# Sticky  TOS Shuttle Craft - Gary Kerr: Better Paint Colors?



## Tiberious

I did a quick look and didn’t find any answers for this so I apologize if I am duplicating the topic. In looking at the paint colors on the new Polar Lights TOS Shuttlecraft they seem, to me, a bit vague. The colors are straight up Gray, Dark Gray, etc. I was hoping Gary, or someone else, might have better paint suggestions, similar to the paint scheme for the K’tinga, Testors/Tamiya rattle can and mix via airbrush options.

While I’m asking, has anyone seen an interior upgrade for this (admittedly) brand new kit?

Thanks,
Tib


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## lunadude

Tiberious said:


> ...While I’m asking, has anyone seen an interior upgrade for this (admittedly) brand new kit?
> 
> Thanks,
> Tib


Randy Cooper has an interior kit. He has photos on his facebook page.


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## John P

According to Randy Cooper (or was it Mark Myers?), Gary Kerr told him to mix ModelMaster colors thusly:
Medium gray upper hull:
75% Flat Gull Gray #1730
25% Lt Sea Gray #1726

Dark Gray Lower Hull:
70% Aggressor Gray #1794
20% Euro 1 Gray #1788
10% Wood #1735

Of course MM military colors are discontinued, so if you don't already have them, you may have a problem.
Personally, I hate mixing colors, so I'll probably find something "close enough"


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## Captain Han Solo

John P said:


> According to Randy Cooper (or was it Mark Myers?), Gary Kerr told him to mix ModelMaster colors thusly:
> Medium gray upper hull:
> 75% Flat Gull Gray #1730
> 25% Lt Sea Gray #1726
> 
> Dark Gray Lower Hull:
> 70% Aggressor Gray #1794
> 20% Euro 1 Gray #1788
> 10% Wood #1735
> 
> Of course MM military colors are discontinued, so if you don't already have them, you may have a problem.
> Personally, I hate mixing colors, so I'll probably find something "close enough"



It gets confusing! It was me. Randy cooper then came to me, and I gave him the formulas...All good!


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## Tiberious

Thanks, yeah I guess close enough will have to do, appreciate the info!


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## Tiberious

So now that we have a mix for the exterior (now I have to use my lousy airbrush skills ) do we k ow the interior wall color? Lacking an interior, I still want to have to doors open. Until an interior is made available 3rd party or a future kit, I’d like the interior to be close. Any thoughts on that? Seen some greenish hues but they don’t look right to me.

Tib


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## Tiberious

Seems Agressor Gray is spray only these days  grrrr!


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## krlee

That interior green reminds me of the green color that my old high school hallways were painted. There is also a 2 to 3 ft band of a tan color at the bottom with dark gray carpet. A darker tan color is also applied where the top of the wall curves over into the light fixture. The tan is completely absent on the rear bulkhead between compartments.


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## John P

Captain Han Solo said:


> It gets confusing! It was me. Randy cooper then came to me, and I gave him the formulas...All good!


Whoops - yeah, I read so many posts in a day, I can't recall who said what by lunch time.


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## Milton Fox Racing

Should this be made a sticky?


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## alpink

Milton Fox Racing said:


> Should this be made a sticky?



in a word .....
yes 

.


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## Scotty K

John P said:


> According to Randy Cooper (or was it Mark Myers?), Gary Kerr told him to mix ModelMaster colors thusly:
> Medium gray upper hull:
> 75% Flat Gull Gray #1730
> 25% Lt Sea Gray #1726
> 
> Dark Gray Lower Hull:
> 70% Aggressor Gray #1794
> 20% Euro 1 Gray #1788
> 10% Wood #1735
> 
> Of course MM military colors are discontinued, so if you don't already have them, you may have a problem.
> Personally, I hate mixing colors, so I'll probably find something "close enough"


OK, so my next dumb question is: Does anyone have any suggestions for suitable replacements for the ModelMaster paint colors?


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## irishtrek

Don't know if it's made any more but Krylon pewter grey(?) might work for the upper hull.


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## Scotty K

Well, I think I can answer my own question.









