hayaman Posted September 21, 2012 Share Posted September 21, 2012 Hallo again-as time to deal with it aproaches here s again the ever present (from what i see around)problem...what colour they were!my research has come up with this:1)the doors definetely were NOT green,they were either light(neutral?)grey in OD camouflaged planes and the same or NM-depending if the legs were also grey or NM- in the NM ones(as the 1 i ll do),the 1st can also be seen on the i believe untouched original in the USAF museum in Dayton-thing is no colour pics exist(originals) for the wells themselves,as the matter is for the NM planes it is quite possible they were unpainted too as in other NM planes,i have read a lot of reports about but they were many exceptions to the final thing in many planes occasions(by the way since i ve seen questions about (B-25)see the ORIGINAL COLOUR film 'Avions de Legend' in Y.Tube and you ll see(black cockpit,unpainted lower surfaces-from the floor and lower incl wells-and what it seems DULL green interior)-so bottom line,especially to you in the US guys,does any1 knows any veteran who has seen the planes first hand?i guess that s the only shure way,c'mon guys,there must be 1 in the modeling comunity!-thanks,cheers to all Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted September 22, 2012 Share Posted September 22, 2012 My research on them (and its mostly been on the "M") is that either silver color, or as on my build, light grey. I've yet to see any color pics of OD color. Just my .02 cents worth........Harv Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hayaman Posted September 22, 2012 Author Share Posted September 22, 2012 Hi Harvey-thanks,i agree,'must be either unpainted(especially in NM s) or gray,i have orig. colour pics og the plane i wanna do and it has silver legs and most likely(in supersize it seems so)doors too-silver shade could also come from Dull Al. as in the chin of p-47 s-anyway thanks,i keep looking around,let me know if something comes by your sight-cheers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
p38johnny Posted September 29, 2012 Share Posted September 29, 2012 Here's two pics of the wheel wells of the Air Force Museum P-38. Hope this helps. John Clements Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Juggernut Posted September 29, 2012 Share Posted September 29, 2012 (edited) Here's two pics of the wheel wells of the Air Force Museum P-38. Hope this helps. John Clements Nice Photos if only for detail references. If you look carefully, you will notice that the silver paint is not original. Underneath it in various places you will see interior green and yellow zinc (inside the door lightening hole) and that everything within the wheel well appears to have been sprayed with silver paint; bolts, nuts, cotter pins, rod end fittings,etc. Having said that, there is nothing to say that the interior green color underneath is original and may have been put there as a preservative coating by museum staff. The yellow zinc is a little tougher to explain away in that it is inside the gear door lightening hole. Not having done research into this aircraft I cannnot, with any degree of confidence, comment on what the finish in the wheel wells looked like when the aircraft was built. Edited September 29, 2012 by TimC Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
p38johnny Posted September 29, 2012 Share Posted September 29, 2012 Hi Tim: Yeah, that's the impression I got when I took the photos, that they were just hosed down with silver. But, the Lockheed spec called for two coats of primer and one coat of Silver Lacquer when they went back to this from Neutral Gray. The holes in the inside web of the doors were covered with fabric patches, so the yellow showing through there could be the original coat of primer from Lockheed. It's really hard to say what happened to this airplane during its lifetime. Now the J model in the NASM still has original OD and NG, and I assume NG in the wells. I would like to see that one! Someday... John Clements Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hayaman Posted September 29, 2012 Author Share Posted September 29, 2012 Only comments are these judging from what i see-the yellow shade must be original since it s on the inside part which is welded from the begining so i don t see any reason some1 sprayed the door there any other colour than the silver here,now this(silver) is sprayed very well or the whole well was dissasembled and the parts werte sprayed individually,if the particullar plane is not restored there is a chance this is original paint and quite possible sprayed(back then)OVER green or yellow-although NM planes i m interested in the NASM plane must answer the quest. at least for the cammos-still searching,thanks PS:My initial advice still occurs,no 1 knows a veteran p-38 pilot?(even through some association or something)that would be the 100% solution Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
