color is in the mind .
Luminosity affects color because that's how the mind works .

Why do colors look different when next to other colors vs alone ?
They are still the same colors , right ?
 
Yes but people’s perceptions are their own. Be faithful to the subject, not what you think people perceive. The color didn’t change.
 
" people's perceptions are their own " is about as axiomatic as it gets .

Are you a person ?
I don't think you understand what I'm describing .
 
I do understand, but I believe everyone’s perceptions are different. Focus on the actual correct color.
 
The correct color can be known based on what we’ve discussed in this thread. A color chip doesn’t care what size it is or how far away it is. But people’s perception of it are all over the map depending on lighting, atmospheric haze, how bad their eyesight is, are they color blind, and yes what the background is.

It’s pointless to try and compensate for that. Use the color you know is correct, and adjust for weathering if you wish.
 
" A color chip doesn't care what size it is or how far away it is. "
The color chip also doesn't know what color it is .
COLOR IS IN THE MIND .

Here ,
you said " Be faithful to the subject, not what you think people perceive. "
Isn't the artist also a person that perceives ?
So be true to your own perception not the subject ?
 
Authentic perception ?

Why does sheen affect color ?
Same color , right ? Luminosity doesn't affect color ?
 
Luminosity and sheen are additional identifiers of any given color. Color chips include those values as specified. How the environment affects the perception of color later is irrelevant to me, because as I said there are a million ways that happens. If you want to change the color for your own artistic effect then feel free. But sorry bud. My Italian Red Ferrari doesn’t change color just because I’m looking at it from 40 feet away.

This scale effect BS is just one example of “conventional wisdom” in the hobby that should be debunked - sort of like the idea that gloss coats are required before decals.
 
Yeah , never understood the clear coat requirement .

I was convinced you didn't understand what I was describing but now I'm convinced that you also don't understand what's going on in your own brain .
 

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