My question is;

What colour were the cannon carriers on the real Sovereign Of The Seas.

In the instructions it is shown as Matt Red. One Modeller has done his in Oak Stain and Matt Varnish finish which I think looks more realistic.

I understand the colours are up to the modeller to decide, however if the cannon carriers on the real ship were Oak then I'd like to keep it all as original as possible.

Also in purchasing Admiralty Paints I would like this question answered if possible prior to that.

Regards and thanks in anticipation.

George1

hi george, as a rule,the captain had the privilege of the paint colours of any part(s) of the ship, some paints were hard to come by,usually the purser was in charge of obtaining these stores,and what was available at the time. some captains liked brass canons and red ochre trucks,some captains preferred black canons and yellow ochre trucks,nelson was the one that had his ships painted chequer board yellow and black. he thought they looked more fearsome. one thing that was very clear was the canons and ship was kept pristine at all times,so no weathering is required, only the decks were weathered,because they were holystoned daily(scrubbed with round stones) other captains copied paint designs,especially nelsons colour scheme. hope this helps you make up your mind.

George
You have 2 choices go for what you like or what is regarded as the norm for the period.
Lets put it this way if you go for the red will you sit there hating it every time you look at the build or think 'yh that looks sweet' if you went for the oak.
At the end of the day its the induvidual touches that make the ship your own and remember the painting is a guide only as there are few references let alone plans surviving for the ship, another thing to remember is that there was the bulling up of ships in this period so things were reported to scare the percieved enemy of the time this could be described as an early form of spin from the period.
So your rendition as you would like it with the unpainted carriages would at some time been a probable outcome as if you think about it carriages would have to be replaced at some time. Also another thing to remember that it has been reported that the hull deck walls were also painted red to hide the blood spilled but I think this was soon changed to a lime wash to aid light reflection from the lamps
As Karl has stated individual captains had there own preferences for painting and mostly down to what was available in the stores or whent into port on there travels.
regards
Andy

You could try a coat of matt varnish to dull it down