p38johnny Posted September 30, 2012 Share Posted September 30, 2012 hayaman: I knew a prominant P-38 pilot very well, and I asked him questions about colors and details 30 plus years ago, and he could remember very little at THAT time. Even with pictures to jog his memory, he wasn't sure of very much. Now these men are approaching 90 years of age (the youngest of them) or are past it, and their numbers are dwindling daily. It would be wonderful to find one of them with perfect recall at this advanced age, but unlikely. I've been looking for the definitive answer to this question for these 30 plus years, and what I've been able to find is specs from Lockheed about how they finished the airplanes and photographs that mostly match these specs. Most likely, if the nose gear is silver AND the nose gear door inner side is also silver, chances are that the mains and the wells are also silver. That's a good rule of thumb to go by, and would be hard to disprove. Good luck on your build and your quest! Mine continues also. John Clements Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hayaman Posted October 2, 2012 Author Share Posted October 2, 2012 Thanks,given the chance,i see that it s at least 1 of or THE favorit of yours,so in your opinion the Grand Phoenix cockpit would be the best improvement,at least from the widely avail. ones?-any chance to find C.Edge in a descent price?-thanks again Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
p38johnny Posted October 3, 2012 Share Posted October 3, 2012 OK, let me ask you a couple of questions to see where you are headed. What model Lightning are you building, a J or an L? Do you have a good overall picture of the airplane or a good shot of the nose with no obstructions (i.e., crew)? How interested in accuracy of the cockpit are you? Do you like to scratch build detail stuff? I will say that all available resin cockpit sets for the Trumpeter kit need work to make them accurate for a J/L Lightning. They all miss one pretty large detail. John Clements Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phasephantomphixer Posted October 5, 2012 Share Posted October 5, 2012 Although an earlier P-38, any word on what color the main wells of Glacier Girl were when it was found? Photos from the recovery? Would the well color have been changed by lockheed on later models? I didn't go all out on research but ended up painting mine zinc primer. Oh "well" if it is wrong... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
p38johnny Posted October 5, 2012 Share Posted October 5, 2012 Colorwise, Glacier Girl was restored as found. All three wells were were finished in Aluminum Lacquer. I visited the restoration several times while in progress and saw the original colors. I have pics of the wells, but several color shots are in Kinzey's Detail and Scale. The two pictures of the nose well that appear in the book show yellow chromate in some areas because the covers were not fully fitted at the time those shots were taken. The finished well is fully Aluminium Lacquer. Lockheed did change the well color to Neutral Gray during the G series, but the G-13 thru G-15 retained the Aluminium Lacquer. During the L series it changed back to Aluminum Lacquer. John Clements A340 Pilot 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hayaman Posted October 9, 2012 Author Share Posted October 9, 2012 Hallo John,i m building L version,the plane is in J,Ethell s book 'Lightning in original colour',it was in Italy in the FG with red spinners and tail lead edges(sorry but you caught me by surprise,'just read this and i don t have it around me) and has a german name,in the pic there are 3 pilots right next to the fr .wheel but by supersizing the pic you can see the well door is in a 'light' shade,most likely al.laquer-the whell leg is silver-i would like to give it as much detail possible but i wouldn t say scratch is my expertise! G.Phoenix kit has good detail,missing is the oxygen hose and has wrong armor(back) plate for the pilot-both in shape and headrest existence-what large detail you refer too?-i think only-maybe-the rare C.Edge kit can compare -in detail quantity at least-any other in your opinion?-cheers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hayaman Posted October 16, 2012 Author Share Posted October 16, 2012 John is somewhere around?... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
p38johnny Posted October 17, 2012 Share Posted October 17, 2012 hayaman: Sorry it took so long to get back here. I dug out my copy of the Ethell book and I think I found the pictures you're referring to. One has the pilots standing in front of the left engine and the plane has no nickname. The nose gear leg is silver, and it appears that the door is too. The other picture shows another airplane from the same Group with a nickname, which appears to be "My Frannie" (not German, sorry). This nose gear leg is Neutral Gray and it appears the door is too. Are these the pics you're referring to? I'm preparring a longer reply regarding the 1/32 cockpit sets and the P-38 cockpit. I will be posting it later this evening. John Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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