Humbrol French Five-Color

Written by:Shane WeierSDW@qld.mim.com.au

After my earlier mail on French 5 colour schemes drew little reponse I thought I might post something on the subject for comment (and maybe use) by the group members. Its pretty long and may be annoying if you can't get Humbrol. The following include deals with paint matches for the 5 colour scheme. I use them though I would prefer to use acrylics and may change some day.

WW1 French 1918 Aluminised paint finishes.

The following colour mixes are taken from those published in Scale Models magazine and Scale Aircraft Modelling since 1980. They owe much to the research effort of "Project Butterfly" and the efforts of Ian D Huntley.

The colours are matched to full size colour so may need some lightening, particularly for 1:72 aircraft. Also the amount of silver (No 11) added may need to be altered somewhat. I substitute a light grey of similar tonal value for part of the silver volume. This retains the colour while reducing the metallic effect to something more appropriate for a small scale model. Use less silver at smaller scales.

Colours quoted are current Humbrol numbers, however the original articles quoted the earlier Authentic range. There may be some variation, however bearing in mind the uncertainty surrounding WW1 colours they are fairly close.

Note also that the aluminised finish was intended to protect the fabric and was a shrinking dope. It was therefore not appropriate to metal surfaces and a different mix of slighlty different hue was used. It was however meant to be as close as possible in a different formulation

Dark Green (Verte Fonce)
on fabric surfaces

1 part 92
1 part 30
1 part 11

on metal surfaces

2 part 30
1 part 92
_________________________
Light Green (Verte Clair)
on fabric surfaces

1 part 92
1 part 102
1 part 90
2 part 11

on metal surfaces

2 part 102
1 part 90
_________________________
Maroon / Dark Brown
on fabric surfaces

2 part 29
1 part 60
1 part 33
1 part 11


on metal surfaces
2 part 29
1 part 60
1 part 33
_________________________
Beige / Tan
on fabric surfaces
1 part 94
1 part 72
1 part 90
2 part 11

on metal surfaces
1 part 72
1 part 94
_________________________
Black
on fabric surfaces
1 part 33
1 part 11 (or rather less, perhaps none)

The references conflict on whether the black was an aluminised finish.

Black was not
used on metal surfaces
_________________________
Jaune Clair  (Undersurface Colour)
on fabric surfaces
1 part 72
1 part 11

on metal surfaces
1 part 72

_________________________
Another (Early ?) version of Jaune Clair
on fabric surfaces
1 part 74
1 part 11

on metal surfaces
1 part 74
2 part 64
The following colour descriptions are the names used on the old Humbrol Authentic Colour range, matched up to the current day equivalent Humbrol colours. Therefore the names do NOT match the name on the racks today except by accident. Be cautious of substituting with another brand using these names since the paint companies colours are sometimes widely different
11   Airframe silver
29   Dark earth
30   Dunkelgrun 71
33   Black
60   Red
64   Medium Sea Grey
72   Khaki Drill
74   Clear doped Linen
90   Sky type S
92   RLM Grau 02
94   German pale yellow
102  Dark Slate Grey

Return to The World War I Modeling Informational Files page.