First attempt at some colour. There is a lot of confusion as to what the actual colour should be. Some sources say that the Russian " official " colour was a very dark olive green, almost black, This weathered and faded very quickly, The English translation of the Russian description
( no RAL,RLM or FS numbers in those days ) is " sooth " or more likely "soot" so a very dark grey should probably do for a start.
Although the pic looks to be black, it isn't, it's a very dark grey but the gloss varnish ( Johnsons ) makes it look "black", which it ain't.
All the fleet that took part in the Russo-Japanese war had to make a voyage of some 18,000 nautical miles, from the Baltic to the China sea, crossing the equator twice.
On arrival at Port Arthur, the hulls were encrusted with salt, rust and coal-dust although the superstructure was relatively clean. Looks like some subtle weathering is in order.
It's worth mentioning that at normal viewing distance, say two feet, you are a scale 700 feet away from the ship and the weathering would probably be almost invisible. Only when you get up close and personal would you be able to see it...... I think.
Best just to press on regardless and see what happens!!
Haddock.
