Anyone building Lou IV out of the new Revell P-51 kit?

[Rick Griewski]

I will not be building Lou IV. I do not have the decal in my stash ( in the box are they?). My idea of a fun build is one where I do not have to be on the bleedimg edge of color discussions from 70 odd years ago. Sheesh we mus know by now.

 

Rick

[Guest Smitty44]

Obviously a paint that is prismatic in nature. I'm going with Mauve.

[Dave Williams]

I'm avoiding the whole debate by doing a 357th FG bird with my Revell kit. Then the only debate is RAF DG/MSG, or US OD/NG, although most sources seem to favor the RAF colors.

[Guest The Southern Bandit]

I'm still not buying the blue upper and fuselage paint idea guys and here is why IMHO, in the first place, why do that? ... maybe I've missed some real squadron research from Danas here, some real squadron research down to pilot level colour preference even?

If so I do apologise.

But these days we are full of conspiracy stuff from all walks of life and all over the internet and I've always thought the best way to go about something radical like this is with the idea of Occam's razor

Occams razor for those that do not know is this ... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Occam%27s_razor

Honestly folks, am no vintage photography expert, hardly any of us are here, even less are over the photo techniques taken back then in WW2, but all that blue hint to start with, who is to know exactly what lighting was going on back then or even the film stock used?

I used to take early polaroid shots and the film stock was crap and inconsistent with different shades from top to bottom and even left to right, that was the early colour polaroid stuff, black and white always had better results for that early stuff ... but still grim, but this was in the mid 70's and considered state of the art stuff and we are talking WW2 here!

But the whole instinct I have is ... why paint blue in the first place? to be a renegade? that was WW1 stuff ... I'm sure blue paint was delivered about in WW2, but not for wannabe Blue baron purposes.

Finally I am not buying the evidence that has been dug up of vets that have no recollection of blue paint been used for camo and we should discount their memory because they are old ... what a horrible thing to suggest by some , ... Mostly comments I saw on another modeller web site recently where this whole debate begun again recently ...We have to respect the Vets memory into this whole equation too ... some have said, oh the Vets would never remember a colour change and we modellers should discount them .... Grrrrr .... you damn well would remember for something as drastic as that IMHO, this would not have been a simple camo colour change, more a WTF ... paint blue colour camo change and something everyone would remember and document well ... the fact there is no official documentation of a blue upper camo scheme anywhere at all speaks volumes to me, this stuff is right up there with the moon landing conspiracy stuff IMHO

But again, fair play, if you want to paint your Mustang with Blue camo, go ahead ... I've already decided to not do Loui IV in this scheme, because of the massive doubt surrounding it, but its interesting Revell chose to depict it as a Green Aircraft too.

Seriously, if there was a Blue painted Mustang really flew about in WW2, we would all have heard a lot more about it before now, or even when this debate started in modelling circles.

We know about Red Tail Mustangs, but unsurprisingly, no Blue Wing Mustang with a yellow nose ... something that must have attracted attention from vets and historians everywhere should it have existed.

Finally .. we have to accept Danas  ... really and I mean really knows his stuff, fair play, sounds like some here are just assuming the guys credentials without hesitation ... and again I apologise to Danas if he really knows what happened with his analysis I do not agree with ... ... But at end of days guys, even Einstein was proven wrong on many of his theorems in life and had to admit to that, Edwin Hubble proved him wrong on the Universe expansion and to Einstein's credit he admitted this amongst many other mistakes he made in his lifetime.

And that my Friends is my final take on this subject

Enjoy the kit whatever shade of paint you use.
 

Edited February 6, 2018 by The Southern Bandit

[fightersweep]

 

 

 

 

If that blue on Lou's fuselage is blue, then it looks like RAF EDSG or something similar. And if that darker blue on the tail is a blue, then maybe it could be a RAF roundel blue. It seems a darker shade than the blue in the Stars and Bars. The use of a possibly easier to obtain RAF paint makes a lot of sense to me.

 

It's an interesting topic, and thanks to Dana for his tireless research, but this ole can of worms will no doubt rattle on for many more moons! Personally, I'm still not sure which side of the fence I sit!

 

Best regards;

Steve

[D Bellis]

I'm still not buying the blue..

 

Cool story. But, rendered complete fiction by a period, color photograph from a reliable source:

 

 

Not only that, but less than 9 months later, one squadron of the 56FG painted most of their P-47Ms in RAF blues. The blue P-47s of the 56FG were stationed on that same little island just 65 miles from where those blue P-51s of the 361FG were stationed. Everything that enabled the P-47s to be painted blue also applies to the P-51s in that photograph. 

 

D

Edited February 10, 2018 by D Bellis

[Martinnfb]

That is very interesting point D.. Any chance to get colour photograph of the P-47 in question ?

Cheers

Martin

[CATCplSlade]

 

Not only that, but less than 9 months later, one squadron of the 56FG painted most of their P-47Ms in RAF blues. The blue P-47s of the 56FG were stationed on that same little island just 65 miles from where those blue P-51s of the 361FG were stationed. Everything that enabled the P-47s to be painted blue also applies to the P-51s in that photograph. 

 

D

OH SNAP!!!

[1to1scale]

It looks like these photos also prove that all ground vegitation is blue also. ;-)

[Martinnfb]

well played

[D Bellis]

That is very interesting point D.. Any chance to get colour photograph of the P-47 in question ?

The blue P-47Ms of the 56FG 63FS (not just one, but almost the entire squadron) are so well documented as to be accepted as irrefutable fact by both historians and modelers alike. That information and accompanying photographs have been printed in several books (notably Roger Freeman's "The Mighty Eighth"), and is also easily Googleable. 

 

Here's one to whet your appitite:

 

D

[D Bellis]

It looks like these photos also prove that all ground vegitation is blue also. ;-)

Only for people with Tritanomaly.

 

D

[quang]

Ah well, name the damn plane LOU IS instead of LOU IV and paint it any color you want!

Edited February 10, 2018 by quang

[MikeMaben]

It looks like these photos also prove that all ground vegitation is blue also. ;-)

 

If the whole photo were overly tinted blue , the noses would be greenish not bright yellow.

 

[LSP_Ray]

Ah, the debate goes on. Here is one other possibility: it could be newer OD vs faded OD on Lou. The OD paint changed shade in the ultraviolet light of high altitude to sometimes a slight violet tint so we could be seeing some of that turning to to a bluer tinge in the photo.

I think in the end you could make a case for blues or greens or both so go with your instincts and paint it like you want. Me; I'll do Flying Dutchman and not worry about it!