From what I understand, the general consensus is the primary 'pit color in an F-89 Scorpion is "Aircraft Gray" (FS 16473). Okay, fine. Then I ran across this pic (from Cybermodeler) showing F-89D's on the flightline. Clearly NOT any kind of gray. Looks plain 'ol US Interior Green to me. Thoughts?
F-89 Cockpit color?
- Thread starter jgreiner
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SaparotRob
Unter Gemeine Geschwader Murmeltier XIII
They're beautiful.
Vic Balshaw
Major General
Great pic. 
Don't confuse canopy interior color with cockpit interior color and/or color shift from direct sunlight.
f89restoration.blogspot.com
Everything old is new again
(Well, almost everything.) We've been a little busy working on airplanes this year, but the F-89 was moved back inside this spring and work...
f89restoration.blogspot.com
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- #5
Absolutely and thank you very much for the link! However, I don't care how much "color shift" etc, etc.... That's simply NOT Aircraft Gray! My simple reasoning is because whether you look inside the sliding canopy area or directly at the seat area(s) in front, it's still green! Of course, this is all nothing more than my usual, humble opinion.Don't confuse canopy interior color with cockpit interior color and/or color shift from direct sunlight.
Everything old is new again
(Well, almost everything.) We've been a little busy working on airplanes this year, but the F-89 was moved back inside this spring and work...
*Edit*: Furthermore, look at the Artic Red through the canopy glass and it's pretty much the exact same hue as when not looking through the glass. Make sense?
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Actually, jgreiner is right. The enlarged shot indicates that there were more details of the cockpit painted with the colour. Not the interior of the cockpit hood frame only. I would say that's the Interior Green TT-P-1757 ANA 611 ( FS 34151)
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- #7
Thanks Wurger! Obviously the seat frames are IG as well. Canopy rails too. Unfortunately can't see the interior walls of the cockpit but logic (whatever that is!) would say they'd be IG as well. And judging by the wing pods, these are D's, of which many (most?) were eventually converted to J's. I'm building the 1/48 R/M kit and I might just need to go interior green and see how many heads I can explode.
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- #8
You are right these are the F-89D variant and belonged to the 64th FIS.
Regarding the cockpit sidewall in the pic above .. unfortunately the tone might be cause by the light. And for the reason I wouldn't use it as the reference.
However in a couple of colour images of F-89 I noticed something like the IG colour. Not sure at 100% but the tone of the ejection seats suggests just the paint there. What is more, it looks like the F-89 had a similar coat for the fuselage interior. Let's call it the primer. Also I noticed that the coat can be found in a couple of colour shots as the primer for the grey paint.
Regarding the cockpit sidewall in the pic above .. unfortunately the tone might be cause by the light. And for the reason I wouldn't use it as the reference.
However in a couple of colour images of F-89 I noticed something like the IG colour. Not sure at 100% but the tone of the ejection seats suggests just the paint there. What is more, it looks like the F-89 had a similar coat for the fuselage interior. Let's call it the primer. Also I noticed that the coat can be found in a couple of colour shots as the primer for the grey paint.
And a B&W enlarged shot of the Northrop F-89D-25-NO "Scorpion" (s/n 51-11389) of the 64th FIS. IMHO the cockpit colour isn't the light blue grey rather.
the source:
View: https://www.flickr.com/photos/my_public_domain_photos/5770316580/in/photostream/
the source:
View: https://www.flickr.com/photos/my_public_domain_photos/5770316580/in/photostream/
Just to pile on a little bit, here's the cockpit of the J at the USAF Museum. Look at the LH cockpit sidewall.
View attachment 708915
Yes, that's the photo I posted a link too in my response.
Not sure that I follow with the "colors" are correct in your first photo, but somehow "unfortunately the tone might be cause by the light" per Wurger in this one. The cockpit above is clearly grey and the unrestored photos from my second link (different airframe) are grey as well. I would say most photos found indicate a grey interior. Enjoy the build. Good luck.
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View attachment 708930
Yes, that's the photo I posted a link too in my response.
Not sure that I follow with the "colors" are correct in your first photo, but somehow "unfortunately the tone might be cause by the light" per Wurger in this one. The cockpit above is clearly grey and the unrestored photos from my second link (different airframe) are grey as well. I would say most photos found indicate a grey interior. Enjoy the build. Good luck.
View attachment 708925
View attachment 708926
View attachment 708927
View attachment 708928
Thank you! Yes, obviously choked full of a/c gray there! I still firmly believe that first shot I posted in this thread along with others by Wurger are interior green. I will also agree with you that some (if not most) were a/c gray! Thanks also for the well wishes regarding the build! I'm not looking forward to the mess the underside of the fuselage is (with that insert) but I'll beat it into submission!
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- #15
a/c gray OVER interior green?! NICE!
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- #17
The plot thickens....
If I may ... the pic attached to the first post makes it clear that the ANA 611 was used for the cockpit. At least there are four kites with the coat in the cockpit. Also the shots with the F-89 wrackage. But it doesn't seem to be a rule because other images indicate the light blue-grey paint. So .. either the 64th Squadron FIS used the colour only or these kites to the D variant had the cockpits of the green coat. Later , during the major overhaul also these got the grey there as well. Anyway.. no evidence, no problem. Just my two cents.
special ed
1st Sergeant
- 4,848
- May 13, 2018
While I have no info on the F-89 of that period, while in the UASF Reserve (C-119) we used zinc chromate spray cans for most interior work and some places of the props. I was in the prop shop. Those were my plastic modelling days and I used USAF zinc chromate (interior green) for my models. It came from the paint shop supply in white cans with the appropriate AF numbers and at the bottom said mfg by Krylon. I still have some left from 1965 and use it in my scale cockpits on flying models.
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