I just found out there are Government standards for hobby paint.(FS.595a/595B). The assigned numbers to your paint bottle/can indicate sheen,colors and mixing schemes to achieve certain named colors. I never knew Uncle cared about our hobby paints,there’s probably a hidden tax somewhere in the price of the paint.
There is nothing too trivial to escape the government’s attention. Just ask Chuck Schumer
They were actually used for military purposes at first.
‘FS’ colors have nothing to do with models. It is the Federal Standard for colors used on military aircraft/ships/tanks. Many hobby paints have matching ‘FS’ colors. There is no FS standard for something like Armour Yellow or Cascade Green that I am aware of. This is between the railroad and paint vendor.
Jim
The Federal Standard number printed on a bottle of our hobby paints is not a Federal Standard assigned by the Guvmint to that paint; rather the paint manufacturer . . . . . Testors or whomever . . . . . is telling the user of that paint that, in the opinion of the manufacturer, that particular coloration matches a Federal Standard coloration set by the Guvmint for the Guvmint’s purposes. The Guvmint doesn’t set color standards for, say, UP’s Armour Yellow . . . . . . . . . . after all there are probably umpteen hundred and eighty five hues of Armour Yellow available from umpteen hundred and eighty five (model) paint manufacturers . . . . . . . . . . It becomes a horse of a completely different color . . . . . (pun intentional) . . . . . however, if you are a ship modeler and trying to duplicate BB62, the USS New Jersey, decked out in the blues, greys, blacks, and whites associated with camouflage Measure 25/7.