SQUADRON COLORS
DEVELOPED BY MODELERS. FOR MODELERS.
Squadron Colors was created with a simple goal:
Give scale modelers the colors, finishes, and weathering tools they need — developed around the way we actually build and finish models.
When it comes to paint, our approach begins with the color itself.
Whenever a color can be accurately and effectively produced in our Acrylic Series, that's where you'll find it. Squadron Colors Acrylic Paint is airbrush-ready, highly pigmented, and developed specifically for scale modeling.
But some colors and finishes simply cannot be reproduced to the same standard with acrylic paint chemistry.
Highly reflective metallics. Chrome finishes. Certain extremely bright or intense colors. Specialized effects.
When acrylic chemistry limits the result we're trying to achieve, we don't compromise the color to make it fit the paint system. We use a different paint system.
That's where the Squadron Colors Lacquer Series comes in.
But color is only the beginning.
Once the painting is complete, Squadron Colors Washes and Pigments give modelers another set of tools for adding depth, definition, dirt, dust, staining, wear, and the subtle variations that help bring a finished model to life.
From the first coat of paint to the final touches of weathering, the philosophy remains the same:
GIVE MODELERS THE RIGHT TOOL FOR THE RESULT THEY'RE TRYING TO ACHIEVE.
TWO PAINT SYSTEMS. ONE SQUADRON COLORS PHILOSOPHY.
Squadron Colors includes both Acrylic and Lacquer paints, but we don't view them as competing product lines.
They're two different paint technologies that allow us to produce a broader range of colors and finishes for scale modelers.
IF WE CAN PRODUCE IT IN ACRYLIC, WE DO.
Our Acrylic Series is the foundation of the Squadron Colors paint range and allows us to reproduce an enormous variety of historical, military, camouflage, figure, science-fiction, fantasy, and general modeling colors.
But paint chemistry has limitations.
Certain pigments and visual effects — particularly metallic colors, highly reflective surfaces, exceptionally bright colors, and specialized finishes — can achieve results in a lacquer system that simply aren't practical to reproduce to the same standard in acrylic.
When that's the case, we use lacquer.
The result is a paint range where the chemistry is selected according to what produces the color and finish we're looking for, rather than forcing every color into a single paint technology.
THE COLOR DETERMINES THE CHEMISTRY — NOT THE OTHER WAY AROUND.
SQUADRON COLORS ACRYLIC SERIES
OUR FIRST CHOICE WHEN THE COLOR ALLOWS IT.
Squadron Colors Acrylic Paint was developed specifically for scale-model airbrushing.
It is airbrush-ready directly from the bottle, highly pigmented, and designed to provide excellent control and coverage without requiring thinning for normal painting.
The Acrylic Series is home to a continually expanding selection of historical and general modeling colors, developed with the research and attention to color that defines Squadron Colors.
From camouflage and military colors to figures, interiors, equipment, science-fiction subjects, and countless other modeling applications, if we can achieve the color we're looking for in our Acrylic formula, that's where we want to offer it.
Although developed primarily as an airbrush paint, modelers — particularly within the figure and miniature painting community — have also found Squadron Colors Acrylic Paint useful for brush painting, glazing, translucent layering, and other techniques where thin, controlled layers of color are desirable.
LEARN MORE ABOUT SQUADRON COLORS ACRYLICS
Our complete Acrylic Series guide covers air pressure, thinning, Flow Control Agent, primers, surface preparation, application techniques, drying and curing, masking, brush painting, airbrush cleanup, storage, and more.
SQUADRON COLORS LACQUER SERIES
WHEN THE COLOR CALLS FOR LACQUER.
Some colors depend on properties that are difficult — or sometimes simply impractical — to reproduce effectively in an acrylic paint system.
That's particularly true when developing finishes that rely on metallic brilliance, reflectivity, extreme brightness, optical effects, or specialized surface characteristics.
Rather than compromise those colors to keep everything Acrylic, the Squadron Colors Lacquer Series gives us another set of tools.
This allows us to produce finishes such as:
- Aluminum and natural-metal shades
- Highly reflective metallics
- Chrome
- Polished Aluminum
- Gold, Brass, Copper, and other metallic finishes
- Extremely bright or intense colors where lacquer chemistry provides a better result
- Holographic and other Special FX finishes
- Specialized primers and finishing products
- Super Gloss and Super Matte 2K clear coats
The Lacquer Series exists because sometimes the color or finish we're trying to create demands it.
