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FS codes for KM paints
Posted by:
Dougie
()
Date: April 10, 2004 07:11AM
The dark grey anti-fouling paint used on the lower hull, Schiffsbodenfarbe III Grau (RAL7016), was in between FS35042 and FS36076. Anti-fouling paints include poisons which gradually leech out of the paint and kill the plantlife trying to live on the hull. When anti-fouling paints lose these poisons to the water, they tend to fade, often quite quickly. So the lower hull of a U-boat that had been in the water for a month would have been quite a bit lighter than the FS codes above (the amount is subjective).
The most common upper paint was a light grey called Hellgrau 50. In practice this ranged anywhere between RAL7001 (FS36375) and RAL7038 (FS36492) (a very large range for one paint). It was supposed to have been the former.
The other two common colours used as upper colours on U-boats were the medium blue-grey Dunkelgrau 51 (RAL 7001, FS35237) and the medium-to-dark grey Schlickgrau 58 (no RAL code, slightly darker than FS36134).
Blaugrau 58/1 (darker than FS36152) and Blauschwarz 58/2 (FS35044) were much less common.
The dark grey used as the dark camouflage colour over the light grey may have been either Schlickgrau 58 (see above) or Dunkelgrau 52 (RAL7024, FS36076). According to Robert C. Stern in U-Boats In Action (Squadron/Signal Publications, 1977), Italian blue-grey (Blu Scuro, Colourcoats RM03, FS35109) was used over the Kriegsmarine light grey (Hellgrau 50) on boats serving in the Mediterranean theatre.
As for the wooden deck, there is no FS equivalent because it changed so much in appearance due to weathering. As covered elsewhere in this forum, it was coated with a black woodpreservative, and so started out as black. Exposure to the elements soon rendered the deck a muddy grey colour with a brown tinge. The more the deck was subjected to weathering, the lighter and browner it became.
Hope this helps,
Dougie
The most common upper paint was a light grey called Hellgrau 50. In practice this ranged anywhere between RAL7001 (FS36375) and RAL7038 (FS36492) (a very large range for one paint). It was supposed to have been the former.
The other two common colours used as upper colours on U-boats were the medium blue-grey Dunkelgrau 51 (RAL 7001, FS35237) and the medium-to-dark grey Schlickgrau 58 (no RAL code, slightly darker than FS36134).
Blaugrau 58/1 (darker than FS36152) and Blauschwarz 58/2 (FS35044) were much less common.
The dark grey used as the dark camouflage colour over the light grey may have been either Schlickgrau 58 (see above) or Dunkelgrau 52 (RAL7024, FS36076). According to Robert C. Stern in U-Boats In Action (Squadron/Signal Publications, 1977), Italian blue-grey (Blu Scuro, Colourcoats RM03, FS35109) was used over the Kriegsmarine light grey (Hellgrau 50) on boats serving in the Mediterranean theatre.
As for the wooden deck, there is no FS equivalent because it changed so much in appearance due to weathering. As covered elsewhere in this forum, it was coated with a black woodpreservative, and so started out as black. Exposure to the elements soon rendered the deck a muddy grey colour with a brown tinge. The more the deck was subjected to weathering, the lighter and browner it became.
Hope this helps,
Dougie
