olive drab...and brown?

[justplanecrazy]

While on a recent visit to the USAF Museum my brother and I were walking around the B 24 Strawberry *****.  Next to the plane was a prop recovered from the Lady Be Good and next to that was a engine and cowling unit from a recovered B 24 with no identification information, not sure it was from the Lady Be Good. Anyway it was olive drab over neutral grey and extremely worn. What struck me was some of the O.D. worn areas were brown! most definately brown. I had noticed this on pictures of the P 38j at the NASM but thought it was because of the museum lighting. It's very visible in those photos. My question is, was this an undercoat? You can plainly see bare aluminum, what appears to be a clear zinc chromate coat and the O.D. The brown appears wear the O.D. is worn or rubbed off....cowl flap edges and panel edges for example. it did not appear to be a red oxide or salmon color.  Any thoughts? Thanks, Mark

[LSP_Ron]

OD didn't age well.  IIRC UV light really messed it up and it would rapidly age to many different shades ranging from dark purple, brown, olive green, brown green etc....

[D.B. Andrus]

+1

 

[Juggernut]

This brown...

 

[Gazzas]

22 hours ago, Jennings Heilig said:

OD aged, faded, chalked, and color shifted from dark green to mousey grey-brown to purple.

 

I'd really love to see the purple.

[justplanecrazy]

Thanks for your replies. I know OD is very finicky and can take on many different hues especially in photos. If you look up the P-38 at the National Air And Space museum you"ll see what I'm talking about. just thought it would be an interesting effect to replicate. Thanks again!