What Color is the Seaview part 2 by Gary Kerr
Check out part 1 of Gary’s article
In light of the upcoming release of the Seaview by Moebius Models, I thought I should share this information about the color scheme of the Seaview and Flying Sub.
FLYING SUB
The Flying Sub was NOT a pure, lemon yellow. Rather, it was slightly orangey, more of a “school bus yellow.” In my collection, I’ve got tiny chip of yellow paint from one of the original 36″ Flying Sub models (the one that was equipped with landing gear & manipulator claws). I checked the paint chip against my swatch of Federal Standard colors, and it’s a close match to FS 13538.
Note that FS 13538 is a gloss yellow. Judging from some 4th season episodes on VHS tape, it appears that the full-scale mockup of the Flying Sub’s aft end was painted a gloss yellow. The miniatures, though, had more of a satin finish.
SEAVIEW
A friend of mine, Andy Bendel, recently contacted me with some interesting info about some events that transpired in 1985. Here it is in Andy’s own words:
“About the time I purchased my DeBoer Seaview, I had found out that Dave Merriman was restoring the 17 footer. I was bolder in those days, so I got his phone number … and out of the blue, I called Merriman. He was very polite and very patient with me, someone he’d never talked to before. I had a long conversation and one of the things I asked him was, ‘Just what color grey WAS the hull?’
“His response was that, rather than try to describe it, he would send me some paint chips right off the sub! And he DID!!!!
“In a letter I later received from Dave … he sent me a dark grey chip of paint and a light grey chip of paint. He sent what he thought were the ORIGINAL 1961 colors, actually some slop-over from the inside of the hull, which he felt hadn’t been overpainted. Now, it may very well be that the paint has faded since 1961 …but at the time …I had these chips computer-matched and computer remixed at Ace Hardware.
“The darker gray, for the upper hull, is what you’d expect. It actually closely resembles the shade of the 17-footer in the TV GUIDE pics, just more neutral in color (less bluish).
“And — surprise — the keel color, after it dried, looks white to the naked eye. Even under different lighting sources, it still appears to be white. Except, if you place a piece of ordinary white paper next to it, the keel color doesn’t look white anymore, it looks very light grey. And when you remove the white paper — presto — the keel color sample looks white again. When the upper hull color sample is placed next to the keel color, the contrast is such that the keel color looks even whiter. Sort of an optical illusion, I guess.
“There you have it, and the answer to why so many modelers are confused over this issue. That is why Merriman told you the color was simply ‘white.’ That’s because it is, and then again, it isn’t.
“It also gives insight into the color design of the Seaview’s exterior. It’s now clear to me that the keel was designed and intended to look white on film, just painted with a toned-down shade that would, on an Eastman color release print, yield the look of white.”
Andy sent me a chip of each computer-matched color. I laid Andy’s color-matched samples onto my casting of the 8.5 ft Seaview’s bow, and you can see the result in the accompanying photos. I checked the chips against my Federal Standard swatches, under both incandescent & daylight, and the best matches I’ve found for Andy’s chips are:
TOPSIDE:
FS 36300 is a near-perfect match. In the world of commonly available paints, “Light Ghost Gray,” FS 36375, is a close match – just a shade lighter than Andy’s chip. I haven’t tried it, but I think a 50/50 mix of Light Ghost Gray (FS 36375) and Dark Ghost Gray (FS 36320) might be a very close match to the original paint.
BELLY:
Andy’s chip was a shade lighter than FS 35630, which is Imperial Japanese Army Lt. Gray. Camouflage Gray (FS 36622) is close, but it’s a bit darker, and perhaps a hair browner, than Andy’s chip.
Disclaimer: these colors are an estimate, based on the eyeballs of myself and a friend. The colors perceived by your own eyeballs may be different. :-)
Like Andy said, the chips look just like the colors you’d expect for the 8-window Seaview. The Seaview models were repainted many times during the course of Voyage’s production and they eventually ended up painted a darker shade of gray that had a slight brownish/greenish cast.
I’ve seen the actual bow of the 8.5 ft Seaview, and it appears much darker than it did on TV (my casting was painted to duplicate the color the original bow). After reviewing a couple 4th season episodes on VHS tape, I suspect that the darker paint scheme was applied sometime after ‘Voyage’ ended production, but I honestly don’t know for sure. We may know more once the 4th season is released on DVD, but in the meantime, Andy’s color chips are a good starting point in determining what color to paint your Seaview model.
I’ve listed the Federal Standard numbers for Andy Bendel’s color chips, but a verbal description like, “a shade lighter than FS 12345”, isn’t all that helpful. I took some digital photos of the chips alongside my Federal Std swatches. It’s hard to judge colors on a computer monitor (esp. one whose color balance hasn’t been calibrated), but hopefully, you can use the FS swatches to get a handle on the Seaview grays. To me, these colors are spot on for the movie-version Seaview (and perhaps for the earlier paint job on the Flying Sub version).
Gary
