Decoy Spray Colour

[macca2017]

I've got some shell (flocked) decoys which are a bit too light in colour, I  want to spay them a more realistic colour. Can anybody recommend a colour shade which is more realistic? 

 

[humperdingle]

I’d always considered a grey primer to be a decent match, but if you take a pigeon’s feather in to Halfords or similar, they will match the colour pretty closely. You might get some funny looks, though 😂

[Good shot?]

This is a copy of an earlier post on here by Sweet11-87.

wing and tail tips- liberty black

breast-pimlico pink/brown

wings- Cincinnati grey

beak and eyes- gran via yellow

neck and wing bars- brilliant white

Edited April 17, 2023 by Good shot?

[Centrepin]

Go to B & Q, tester pots. Plenty of choice. 1 pot does about 10 half shells.

[TIGHTCHOKE]

5 hours ago, humperdingle said:

I’d always considered a grey primer to be a decent match, but if you take a pigeon’s feather in to Halfords or similar, they will match the colour pretty closely. You might get some funny looks, though 😂

Grey primer, the cheaper the better!   

[Walker570]

Yep grey primer BUT the white bits must be whiter than white.   I have used plastic milk bottles painted as such with great success then days with real pigeons when they don't want to know.

[old'un]

some of my first decoys were made from grey guttering or down pipe, perhaps not the perfect shade of pigeon grey but they worked.

[martinj]

That's a bit dodgy to my eyes, no offence GS but it's a bit blue for my taste, They say 1 in 4 blokes are colour blind, is it you or me? it's a very neat job though.

I use white, grey, black and red primer. I start with a dead pigeon on the bench in my garage for reference then make small mixes of paint in yogurt pots and paint areas on my decoys matching the dead bird. I'll do another mix for different areas and keep on until they are done. I use a mix of pale grey with a bit of red primer for the breasts. 

I'll do all decoys as soon as I order them because I'm sure the people who paint them have never seen a woodpigeon, also different manufacturers products look very different to each other. I'll also work through the whole lot when they are looking a bit tired, after a season perhaps or when the flock/paint is getting badly damaged from being jumbled in a sack.

Edited April 18, 2023 by martinj

[Sweet11-87]

2 minutes ago, martinj said:

That's well dodgy to my eyes, no offence GS but it's a bit blue, They say 1 in 4 blokes are colour blind, is it you or me? it's a very neat job though.

I use white, grey, black and red primer. I start with a dead pigeon on the bench in my garage for reference then make small mixes of paint in yogurt cups and paint areas on my decoys matching the dead bird. I'll do another mix for different areas and keep on until they are done. I use a mix of pale grey with a bit of red primer for the breasts. 

I'll do all shell decoys as soon as I order them because I

Fully agree they look blue  and i was very very dubious when i did it but it was a tip from a bloke older than time and they were old decoys. on overcast days on wobble springs they really "popped" and looked good (to me atleast) and becasue the paint is like harsh matt they didnt shine so much.

apparently pigeons see the world in a uv spectrum so everything is a shade of blue in theory but thats all it was a theory. was it the colour?, was it just that they stood out?, was the paint more clear under UV light? did i just become better with my fieldcraft, shooting or decoy spread layouts? too many variables to say for sure if they worked better and if so was it the paint job but i used them for a good while and had confidence in them, killed pigeons, enjoyed the little project and enjoyed my sport.

 

i ended up parting with them for considerably more than they cost me plus time and effort on ebay ,so in a way they were very attractive and the best decoys i just bagged a diffrent quarry lmao. Still got the paint and i fully intend to do a load more but i splashed on a full spread of decathalon decoys and they look the part, seem to work great and im reluctant to paint them as they are still perfect and you cant get them in the uk anymore.

 

thanks for the shoutout Good Shot youve got a memory on you.

[humperdingle]

As long as they work 👍 That’s the main thing

[martinj]

18 hours ago, humperdingle said:

As long as they work 👍 That’s the main thing

👍

[martinj]

By The way, re pigeons seeing in the UV spectrum, I recall a thread on here a few years ago when a company was trying to flog UV paint for decoys. 

I bought a UV torch which shone only Ultraviolet light, I turned the lights off and shone the torch on some pigeons in my garage to see if anything showed up that wasn't visible to the naked eye or if they looked much different to my decoys and the answer was . . . . no appreciable difference, at least to my eyes.

Edited April 19, 2023 by martinj

[Good shot?]

