Unless anyone votes otherwise...I'm fine with that one. =]
So I figured I'd carry on with the momentum of the excitement of getting everything in the mail and work up the cockpit to get the ball rolling. Since this is the first P-40 I've ever set out to do, I've been doing my research into the plane especially in regards to the AVG in China. I've come to learn as many of you already know that these P-40s were originally made for the British and naturally had their own paint schemes and particular brand of colors. I happened to find a site that really made finding this a lot easier.
http://www.ratomodeling.com/articles/AVG_cammo/
Over the last two years, as I've gotten into modeling I've read thru various posts on The Flying Tigers and how all of this had come about but this site is really a one stop shop for modelers doing the P-40. I wanted to share in case you haven't seen it yet. =]
Starting with the seat and floor...the seats were often left unpainted and the floor was made up of the upper wing surface. Both of these were painted with Alclad's Gloss Black and Duraluminum. I also buffed the Duraluminum over where the pilot's feet may rest. As far as painting the floor...I've seen on another site for a flight sim that accurately depicts the P-40B and on this site photos had shown the floor to be painted in the manner you see below. I can't find if some were left bare or painted in the Cockpit Light Green, but I wanted to show both so this is what I settled for.
image by brittvallot, on Flickr
image by brittvallot, on Flickr
image by brittvallot, on Flickr
The interior color is said to have been originally a DuPont color and of course there's been some talk of what FS color best describes it. This debate can actually get worse if you consider how color changes based on what it's next to and the size of the color swab. So, smaller scaled cockpits like modelers do will still change the color to some extent on its own. The website below describes a green that doesn't exactly have a FS equivalent. Or at least not one I've been able to find. 71-036 Cockpit Light Green seems to be a lighter Olive Green. That's what I've gone with. I started by painting the cockpit surfaces Flat Black. I used Tamiya's Olive Green[XF-58] and Olive Drab [XF-62] 2:1 respectively to build up the color and allow darker greens for shadows, and finished by adding Sky Grey [XF-19] to the mix in order to lighten this color up. This was painted on top. The IP and other misc boxes were done in my usual Medium Blue/Flat Black combo with very finely painted dots of Flat White to hint at the placards that would've have identified different panels. There are some inaccuracies here with the True Details cockpit side walls. So I'll scratch build a couple of things like the canopy crank and what not, but for now this is a stopping point. I also gave up on drybrushing the IP. Instead, I'll just use some decals I've been saving for something like this. =]
http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/34564-ww2-us-colours-on-british-aircraft/