Victors and Canberra (Marham)

[LEBTowerGuy]

I have to agree with Dale, I believe I remember seeing them in the tan around the time of the Gulf War. The Jags and Tonkas were also painted in the tan color.

[delbydoo]

The hemp scheme was first introduced around 84-85

[DaleRFU]

The hemp scheme was first introduced around 84-85

I stand corrected. Learn something new every day

[Firebird]

Ahh this I can provide a little detail about.
This was a follow on from the grey fighter experiments. What we got told at the time was that the large aircraft were particularly visible on the ground even if they were camouflaged. The Nimrods were white upper body and were even more visible. The hemp seemed to make them less visible on the ground and so it was a measure for preserving assets whilst stationary.

It seemed like a bizarre thing at first but the aircraft that were painted in that were not going to be used in the FEBA environment and so camouflage whilst flying was less of an issue. Before somebody makes a valid point about the Canberra PR9s, you should remember that at the height they would be flying it also becomes less of an issue there.

Also as part of the study it was shown that the standard cammo for strike aircraft was very good except when they banked and then the Light Aircraft Grey belly was fairly conspicuous. This is why they did the wrap around cammo.

The Harriers they decided stood out more on the ground in Germany as they spent a lot of time dispersed. This was why they went through a period of being a two tone green.

[timbob1]

Thanks Steve for clearing that up, now I'm totally confused

[LEBTowerGuy]

I learned something new today, thanks Steve.

[John Young]

That was a nice piece of background information Steve. Thanks for providing it. I'm about 10 hours into the texturing at the moment and I hope I have the Hemp colour right. I found various RGB values published on the net, including the one derived from the BS389 number. None of them looked right when compared to a photograph of the real thing. I'm using RGB 182, 166, 144 that I got directly from a colour swatch, rather than published values. It looks OK on my screen but if anyone has a better recipe, I'll be glad to try it.

John

[timbob1]

Hi John, If I remember correctly, it's one of those shades which take on the ambient light, sometimes it looks almost grey from certain angles. Good luck mate you have done a super job.

[Chrisb]

John,

I have a Hemp as 207-180-157. It doesn't look too bad but I have two monitors and it looks different on each.

Chris

[jimrodger]

Weathering as well tended to make the shades decidedly different.
A few weeks out in the sandbox faded the hemp quite a bit.

Jim

[RKE]

The Brits sure knew how to design outlandishly good looking bombers. The entire V-series of bombers are drop dead gorgeous

[Firebird]

John if you get stuck/lost I have a good scheme for a couple of Canberras that somebody released. So i can send you a couple of bmps if that helps.

The Hemp is like the Barley Grey it does change colour according to how fresh the paint is and the lighting conditions. Which is presumably why they were chosen.

[wildcat]

I was at St Mawgan late 1983 and we had Hemp Nimrods there then,they even painted all the concrete areas hemp(ish) lovely chemical stuff they used for that,if it rained within I think 6 hours of it getting put down it would turn purple.

[John Young]

I'm really enjoying the challenges of this model and the real life information that is being posted here. "RAF Hemp" is definitely a chameleon colour, not withstanding different exposures, lighting conditions and the calibration of my monitor. Here's a few examples:



1. Simmers Paint Shop RGB 207 180 157
2. Photo of a Marham aircraft
3. Photo of a Marham aircraft
4. Photo of the Bruntingthorpe restoration
5. Photo of the Bruntingthorpe restoration
6. RAF Hemp BS389/ RGB 182 166 144

Swatch 6 looks OK on my set up, so I'll run with it for the time being. I'll post some sceen shots as soon as I have the first paint ready and you can tell me if it fits the bill.

John

[james84]

John, you should take a look at some modelling website.
Here is one where you chould be able to find reliable info
www.britmodeller.com

[John Young]

I gave up trying to use published values for "RAF Hemp" and just used my own judgement as to what seemed right, at least on my monitor. Here's the result so far:







Next job is Tvert welding. I'll then make the Blue Steel missile and an alternative sets of textures - camoflage and anti-flash white. Then it's knuckling down to the LODs and the remainder of the flight dynamics.

John

[DaleRFU]

That looks AWSOME

[Makadocias]

Great looking work!!!

[f4nutter]

that is beautiful

[daveh]

That looks magnificent John. Colours look good too - but I was never closer than a thousand foot as they flew overhead.