Color Mix Nerds: ESB Mandibles?

[clmayfield]

So I have finally hit the mandibles and after having to repaint a couple of times because I did not like the shades, I was wondering what color mixers were using for the purple / maroon and red in the mandibles. I have humbrol wine and bought some Caboose Red. I also bought some "Root Brown" which looks more like a maroon to me because I was reading that the color was more maroon than purple. But I have chosen a lighter color scheme going with Grey 106 vs Grey 79 because I was color matching the reference photos, which apparently are washed out, so I have to go with the "washed out" color scheme.

Any ideas? What is everyone doing?

 

[clmayfield]

FYI... here are my current colors:

 

[intwenothor]

If using floquil it's caboose (110088) and not caboose red. Caboose red is far brighter.

 

[clmayfield]

I will check the bottle. What about the purple / maroon?

 

[intwenothor]

If using humbrol then whatever TF recommended is the way to go. The Rogue Studios Floquil list recommended using Polly Scale PRR Maroon with a dash of black to darken it a bit and this gets very close to a very old Floquil colour no longer produced.
On the Caboose 110088 was the latest iteration of the colour. If you can find Floquil 'DH10' Caboose then you'll have the older version which is slightly different and probably that tiny bit closer. There's almost nothing in it but in the bottle you can see the older version is slightly redder where as the newer version is slightly browner (almost knocking on towards old Boxcar Red). Someone posted a picture of the two bottles side by side a while ago. A quick search will find it I am sure. Obviously getting any of these old floquils can now be a challenge so I wouldn't die in a ditch over it.


As if by magic

http://www.thedentedhelmet.com/showthread.php?t=55781&highlight=Floquil+caboose

 

[superjedi]

For the purple shade I use a mix of Polly Scale PRR Maroon and BAR Blue. The maroon is pretty dark to begin with, and I add a couple of drops of the blue at a time until it just kicks over into the purple range.

 

[clmayfield]

Thanks, superjedi! I might add some blue to this root brown (which is the most maroon enamel I could find at the hobby shop) and see what happens. Worse thing that could happen is I end up throwing the paint away.

It definitely doesn't look joker purple to me. Seems to have a bit of rust in it, but it is really hard to tell between the red and the grey.

 

[Fett 4 Real]

To get purple you need a RED and a BLUE using a brown is going to make mud....use the wine color 73 and a bright blue. Humbrol 14 Id say I dont use humbrols anymore....but based on color theory thats what Id use. Maybe even humbrol 60 and 14....

 

[clmayfield]

It's called "Root Brown," but it is, in effect, a maroon. Think of the ESB belt. It is bit redder than that color. I was thinking 73 as the main red. I will add the light blue to get the purple and then add a few drops of the root brown to rust it up a bit. I looked at 14 online (not that that tells me much) and it looks like a very primary blue. I used Blue 104 to get my helmet green just right. I will try that 15 out. Thanks! Great advice, guys!

 

[clmayfield]

Alright, I finally mixed up a batch. I ended up using "Root Brown" as a base. I would actually call it a deep red, almost a crimson. What I learned was the deep inter-relationship between red, brown, maroon, and purple. I experienced this with my girth belt when I had them mix up a maroon stain and the stain ended up coming out purple. I had to blend a lot of brown in to get a suitable maroon. Well, in this case I started with a maroon and added the humbrol blue (14 was a gloss, so I didn't use that, but I used the closest blue I could find in matt, I will post the color later on). Adding the blue made it go from maroon to brown. So I added some 73 and some more blue until I got what I was looking for. Depending on when I look at it, it alternately looks brown, maroon, purple, or red. I am not sure I love it when comparing to reference photos.

And it looks a little different with the grey layed down as in...
HERE...

To my eye, with the grey showing (apologies for the trace down marks), it looks red. Perhaps a little too red. But at this point, I am going to lay down the mandible red before figuring out if it is what I want. I won't know until I see the maroon / red contrast if I did an ok job.

 

[Builder]

With Humbrol I basically used 10:1:1( #73-104-34) as my mix. Then varied values so it wouldn't look too flat. I made a number of careful color mixes with Humbrol before
settling on this. I would suggest that you NEVER experiment on the helmet but instead paint the colors
next to each other on a non-porous surface. An absorbent surface will change the color when it drys.
Leave no space between the colors and keep them touching each other as they do on the helmet.