TRUE NORTH Precision Paints


True North Precision Paints, Oil Enamel paints created by modelers for modelers.




www.truenorthpaints.com





Apparently this company is making a lot of the enamel colors that ModelMaster used to make. They have the same FS colors available for all of the grays. The only one I couldn't find was the wood; I'm not exactly sure what tint that is supposed to be.

I've put in an order with them, so we'll see how it works out.

UPDATE: I found a LHS that has the wood, so that solves that problem.


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## Milton Fox Racing

Let us know how they work out....


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## Trekkriffic

Scotty K said:


> Well, I think I can answer my own question.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> TRUE NORTH Precision Paints
> 
> 
> True North Precision Paints, Oil Enamel paints created by modelers for modelers.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> www.truenorthpaints.com
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Apparently this company is making a lot of the enamel colors that ModelMaster used to make. They have the same FS colors available for all of the grays. The only one I couldn't find was the wood; I'm not exactly sure what tint that is supposed to be.
> 
> I've put in an order with them, so we'll see how it works out.
> 
> UPDATE: I found a LHS that has the wood, so that solves that problem.


i checked out the True North site. I didn’t see anything about how to order though. Sent them a message asking them about that.


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## mach7

Unless I missed it True north does not have a "wood" color. I'm guessing mixing TN and MM paints will end badly.
They have several browns that might work.


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## Seaview

I'm sticking with Tamiya Acrylic Spray paint; AS-16 Light Grey (USAF) for the upper hull, wings and back, and am seriously considering Tamiya Lt. Grey Surface Primer for the lower hull. Just for giggles, I'm going to build this in "flight" mode with retraced landing gear and red light for the rear engines.
Kater, after I get the Randy Cooper Interior Kit, I'll build it in gear down/open door mode.


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## Jparsons1980

Seaview said:


> I'm sticking with Tamiya Acrylic Spray paint; AS-16 Light Grey (USAF) for the upper hull, wings and back, and am seriously considering Tamiya Lt. Grey Surface Primer for the lower hull. Just for giggles, I'm going to build this in "flight" mode with retraced landing gear and red light for the rear engines.
> Kater, after I get the Randy Cooper Interior Kit, I'll build it in gear down/open door mode.


Look up John P's build on here. He used AS-16 for the top and AS-11 on the bottom and nacelles. I think those colors looked great on his.


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## mach7

I just bought John's colors today. They look great on his build. The cap tops look very close to my eye.


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## Scotty K

Trekkriffic said:


> i checked out the True North site. I didn’t see anything about how to order though. Sent them a message asking them about that.


If you go to their website, click on the "Paint Store" tab on the upper right side. Then scroll down, select the color that you want, then click "Add to Cart", and Bob's your uncle.


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## Seaview

Jparsons1980 said:


> Look up John P's build on here. He used AS-16 for the top and AS-11 on the bottom and nacelles. I think those colors looked great on his.


I bow to Masterbuilder Paynes recommendation, Tamiya ratttlecan AS-11 for the bottom it is!


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## John P

Seaview said:


> I bow to Masterbuilder Paynes recommendation, Tamiya ratttlecan AS-11 for the bottom it is!


I' master of nothing! I'm just eyeballing it.


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## Trekkriffic

Scotty K said:


> If you go to their website, click on the "Paint Store" tab on the upper right side. Then scroll down, select the color that you want, then click "Add to Cart", and Bob's your uncle.


Ahah! ! Thanks Scotty!


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## JeffBond

I used the same Tamiya colors for the exterior. For the interior green, Tamiya Gray Green AS-29 looks close to me. I've seen some greens in use that look way too bright.


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## Scotty K

OK I received my paint order from True North in the mail today. Took one week to arrive from Maine to New Jersey. They were packed very well.

From what I can see, the colors look spot on when compared to what I have of the Model Master colors. The Aggressor Gray was the tough one to find in MM. Also, as I had previously mentioned, I was able to locate MM Wood at a LHS.

I'm hoping to be able to do a test run this weekend to see for sure. I'll share what I find.


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## scooke123

Looking forward to the comparisons!