19 hours ago, Sweet11-87 said:

 

thanks for the shoutout Good Shot youve got a memory on you.

No problem, my “good” memory is also a very  debatable subject 😀

[macca2017]

Thanks for all the replies, i will take a trip to Halfords with a dead pigeon or maybe just go with grey primer. 

[humperdingle]

59 minutes ago, macca2017 said:

Thanks for all the replies, i will take a trip to Halfords with a dead pigeon or maybe just go with grey primer. 

I can see a dead pigeon sketch coming 😂

[martinj]

'Ello, Miss?
Owner : What do you mean "miss"?
I'm sorry, I have a cold. I wish to make a complaint!
O: We're closin' for lunch.
Never mind that, my lad. I wish to complain about this Pigeon what I purchased not half an hour ago from this very boutique.
O: Oh yes, the, uh, the Norwegian Blue...What's,uh...What's wrong with it?
I'll tell you what's wrong with it, my lad. 'E's dead, that's what's wrong with it!

Edited May 31, 2023 by martinj

[Penelope]

On 18/04/2023 at 15:20, martinj said:

That's a bit dodgy to my eyes, no offence GS but it's a bit blue for my taste, They say 1 in 4 blokes are colour blind, is it you or me? it's a very neat job though.

I use white, grey, black and red primer. I start with a dead pigeon on the bench in my garage for reference then make small mixes of paint in yogurt pots and paint areas on my decoys matching the dead bird. I'll do another mix for different areas and keep on until they are done. I use a mix of pale grey with a bit of red primer for the breasts. 

I'll do all decoys as soon as I order them because I'm sure the people who paint them have never seen a woodpigeon, also different manufacturers products look very different to each other. I'll also work through the whole lot when they are looking a bit tired, after a season perhaps or when the flock/paint is getting badly damaged from being jumbled in a sack.

Looks like a trans activist pigeon.

[marsh man]

12 hours ago, Penelope said:

Looks like a trans activist pigeon.

Look like it came from a well to do family , or been shoping in Carnaby St in London .

To be fair to the op he had made a very good job of the painting side , colours , I am not so sure  

Would be good to know how they got on in action on the field of combat ?

Edited June 7, 2023 by marsh man

[TIGHTCHOKE]

The time would have been better spent doing more reconnaissance!

[ditchman]

bit jeeves&wooster................just need some spats....long cigarette holder...and a link to agatha christi

[TIGHTCHOKE]

11 hours ago, ditchman said:

bit jeeves&wooster................just need some spats....long cigarette holder...and a link to agatha christi

Make you mind up, one or the other!    

[Stonepark]

On 19/04/2023 at 10:33, martinj said:

By The way, re pigeons seeing in the UV spectrum, I recall a thread on here a few years ago when a company was trying to flog UV paint for decoys. 

I bought a UV torch which shone only Ultraviolet light, I turned the lights off and shone the torch on some pigeons in my garage to see if anything showed up that wasn't visible to the naked eye or if they looked much different to my decoys and the answer was . . . . no appreciable difference, at least to my eyes.

You can't see UV light with human eyes.

The torch you were using if you could see it, was not UV or contained both UV and non UV led chips so you could see it.

You need a UV camera (un filtered) to "see" any UV light reflection translated into part of the spectrum we can see.

[ditchman]

28 minutes ago, Stonepark said:

You can't see UV light with human eyes.

The torch you were using if you could see it, was not UV or contained both UV and non UV led chips so you could see it.

You need a UV camera (un filtered) to "see" any UV light reflection translated into part of the spectrum we can see.

you could take a fresh deaden into your local disco on a saturday night ...and take it for a spin around the dance floor .....it would be cheaper than buying a uv tourch,,

[stockybasher]

4 hours ago, ditchman said:

you could take a fresh deaden into your local disco on a saturday night ...and take it for a spin around the dance floor .....it would be cheaper than buying a uv tourch,,

🤣 😆

[Sweet11-87]

meh haters gona hate :D.

the original post and project was done in feburary a few years back when it gets dark at like 4 so "doing more reconnaissance" was going to be a bit redundant.

like i said above, was someting to do, killed plenty over them after then sold them on for a tidy bit profit.   ill be the first to say they look blue, but hey what colour is blue to a pigeon?

 

my honest opinion, colour makes not a jot of diffrence i think its movement and seeing somthing thats vaguely pigeon shaped where they expect to see pigeons