Airfix P-40B Propeller Blade painting guide - Confused

[Knight_Flyer]

So Airfix issued the P-40B in 2 scales of a Pearl Harbor scheme. Trouble is, the instructions are conflicting on whether the prop blades should have yellow tips. Anyone know the definitive answer as to if the tips should be painted yellow or not? Also, were the back of the blades really painted black? If the blades were all unpainted metal to begin with, why paint the back of them? I did try to find period photos of the planes, unfortunately none of them showed the propeller blades very clearly.

 

Here are the conflicting instructions, the top sheet is for the 1/48 kit and the bottom one 1/72:

 

[Troy Smith]

 

I knew I'd seen this before..

Quote

 

On 24/01/2018 at 16:50, Dana Bell said:

Hi Guys!

 

There were two types (and colors) of prop painting, and both were seen on early P-40s.  For antiglare purposes, the aft face was painted Maroon - and never on the forward face.  You'll usually see the application stops a ways from the hub, not covering parts of the prop that would be blocked from the pilot's view by the forward fuselage.  (I suspect this was where the Japanese learned to paint their props maroon.)  The Maroon was NOT painted on the props of Tomahawks bound for the UK.  The other dark prop painting was for camouflage purposes, and began to be introduced in 1940.  To cut the reflection of a spinning prop in flight, the entire prop blade was painted flat black or (in rare cases) Instrument Black - a satin finish black used on instrument boards.  Yellow tips were eventually added as a safety color to both types of prop, though they were rarely seen on the NMF/Maroon props.  

 

I can't say I've seen much use of Maroon by modelers, but every now and then you'll find the color in a contemporary color photo or an old wooden model.

 

Cheers,

 

 

Dana

 

 

PS

some pics of maroon props here, with discussion

http://www.ascalecanadian.com/2015/09/maroon-19-and-usaac-and-usaaf.html

[fubar57]

There's a Pearl Harbor photo of P-40 #337 with what looks like black on the rear of the props, worn down to natural metal near the tips

[Knight_Flyer]

Thanks guys, my search skills must be off as I missed finding that thread. I did find the kiwimodeller thread and Dana's explanation really put it all into context