Paint Conversion Chart

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Robert, as I've already posted all of these "On-Line" color chart postings are nice but essentially useless as "what you see" depends on your monitor's settings, age, and video card AND your own personal brain/eye ability to distinguish shades of color. Color perception is unique to each individual. I really have no idea what you are perceiving when YOU point to something and say "RED".
So unless you have a set of standardize FS paint chips and a spectrophotometer to make comparisons it's all a matter of opinion.
At present I'm somewhat embroiled in trying to determine what the color DUNKELGELB actually looked like. There is a modern RAL number but even that has changed several times over the years. So like hand grenade school "close enough"
 
That particular chart was useful to me because it listed unofficial yet commonly used color names for some of the colors with the corresponding FS number which is useful for at least narrowing down the hunt for matching colors.

Something that often gets forgotten in our hobby is that you CANNOT use the actual colors that were used even if you had an exact match as color perception changes due to scale factors. Something Paul Budzik went into great detail over. These charts are useful in that since my monitor calibration is a constant when I compare a color from that chart to say a Tamiya color chart since I am comparing on the same monitor I can decide if they are a useful match.

So in that sense it really does not matter that color calibration varies as does perception since I am comparing colors on the same monitor. All we can do anyway is come to a close approximation of our subject, in that pursuit all of the various color charts help even though none can be considered an authority.

I agree with your premise but don't think it actually applies to model painting since we are going for close enough as opposed to actual exact matches. Even if color chips from the era still existed paint oxidizes and fades even when properly stored over time. And the pigments and binders from that era are mostly changed now and or hard to obtain. So any hope of an exact match is impossible anyway. You can perhaps match exactly to an existing sample but that sample itself is over 80 years old and will no longer be what it looked like when originally applied.
 
Robert Porter said:
These charts are useful in that since my monitor calibration is a constant when I compare a color from that chart to say a Tamiya color chart since I am comparing on the same monitor I can decide if they are a useful match.
Click to expand...
Splitting hairs as it were but no, not necessarily as the photo representation of the actual color chart may or may not have been lit by the same temperature lamp and the device taking the picture may or may not have been set to the same white balance.
Then there is your individual perception of the two colors and thus your individual judgement of a match or non-match, i.e., twer I sitting next to you I could totally disagree with you and we'd both be right.
Perception is not necessarily reality: On a nice clear night find the Big Dipper asterism. Look closely at the handle. Look closely at the 2nd star from the very end (or third from the bowl). What do YOU perceive to be there?
A GOOD pair of eyes will "see" two stars, named by the ancient Arabs astronomers (with good eyesight), Mizar and Alcor (in fact some star charts will only list Mizar). A not so good pair will see only one, BUT in actual fact Mizar is so bright because it is actually FOUR stars forming a quadruple system. This is a test, not of color, but resolving power but the point is Perception is not Reality
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I take your point, indeed even agree. But I still find the charts very helpful in making selections and searching for colors. Since we all can't custom make our own paints under lab conditions and verify colors with spectrometers and other gear we have to work with what we have, and to be honest for at least as good as my eyes are when I hold a bottle of Tamiya XF-7 up to my monitor next to a color from a chart also labeled XF-7 I cannot tell the difference. And so long as that holds true I am very happy.
 
B'zactly I am taking my color charts and going home! :mrgreen:

Close is the best we get in this game. There is a plant that makes fin's and other parts for sidewinder missiles here in Cary NC. One of the guys in our local club works there. Part of their contract is to use the specified FS color as defined in the spec. And yes they use all kinds of fancy tools to check the color, and from what he said no 2 batches, even from the same manufacturer are ever the same. They have to adjust the color every time they get a new batch in. And to make it even more fun if the painted parts are exposed to direct sunlight for much more than a few hours their fancy instruments tell them they have the wrong color applied. Which makes acceptance testing fun sometimes when the given inspector wants to be a tyrant about something.

Oh by the way George he said save your money on buying the paint chips. They never match the colors they specify anyway as they start to fade the day they are made. (Yes I realize you were joking ;)!)
 
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