Proper colours for RCEME sign

[Sock Monkey VC]

Found myself a plaque for the wall. I found something online suggesting the 40th Sqn. was in Victoria BC and disbanded in 1964. Anyway I'm going to paint it up and have already stripped and primed it. The colours were jumbled and poorly painted. I will conform to conventional colours for the central figure but I'm just wondering if one colour over another would be appropriate for the background. I was considering RCEME colours as stripes but I think that would be a little gaudy. I must admit, I kind of like the battleship grey look as well but it's going to go.

Do you suppose the "diamonds" are to mimic iron rivets or perhaps details of a stone/brick wall?

It's a nice plaque anyway. About 14" tall, cast aluminum and as an ex gun-plumber, of interest to me.

Sock Monkey VC.

[Ian B]

So, I'm assuming you have decided on the colours for the hat badge itself. The following are my suggestions, for what it's worth.

I would go with a dark royal blue for the plaque itself with either gold or yellow (my preference) detail on the raised plaque border, For the 40 Sqn banner underneath the hat badge, I woud suggest that it be painted yellow, with the border and title letters detailed in black. The bolt heads would look good with a paint colour that matches wrought iron or a sort of a dark greyish gunmetal.

Looking forward to seeing the finished results.

Ian

[Sock Monkey VC]

Thanks Ian,

I actually have an old model paint called Gunmetal. Might use that. I think you're right about yellow. It would pop better and I also think it would be more correct than gold. There is some gold in the crown of course.

I toyed with light blue but I think dark is more correct. I have some burgundy for the velvet in the crown which I think might be a bit better than red. Have to see.

It's fun painting the plaques but time consuming. It appears as if I might have a bit of a plaque problem. Perhaps a bit of a 400 day clock problem too. ONE DAY, I'll get them running.

[Sock Monkey VC]

NTXT

[Ian B]

So far, so good!

[Sock Monkey VC]

Getting into the fiddly bits.

[Ian B]

Better and better!

[wardog]

Mention of gunmetal paint struck a memory. I think it was Airfix paint G16-it used to set me off with a headache, even though it was not a paint used much. Regards, Paul. PS you plaque is looking good!

[Sock Monkey VC]

The gunmetal I use is a Model Master product. I really like this paint. I haven't used it for 15 years and found it quite gummy. Added some paint thinner and was off to the races. It says it's imported by Testor's Canada, but made in the good old United States of America. That's kind of nice in that we can be reasonably confident it's not made of nuclear waste and raw sewage as it might be if it came from a well known Asian exporting country. Model Master gives you a bit more than a Humbrol or Testors pot does.

I have always hated the stupid little lids on Humbrol paint. I don't know why they have stuck with that for so long.

Model paint over here seems to be getting really expensive but what isn't?

[grenadierguardsman]

Thats looking good.
Andy

[wardog]

The Airfix gunmetal was also a 'gummy' paint. I've not made a model kit in over 40 years but have just found this paint list and I still remember the numbers of some of the paints most used. Airfix paints were getting harder to get by the early 1980s. Thanks for the memory jog! Regards, Paul.
Airfix-Humbrol.jpg

[Sock Monkey VC]

Did another hour or so. That gold paint just flows on so nicely. It's always nice to work with. It's Testors gold. Different lighting conditions have made the blue look much darker. It ain't.

[Ian B]

You are rounding the final turn and heading for the finish line!! Well done, you!!

[Sock Monkey VC]

Well I did the border in yellow which I think was quite correct but it looked too much like an RCMP saddle blanket to me so,,,,,,,,,,red. Dobbin needs some black hooves yet, a little touching up on the Canada map as I've only done the arctic regions so far. Hey I just realized that according to this, Canada is at the center of the earth. Cool.

Also shown is my favourite paint can. Yes, you can have a favourite paint can. My Dad had a hardware store and sold it in 1963 so this can would predate that. The price on the top is $1.05. I used some of it about 10 years ago and it worked just fine. It took 4 days to dry mind you but, they didn't always put driers in paint to speed them up. You could by Japan dryer separately and add it to paint to speed the process up. It says gold but the colour is what maritimers call buff. Buff and black are the two most common colours for old ships funnels. A great number of the dories on the east coast are painted in buff and green. Just tradition, like the Ottawa Valley tradition of a farmer naming his team King and Star. At one time if you went to a fair in the Ottawa Valley, well over half of the teams were named King and Star.

Here endeth the history lesson.

[Ian B]

My preference for the outside edge would still be yellow...however, it's yours, you have to be happy with it.

Far as I can see to finish is the pearls and jewels on the crown. Otherwise, it looks good. Congrats on a job well done.

Ian