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wildcat from VMF-111 in 1941


smuts

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hi given up the ghost on doing a yellow wing, so over to the marine version from an exercise in 41 just prior to pearl.

the hobbyboss colour sheet states light gull grey, but that don't seem right to me for this period? as a light/neutral grey seems more appropriate

any ideas or FS No's.

thanks Andy.

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hi given up the ghost on doing a yellow wing, so over to the marine version from an exercise in 41 just prior to pearl.

the hobbyboss colour sheet states light gull grey, but that don't seem right to me for this period? as a light/neutral grey seems more appropriate

any ideas or FS No's.

thanks Andy.

Hi there Andy,

My references tell me naval aircraft (USMC) pre-42 should be ANA 603 Sea Grey (neutral) FS:36118 which is Tamiya XF-24, Gunze H305 & Model Master 1723. Unfortunately there is no direct Humbrol match.

HTH

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The color for a 'Neutrality' gray scheme is an overall light gray which is real close to light gull gray (ANA 602 I think) In October 41 the blue gray was added to the top surfaces of USN and USMC aircraft, which remained the basic scheme until mid '43 when The tri-color came into the fleet (white undersurfaces - intermediate BLUE sides and gloss sea blue upper surfaces). Note the blue gray is not the same as intermediate blue. For American paints, both Polly Scale and Model Master/Acryl have them although the Acryl seems too blue for my tastes and I use Polly Scale. The tail stripes were added after Pearl Harbor and removed shortly after Coral Sea six months later. And remember just because a new paint scheme cam e into effect in Oct '41 does not mean that all USN or USMC aircraft were repainted. The two squadrons that Enterprise and Saratoga delivered to Wake (VMF 211) and Midway (VMSB 241) were repainted enroute with the blue gray, most of The remaining USMC aircraft at Pearl were in Neutrality gray, and probably even a greater percentage Stateside had not been repainted.

I think that Neutral Gray/Gunship Gray is way too dark for even undersides of USAAF aircraft of the time. IIRC NG/Gunship is almost a 50/50 mix of black and white. I'll use modern Neutral Gray for USAAF undersurfaces, but Gunship is pretty close to the topside gray in the midwar RAF fighter scheme - Ocean Gray. In fact if I was going for a near enough color for this Wildcat I'd try the underside gray (Med Sea Gray?) and see how it looks. For a long time when I did RAF fighters I used Light Gull Gray for my undersurface color (along with Gunship and TAC Dark Green for the uppers).

Matt

Edited by Matt Roberts
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I agree with others, FS 36118 Gunship gray is way too dark for the US Neutrality scheme. I'd go with Light Gull Gray (don't recall the ANA number for this light gray, but to my eye FS 36440 is a pretty good match).

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