dh Hornet PR5

[zenrat]

Hopefully I've solved the paint problem.

I've ordered a Hataka Italian WWII paint kit, primarily for my 'Captured' S.77 model, but the set also includes Luftwaffe Hellblau as the Regia used that shade as an underside colour.

With a little mixing that should do the job for the PR5.

Which one?  There appear to have been two, RLM65 and RLM 78.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_RLM_paint_designations

[PR19_Kit]

Errrrr, ummmmmm........

I think it's 65, but any blue that's lighter than that blasted Tamiya 'Sky' Blue will do for mixing purposes.

[NARSES2]

Right I had a look at my set and that Hataka set has RLM 76, which is the late War "greyish, light blue", definitely blue rather than grey, but nowhere near as bright as the early War RLM 65

I got mine from a crowd called G Force Models in Wisbech, who seem to have decent stocks of the Blue and the Red label paints.

.

Thanks Kit. I've found the Blue range can be a little difficult to source in the UK, whence I've bought direct from Poland in the past.

[NARSES2]

Ah, I didn't there WAS an early war colour scheme, but then my knowledge of  the Regia is woefully inadequate.

Early War colours tend to be the Spanish Civil War and Desert War colours we are most familiar with. After the invasion of Italy they used more Luftwaffe colours as stocks of their own ran down.

[PR19_Kit]

So long as it's lighter than the Tamiya BLUE that'll do me. 

[zenrat]

This is what Vallejo call RLM 78.
Breguet 695 WIP 02-11-2020 by Fred Maillardet, on Flickr

This is what they call RLM 65.  Although conditions under which I took the photographs are not comparable it gives you an idea of the difference.
Bf 110 Sternschnuppe 013 by Fred Maillardet, on Flickr

[PR19_Kit]

I like the lighter one, it's almost smack on as it is. Maybe I'll ditch the Tamiya stuff totally.

[NARSES2]

I think RLM 78 was the light blue used on the under surfaces of aircraft in the Mediterranean theatre, RLM 76 was the light blue used in Europe and is slightly "greyer". But it's all a bit subjective.

The Hataka set you've got has 76 Kit.

[PR19_Kit]

The Hataka set you've got has 76 Kit.

It has, and it's DAMNED close to RAF Sky Blue too. 

They're big pots, aren't they?

[NARSES2]

The Hataka set you've got has 76 Kit.

It has, and it's DAMNED close to RAF Sky Blue too. 

They're big pots, aren't they?

Standard size for this style of container Kit, 17Ml. I like the ball bearing in the pot to help when shaking 

[kitnut617]

Kit, I don't know why I hadn't thought of this before, the light blue you're after ---- it wouldn't be RAF Pale Blue would it ?

[PR19_Kit]

Kit, I don't know why I hadn't thought of this before, the light blue you're after ---- it wouldn't be RAF Pale Blue would it ?

It's certainly close Robert, but I've not heard of that shade before.

It looks like a Humbrol tin, isn't it?

[kitnut617]

XtraColor Kit, tin X39 (could be now X039), BS172 RAF Pale Roundel Blue what it says on the tin. I've got a couple of them some years ago for a project or two. About the time that the Airfix Club subscription handed out a 1/48 scale Spitfire Mk.XVI with it. The kit that started me buying a few 1/48 scale kits of my very favorite aircraft.

The swatch the tin is sitting on was given to me by the current owners of AVM Robb's Mk.XVI which he had got painted an overall light blue.

[PR19_Kit]

Ah yes, THAT Pale Blue. 

As used on the washed out roundels on the V Bombers.

[kitnut617]

I had been in contact with the outfit that owns Spitfire Mk.XVI serial SL721, Vintage Wings of Canada, who had done a complete restoration of it. They went to the trouble of stripping all previous paint work from it, they took the aircraft completely apart to do it. They discovered some areas that were painted light blue which wouldn't have got painted blue with the normal repaint that the aircraft went through numerous times after Robb had finished with it. The colour swatch above that they took from it revealed it was actually painted RAF Pale Blue, not what is usually recorded as being the blue use.
The light blue in the AVM's pennant also has this Pale Blue so the colour was used before the V-Bombers used it.