Colours or colors :-)

[paddy]

Something i have never been good at is seeing a colour and being able to break it down to its components.

This petrol tank is supposedly silver but this colour looks spot on to me and its not really silver. Lets face it paint manufacturers idea of silver is usually a bit odd as they try and make it metallic, The best i have come up with is a silver base then pearl white over the top

The decals can make a colour surrounding them seem different

But what is that crank case colour ? i would call it grey but its not is it ? nearly all the aircraft greys i have are almost a shade of blue, i have tried a few combinations but of grey and silver but thats not the right route at all, any thoughts ? i have even tried a grey and clear smoke.......its not that

 

[moon puppy]

I'm with you buddy, I'm at a color loss. Those who have the eye don't realize how easy it comes to them.

 

[paddy]

You are right Bob, its odd , its not colour blindness but its really hard to compare a colour or identify some colours like those engine cases.

 

[RichB]

You may remember this from 2015 and the great debate about "What colour is the dress?".

The many scientific studies that it spawned came to similar conclusions. Study participants who were 'morning larks' and are at their best during daylight were more likely to see the dress as white and gold. Their brain concluded that the picture was taken in daylight and is in shadow. Shadows are blue so the brain filtered blue out . The 'night owls' brain concluded that it was illuminated by artificial light and filtered yellow out and were more likely to see a blue and black dress.

The picture was taken indoors but is overexposed making the illumination source uncertain leading the brain to make conclusions by what its has experienced. The actual dress is blue and black. The maker of the dress did not have a white and gold version in this style, but they did add one.

For what its worth, I am on the white and gold side, the white having a blue tint. If I crop the top half of the picture the remainder of the dress shifts to a dark sky blue and black.

Back to the crank case colour, it looks to me like there is some brown in the mix. I tried a mix with Vallejo Model Air paints using 1 part Black 71.057 and 2 part Mud Brown 71.037 and 1 part Gunmetal 71.072 that looks close to the picture. It may be better leave the Gunmetal out and apply the grey-brown in thinned coats over a base of a metallic. If you go the artist way, start with 1 part each of brown and blue to make a black. Add white to lighten it to grey. Adding a little more brown or blue will shift it to a brown-grey or blue-grey. I'm a brush painter so I'm not sure how this will work with an airbrush.

Some ideas to keep you out of mischief.

Cheers,
RichB

 

[Heavens Eagle]

Interesting on the "What color is this dress" photo. To me I see a medium sea blue, and Olive green. If you look at the top of the photo it is possible to see that there is light showing on the materials and while they are not in shadow there the color only brightens and doesn't change color. Thus NOT white and NOT black. I have played enough with brightness and contrast settings on my photos that you don't get a great color change like blue to white. You can make the color be more vibrant or washed out, but not a major change.

 

[paddy]

I am seeing Gold and a blue/white dress. Its is like the bike ,light particular as i have been looking at other bikes and other pictures of the same bike and it could be many colours. Thanks to Rich for his experiments. I am on a similar track experimenting and i think, although i haven't tried it yet, it could be a lighter version of MRP rubber black but i agree with the mud brown..

 

[Heavens Eagle]

If I remember, you said you have a form of color blindness. I saw some shorts a while back where there are glasses that filter out some of the crossover color areas which give the difficulties with color distinctions with people that have red/green issues. While not perfect, it gives a much closer idea to what people see that don't have that issue.
It almost sounds like you have the blue/yellow issue if you are seeing gold instead of blue.

As to your gas tank above, the tank on the actual bike is whitish pearlescent, not silver. The engine cooling fins, front forks, and a number of other parts are a smooth aluminum color. There are some darker grey parts that stand out on the lower engine. To my eye your fuel tank is really close to the real bike color. Looking good Paddy!