Colors RAF P-40B/C

[Han55Krol]

Hi All,

This my first post here and I need some help. Building the Airfix 1/72 scale P-40B/C, I need the colors of this type in service by no.26 Sqd. Are they RAF paint stocks or the DuPont paint?

Thank You.

Han Krol

The Netherlands

[Mr T]

The aircraft used by 26 Squadron, were so far as I have been able to ascertain finished in Dupont suppied colours that were supposed to match British standards. The colours concerned being Dark Green, Dark Earth and Sky. The Sky spinner and tail band were added after they reached Britain They did not seem to be an exact match and the underside colour in partcular has generated some heat, there is a good discussion here:

http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/234951720-dupont-raf-colours/

I built a 26 Sqn aircraft and put it up here:

http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/234948421-airfix-172nd-tomahawk-iia/

[Han55Krol]

Martin,

Thank You for Your help. Very nice model also.

Han Krol

[Graham Boak]

I understood that the Dupont Dark Earth and Dark Green were considered good matches to the colour standards.

[Mr T]

Graham i had read that too and when I built my Tomahawk I used Humbrol 29 (possibly with another colour) and I think 116, and the underside was Tamiya sky with about 10% white added When I put them next to a model finished in what was supposed to be MAP standard (Xtracylix) the colours did look quite close and I felt that the overall effect was an aircraft that was to a British camouflage standard, with colours that could be from a different source.

Thanks Han for your comment, that model means a lot to me as it was the first model I built after life changing illness that I thought would mean the end of my modelling.

Martin

[Jennings Heilig]

Wasn't the 'sky' lower surface generally considered to be the DuPont Sky Gray color, not the RAF's green-grey Sky color?? At least the AVG birds, which came from RAF orders, had that color.

[Navy Bird]

The DuPont colour is called 71-021 Sky Type S Gray, and it looks to have some green in with its gray. Nick, we need you again!

Cheers,

Bill

[Han55Krol]

OK. I painted the underside Sky Grey Humbrol 28. Looks, for me, a good match for the DuPont number.

Some info; I am not a contest builder, just for fun.

Han

[Graham Boak]

This is fun - accuracy is not a factor in model contests. They are judged on modelling ability, because the finer details of accuracy are considered too controversial: the judge may know less on the specific subject (in fact, usually will) than the modeller and thus mark him down in error.

[Han55Krol]

Graham,

That's why I build for myself.

[Guest]

Nick Millman has a great website on colors for lend-lease American aircraft but you need to pm him for permission to access it. It would be worth your time because the site has helped me with a few builds. Regardless, I try my best to get it right as far as colors go but I don't lose sleep over it, it can take the fun out of modeling if you let yourself be obsessed with color accuracy.

Cheers

[Navy Bird]

Nick Millman has a great website on colors for lend-lease American aircraft but you need to pm him for permission to access it. It would be worth your time because the site has helped me with a few builds. Regardless, I try my best to get it right as far as colors go but I don't lose sleep over it, it can take the fun out of modeling if you let yourself be obsessed with colour accuracy.

Cheers

+1, both for Nick's site and for having fun with your builds!

Cheers,

Bill

[Fernando]

Hi, all,

The problem with Du Pont "Dark Earths" is that there were two of them. One, the earlier, I think coded 71-009 (missing from the well-know colour chart uploaded by Navy Bird) was lighter and redder, much like the "Light Earth" in the chart, and, according to Dana Bell, was used in the early P-40B or Tomahawks and P-40D/E or Kittyhawks which were painted in Temperate Land Scheme. The other, 71-035, was a much better match to the MAP colour, and Dana assumed that was the reason it succeeded the earlier colour (to the point of being scratched from the colour chart?). It is seen in P-40E/Fs or Kittyhawks/Warhawks painted at the factory in Desert Scheme. FS30219 (with some RAF DE mixed) is said to provide, if not a good match, at least a good contrast to the proper MAP colour. It is also supposed to have been the colour used in P-400s (and probably Hudsons/Bostons?). As a last note, it should be present (with MAP Middlestone) on those Kittyhawks repainted in Desert Scheme by the RAF (recognizable by having the left serial number encased in a dark coloured square (actually the Du Pont Dark Green in which they had been originally painted)

Fernando