I build the Potemkin Battleship from Modelarz

[Royaloakmin]

There is some controversy about whether Orel got the colors right. My suggestion would be to tone down the red to something a bit more orange and make the yellow decks a light tan. I think you are right to practice with a simpler model before you tackle a Orel kit.

[OldTroll]

I can state emphatically that no underwater hull paint I have encountered in the Navy or at a ship yard was a bright red. These paints were all (until recent times) a red lead type anti-fouling, anti-corrosion paint. They are best represented by a dull (tending toward brown) red. There were also some copper-based anti-fouling paints that were a dull medium green. Wooden decks of all eras tend to bleach to pale tan especially when religiously "holy stoned" by their crew. I recall a learned (and pretty boring) article by a paint expert in my IPMS days (40 years ago) that talked about the effect fo scale upon the human eye/brain interpretation of color. The bottom line was that a given color will appear brighter on a small scale model than it does on the 1:1 scale real thing.

[Keds_Girl_Lala]

Yes I know the color on real ship is not so bright... But as I say it is the color the model it was printed in first. So I just make the model the color it was. I do not ask what color it is I know it is not so bright already.

I also explain that now that when the color it is clean, I can print the page and see how it actually look. Again as I say once, I had made some color on another model very realistic on my computer but when I print the color was so pale and almost invisible. So this is not how the model will look exactly when I finish.

On the Orel kit it looks ok for the red. It is a brownish shade. I would call it Russet. But they make the deck a pink color like the chimney on the Orel kit so I would not make my kit the same way.

The Cruiser Aurora she is green below the water.

THe package for the Orel Potemkin cover shows the actual ship and she is grey not black. In the movie the ship is not black (It is not Potemkin either) but she is grey. I think that boat shown is the Dvienadsat Apostolov Twelve Apostle .

[OldTroll]

Oops, I think I got a bit long-winded and preachy there... Just so there is no misunderstanding, I am not criticizing your great restoration of a very tired and worn old model - I think you are doing a fantastic job of bringing it back to life as it was originally printed (and, in addition, correcting the color registration.) You are absolutely correct in that your restoration is an excellent starting point for correcting the colors to a more realistic level. You are doing a wonderful job and obviously have a good knowledge of the subject. I will continue to follow this restoration and build with great interest.

[Keds_Girl_Lala]

Oh it is all well! Some time also my English it is not as clear and I am excitable!

I have one page with bad off set on the color. And the black lines are vague in some spot. So it is hard. There are duplicate items there so I fix one and then cut and paste for the number I need instead of to fix each one singly. I find a pirate scan of the model on line with that page inked better than mine, but the format it is not good so if I use that for some parts it is not the same size. The main part that it is so poor is the long vanes that go along the side of the red part of the bottom. I think I will just draw a box around them and make it all red and cut the part out to size directly.

[mabrown]

Wonderful thread Lala. I bought my first ever paper model kit on ebay a couple of weeks ago, a Maly HMS Dido, so this is very instructional.

[Keds_Girl_Lala]

Hi Mabrown for your help I have make some step by step commentary pictures. It will help with the Dido or other models. I use the page from my Potemkin for example but the work is the same.

I use Gimp which I get free on line as a down load. It works very well. I have Paint Shop Pro which I buy from Target. But I do this work here today for this example with Gimp. Some time I find a tool in Gimp and Paint Shop (like Curve) they have the same name and function but one does not work the same or as good or is better. So if it does not do what I need in one program, I may use the other for that.

First open your page then also make a copy to work from.

So here is the first part. I use this page from the Potemkin becuase it show the poor paper color, bad printing registration for the red, blotchy color on the red, etc. It also has more colors - white, red, black, yellow... Notice the red is off set to the right a few millimeter...




So, the first thing is to make your page basically a black and white drawing so you can recolor it. For this I go to "Color", and drop down to "Threshold". It has a slide bar you can use to make the image black and white.



Now the page it look 100% better! Use your original page now to use color picker to get the colors back to recolor. I am describing to make the page look as it was intended. Not to change color or make it different color than the original (for now!). You can see I start to fill in the color areas with the Paint Fill Bucket.




Now, some time this happen... Use "Edit" and "Undo" to reverse the flood of paint. It is make when there is a hole in the black line you are to fill in with the Bucket.


"

You can see the holes here. 1) is the hole and 2) is the hole with some Red paint with a paint brush or pen to fill the hole. Then use Paint Bucket to fill again properly.



Now it look correct!




Now that you have the idea. If you want different colors to use. It work the same way. You can use the color choices to make things more subdue or to add more color. I make the life boat look more like wood and depth of shadow. Some part on the Battleship Potemkin they are cream color also but Maly Modelarz make them white... So I fix that here...




There are some tools too. You find under "Filters" then "Light and Shadow" and then to "Drop Shadow". It make things like this on the life boats. I also use a perspective filter on one. It is an idea at least to make some thing more 3D. I just show it for you I do not use it myself on the Potemkin.




Now also if you make a lot of pieces one color, like the red. But say Okay I do not like that... You do not have to refill each area again all over. Go to "Colors" and to "Map" and "Color Exchange". There you will have a box to put the original color into. Then there is a box to put the "to" color into. So here I go fom Red to Blue. Color Replace it replace all the red in one click.




I learn this in about two weeks. But I have much help and support from people here who provide me with some basic idea of things to do and to try. But foremost it was to just experiment. I hope it help other people also.

[OldTroll]

Thank you for sharing this procedure. I will put it to good use in the near future.

[BARX2]

Wow! That is a great tutorial! I hope you will upload it to the web site to help others. I always wondered how to recolor a model and you explained it very clearly and made it look easy. Thanks, Lala! You are becoming an expert paper modeler in a short time.

[Keds_Girl_Lala]

How can I upload it? I am not opposed. Or I can re-write.