GFuitarist turned model maker again.

[Visualartfx]

Now, my Granmother "Rosa Lee Greenlee" was married to Col. Thomas Greenlee of the Army Air Force late the Strategic Bomber Group flying B-52's and more. During WW2 he flew with the Mighty 8th serving 24 missions. He knew personally General Claire Lee Chennault of the AVG. I bought a sorry model of a P-40-B 1/48 buy Revell and it suck to say the nicest about it. Anyway, what were the TRUE base color and the camo color. I painted the tiger withuncle sam's hat teariong up the Jap flag by Col. Robert L. Scott who wrote the book "God is my co-pilot" My Grandmother has a leather bound 1st edition signed to her by him. Enough of the jabbering,l what were the colors and could someone post please? Thank you all so very much for your advice and help.

 

[rochie]

Colours are all there for you on your second picture.

but it depends on what brand of paint you intend to use

 

[buffnut453]

Colours for AVG P-40s are something of a can o' worms. The aircraft were originally ordered by the British Purchasing Commission (BPC) but an agreement was reached where the aircraft would be gifted to China in return for the RAF receiving later variant P-40s instead. This explains why the early AVG airframes (all the long-nose P-40s) wore RAF camouflage.

Aircraft procured in the US by the BPC were painted in accordance with British specifications using US-equivalent paints that were matched to UK Ministry of Aircraft Production (MAP) specifications. Thus the camouflage should be Dark Earth and Dark Green on the upper surfaces, and Sky on the undersides. Photographic evidence suggests that the upper surface colours faded under the effects of the strong Burmese sun.

While the US-equivalent paints weren't an exact match for the MAP specifications, they were pretty close. There has been some conjecture that the undersides were actually painted in an equivalent shade to Medium Sea Grey, based largely on analysis of photographs. The problem is that Sky is such a subtle colour that it can appear blue, green or grey depending on lighting conditions and camera settings. Personally, I have a hard time believing that the BPC would accept aircraft painted in a colour that would be unique among all RAF aircraft at the time, particularly since the aircraft were paid for from UK resources (the order pre-dated Lend/Lease by many months.

So...my recommendation would be to use standard RAF paints of Dark Earth, Dark Green and Sky for the camouflage, perhaps lightening the Dark Earth and Dark Green slightly to reflect the weathered condition of the planes after a while...and you can dare anybody to prove you wrong.

 

[fubar57]

D Dana Bell might help quell the can o' worms a bit. Not sure about the accuracy of this article...Antrvm Ratvs - Curtiss camouflage on A.V.G. Tomahawks