Why is the olive drab look darker on Aleutian Tiger P-40's?

[jetmech777]

I have a Hasegawa 1/32 P-40E that is next in line to do. I bought aftermarket Aleutian Tiger decals for it. I noticed ,while looking at references, that the upper camo color appears to be a different(darker) shade of OD. Is there a different spec for the OD used in Alaska? If it is a different shade, who makes it in paint? While I'm at it, is there anything else I should be aware of for this kit or Aleutian P-40's? Thanks.

[Tnarg]

I would guess there is less sun in the winter months there, at least a lot less than the tropics, so you could have at least 6 months for the paint to stay reasonably strong in color before fading. Compare that to the Flying Tigers in China, where they ran them into the ground, and the quality of paint would show a significant difference. (Of course that wasn't the same color, but you get the idea). Does anyone have a real answer on this?

 

Tnarg

[LSP_Ray]

I agree with you, Tnarg.

 

The aircraft came from the same plant, should have been the same color (although some of the British a/c may have been painted in equivalents to British schemes), so that leaves environment. Definitely less sun, I think they had to keep the a/c covered too from the elements when they were on the ground. Planes could be wet in some photos also, which would make it look darker. Don't forget if the pics were taken on cloudy day they might look darker, too. And how old were the a/c in Alaska when the pics were taken? Lots of things that are going to make a diff to the color.

[Aptivaboy]

Plus, wet paint will often show up as darker in photos. given the weather conditions these birds flew in, I'd wager that even on a (so called) sunny day there would be a layer of mist or dew to darken out the paint, and on a rainy day...

[maverick728470]

As to the OD being darker.As soon as my daughter post pic's from the airshow sunday last.The answer will become clear.There was a aluetian tiger at the airshow.Just about fell over when i saw it.It has a dark OD which through me off as well.Larry

[LSP_Ron]

I've seen many different sources that indicate the OD weathered very odd and was rather inconsistent between manufactures. Apparently it didn't always fade to a lighter color, sometimes it turned toward a purple, dark green/blue or even dark brown.

[t.valdez]

There was a series on the Military History Channel which surprisingly showed color movies of the Aleutian Tigers taking off and landing. What a muddy miserable mess it was. And, because it was in color, gave a good look at what they P-40 in the Alaska campaign looked like. One should not be surprised to find a wide variation in the markings. The tiger insignia all gave the look of being hand painted and no two aircraft looked identical, from the white stripe on the fuselage to the national insignia. And, the markings were quite roughly painted. No razor sharp edges and clean demarcations. And talk about nasty, dirty, messed up machines. One can't weather these too much, nor make the markings sloppy enough. It's was wartime, and cold, and wet, and dirty.

[LSP_Ray]

FYI: considered one of the most accurate factory-fresh olive drab colors is Tamiya's OD out of the bottle. It is pretty dark, for AFV's we typically lighten it.

[jetmech777]

Thanks for the answers guys. I suppose weathering up north would be different. I look forward to the airshow pics. I am going to History channel.com and see if I can find that show. It sounds like a perfect visual reference. It just seemed odd to me that in drawings and diecast models etc, the paint seemed a different shade. The Baracudacals I have calls for regular OD.

[rafju]

Hello

Also remembering at some view from this "Report from the Aleutians":

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XFGkrT4Vd4E

 

Hope it helps

raphael

[Brad-M]

Gents,

 

There is one more thing to consider. If I were a pilot and if I could wax my plane to get that much more performace out of her, I would do that. It is well known that P-47's in the ETO used wax to get 2-3 mph's more out of their aircraft, why not a P-40E? The Jugs that were waxed sure looked darker in their OD paint.

 

Just a thought

 

Brad

[LSP_Ron]

Sometime back, someone here posted a link to a site with a whole bunch of color pics of Aleutian P-40's. I think they were LIFE pictures. Anyone know where this site can be found?

[rafju]

some are visible here:

http://hawksnest.1hwy.com/Service/USAAF/343FG/343FG.html

[jetmech777]

Thanks all. rafju that picture is awesome! It has the winterized exhaust. I knew they were winterized, I just didn't know what it looked like up close. The video really shows how bad it was there. I need to learn to do mud! At least the question of paint is clarified. I will use straight OD and pile on the yuck from there.