LEARN MORE ABOUT SQUADRON COLORS LACQUERS
Our complete Lacquer Series guides explain the techniques behind 1K and 2K primers, metallic colors, Chrome and Polished Aluminum, Special FX, 2K clear coats, curing, cleanup, and more.
SQUADRON COLORS WEATHERING SERIES
BECAUSE PAINT IS ONLY THE BEGINNING.
Painting establishes the colors of your model.
Weathering helps tell its story.
The Squadron Colors Weathering Series gives modelers the tools to add depth, definition, wear, dirt, dust, staining, grime, and the countless subtle effects that can transform a freshly painted model into something that looks like it has existed in the real world.
Our Weathering Series currently includes Washes and Pigments, each providing different ways to build realistic effects while giving the modeler control over how subtle — or dramatic — the final result becomes.
SQUADRON COLORS WASHES
Washes are designed to flow into recessed details and around raised features, helping emphasize panel lines, rivets, seams, shadows, mechanical details, and surface definition.
But washes aren't limited to outlining details.
Depending on the color and application technique, they can also be used to create staining, accumulated dirt, grime, streaking, shadows, and other weathering effects.
Used selectively, a wash can bring out details that were already present on the model but difficult to see.
SQUADRON COLORS PIGMENTS
Pigments provide another way to reproduce the irregular and often textured effects found on real subjects.
They can be used to simulate dust, dirt, earth, soot, exhaust deposits, rust, accumulated grime, and other environmental effects, and different colors can be combined to create more complex finishes.
Pigments are particularly useful because the modeler controls not only the color, but also where the effect appears, how heavily it is applied, and how different colors blend together.
BUILD THE STORY IN LAYERS.
Washes and Pigments can be used independently, but they become even more versatile when incorporated into a complete painting and weathering process.
A model might begin with Squadron Colors Acrylic or Lacquer paint, receive decals and appropriate finishing coats, and then gradually develop its final appearance through washes, pigments, and other weathering techniques.
The goal isn't always to make a model look heavily weathered.
SOMETIMES THE SMALLEST AMOUNT OF WEATHERING MAKES THE BIGGEST DIFFERENCE.
Whether you're recreating a dusty tank, a hard-worked aircraft, a salt-stained ship, exhaust deposits around an engine, or simply adding subtle definition to a clean model, weathering gives you another opportunity to tell the story of your subject.
LEARN MORE ABOUT SQUADRON COLORS WEATHERING
Our Weathering Series guide explains how to use Squadron Colors Washes and Pigments, how the products differ, application techniques, layering, blending, removal and adjustment, surface preparation, and how different weathering products can work together to create realistic effects.
COLOR BEGINS WITH RESEARCH
For Squadron Colors, historical color accuracy isn't an afterthought.
It's one of the foundations of the paint line.
Developing a historically accurate color involves much more than matching a photograph, copying an existing hobby paint, or choosing a color that simply “looks right.”
Our research and development draws from an extensive archive containing more than 20,000 historical photographs, along with thousands of pages of documentation relating to military paint specifications, camouflage, color standards, and period mixing instructions.
RESEARCHED FROM THE SOURCE
Whenever possible, we work from historical documentation and established color standards rather than relying solely on modern interpretations.
Depending on the subject and period being researched, our reference materials and color-development process may include:
- Original period photographs and documentation
- Historical paint and camouflage specifications
- Period mixing formulas and instructions
- The 1929 Munsell Book of Color
- U.S. Federal Standard 595, 595A, 595B, and 595C
- RAL color standards
- CIELAB color data
- Other appropriate historical color references and primary-source material
But historical research is only part of the process.
WHERE HISTORY MEETS MODERN COLOR SCIENCE
Squadron uses in-house spectrophotometric measurement and computerized color analysis to help translate historical references into reproducible paint colors.
By combining historical research with objective color measurement, we can evaluate color using established systems such as Munsell, RAL, and CIELAB, rather than depending entirely on subjective visual comparison.
Modern technology cannot answer every historical color question.
But combined with good historical research, it gives us another powerful tool for interpreting the evidence and developing colors for today's scale modeler.
BUILT ON YEARS OF RESEARCH
The methodology behind Squadron Colors grew from extensive research into World War II naval camouflage and historical paint systems, where seemingly small differences in color, specification, time period, and application can significantly affect the appearance and accuracy of a model.
That same research-driven approach has expanded into aircraft, military vehicles, and other historical subjects.
And we've learned something important along the way:
HISTORICAL COLOR ISN'T ALWAYS SIMPLE.
