P-39

[Growler]

Hi guys. ANybody with a 'best guess' at te interior color of a P-39Q? I have found some pics online of restored ones, and it is definitely not Interior Green. I can't get it right when trying to mix it.

[TimW]

This might help.  I'm going to use Medium Green (FS34102) but will lighten it up a bit for fading/weathering.

 

http://www.ipmsstockholm.org/magazine/2004/02/stuff_eng_interior_colours_us_part2.htm

 

There's a thread with some pix here, too.

 

http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/69013-airacobra-bell-green/

 

Hope this helps!

 

Tim W.

[scvrobeson]

Dana Bell recommends Bell Green in his articles about interior colors. That's a pretty close match for FS Medium Green.

 

 

 

 

Matt 

[Lee White]

I thought Airacobra 'pits were Bronze Green.  

[Rowen]

Something to keep in mind - paint was one of those things during the war that was sometimes in short supply so not all airplanes were painted (interior and exterior) with the *approved* schemes.

 

That being said, my mother worked in the P-39 plant in Buffalo for a time. She had often told me about the painting issues and even has some pictures of P-39's that were of various interior colors. Several pictures she had in her stash definitely show black as the interior color (something she also confirmed in conversations we had about the P-39). I'll have to dig out her pictures some time and scan them for perusal.

 

Just fyi.

 

-Ro

[LSP_Ron]

These will likely help us all with this

 

Part 1

 

Part 2

P-39 being the first plane discussed!!!

 

Part 3

[alaninaustria]

Great source of info Ron!

[LSP_Kevin]

Well, having just read (re-read, actually - I've read it before I now recall) the pertinent sections of the documents Ron linked to above, I'm more confused than ever! It seems to me that any version of Bronze Green, Dull Dark Green, or Medium Green will get the job done. I was particularly fascinated by this passage:
 

Based on the analysis of a preserved Lend-Lease P-39Q-15, the inside of the wheel wells was painted in Zinc Chromate Yellow for the wing part and Olive Drab in the part overlapping the lower fuselage, apparently a result of separate painting of the subassemblies at the factory. The undercarriage legs and internal faces of wheel covers were Interior Green, with smaller actuating arms finished in Bronze Green. Additional piping and wiring was painted in Aluminium lacquer.

 
That would certainly make for an interesting model!
 
Kev

[LSP_Ray]

IIRC, "Bronze Green", "Interior green", and "dull dark green" all came from the specifications for the second coat of painted interiors subject to wear, such as cockpits, to be painted with a mix of chromate yellow and black which gave you a green color. The formula that was used by different factories gave the different shades, and probably each batch mixed was slightly different, or as Kev mentioned, if they were low on one of the colors, the ratio no doubt got changed.

The first coat was nearly always chromate yellow, unless it was very early in the war, when aluminum lacquer and salmon pink was used in some aircraft. I believe the tinted yellow was more so it could be easily seen the contractor applied the necessary two coats of protection as much as anything else.

[Growler]

Thanks for the replies guys. They are a great help to me.