Spray Paint (rattle can) for Interior/Cockpit green?

[Tony Ounsworth]

Sorry if this has been asked a gazillion times before.

I bought some Humbrol Spray Paint (85 satin black) for my current build, to experiment with. I don't have an airbrush, and I thought it might be a good way to quickly coat multiple parts neatly.

Well, it worked really, really well. Very pleased with the uniform finish on these parts (which will get a matt varnish at the end):








So I thought "Great, let's get some 78 in a rattle can for the internal bits as a base coat" - but this doesn't exist in the Humbrol range.

So my question is - do any companies provide a spray paint for interior green, or something close to it? I couldn't find anything, but my googling skills may be weak.

[fredk]

Look for Land Rover Pastel Green or Light Green LRC005 at a car accessory shop. This green is almost exactly the same as used on the very first Land Rovers which were painted with WW2 surplus RAF interior green
Halfords used to carry Land Rover colours

btw. as good as Humbrol spray cans are, for generic colours like black, buy the larger tins in a car accessory shop. I have matt, satin and gloss black in large spray cans. These cost me about £6.99 each for 3 x the amount in a Humbrol can at £5.99

[Tony Ounsworth]

Brilliant, thank you! I presume this will have no problems adhering to plastic?

[Tony Ounsworth]

Look for Land Rover Pastel Green or Light Green LRC005 at a car accessory shop.

Is this the stuff, and should I order the PIO matt variant? (PIO - Direct to rubber/ Plastic/ vinyl even tyres... no primer needed)

https://www.buzzweld.co.uk/lrc-005-ligh ... green.html;

Flippin' expensive mind!

[fredk]

NO! Thats a 2-pack paint.
You want an aerosol tin of acrylic paint

If you go into a Halfords, look for Rover Java Green. I'm not sure but it looks similar to to Land Rover Light Green.
If you/we can get the colour number Halfords or other places may mix some up.

[Tony Ounsworth]

NO! Thats a 2-pack paint.
You want an aerosol tin of acrylic paint

If you go into a Halfords, look for Rover Java Green. I'm not sure but it looks similar to to Land Rover Light Green.
If you/we can get the colour number Halfords or other places may mix some up.

Phew, that was close. Thank you.

My local Halfords has the Rover Java Green in stock for £7.50. Got to be worth a punt!

Thanks so much for your help.

[Tony Ounsworth]

I realise it depends on flash, monitor settings, etc etc, but to my eyes Rover Porcelain Green is a rather good match for this Spitfire Cockpit:

[iggie]

That does look a close match! I wonder if that's a refurbished Spitfire and they used Landrover paint?

[fredk]

It may be a match to the photo but I think its too light.
I've seen this argument before; a photo shows a light green colour so it must be correct, but the photo gamma has been lightened so that the true darker green is lightened along with all the colours and tones.
I've had to do this myself when I did car photograpy for magazines. I had to lighten the gamma to show the special fitting inside the car but the other colours were lightened as well.

[Tony Ounsworth]

Yep, I realise that a single photo probably won't be representative. Nor indeed will many photos. But I guess there's always a bit of a compromise between getting the exact colour that the aircraft would have had, and making your model "pop" or look like what people think it should like like (when actually it probably doesn't quite match).

Anyway, I did go to Halfords, and I did buy some paint. Not what I expected though. The Java Green was too garish IMO, reminding me more of Fairy Liquid than anything else (although thanks for the suggestion fredk). They didn't have any other Land Rover or Rover paints that looked right, so I just scanned the shelves looking for the right sort of shade of green.

Before I reveal the paint itself, here's the outcome. Given that my aim for this build is to get the cleanest application of paint possible without using an airbrush, I'm pretty pleased - there will of course be washes and further detail (inc my first PE parts), but this is where the base colour is at for now:










Very interested to read your thoughts people!

[fredk]

I think that is very passable

[Tony Ounsworth]

It is right? I know it's not perfect. But I think it is a good compromise between accuracy and speed, and the finish is much better than my previous hand-painted interiors. Now I can quickly move onto the bit I really enjoy, which is the detailing (that'll never be seen once it's all closed up, but hey - keeps me off the streets!)

[wokka]

Just to prove the point about colour shading changing in photos, I looked at the close up of the seat and then the general photo below it and they look different shades of green. There's always the case of different paint batches being used on the real things that also have different shades, if it's close enough it's good enough.

[JohnRatzenberger]

To be fair, testfit a few parts into the fuselage and tape it closed - then you'll see it more realistically. Probably be fine.

[Tony Ounsworth]

To be fair, testfit a few parts into the fuselage and tape it closed - then you'll see it more realistically. Probably be fine.

Yes, I'm at that stage in the build now anyway. Pretty pleased with it, especially once I'd applied a darker green as a wash and some metallic dry-brushed highlights.

Unfortunately I've made quite a mess with the photo etched parts (it's my first time), so the cockpit walls aren't as tidy as I'd like. Superglue everywhere, sticking to everything - and yet some bits keep falling off (like the strip that goes along the top of the side wall here.



I think I could have done a better job if I'd just kept most of the original plastic parts and painted them to be honest, but I really really like the seat belts so I'll definitely buy those as PE parts again. I could weather it all a bit more, but I'm trying to keep it quite clean, just to see how neatly I could execute this. Just a shame the PE application was a bit past my current skill level and I've ended up with Superglue residue everywhere. Of course at normal viewing distance it all looks fine.

Oh, and the rattle can I bought was Vauxhall Reed Green btw.