Paint specifications changed.
Manufacturing varied.
Field mixing occurred.
Paint weathered and faded.
Different factories and suppliers could introduce variations.
Photographic film, processing, lighting, reproduction, and aging can change how a color appears in a historical photograph.
Surviving artifacts have their own limitations.
Rather than pretending those variables don't exist, we believe understanding them is part of understanding the subject.
MORE THAN A COLOR IN A BOTTLE
When you choose a Squadron Colors historical paint, our goal is to give you more than a convenient approximation.
Behind the color is the research — historical photographs, original documents, period standards, color science, and years of experience studying the subjects we model.
Because when you're investing dozens — or hundreds — of hours researching, building, detailing, painting, and weathering a model, we believe the color deserves the same attention to detail.
COLOR ACCURACY AND SCALE MODELING
Historical research establishes the starting point, but scale modeling introduces another important element:
THE MODELER.
Lighting, weathering, fading, scale, surrounding colors, clear coats, surface sheen, and the techniques used during painting can all influence how a finished color appears on a model.
That's why Squadron Colors provides the researched color while still giving modelers the freedom to use it creatively.
Some builders want a freshly painted factory finish.
Others want an aircraft faded by months in the Pacific sun.
A tank covered in dust and earth.
A ship exposed to saltwater and weather.
An aircraft stained by exhaust and hard service.
Or a vehicle that looks like it has just rolled out of a maintenance depot.
The historical color provides the foundation. What you do with it tells the story of your model.
And that's where the entire Squadron Colors system comes together.
Paint establishes the color. Washes bring out the detail. Pigments add the environment. The modeler brings it all together.
A MODEL FINISHING SYSTEM THAT CONTINUES TO GROW
Squadron Colors began in 2019, when Jeff Herne launched Scale Colors with a handful of historically researched World War II U.S. Navy colors.
In January 2025, Squadron acquired Scale Colors, bringing the brand into the Squadron family and reintroducing it as Squadron Colors.
What started with just a handful of colors has grown dramatically. Today, the Squadron Colors paint range includes well over 600 colors, covering an ever-expanding variety of aircraft, armor, naval, figure, automotive, science-fiction, fantasy, and general modeling subjects.
And Squadron Colors has grown beyond color alone.
The range now includes Acrylic and Lacquer paints, primers, metallic finishes, 2K clear coats, Special FX, Washes, Pigments, and other products developed specifically for scale modelers.
And we're not finished.
We continue to develop new colors, finishes, weathering products, tools, and techniques based on historical research, modern color technology, our own testing, and feedback from the modeling community.
Some products are developed because historical research identifies a color we believe should be available to modelers.
Others are created because a particular color, finish, or effect is difficult to reproduce with existing products.
And sometimes a new product begins simply because we look at what modelers are trying to accomplish and think:
THERE SHOULD BE A BETTER TOOL FOR THAT.
That same philosophy extends beyond the products themselves.
As Squadron Colors continues to grow, we're also expanding the information, application guides, techniques, and educational resources available to the modeling community.
We don't simply want to put another bottle of paint, wash, or pigment on your workbench.
We want you to understand the product, know how to use it, and have the information you need to get the best possible results from it.
From a handful of WWII Navy colors in 2019 to a range of more than 600 colors and a growing family of finishing and weathering products, Squadron Colors has come a long way.
AND WE'RE JUST GETTING STARTED.
EXPLORE SQUADRON COLORS
From the first coat of color to the final touches of weathering, the goal remains the same:
GIVE SCALE MODELERS THE TOOLS TO CREATE THE COLOR, FINISH, AND CHARACTER THEIR SUBJECT DESERVES.
SQUADRON COLORS ACRYLIC SERIES
Explore our airbrush-ready Acrylic colors and learn how to get the most from them.
SQUADRON COLORS LACQUER SERIES
Explore our Lacquer colors, metallics, specialized finishes, primers, clear coats, and Special FX.
SQUADRON COLORS WEATHERING SERIES
Explore our Washes and Pigments and learn how to add depth, definition, wear, dirt, dust, staining, and other realistic effects to your models.
LEARN. EXPERIMENT. BUILD.
Every modeler develops their own techniques.
Airbrushes differ. Compressors differ. Workshops differ. Models differ. Weathering styles differ. And the finish one modeler wants may be completely different from the finish another is trying to achieve.
That's why our guides are designed to give you a strong starting point rather than a rigid set of rules.
Learn how the products work.
Experiment with the techniques.
Find what works for you.