Zero77 Posted February 9, 2016 Share Posted February 9, 2016 Hi, I've read that the US desert scheme was : dark earth / sand / azure blue. I think that the dark earth and azure blue were british colors, but why sand and not middlestone? Are the US dark earth and azure blue the same than the british ones? Was the sand color the same than the sandy pink of some aircraft in the pacific islands, or the overall sandy pink B-24's? And were the french P-40F painted with british or US paints? Thank you for your help ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zero77 Posted February 9, 2016 Author Share Posted February 9, 2016 A few pictures : Yes that's a forthcoming project ! Rick Griewski, Kagemusha and MikeC 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thunda Posted February 9, 2016 Share Posted February 9, 2016 Ive just completed an RAF P40 Kittyhawk I, and the colours were Dark Earth, Middle Stone and Azure Blue. Certainly looks very similar to the colours in your photos, but then that can be deceptive. I think that Kittyhawks were painted in the US at the factory, as they didnt come via the UK- they were shipped directly from the states to Africa. Its a very emotive subject, exact shades of paint on WWII aircraft, as Im sure many here can attest to- firstly, even at the factory, there could be variation in colour from one batch of paint to another (particularly in late war German and Japanese a/c), then in the field, often it was a mix of what was available and 'home brew' mixes, then you have weathering of varying types- very obvious in desert aircraft being 'sandblasted' and out in the desert sun all day, exhaust staining, gunsmoke, general wear and tear, so just one aircraft would change dramatically in colour during its service life. I used Gunze Dark earth, and wasnt very happy with it- thought it was too light, and Tamiya XF52 looked better to my eye- some may disagree. Used Gunze middle stone (H71) and Xtracolour RAF Azure Blue both of which seemed pretty close to me. Zero77 and Kagemusha 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RBrown Posted February 9, 2016 Share Posted February 9, 2016 (edited) The French "Lafayette Escadrille " P-40s were former USAAF aircraft and painted in Du Pont equivalents of Dark Earth, Middlestone and Azure Blue. The US Markings were painted out with a dark brown and French markings applied. Edited February 9, 2016 by RBrown Shawn M, Swatto, Kagemusha and 4 others 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted February 9, 2016 Share Posted February 9, 2016 No pic for me......Harv Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shawn M Posted February 9, 2016 Share Posted February 9, 2016 I can see it and saved it, thank you! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted February 9, 2016 Share Posted February 9, 2016 See them now.....Harv Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RBrown Posted February 9, 2016 Share Posted February 9, 2016 Video link: https://youtu.be/aqWr6ni8Gww Zero77, Kagemusha and D.B. Andrus 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Growler Posted February 9, 2016 Share Posted February 9, 2016 The pink seen on some was due to the tan fading to that color. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RBrown Posted February 9, 2016 Share Posted February 9, 2016 Zero77, here is a slightly clearer image of the photo... Zero77 and D.B. Andrus 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RBrown Posted February 9, 2016 Share Posted February 9, 2016 A few shots of USAAF P-40s in Du Pont equivalents of Dark Earth, Middlestone and Azure Blue... And one in "desert pink"... D.B. Andrus and Zero77 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thunda Posted February 10, 2016 Share Posted February 10, 2016 Some good examples of what I meant in these photos- even in the same roll of film, there is a great variation in the tone and saturation of the colours due to the reproduction techniques, and the 'desert pink' that RBrown points out is a good example of the type of weathering desert aircraft encountered. I guess it depends on your preference and what part of the aircrafts career you want to depict (straight out of the crate or 12 months in theatre). Zero77 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zero77 Posted February 10, 2016 Author Share Posted February 10, 2016 Thanks for the pictures ! In fact i was wondering what could be the difference between american and british desert colors because i was about to make an order from Mr Paint (SK), and they have both british and US kind of azure blue and dark earth. I think the british variants would match my needs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zero77 Posted February 10, 2016 Author Share Posted February 10, 2016 Some good examples of what I meant in these photos- even in the same roll of film, there is a great variation in the tone and saturation of the colours due to the reproduction techniques, and the 'desert pink' that RBrown points out is a good example of the type of weathering desert aircraft encountered. I guess it depends on your preference and what part of the aircrafts career you want to depict (straight out of the crate or 12 months in theatre). Rather 12 months of sand blasting for me ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zero77 Posted February 10, 2016 Author Share Posted February 10, 2016 (edited) A few shots of USAAF P-40s in Du Pont equivalents of Dark Earth, Middlestone and Azure Blue... And one in "desert pink"... Any clue about why this USAF aircraft has a british fin flash ? Taken from a british order? Edited February 10, 2016 by Zero77 Swatto 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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