ORIGIN OF WW11 RN AND USN COLOURS IN COMMERCIAL FORM IN YEAR 2005  

In the nineteen sixties, Del Palmeri of Albany NY spent time researching WWII USN camouflage. Over a period of time he obtained the official colour cards for the great majority of colours used.  After his death in the nineteen eighties all of his material came to me, which was official colour cards, official documents, official camouflage designs, official paint formulas and photos. I then gradually began to construct a brief history of the subject for publication.  

In the nineteen sixties I began to search for, and accumulate camouflage material for the Royal Navy. Official material was in the form of colour cards, camouflage patterns, written documentation and paint formulas. In a few instances no colour cards were ever issued, and for those, official paint formulas were used, and in the case of the deck coverings such as semtex and corticene, from verbal descriptions taken over many years from several people.  

In 1996/7 I had published in Plastic Ship Modeler, a six part article entitled "The Development of Naval Camouflage 1914-45", which lists about 100 camouflage colors, along with in almost every instance the 1929 MUNSELL REFERENCE.  I DID NOT LIST ANY OTHER REFERENCE FOR ANY OF THE LISTED COLOURS.  This list is as definitive as I could make it, and as the 1929 Munsell references are permanent they will hold up over a very long time, unlike other references which are subject to change. 

Not too long ago the camouflage articles were (with my permission) put on the Ship Camouflage web site to be used as a reference by model makers. As of the date of this letter the articles are still in there.  

After the publication in Plastic Ship Modeler, and at the request of Snyder and Short, I sent them parts of of ALL my colour cards and paint formulas for the RN and USN WWII camouflage colours.  I also sent a number of paint chips taken from the paint lockers of several RN ships during WWII.  The official cards, actual paint chips, the 1929 Munsell references and paint formulas allowed Snyder and Short, and White Ensign Models (WEM) to produce accurately matching commercial colour cards and paints. NO OTHERS have had all four types of material, and, knowing the people at Snyder and Short and WEM as I do, I know that they have come out with very accurate product.  At the time of this writing the colour cards from Snyder and Short and the paints from WEM are still available to the public.  

I would suggest that interested persons make a copy of this letter for reference.  

I ask that this letter, after being posted in the normal way, be placed permanently on this site so that persons can refer to it when necessary.

Alan Raven

January 2005