The color blue - a question about aircraft paint

Axelaxe

Axelaxe

Filing Flight Plan
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Axelaxe
I’m finalizing the order for a new Zlin Norden and need to lock in the paint scheme. I’d like a blue-over-grey livery and have mocked up a concept in Photoshop (image attached).

The factory has asked me to specify the exact shade of blue. I’m after a deep, “midnight” blue, but I have no idea which paint code (RAL, PMS, DuPont, Akzo, etc.) translates best—or how it will look on an aluminium fuselage.

Could anyone recommend a proven dark-blue paint code that looks sharp on metal airframes? Real-world photos would be a huge help. I’m open to suggestions if there’s a similar shade you think works better.

Thanks in advance!
 

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Aviat calls that “Midnight Blue”. Very nice! Share pictures and the whole story when you get it. That’s an amazing airplane.
 
Axelaxe said:
I’m finalizing the order for a new Zlin Norden and need to lock in the paint scheme. I’d like a blue-over-grey livery and have mocked up a concept in Photoshop (image attached).

The factory has asked me to specify the exact shade of blue. I’m after a deep, “midnight” blue, but I have no idea which paint code (RAL, PMS, DuPont, Akzo, etc.) translates best—or how it will look on an aluminium fuselage.

Could anyone recommend a proven dark-blue paint code that looks sharp on metal airframes? Real-world photos would be a huge help. I’m open to suggestions if there’s a similar shade you think works better.

Thanks in advance!
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Cant answer your question, but please tell us more about your plane. Zlin has a long and great history of building planes, so I am excited to learn about this one.
 
MountainDude said:
Cant answer your question, but please tell us more about your plane. Zlin has a long and great history of building planes, so I am excited to learn about this one.
Click to expand...

I have been looking for a STOL aircraft for quite a while and had settled on the Zlin Savage Cub or Zlin Savage Ultra.

But then i visited the Friedrichshafen Expo, met the Zlin team and saw their brand new Zlin Norden.
- All metal
- Electric slats (increased complexity yes, but also improved top speed and lower stall than the Savage)
- Flying on ultralight (LSA (after MOSAIC)) rules here in Europe
- In my opinion, it looks great, inside and out
- Very priceworthy for what you get

I also met the owner Pasquale, a true passionate spirit, who you can tell just loves making aircraft.

So I ended up making an pre-order there and then. Since then me and Pasquale have had many discussions about the details.
It will be a pretty clean machine (not to many bells and whistles, although the base package is really quite complete) with a Rotax 916 Engine, Constant Speed Prop.
 
If you have a finish masters or other auto body supplier near you drop in and tell them what you're up against. Most of those guys are more than happy to let you flip through the color charts.
 
My Navion is Sherwin Williams JetGlo "Fighter Blue." I've been happy with it...

1750294140165.png
 
Christen Eagle blue and Navy gray. A touch or orange makes it pop.
 

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Sherwin Williams Jet Glo Fighter Blue. I don’t have a pix that does it justice but it sounds like what you may be after.
 
Can't help with the color choice except to say I like a deep blue, too. Couple of suggestions - you can get a RAL color chart from Amazon for less than $30. Second is that some automotive places will mix up custom paint per code and put it in a rattle can, and they have spray test panels, too. As expensive as an aircraft paint job is, I'd want to have some panels you take outside to look at.

Ok, looking at my RAL chart, 5005 Signal blue looks nice. But no idea how it would look on a plane.
 
I remember going through about a 100 blue paint samples, I picked something close to royal blue.

4c6f84ff6bd825ff4fdf3b2bcea569e9.jpg
 
MooneyDriver78 said:
I remember going through about a 100 blue paint samples, I picked something close to royal blue.
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I did that picking the color to paint a car. I wanted YELLOW. Like a Crayola crayon.

I was at the paint store for more than an hour before I found THE COLOR. 1976 Corvette Yellow. :)
 
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