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Another question from Vintage (B-24 cockpit color)

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  • Member since
    May 2004
  • From: A little place I call earth
Another question from Vintage (B-24 cockpit color)
Posted by Vintage Aircraft on Friday, July 2, 2004 2:51 PM
Hey everyone, with my confidence renewed, and my model building back on track I have a question about the B-24 Liberator.

Now I know that Zinc Cromate was used in the lib but I was wondering how authentic it would be in the cockpit as apposed to a dark grey, for the Lady Be Good. What one of the two colors would be right. And I am only saying dark grey because I think I heard that color was used in it somewhere. But I could be wrong.

Thanks for your help and advice in advance

Vintage AircraftSmile [:)]
  • Member since
    November 2005
Posted by Anonymous on Friday, July 2, 2004 2:57 PM
I would go with Bronze Green, Interior Green, or Dark Dull Green in the cockpit. I can't recall ever seeing a U.S. WW II bomber with a dark gray cockpit.
Just a suggestion. It's your model, build it as you want it to look.

Good luck !
  • Member since
    November 2005
Posted by Anonymous on Friday, July 2, 2004 5:01 PM
On the subject of paint, I know Lady Be Good was in desert pink, and I would keep in mind that since it was in the same exact position under that scorching sun for so long, there will be a really big difference in hue between those sections exposed to sunlight as sun traveled from east to west during the day, and almost no fading where it was not exposed to the sun at all. Like you need some jerk complicating things for you at this point. I'm looking forward to this, because it's a needed project, and I sounds like you need a confience booster. I know I sure do at this moment. Nothing is going right on any of my current builds, even the Acc. Min. F3F-1. Sad [:(]
  • Member since
    November 2005
Posted by Anonymous on Friday, July 2, 2004 9:16 PM
Hi Vintage ,Recently I got to tour the B-24 Diamond Lil,the cockpit and inside walls were zinc chromate,with the exception of the bomb doors they were natural metal.hope this helps.
  • Member since
    December 2003
  • From: Charleston, SC
Posted by sanderson_91 on Friday, July 2, 2004 10:10 PM
Hey Vintage, I had the opportunity to go through a B-24 (J model I think) and it had zinc chromate in the cockpit.

 

 

  • Member since
    November 2005
Posted by Anonymous on Friday, July 2, 2004 11:05 PM
Be very careful using restored warbirds for reference material, especially where colors and marking are concerned. It has been my experience, and I have been fortunate to have been around many warbird restorations, that the people who do the real thing aren't nearly as picky about authenticity as we modelers are. It used to drive me crazy at CAF, because they thought I was a time waster with my picky questions about why the restorations were painted to suit the aesthetic taste of the particular aircraft sponsor's wealthy wife, rather anything that ever flew in the war. I have seen many B-25 and A-26 restorations, for example, that carry french blue and white, or black and yellow, lizard schemes that never appeared anywhere but in the owner's imagination. Also, most warbirds these days are painted aluminum to simulate NMF, and coated in polyurethane inside and out as a practical matter to keep out corrosion, so don't use flying warbirds for flat and gloss references either. Now "Diamond Lil" I have spent some time in, and once got in on a flight. I used to do sneaky things around the CAF like scratch through layers of paint (in places where it wouldn't show) with a curved X-acto blade to see how many colors had been put on. Diamond Lil, through her various incarnations, has, at least on the inside, been pretty faithfully colored as the original. But remember, she was originally an LB-30, a cargo version of the B-24 and one of the earlier 24's off the line. I think at one time when she was operational she was painted like a nightime Lancaster! Except with those huge American flags on the sides and top. But the natural metal bomb doors were used on B-25s and A-20s, so why not the B-24? A lot, probably most, B-24Ds also carried zinc-chromate wheel wells and landing gear struts. Hope this rambling screed helps a little.
Glad you're feeling better,
Tom
  • Member since
    November 2005
Posted by Anonymous on Friday, July 2, 2004 11:14 PM
http://www.ipmsstockholm.org/magazine/2004/05/stuff_eng_interior_colours_us_part3.htm

I would suggest starting here.
  • Member since
    May 2003
  • From: Lewisburg , Tenn
Posted by fuzzy on Saturday, July 3, 2004 12:58 AM
Vintage,
Pixilator is correct .Bronze green was the first interior color .It was used
from between the wars up to about September 1942. Dull dark green and Interior
green were used afterwards.One of my reference books has a Bronze Green color
chip and it is a very dark green.Some factories could have received the new paint
before they ran out of the old paint so production could continue.Pick the color you
like and enjoy your kit.
Fuzzy
  • Member since
    May 2004
  • From: A little place I call earth
Posted by Vintage Aircraft on Saturday, July 3, 2004 9:11 AM
Hey thanks for all the help, I decided to go with Zinc Cromate because I didnt have any of the other colors available, But the color is not extramly important in the Cockpit since the glass will be hazed over and foggy to the extent where only bacic shpaes and hints of color will be recognizable. But I will heavly dust the interior, to simulate sand build up so color here wasnt that important.

So thanks for your help agian

Vintage aircraft
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