B-24 Mickey ship grey.

[AMStreet]

I have just started building my Academy Liberator and plan to finish it as 41-28832 a B-24H Mickey ship of the 459th BG. 

 

Now the shade of grey used is said to be "a colour somewhat similar to neutral grey, but slightly more blue" ( Osprey Combat Aircraft 21 B-24 Liberator Units Of The Fifteenth Airforce by Robert F Dorr).  I mixed up some paint following the instructions given in "Urban's Colour Reference Charts - United States" by  Urban Fredriksson & Martin Waligorski  IPMS Stockholm.  I then found a tin of Humbrol 165 Medium Sea Grey and compared the two with the colour chip no. 637 in my copy of BS381C 1996.  To my eye they are all very close with the Humbrol colour and the BS381C chip being as described as near to Neutral Grey but bluer.

 

Could the Fifteenth AF have got hold of some Medium Sea Grey from RAF stocks held in Italy and used that?  As most a/c from the US were delivered in a bare metal finish at this time I  would have thought that maybe paint for external use would not have been readily available in the US supply chain.  Evidence of this may be the numerous repairs made to Olive  Drab finished a/c with bare metal patches and panels.

 

Does anyone have any thoughts on this matter?  I would refer to use paint from the tin rather than have mix up a special batch as I have found it impossible to duplicate the original mixture if touch-ups are required at a later date.

[Troy Smith]

1 hour ago, AMStreet said:

Does anyone have any thoughts on this matter? 

A very good chap to ask would be @Dana Bell  He drops in here, and has been researching these things since, well, I had one of his books back in 1981.... 

There maybe something in this

 

 

scanned here

https://boxartden.com/reference/gallery/index.php/Camouflage-Markings/Consolidated-B-24-Liberator

 

1 hour ago, AMStreet said:

I would refer to use paint from the tin rather than have mix up a special batch as I have found it impossible to duplicate the original mixture if touch-ups are required at a later date.

Just mix enough to start with.  Given the amount of time and effort, as well as cost of the base kit, not making up a big enough paint batch, is a false economy. 

 

HTH 

[Dana Bell]

Officially, the color was Neutral Gray - though which manufacturer made the paint would have effected how the aircraft appeared.  I've always thought the paint seemed a bit lighter than the standard.  Most of the aircraft were painted in the states during the Mickey conversion, so there was some consistency - it's alsso why we have any records discussing the paint and its application.

 

Cheers,

 

 

Dana

[AMStreet]

Thanks,

 

I had not realised that the Mickey ships were sent from the US, I thought that they had been modified in theatre, though it does say in the Osprey book that 41-28832 was damaged in action, hence the removal of the front turret and that would have been done in the ETO.  I have no idea if it was a Mickey ship prior to the damage though.

 

I think that given the results from my experiments I'll stick to using Medium Sea Grey, there's no point re-inventing the wheel and as Mr. Bell says there was a variation in the colour from different suppliers and so as no-one else is likely to be aware of the subtle difference that will be good enough for me.

 

Thanks again, I learn something new every time I come to the site.

 

Oh, and one last thing, as Troy Smith says in his signature "...remember ..never trust a profile without a photo" and for once I do have a photo which clears up a lot of questions about this particular subject which is why I chose to model it.