Methuen Method of Color Matching

[Terry37]

I have often mentioned that I use the Methuen method of color matching to paint my figures, and have found that more than a few have no idea what I'm talking about. Having been deeply involved in WWI aviation collecting and some modeling I discovered that the Methuen Book of Colours was the standard for matching color schemes. Of course the book was out of print, and highly sought after. I had been fortunate to see a copy in the Memphis library before moving to Atlanta, but even with the pictures I took of the color plates it was pretty useless except as a general guide. Then out of the blue while attending a modeling show in Atlanta, a dealer had three copies of the Methuen book!!! Oh yeah, I bought all three and sold the two extras for a very generous sum!









OK, so just what is all this Methuen color matching business. So here you go.

In the back of the Methuen book there is a small piece of cardboard in a light gray color, with two small squares cut out with about an 1/8 of an inch between them. This is the too needed and is easy to make , but I recommend using a light to mid gray so you don't distort the colors you are comping. One easy way might be to go to the paint department in  a general or hardware store and get a sample card of a gray to cut the squares in. The squares are best if about 1 inch on each side.

For my use, I make color chip cards (using plain cheap index cards) and when I get a new color I just add it.

Then  you place the color chip next to the color you're trying to match, hold the tool with the squares allowing you to see the two colors, and trust me, you'd be surprised how many first thoughts you find are not the right color after all.

Here's three pictures to show as an example.







Hope this is helpful, and if anyone has any questions I'll sure try to answer them.

Terry

[Techno]

Now that is clever.

I do like that !!

Nice one, Terry.

Cheers - Phil

[steve_holmes_11]

Simple, effective.

Many thanks for sharing.

[fsn]

Interesting.

[Orcs]

That's very interesting

[Ben Waterhouse]

That brings back memories of my job in security printing quality control.