info needed re olive drab on USAAF P-47

[Guest]

Hi all.

I need to start painting on my 1/48 p-47 bubbletop.

The plans call for olive drab anti glare pannels on the bare metal.No code for the paint is supplied.

I got hold of testors chrome silver and humbrol # 66 olive drab, but it looks "to light". I was under the impression that it should be more "darker green"

Anybody have any pix of P-47 "rabbit" OF 527TH SQN 86TH fg? It is the one I am doing.

Theuns

[stona]

I'll check with a friend for piccies later. Don't worry too much about Olive Drab! The standard O.D.41 varied considerably. This was largely caused by the simplification of it's manufacturing process due to the enormous amounts required. It also weathered from a yellow brown to an almost purple hue. The americans tried to standardise the colour accross all services with the introduction ,in March '43, of the standard ANA 613. This was a lighter hue but most aircraft manufacturers seem to have ignored this and carried on matching to the earlier (darker) chips. Have a look at colour images of any USAAF aircraft of the period and you will see the variations. The same colour supposedly went on both your anti-glare panel and a B-17.

Cheers

Steve

[Guest]

Exelent info as usual Steve, thanx

Will be nice to see some pix of it later.Still having problems with the wing to fuse joint.Hope that some testors white primer will help.

Theuns

[stona]

Theuns,here is the reply I got from my friend to the question I posted on his site re your aircraft:

Mornin' Steve

"Rabbit" of the 527th FS is one of those P-47's that appears regularly on flight sim skins, decal sheets and theres also a dicast model of it around. However, I've not yet been able to find a photo of the actual aircraft. It must be a case of not seeing the wood for the trees, as for decals to be produced etc there must be photos of at least the nose art knocking around the web.

Thats assuming of course, your asking about the bubbletop. There was a razorback named Rabbit which was flown by Manuel Pidcock of the 527th FS.

Heres a colour profile of Rabbit which will give you the general look of the aircraft.

As always, don't rely on a colour profile to be correct. Its merely a representation of what the aircraft "could" have looked like unless its based on a series of photos of the actual aircraft.

Some general details regarding the 527th FS,86th FG P-47's

Red ring on the forward part of the cowling and possible red cowling fins also.

Anti glare stripe would have been olive drab.

Squadron number is reported as being "88" and this would have been black. Red and white bands on the empennage. Late war there are photos of 86th FG aircraft with just red bands over nmf.

Neatness of application of these bands varied, with the aim of keeping aircraft flying operations ranking over artistic preferences.

Various sources list Rabbit as being a D-25 or D-27 model. Both these batches were factory fitted with the Hamilton propellor, which may have had its hub painted red in the case of Rabbit.

I wouldnt be surprised to find that Rabbit carried the 527th squadron emblem on its starboard cowling.

Rabbit, like Jawbone,is usually listed as being unidentified. This is due to the groups signature red and white bands being painted over the serial number on the rudder. However, this number was usually repainted further forward on the fusalage, and this enabled identification of "Jawbone" when the son of one of the pilots sent in some photos to P-47 Heaven last year.

I was hoping to find a photo of Rabbit in Steve Luce's excellent book on the 86th which came out last year, but there isn't one to be seen.

Its not unknown for Steve to frequent this site, so hopefully he will be able to provide us with a photo of the actual aircraft.

Hope this helps a little,

Nige

The 527th Squadron emblem was this

As Nige said...hope this helps.

Steve

[Guest]

Lads, I could not have asked for better info than this!! Thanx a stack.

This is exactly the same ,including the starbord decal, as on the kit's plan.

Interestingly the kit includes the red and whit decals for the tail.Just not sure if they will work as well as paint.

The anti glare pannels here look to be black or very dark green.

Steve please convey my thanx to your mate aswell.

Regards

Theuns

[stona]

No problem and I said thanks to Nige. He reiterated that the anti-glare panel would be Olive Drab. There are some profiles of some aircraft showing black panels but given the difficulty with interpreting colour on B+W photos I'd take them with a pinch of salt. OD was standard so,to mix metaphors,if horses are standard then a zebra is most unlikely.

Good luck with the stripes.

Cheers

Steve

[Guest]

Another thing I see on the above pic is that the bombs also apear to be black, I do know that they were green/ OD

So I recon the black is just "incorrect"

T

[Guest]

Hi again

Does anyone know if this plane featured above ever had invation stripes on during it's carreer?It would make a nice July 3 1944 "invation stripe order" diorama :-)

Theuns

[AlanG]

On May 30, 1944, the 86th received its final wartime designation, the 86th Fighter Group, but more importantly the group welcomed its first P-47 Thunderbolts a few weeks later, on June 23 of which 527th FS was one of. The tough, modern P-47 was welcomed by the group’s pilots, as was their move to Orbetello airfield, on the west coast of Italy, between 18 and 30 June.

So i guess it missed the D-Day landings

[stona]

Allyne would be correct,as part of the 12th Air Force they would have been somewhere in the Mediterranean theatre throughout the relevant period.

Steve

[Guest]

Ok thanx

So much for that idea :-(

The kit dous give decals for the green P-47 "rabbit" wich did have stripes on, but I can just not get the checkered decal to conform to the round cowl, no matter what! I am a littl weary of trying to mask and paint the checkers on the cowl....

Theuns

[Guest]

Here is a question for you sharp lads - I have been putting on the olive drab glare shield on the silver fuse top, but is is full of fine hairline crack, allmost like shrinking mudd in a dry pond.

I had the same on the white tail.Bith were matt humbroll enamel paint onto silver testors enamel

I had to sand down the white and redo with gloss humbroll enamel, no problem.

Why would the paint do this??? To thick?(airbrushed)

I have to sand back the olive drab and try later :-(

I have not seen the olive drab in gloss.

Theuns

[Guest]

Here it is with the rough pannel line wash before cleaning.It is the first time I'vv used this tecnique and will use it again.Black chalk pastel in water.

The decals are now on, the weathering/staining is done and weather permitting, I will put the satin clear final coat on.

I am wotking on the cround crewnow, but allas I am terrible at painting 1/48 figures :-(

Theuns





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[stona]

Nice one Theuns. It's hard to tell from a photo but it looks like your wash has stuck nicely in the lines.

Cheers

Steve

[Guest]

I put on the satin coat today, had a bit of a hard time with that.but it's on now.

During this prosess I managed to break off the antenna and one of the bombs :-(

WIll be finishing off the crew and then work on the diorama.I think it will look OK.

I am starting to think my current pot fed single action airbrush is not so good anymore and another gravity fed dual action should be in the pipeline before painting more models.It it just the $ that is in short supply now.

Pix later

Theuns