1/48 P-40 "Flying Tigers" - Aircraft in Foreign Service WWII

[Wayne Little]

I'm with Andy on this one...

 

[T Bolt]

On mine I believe I'm going with Dark Earth Dark Green on top, but from what I've been reading the underside was not sky but a light gray. I was thinking of going with Model Master Camouflage Gray.

 

[fubar57]

Tother side....

Geo

 

[Crimea_River]

Nice fishin' Geo.

 

[meatloaf109]

Yep, caught a tiger shark!

 

[meatloaf109]

On mine I believe I'm going with Dark Earth Dark Green on top, but from what I've been reading the underside was not sky but a light gray. I was thinking of going with Model Master Camouflage Gray.

I have read that too...
I am inclined to believe that the DuPont sky was really a light grey.

 

[N4521U]

I once painted a sign background brown, mixed red and green........... it was ugly greenish in no time. Purple and green make a brown that will last longer in the heat and sun. Can't imagine green fading out unless it was an awfully fugitive green pigment.

 

[Wurger]

Well. I am thoroughly confused as to the colors on the A.V.G. P-40's. I found a couple of excellent sites that seemed to nail down the scheme, but then I found one with an interview with Eric Shilling. (an actual "Flying Tiger") He claims that the P-40's were in two shades of green. This is contrary to Curtiss records and most of the photographic evidence.
Thoughts?

A question though.... P-40 or Hawk H-81A ?

I'm asking about that because , although Hawks of the AVG had the Dark Earth/Dark Green/ Sky ( Blue ) colours these P-40s used later had an uniform of the Olive Drab 41/ Natural Grey 43 paints. So it is possible that these late models of the Curtiss kite got the another green paint during overhaul by maintenace crews.
An additionall info I found... the camo of Hawks was called by the RAF - the Temperate Land Scheme C3A and was made with the DuPont colours that faded much easier than those origin English paints. The Dark Earth became sand-yellow while the Dark Green got the grassy or the spinach tinge. The Sky on undersides remained unchanged often . But the dust and mud made it looking just dirty. But the most important info I found is that 70% of the ealiest shipment of Curtiss planes had the undersides of the bluish Sky while the 99 of Hawk 81 that were delivered to the AVG finally had the undersides painted with an unspecified a light grey colour.

The source.. A.Zbigniewski - AVG Flying Tigers.

 

[N4521U]

Well now, That certainly clears things up..........?

As suspected, fugitive pigments in the paints would make hues of all different sorts with time.
Red, grenn and yellow could have been used in Dk Earth, red and green faing out leaving it dirty yellow.
Dk Green, FS3409 for instance is R89, G95, B67, so you could see how red and blue could fade out and leave a spinach color...

just sayin

 

[Wurger]

You are right Bill.

Anyway... if the plane with the number 7 was one of these 99 delivered as the end shipment its undersides might have been of the "light grey"

 

[Wayne Little]

Great info

 

[ccheese]

How about a progress report, and some pic's ??

Charles

 

[meatloaf109]

Love to, but I am still sorting out the paint ideas!
Number 7 was surely one of the first, so I will go with the unspecified grey color.
Like wise I will use the dark green and dark earth colors that look right to me.
This one was going to be a "paint job" model anyways. (As opposed to a "scratch built extravaganza")
So I think I am good to go.
Unless I have second thoughts.....

 

[N4521U]

Ohhhhhh Paul,
them second thoughts are a trap, like walking into a cross fire, an ambush!!!!!
you get my drift.

 

[Wurger]

Paul, if the Number 7 was one of these first planes delivered there you should use the blue grey colour for the undersides. The unspecified light grey was used for these 99 planes of the last batch.

 

[T Bolt]

The #7 does not necessarily mean it was an early arrival. Certain number ranges were assigned to each of the three squadrons. I don't know those ranges off hand but just recently saw them in the AVG camouflage and marking book I was reading and I can look it up tonight. The ranges were held to early on but later when aircraft were transfered between squadrons it got a little mixed up.
The colors sound fine to me Paul and I'll be doing similar on mine using MM Camouflage Gray for the underside. I plan to do so much dirt and weathering that any difference between MM Dark Earth and Dark Green and the DuPont Paint actually used won't make any difference.

 

[Wurger]

All is possible...

Here is a nice site for the AVG colours...

Antrvm Ratvs - Curtiss camouflage on A.V.G. Tomahawks

 

[fubar57]

Just to add some coal...

Geo

 

[N4521U]

All is possible...

Here is a nice site for the AVG colours...

Antrvm Ratvs - Curtiss camouflage on A.V.G. Tomahawks

Exhaustive reading......... in-ter-esting.

 

[meatloaf109]

K, I think I have figured it out. Robert Neale had a first batch P-40 B in the early part of the A.V.G. existence. This is the aircraft he flew on the first combat mission where they shot down 3 of 4 Japanese bombers. This was his mount through 6 of the 7 months that The A.V.G. was active. As far as I can determine, in the last month an aircraft from the 3rd squadron was switched to him and the number "7" was repainted, along with the "new" tiger insignia which he used while serving as an interm commander of the 23rd fighter group. Two weeks later Bob Scott (of "God is my Co-Pilot") fame took over.
So, to sum it up, a light blue-grey belly, with the standard green and brown uppers is the order of the day.
Thanks Wotjek for the info. As always, you were spot on!