Plastic Modeling

[Tcoat]

So I can find dozens of line diagrams and such of the section I need to break open for the Mustang but do you think I can find one single reliable reference to what colours those parts should be?

[Dadhawk]

Originally Posted by Tcoat

So I can find dozens of line diagrams and such of the section I need to break open for the Mustang but do you think I can find one single reliable reference to what colours those parts should be?

I would have thought the internal ones would be primary zinc chromate colored.

Maybe this will help.


https://www.britmodeller.com/forums/...lour-question/

[Tcoat]

Originally Posted by Dadhawk

I would have thought the internal ones would be primary zinc chromate colored.

Maybe this will help.


https://www.britmodeller.com/forums/...lour-question/

LOL That is the model forum I am on. https://www.britmodeller.com/forums/...omment-4060023

That is the colour for the D. The B was different.

[Dadhawk]

Originally Posted by Tcoat

LOL That is the model forum I am on. https://www.britmodeller.com/forums/...omment-4060023

That is the colour for the D. The B was different.

Well...hell. So much for trying to help!

[Tcoat]

Originally Posted by Dadhawk

Well...hell. So much for trying to help!

OH no don't stop trying! I could have missed that. Any suggestion helps narrow it down.
Think I am just going to run with this guy's colours since I would think he knows what he is talking about.



Just want to try to avoid the traditional model forum experts passive aggressive yet scathing (read in nasally nerd voice) "It is perfectly clear to anybody that the interior primer should have been XXX and you unwisely went with XXX.1".

[Dadhawk]

Originally Posted by Tcoat

OH no don't stop trying! I could have missed that. Any suggestion helps narrow it down.
Think I am just going to run with this guy's colours since I would think he knows what he is talking about.

That seems right. I looked at a few P51-B restoration sites and that color is relatively accurate for those. Restorers are even more persnickety than model builders (well at least tied).

Example from this article is below (wouldn't show on redirect)


And this company in Minnesota is rebuilding a B now, so they might provide info if you reached out.

[Tcoat]

Originally Posted by Dadhawk

That seems right. I looked at a few P51-B restoration sites and that color is relatively accurate for those. Restorers are even more persnickety than model builders (well at least tied).

Example from this article is below (wouldn't show on redirect)


And this company in Minnesota is rebuilding a B now, so they might provide info if you reached out.

That makes sense.
I have this one but it looks more like the yellow zinc chromate than the green.

The pic you have is sort of in between the two.

All in all I will just do what looks right to me based on the references and the self proclaimed experts can be damned!

[Dadhawk]

Originally Posted by Tcoat

That makes sense.
I have this one but it looks more like the yellow zinc chromate than the green.

In the end, without the exact records of the specific plane (assuming they kept that level of records) it's a crap shoot on the exact color of ZC. From what I saw, in some planes they used multiple colors, just depending on what they had.

Green is by far the most common color, I even have some I was using on my kitplane.

[Tcoat]

Originally Posted by Dadhawk

In the end, without the exact records of the specific plane (assuming they kept that level of records) it's a crap shoot on the exact color of ZC. From what I saw, in some planes they used multiple colors, just depending on what they had.

Green is by far the most common color, I even have some I was using on my kitplane.

Same with "olive drab". Even the same vehicles coming off the same lines could be different.

[Ultramaroon]

+1 ZC all the things in whatever shade was available. Anything else is custom for show/resto

[Tcoat]

Originally Posted by Ultramaroon

+1 ZC all the things in whatever shade was available. Anything else is custom for show/resto

Green, yellow or both?

[Ultramaroon]

Originally Posted by Tcoat

Green, yellow or both?

In all the bellies I've left skin from my knees, it's always been green. Sometimes light green but I honestly don't recall ever seeing that yellow. Looks way too pretty. The oldest one I worked on was built in '49. Now I'm nervous about steering you the wrong direction.

[Tcoat]

Originally Posted by Ultramaroon

In all the bellies I've left skin from my knees, it's always been green. Sometimes light green but I honestly don't recall ever seeing that yellow. Looks way too pretty. The oldest one I worked on was built in '49. Now I'm nervous about steering you the wrong direction.

So now it should be green and red? Great.

I am not really that concerned snd will probably do a mix of the yellow and the green. They threw these things together in massive numbers and no doubt the parts came from different sources with different finishes on each and every one of them. The only thing that would be even remotely consistent would be the inside of the skin since that was actually painted onsite. Even then it could vary since it seems that most of the paints were made up with solvents and pigments right where they were used not bought in bulk like would happen now.

[JD001]

Originally Posted by Tcoat

LOL That is the model forum I am on. https://www.britmodeller.com/forums/...omment-4060023

That is the colour for the D. The B was different.

It's so obvious when you think about it.. B would be all out "technicolour" and D will be drab grey or whatever is left over as budgets are cut, war no longer a short-term project.