starting a 1/48 monogram b-17

Scott, I believe there's a B-17 group build going on that you may want to hop on board with. Lots of awesome work going on there.

As far as your question, I'm sure someone will come along with much more solid knowledge, but I know that 8th AAF fighters (P-51B, P-47, etc) used an olive drab over neutral gray paint scheme, and I assume it would be the same for the bomber fleet.

Tamiya's Olive Green (XF-58) is a passable olive drab...maybe a touch on the green side, but it's what they recommended with their P-51B. They also make a pretty dead-on neutral gray (XF-53).

For the interior, Tamiya doesn't make an exact match for the interior green/green zinc chromate used by the U.S. during the war. I'm at work so I don't have any instructions in front of me, but I believe Tamiya calls for mixing Yellow Green (XF-4 - which is pretty much a ringer for yellow zinc chromate) with Flat Black (XF-1). Not 100% certain about the black, but that's how interior green was mixed during the war, so it would make sense.

Good luck with the build!

be careful with tamiya paints. They;re great for the airbrush, but they're horrible for regular brushes. I'd recommend Model-master if you brush-paint. Olive green, neutral or light gray should work fo rthe outside. Paint production in WWII was so scattered, few planes wore the exact same shade of green. If it looks close, it should work.

i use a spray gun..... i was looking at khaki drab and that has more of a greeny brown look to it, would that work? and i also found a gray green for the under belly or were they mostly gray tones?

I also read somewhere that even though they were painted "olive drab", different things came into play with the actual color.  Weather, exposure to sun, battle damage and field repaints, etc...so, who's to say that whatever you use, you are wrong.  I know I wont!

AND POST SOME PICTURES! lol...

Justin

I am now on the homestretch with my  Monogram B-24J and what I used was the Tamiya Olive Drab with some khaki drab to make it a little brownish. For the underbelly I used tamiya neutral gray. The Belle has some black spots on the topside. I have the B-17 in stash and it is indicated there. I will soon start my B-17G and I will follow your work closely to get some tips.

Remeber, for a scale effect, you should actually lighten the colors, a bit.  Tamiya's olive drab (XF-63, IIRC) is pretty good, straight out of the bottle.  Neutral grey is a bit dark for the underside.  I found sky grey to be a better match.

Interior colors were all over the place, from dark green to zinc chromate to aluminum.  If you're going to replicate a particular aircraft, look for as many pictures, or read as much info, as you can.  Otherwise, it's up to you.

Here's one I did a while back

-Fred

Gig, I didnt even know you finished that thing! nice work!

Scott, you could use pretty much any shade of inerior green, greenish zinc chromate or whatever and not go wrong in the inerior.

With the outside, the paint tended to fade a bit and only brand spanking new planes would be seen in a fresh olive drab coat