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## Milton Fox Racing

registered 🤙


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## irishtrek

The R2 blog has been updated with an article by Gary Kerr on the new shuttle kit.


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## John P

Link?


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## Trek Ace

Collector Model |


Thank for returning for this final chapter in Round 2 consultant, Gary Kerr's, history on the Galileo shuttle. A Brief History of the Shuttlecraft Galileo Pt. 5




www.collectormodel.com


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## Scotty K

OK so I had a few minutes today to do a comparison between the Model Master and True North paints. I took a piece of scrap styrene and masked out some rectangles to do them side-by-side. On the left are the MM paints with their respective numbers, while on the right are the TN and their numbers. Here's what I came up with:










I just quickly mixed these and brushed them on. What I noticed was that the TN paints seemed slightly thicker than the MMs to me, with the exception of the Gull Gray, which seemed about the same. I didn't have any MM Aggressor Gray with which to make a comparison, so the TN version stands alone for that color. You will notice that the TN Gull Gray appears to be a bit lighter in shade, but I think this is a photography glitch; this color had something of a semi-gloss sheen in parts of that sample, and the lighting makes it appear lighter. Looking at it in person the color is a lot closer to the MM (perhaps I should have gone over that one again). My photography here is poor, as I used my cellphone for a quick pic, and I also know that color represented on different computer screens will not be consistent, so YMMV. Wood is the only unknown here, but now that I have some MM of that tint, I'll have to go back to the TN website and see if there is something that might be comparable.

Bottom line, I think these True North colors match up very well to the original Model Master ones. I suppose the next step will be to mix up the colors as directed in the earlier post for the upper and lower parts of the shuttle and do some air brushing. As these are all enamels, mixing the MM Wood should be OK with the other TN colors. I'll try to get to that soon and share the results of that exercise.

I hope this helps.


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## Milton Fox Racing

Visually each of us will also vary in our ability to discern more color shades and tones than others as well. And as we are predominately male here each of use may also have various degrees of color blindness. For me each of the TN colors is a shade or two lighter than the MM but not so much as to be passiable one for the other.

How long was it before you took the photo and when you first painted the samples? Most paints will dry to a darker color when fully dry/cured.


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## mach7

I got my shipment from TrueNorth today. The quick look I gave them looked nice. 

Thanks Scotty K for the spray outs! Thats very helpful. Wood will be the TN issue. I'm not sure I'm 
willing to add MM to TN yet.


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## Scotty K

Milton Fox Racing said:


> How long was it before you took the photo and when you first painted the samples? Most paints will dry to a darker color when fully dry/cured.


It was about an hour of drying time before I took the photo. That's an excellent point. Perhaps I can take another pic again after another day or so to see if it has changed.


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## Milton Fox Racing

Another test you can do is to turn it 180 degress in the same spot (and time) you took the first photo and see if the same tone difference still show as before for you.


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## JGG1701

Any suggestions on paints from Home Depot?😋
-Jim G.G.


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## Pygar

Does the new kit with interior have a list of paints?


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## StarshipClass

You can check out Mark Myers' excellent videos of his shuttlecraft on You Tube:



https://www.youtube.com/@THETHIRDMODELSMM



Good info on the paints: 




Mark mixed Tamiya paints to match some Sherwin-Williams paint chips as shown in the photos. Get the actual chips from Sherwin-Williams. Computer renderings of the chips are not reliably accurate.

You can use any quality enamel paints. Stick to all flat or all gloss when mixing to keep the results consistent. I usually keep playing with the mixture, writing down the number of drops coming off a toothpick of each color until the color matches the chip. After I add some drops of paint, I place a very small amount of the mixed up altered color [that dries quickly] on the bottom of the chip itself. Eventually, if I do it right, I can't tell a difference between the mixed up paint and the color chip.

You will need an idea of what colors to mix to achieve the desired final color or alter the shade of what you have already. There are plenty of sources online on mixing pigments that you can study. Then it's a matter of experimentation. Document your efforts as you go so you can replicate the mixed colors later. Use a little math and reduce the ratios as much as possible to make it easier on yourself when you mix up more paint.


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