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[terry1956]

Hi chaps, can anyone please let me know the correct colour of the guns on a WW2 period corvette. I am talking about the sections behind the gun shield. Also what colour are death charges same period. Thanks

[DBS88]

I believe the answer to your query will be less than straight forward, it will depend on the year, the season and the location where your corvette was operating, which Corvette are you modelling? Also, I believe not just one colour was used but shades of the same colour, so areas that the light would catch were painted darker (tops of gun Barrels) and areas that were in shade were painted lighter (Underside of Gun barrels, potentially the inside of gun shields).
I will be very interested in the answers from those with experience since I too have some WW2 Guns to paint, I am thinking to use the Western Approaches Colour Scheme for ships operating in the Bay of Biscay on Submarine Hunting Duties which I think is 1943/44?

[Beagle1831]

Do you have any more details on the specific ship and time period?


As DBS88 says countershading was used to reduce shadows, eg. painting areas in shadow white (especially in Western Approaches).


Some details on Western Approaches in this article


https://www.shipcamouflage.com/3_1.htm


There was quite a lot of variation esp in RN, so photos are usually needed if possible.

[Akira]

Great answers all! As stated, the determining factors are the ship, the date, and the location. Camouflage pattern would certainly help as well. Of course you could avoid all these decisions by building her as a US Navy variant. They were pretty boring.... And yes, The USN did use Flower class vessels, they were classified as Action Class Patrol Gunboats.

[Steve40]

As discussed in the posts above its going to depend on the individual ship as well as the camouflage scheme worn. For a Western Approaches scheme white inside the shield and on the gun is quite likely, with working parts such as the breech in bare steel.


Depth charges usually arrived painted in a grey colour. For the RN this was usually something approximating Home Fleet Grey, for the USN it was 5D Dark Gray until this the stocks of this ran out, then Ocean Gray for the rest of the war. Some ships took camouflage to extremes and painted depth charges to match the background camouflage scheme, but this was likely rare in ships regularly using their depth charges - why repaint something you are going to chuck over the side shortly? Even when painted to match the camouflage care would be taken to avoid gumming up the primer and fuze setters on the end caps, so the end caps are frequently left in the base grey colour anyway.


It really does vary from ship to ship, escort group to escort group, and within each from time to time. When painting my Frigate, HMS Conn in a 1945 Admiralty ‘C’ Scheme, I painted the guns and weather shield interiors to match the overall white camouflage, with a bit of dulling down and wear, and left the depth charges in Home Fleet Grey - they used a lot of depth charges and the darker paint matched the photographic evidence. Go to the IWM site and search for photos of corvettes and you will find lots of examples.


Cheers


Steve

[tonyH]

Of course you could avoid all these decisions by building her as a US Navy variant. They were pretty boring.... And yes, The USN did use Flower class vessels, they were classified as Action Class Patrol Gunboats.

BUT only if you want to change all the weapon fit as well as the colour schemes......sorry, color schemes

[Jonty]

  Worth remembering, as Steve touches on, that the white lead paints of the day were nothing like as intense as ones made with modern pigments.

[terry1956]

Thanks chaps. It’s hms bluebell. A Graupner model, that I am adding a bit more detail to. So from your answers, it looks like off white inner gun shields, grey death charges, plain steel gun block. Thanks again

[Steve40]

Good luck with your changes! As a matter of interest the latest edition of Model Boats has an article by Richard Simpson on detailing and weathering the Graupner Corvette.


Cheers


Steve