Hi, I own quite a number of colors from Vallejo's Game Color series, but haven't yet found a tone right out of the bottle that approximately matches the tan hull color FFG uses for their larger rebel ships (especially the various YT models). They always seem too grayish or greenish. Could somebody e.g. with a larger selection of Model Colors or acrylics from other manufactorers give me a hint? Thanks!

Not sure you'll find an exact match in the GC range - might have better luck in the Model Color range, it has a greater breadth of subtle tone variations.

Don't have any rebel larger ship but just looking at images it looks like Model Color Offwhite (70.820) should be very close.

In my experience, there's rarely such a thing as a perfect colour match. You will most likely have to experiment with several mixes until you find something that matches. Give me some time and I can probably come up with a decent mix and give you the recipe.

Most retailers that sell interior home paints (walls, ceilings, etc.) have a simple spectrophotometer and software that reads the absorbance and calculates the correct balance of dyes to tint the purchased quart, gallon, or 5-gallon paint. You may be able to convince them to pin the ship model into the detector (aperture is about the same size as a US quarter to US '77 dollar coin) and get a quart of wall paint in the right tint. The process is non-invasive and poses no significant risk to the model...

If you do this:

1. Try to find the retailer with the newest or most recently serviced spectrophotometer (the light source destabilizes over time and its intensity is critical for accuracy)
2. Record it so we can all watch the staff judge you, judgingly
3. Almost no employees will know what you're talking about if you call it a spectrophotometer

On 2018-01-26 at 7:41 PM, ZealuxMyr said:

Most retailers that sell interior home paints (walls, ceilings, etc.) have a simple spectrophotometer and software that reads the absorbance and calculates the correct balance of dyes to tint the purchased quart, gallon, or 5-gallon paint. You may be able to convince them to pin the ship model into the detector (aperture is about the same size as a US quarter to US '77 dollar coin) and get a quart of wall paint in the right tint. The process is non-invasive and poses no significant risk to the model...

If you do this:

1. Try to find the retailer with the newest or most recently serviced spectrophotometer (the light source destabilizes over time and its intensity is critical for accuracy)
2. Record it so we can all watch the staff judge you, judgingly
3. Almost no employees will know what you're talking about if you call it a spectrophotometer

You know what, that's an even better idea. Saves you the hassle of mixing paints yourself.

On 1/27/2018 at 5:41 AM, ZealuxMyr said:

Most retailers that sell interior home paints (walls, ceilings, etc.) have a simple spectrophotometer and software that reads the absorbance and calculates the correct balance of dyes to tint the purchased quart, gallon, or 5-gallon paint. You may be able to convince them to pin the ship model into the detector (aperture is about the same size as a US quarter to US '77 dollar coin) and get a quart of wall paint in the right tint. The process is non-invasive and poses no significant risk to the model...

If you do this:

1. Try to find the retailer with the newest or most recently serviced spectrophotometer (the light source destabilizes over time and its intensity is critical for accuracy)
2. Record it so we can all watch the staff judge you, judgingly
3. Almost no employees will know what you're talking about if you call it a spectrophotometer

As someone who does this at an Aus hardware chain it's still going to be hard to get right as the wash will darken the result, or because you're going to need a flat area it'll probably need to be a large ship like a ghost or yt's ( if the sensor cant sit flat on the material scanned it lets too much ambient light in and the result is too light) . We typically tell people about postage stamp size sample, but to someone who knows what they are doing it'll pick up off a half or a little less of that.

As an eye match i'd start with the greyish colour (bone white?) and work up very very slowly with a muddy yellow and red? mix to see how close it gets. That said without know the exact pigment mixes it's a hard call on where to start.....

Edit: i'm sure i've used the old citadel bleached bone (from back when the pots were round and tall!) and it came out close enough you never notice, but i cant remember for the life of me what on to demo it.

Guys, thank you all for your help! I think using a spectrophotometer might be a bit over the top, I think I'll just try to match the hull color by hand and prepare a small batch in an empty dropper bottle.

Btw, pure Vallejo Off-White is not as yellow-tannish as FFGs "default rebel hull color", but might be a better starting point than the grey-tone I used before.

Vallejo Ivory is the yellow-tan step up from Off White (off White highlights Ivory)... For me, its Ivory with a watered down Agrax Wash... That gets me pretty close - even closer in Armada Scale.

34 minutes ago, Drasnighta said:

Vallejo Ivory is the yellow-tan step up from Off White (off White highlights Ivory)... For me, its Ivory with a watered down Agrax Wash... That gets me pretty close - even closer in Armada Scale.

Ohh... that sounds good, I'll have to get a bottle soon! Thanks!

Reaper Linen White seems to be pretty close, to me anyway. it has that subtle yellowish/tannish tint to it.

i realize it isn't Vallejo, but still...