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Revel P-51D Lou IV: Blue and Green


CANicoll

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Guest Peterpools

Chris

Nice start on the Revell Mustang and will be following with great interest. Thanks for sharing the link for Dana's photo and I'll be diving into it for sure.

Keep ‘em comin

Peter

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Thanks for posting and sharing it's really appreciated. Gotta admit that at first I personally didn't see it but upon closer inspection of the picture there it is, blue! Any information about the wings or any other part of the plane in this color or is it just the fuselage top and sides?

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Thanks for posting and sharing it's really appreciated. Gotta admit that at first I personally didn't see it but upon closer inspection of the picture there it is, blue! Any information about the wings or any other part of the plane in this color or is it just the fuselage top and sides?

 

Definitely there is blue on the fuselage by the cockpit, and looks to me like the wingtip as well.  There is a thread that suggests that the wing outboard of the invasion stripes might have been painted blue, and inboard green.  

 

I'm thinking a blue wing, but will be talking to Dana about it to get his thoughts - and will let you all know what those conversations conclude.

 

Definitely looks to me, different topic, that the black in front of the windscreen has been worn fairly well.

 

Alex: Re RAF Ocean Gray - I'll take a look at it, thanks for the suggestion, but I think this was a pretty definite blue and not a gray.  I'm leaning towards RAF Mediterranean Blue but have not settled. 

 

Personally, using an RAF blue makes sense to me rather than trying to match a USAAF blue (not to rule out a 'custom' mix since this seems to be the only aircraft in this group documented as blue) and this has been suggested by others so I can't claim original thinking here.

 

zcmyrT.jpg

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Could it be that the "blue" color was RAF ocean grey?

 

Alex

 

Definitely not, Alex. Ocean Grey is way too light - it's the grey used on Spitfire (amongst others) camouflage.

 

Perhaps you mean extra dark sea grey as used by the Fleet Air Arm?

That can have a dark bluish look to it, but it's not likely to be found near an East Anglian airfield.

Not a bad guess for a stock colour, although given that some P-47s used automotive paints it may not have been military stock.

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So was looking at starting the interior green and maybe some yellow zinc chromate and for some reason took a look at that decal for the instrument panel and thought - why not?

 

Very interesting!  There are no cutouts for the various raised details (such as that little box to the lower left of the IP, the huge knob lower right, or any of the bits in the middle of the IP) so I was concerned how this would all work.

 

Over the coat of vallejo gloss black primer I brushed on a pretty good coat of MicroSet (figuring the need to really soften the decal to go over all those raised details).

First I cutout that square for the red bar at the bottom of the IP since that was easy.  After that it was just working the decal instrument faces down into their respective depressions.  Marked up the IP a little bit, not that much of this will really be seen.

 

X2KuNP.jpg

 

The Micro Set really did help out, as working on the gauges pushed the clear film in between a bit but it was so soft that it basically disintegrated.  Carefully pushed the instrument faces down into the gauge depressions with a pointed toothpick.  GENTLY.  Also used a square brush to push the decal down over the various buttons and such.

 

Very happy with the result!  May touch up some of the black, but then its a clear flat coat to seal the decals, then a drop of future in each instrument face.

 

Chris

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Definitely not, Alex. Ocean Grey is way too light - it's the grey used on Spitfire (amongst others) camouflage.

 

Perhaps you mean extra dark sea grey as used by the Fleet Air Arm?

That can have a dark bluish look to it, but it's not likely to be found near an East Anglian airfield.

Not a bad guess for a stock colour, although given that some P-47s used automotive paints it may not have been military stock.

 

Indeed, extra dark sea grey like shown on the color chart above resembles the color on the Mustang photo. I have no clue how likely this was, though.

While the sky in the background (as reference) is blue and nothin else, the camo color on the plane is rather grey with just a little blue tint in my eyes.

The cool thing is that nothing is wrong or right. Maybe it was RLM 75, looted as spoils of war :rofl:

 

Cheers

Alex

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Nice, Chris. I found the kit IP decal to be surprisingly adequate as well. I've committed paint to plastic on my mustang - check out my WIP for brief discussion about color selection for the blue

 

Oh, I've been following along!!  Already watching that potential issue with the windscreen and I think you had the idea about how to mount the exhausts after painting the nose?  For me, actually, I'll paint the nose before I even assemble the fuselage so it won't be an issue - but I liked that idea.

Chris

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Superb result with the stock IP.

Eduard's version does add some clarity but not by much.

Looking forward to seeing the next step.

Cheers,

Quang

 

This has been a pleasant surprise - the quality of the IP so far.  I could have been even more exact with the decal on the IP, but I'm pleased with the results - and not adding the expense of an Eduard cockpit set.

Chris

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Indeed, extra dark sea grey like shown on the color chart above resembles the color on the Mustang photo. I have no clue how likely this was, though.

While the sky in the background (as reference) is blue and nothin else, the camo color on the plane is rather grey with just a little blue tint in my eyes.

The cool thing is that nothing is wrong or right. Maybe it was RLM 75, looted as spoils of war :rofl:

 

Cheers

Alex

 

RLM  Ha ha!!   Looked a BIT at this last night, and I'll talk to Dana when I see him, but I am leaning towards Dk Mediterranean Blue for now.  The WING painting is the next big hurdle.  The Revell Instructions are interesting in how they bifurcated the paint on the wing top.  

One problem, and as you pointed out there is no right or wrong here, is my monitor is not color balanced, and the color samples are also not consistent.  But it will be certainly a topic for conversation that is for sure!

 

Chris

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CANicoll,
I wonder if there were any PR aircraft sharing the base where LOU IV and friends were stationed.
I kind of like PRU blue for the mystery colour.
Just my opinion of course.
Can't wait to see what you come up with.

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Oh, I've been following along!!  Already watching that potential issue with the windscreen and I think you had the idea about how to mount the exhausts after painting the nose?  For me, actually, I'll paint the nose before I even assemble the fuselage so it won't be an issue - but I liked that idea.

Chris

Sadly, it was not my idea to mount exhausts after painting - I don't see quite how that would be possible with the way they go together - but at any rate I found them easy enough to mask off. Yes, if I'd had some thinner styrene stock I could have shimmed the windscreen the "just right" amount, but this was the best I could accomplish with the tools I had available. 

 

Your colors will definitely be more carefully researched and probably more accurate than mine, so I look forward to seeing what you decide on. 

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