Monogram P-38 1/48 scale. Zinc Chromate!?!?

Not really. During the war, costs were kept to a minimum, so painting the interior of the aircraft was considered wasteful, not to mention more time, which kept the aircraft from reaching the front lines, where they belonged. They weren't overly concerned about the interior cosmetics of the aircraft, considering most of them didn't last very long, anyway.

demono69

There a several variations of colors for "Zinc Chromate" paint. Zinc chromate primer is yellow looking. Zinc Chromate green is often referred to as "apple" green and seen in the wheel wells. Then there is the "interior" or cockpit green, which is darker than the zinc chromate green. You can still get these variations of "zinc chromate" paint today.

Zinc chromate was used because it would adhere to the aluminum. This is still true today. The coating prevents corrosion of the aluminum, and provides a base for adhesion of other paints (lacquer or enamel). rangerj

Howdy men,
The interiors of WWII planes were an inconsistent mix of zinc chromate yellow and green. You don't have to be exact because they wern't either. I mix a little insignia yellow with the zinc chromate green.
I have researched the hell out of this. The first time I built the Monogram 1/48 B-17G I applied the chromate and thought the same thing you did so I hit the library at Andrews AFB. There were no PC's then. Whooow, the dark ages.

The Sgt. Maj. makes a good point. A whole lot of what the colors looked like depended on the person who did the mixing, and what was available to be mixed. "Field condition" repairs or modifications often have a less that perfect outcome.
rangerj

Alot of the Exterior colors like the whell wells where more of the Yellow Chromate and then the Interiors are the Green Chromate ( for reflectivability problems of the Yellow in the crew compartments, this color is from the Chromate Green to Interior Green and it's your call cause there was really no standards back then)

72cuda,
Read your bio and found it a bit skimpy bro. Can you flesh it out with a few more details?
As a retired jarhead I gotta tell ya I LOVE the A-10!

Hey Sgt Major;
well I didn't want the readers to get to bored with all the reading of a dry story, and I just wanted to have everyone to be pleased with the out come, I didn't want it to sound like a Clancy novel

Not a problem with me amigo. I am impressed with your resume.
Wish I had a buck for every time I have built the Monogram P-38. I have two on the shelf awaiting their turn even as we speak.

USMCSM,
You kill me bud you start out HOWDY MEN.LOL the only prob is that in our forum as in the P.C. military we have women so you might want to be non-gender-biased next time. Just don't want to see ya brought up for an article 15 for sexual harrassment!! LOL

Wroper

wroper11,
I wave my right to remain silent. it would be ashame to have danced through the mine field all those years just to see it all go down the tubes now. As they say in Law and Order, I withdraw the remark. How about "Hi y'all"? I have two daughters after all and one of them has been eye balling my unbuilt kits wanting to know when she gets them.
I can see it all on Fox News now...

gentlemen and ladies,

It would seem that there are fewer and fewer places for men with common interest to gather and not worry about offending the other gender. The medical profession, no more, police or fireman, no longer, the military, no longer, private mens clubs, no longer, building models, no longer, private golf clubs, under siege, the men's room, enjoy it while you can!!! I'm kidding ladies. This is all in jest, you know ,"tongue in cheek".

Didn't one of "them" even try to join the "boy scouts". It seems I recall a law suit to that effect.

So, Sgt. Maj., if your daughter has her eye on a few of your kits, kiss the kits goodby! My daughter has taken over my convertible in good weather, my airbrush to do her finger nails, my dog listens to her, etc. All we can do is grin and bare(sic) it. You no longer have the option of asking the CO to have you deployed to get a respite. rangerj

True, true...

Hey Sgt Major;
You in better shape then I am, my wife has started to ge into modeling, she's starting to work on an Ole Tall Ship, the very old Revell Cutty Sark, and she's commindered just about all of my gear for model building, the only thing she hasn't touched (YET) is my work bench, so I hate to say this is "STEP ASIDE AND LET THE PRO GET TO WORK"

Cuda,
Things are not that bad here yet! I started punching chafe and flares by giving my daughter a few of my 1/72 kits to work on. The old eyeballs don't handle those small parts like they used to.
Rangerj,
Now you've given me a new nightmare. I never thought about the airbrush angle!

Great call usmcsm you hit the nail on the head of that one. The zinc chromate was never consistant on the planes and varied from plant to plant.