Space Shuttle Launch Pad 39A with Challenger STS-6 (1:144)

[spacerunner]

Thanks whulsey for your nice comment, this is my way for solving problems.

[spacerunner]

Hello everybody,
and thus again back to the color shades of the External Tank, wherfore I've looked at my STS-6 Reference photo once again more exactly, to be able to assign them to the available Vallejo colors, whereto I am focused on the sprayable colors from the range Model Air (MA).


Source: retrospaceimages.com (STS-6)

After careful viewing, I have come to the conclusion that this image is not so well suited for determining the color shades, since half of the ET is more or less covered by the shuttle or the right half of the ET is also still shaded.

Therefore, I have now selected this photo of the first Flight Readiness Firing (FRF, 18.12.1982) for the further detailed consideration, on which the ET seems to be illuminated relatively evenly.


Source: NASA

As one can see, the ET colors are in my opinion less orange-brown color shades than rather yellow-brown shades.

First of all, I tried using my Paint Shop Pro (Jasc) to determine the RGB codes of the different color shades in order to get a better feeling for the colors.



Concerning the indicated RGB values, it should be noted that the values in the vicinity of the destination vary slightly and thus can not be considered as absolute values.

One can also consider the classic RAL Color Chart what I've tried in this image for three places on the LH2 Tank/Intertank based on the color Ochre brown RAL 8001. And as one can see, one gets quite close to the ET color shades by adjusting the brightness.



In all these comparisons, however, it is important to note that even the normalized RAL colors do not appear completely authentic on PC monitors and the color rendition depends on the respective screen settings anyway, whereby color comparisons are complicated or have to be taken with care.

Since one can not get any further with the RAL colors in the practical color selection, I finally got back to the Vallejo-Model Air assortment to find corresponding colors, which I then also can order.

Thereby I came across the following three colors, whose brightness I then adjusted gradually, resulting in the darker shades.

– Vallejo Model Air 71.033 – Ochre Yellow for the LO2/LH2 Tank with the color shades B-20, B-30, B-40,

– Vallejo Model Air 71.077 – Wood for the Intertank (B-20),

– Vallejo Model Air 71.076 – Skin Tone for the lighter areas (B-20)



In this image, the selected color shades (marked blue) are placed on the appropriate places on the ET that match well with the ET shades.



So I'll order these three airbrush colors first, and I'm curious how they even come out. The only question is, what other colors I should mix with the original colors to get the darker shades?

Here is an overview of the Model Air colors, in which I have marked the three colors.



Perhaps for the MA71.033 and the MA71.077 the darker neighbor color MA71.034 would be suitable, and for the MA71.076 maybe the MA71.077?
For useful hints or suggestions I would be grateful.

[luro1964]

There are ways you can colour calibrate your screen. After all the unbelievable work you have put in to this to date, I'd be concerned matching your final colours off an uncalibrated monitor.

[spacerunner]

Thanks luro for your helpful hint.

But since I look at and compare the colors of the reference photo with the color samples of the Valejo colors on the same screen, the supposed color error should always be the same and therefore negligible.

I think that one has to find a suitable compromise to achieve a satisfactory result, since there are too many factors, from the lighting conditions of the pics, to the distance from the camera to the object, to the monitor settings, and so on ...

I think it will be important, that the ET should have no uniform color, but a smooth color shading, and all this should finally fit to the flour stripe texture, what's still going to be pretty exciting.

[luro1964]

You are right. Too many variables...
Love your work! I have withdrawal symptoms when you don't post for a week

[spacerunner]

Keep cool, luro, and stay tuned.
I will now order some Vallejo Model Air colors to try some shades.

[beckychestney]

There's GOT to be some kind of air and space museum near you where you can display this when finished! If ever there was a definition for museum quality work, THIS IS IT!!!!

[Revell-Fan]

This is gonna be a GREAT resource for any shuttle builder!

[DiscoveryOne]

Revell-fan is right. This thread would make a great resource book!

[eagleclaw4935]

Correct me if im wrong, but it already is. Manfred set the bar, and quite honestly I dont know a soul who could jump it let alone attempt it.