PAINTS

• Seeing that the only enamel paints available in the UK in the 70s were Humbrol, it must of been one of these.
  
  Humbrol only make 2 gloss greys, one which was too pale and the other looked spot on dark AD Grey(5). To backup this up Jez asked Andrew Ainsworth what paints were used on the helmets, "The little small tins of paint." was the reply, these were Humbrol.
  
  Searching for more information, I telephoned Humbrol and spoke to the head of their marketing department, asking him about the history of the paints.
  
  All numbers above 50 were not around in the 70s, so any blues or greys above that number hadn't been produced yet, this was great in narrowing down what colors were used.
  
  A recent conversation with Humbrol one afternoon was very interesting, they did supply the Large film Studios like Elstree with Enamel paint.
  
  Now just to confirm what I thought all along. TE scanned some of the decals from his original ST helmet. The grey on the decals matched the AD grey (photos to come)

AB plate colours

• Some people believe that French blue was used on the ANH troopers, if you look in the ESB Reference section on this site, you will see French blue on a trooper, it has that light blue look, I have not seen this on any ANH troopers.

Helmet colours

• All grey parts on the helmet Humbrol Ad Grey (5) was used, Humbrol gloss black was used on the black fine detailing as well as on the Vocoder(mouth)
• The blue tube stripes these differ on helmets, some original helmets had the lighter Mediterranean blue(48) whereas others had the darker Midnight Blue (15)
• You may hear some people saying that French (14) was used by looking at screen grabs, I looked into French blue when I orginally did the research, I haven't added it. Why? TE owned 2 helmets, I showed him what the colour Humbrol French blue looked like years ago, he said the helmets he owned didn't have that shade, 2 helmets one had a dark colour the other lighter, not (14) and that guy should know he didn't need to look at screen grabs. Still who knows maybe other helmets had 14, until one surfaces 15 and 48 are the ones.

Sandtrooper Backpack Blue Colour

• Above is my "theory" on what colour they used for the Sandtrooper backpack. Now we know the packs were put together by the prop department at Elstree, made up from a boy scout backpack frame and bits and bobs, including Tupaware products and seed trays, UK paints would of been used.
• Humbrol supplied the big Studios in the 70's, the only colours available then were from 1-50. The closest match I could find was Humbrol Sea Blue (47). Looks good to me.
  
  

ANH Stormtrooper material belts

• Above Luke's belt taken after the filming of ANH, you can see it is water damaged from the Trash compactor scene, notice the brown edges, no way would canvas act like this, it would be the same colour all over, so this makes me think either vinyl or leather. I've seen Canvas belts on 501st, to be they just don't look like movie ones. **Note* In fact in John Mollo's diary, it says Stormtrooper vinyl as has a drawing of what looks like the belt.
  

• Above is a vinyl belt widely worn in the late 60s and 70s, notice the stiching similar to some of the troopers.
• I know an ANH suit was found in the Archives recently with a canvas belt but that belt may of been added years later. Maybe both was used?? Below is a vinyl belt showing how thick they can be ans also the tan colour inside.