David Rapasi

The color scan of the magazine cover is a B 25-G built in mid 1943. The color photo of the Marine PBJ-1D is an aircraft built in mid 1943. QMS #12 Blue Gray was replaced by ANA 603 Sea Gray in March of 1942. Dave

Attached to the photo are all of the colors discussed, then some. What color would you paint a model based on these color photos? Dave

On the lighter side; In 1976 I entered a super detailed F4-D into a Regional IPMS contest. It was painted with paint right out of an ANG paint can. After the contest a judge told me that my F4-D didn’t make the final round of judging because it was painted the wrong colors. Dave

I decided to paint my Mustang Sea Gray. Dana Bell shows FS 36118 as the equivalent Federal Standard match for ANA603 Sea Gray. Does the FS 36118 Model Master Enamel paint match the ANA 603 paint chip? Below are six commonly used ANA colors compared to Model Masters equivalent paint chips. Some of the colors are quite dark which makes them difficult to compare by eye for tinting. Some colors I can’t tell by eye what color to use to tint the paint to get the correct colors. Using Adobe Photo Shop Color Picker I can measure the colors. By using these measurements I can tell how

Does anyone have any color information about the Marine PBJ-1C/Ds used in the Solomon and Caroline islands? I am rebuilding a PBJ-1D training aircraft used in the U.S. I am adding the nose and cheek guns, the wing bomb racks, and the tail gun glass, along with the radar dome, to turn it into a combat aircraft. This is the information I have for this project. An article I read years ago said the Navy had swapped an aircraft factory in Washington State with the Army for B-25s. When the first batch of (50 to 100-?) PBJ-1s were completed, the Marines weren’t ready to accept them.

This is the same photo with the Russian paint chips attached for comparison. There is no slate gray in WW II Russian colors that I can find. Dave

The caption and article state that this Russian B-25 photo is a factory experimental paint job in American equivalent paint. Army Corps of Engineering, and ANA colors were used for this experiment. All of the Lend Lease B-25 were shipped in overall O.D . Dave

These are the closest colors I can find. Two colors are Army Corps of Engineering, and one is ANA. The right wing appears to be quite faded. Dave

That is the point I have been trying to make, all I have is the colored factory photo of this B-25. What are the “actual called for colors†? What are the ANA paint numbers? Where do I get this original painting information? Dave

The article, as the title and subject line state, was about what the numbers on the paint chips mean. There was no mention of “exact colors†in the article. The statement I made in the article was “This process will give a good indication of what color an aircraft is painted“. Since my hobby is painting model aircraft, I thought I would share my methods of trying to figure out what colors to paint models. After all of this discussion no one has offered a way to do this, or has an answer to the question; What colors do I paint this model? Dave

Thank you Rex I will try it one more time. A client wants you to build him a model of a Russian B-25. He sends you a color photo of the aircraft and wants the model painted to match the photo. What colors do you paint this model? Dave

You are all missing the point of this article. I had three photos of these Mustangs, the one my client sent, and two photos from a book I found in the library. All of them original and unaltered. I had to come up with colors that were in use during WW II that looked like the colors in the photos. I measured the color hue of the photos and matched them to ANA color chips. The client was satisfied with the colors I painted his models. If you have better ways of matching colors for model aircraft from this period I would like to know them, this is the only method I have. Dave

The reason for the quality of the scan of the four Mustangs in my article is, the photo was printed on a textured photo paper, a very expensive process during WW II. ANA 603 Sea Gray is an American color not British. Dave

The Mustang is painted Sea Gray ANA 603. The nose of E2*S is painted ANA 612 Medium Green not ANA 613 O.D. Dave

E2*C is painted ANA 603 Sea Gray, which is very close in color to FS 36118 Gunship Gray. In March of 1942 RAF Extra Dark Sea Gray replaced QMS #43 Neutral Gray. Later RAF Extra Dark Sea Gray became known as Sea Gray and was given the ANA number of 603. Dave

The photos of the Mustangs and the Thunderbolt interiors are from a collection of original WW II Photos. The interior of the Ventura is a recent photo posted on this forum. All that I am doing is measuring the color hue from the photo and matching it to the ANA colors used in WW II, I think that is better than just guessing. In 2004 a client sent me this “ original Mustang photoâ€Â. He wanted all four Mustangs built in 1/48th scale using Tamiya kits and painted to match the photo. This client also wanted all of his plastic models painted un-weathered with a slight gloss so they

Paint colors can be measured in Adobe Photo Shop to get the Color Hue°, and the percentages of Saturation and Brightness, ( H:S:B: ). The paint chips below are all quite close in Color Hue°. The Color (HUE) is between 38° and 45°. The SHADE of these color chips is what makes them appear so different. The SHADE of a color is determined by it’s SATURATION (SAT), the percentage of COLOR HUE to the percentage of GRAY. The BRIGHTNESS (BRT) of GRAY is determined by the percentage of WHITE to the percentage of BLACK. Below is the Adobe Photo Shop Color Picker, measuring

I watched most of the movie again and paid a little better attention to the colors of different equipment. On Bougainville the Army utility equipment, Jeeps, trucks and bombs were painted O.D. On Bougainville the Marine utility equipment ,Jeeps, trucks and bombs were painted Medium Green. On Roi-Namur the Marine utility equipment ,Jeeps, trucks, and buildings were painted Medium Green. On Roi-Namur the Navy had Corsair fighter groups and bomber groups flying Liberators, Helldivers, Venturas, and light gray bombs. All of the C 46s were painted O.D. The C 47s were painted in either color

These photos are from a movie taken in Bougainville in 1944. This photo,and the previous photo, shows the installation of the tail fins. The installer rotated the fin as he was tightening the spanner nut. There wasn’t any locater for the fin on these bombs and it could be positioned at any angle. Dave

The color of the bomb was scanned at a point that is not in direct sunlight, nor in the shade, to get the best measurement of the color hue. Dave

Thanks for the compliments. I didn’t find any problems with the kit, I just made some assembly changes to make it easier to paint without any of the glass installed. Dave

If they didn’t have time to paint them for storage in a bomb dump, when would they have time to paint them before hanging them on a Corsair. Maybe they came painted white from the States. The bombs used on/in all aircraft on Roi-Namur were painted white . I don’t recall seeing white camouflage tarps or netting to match the white terrain of Roi-Namur. The Corsair flying from the Solomon Ilands were painted white on the bottom and still carried green bombs. Dave

Camouflaged bombs; The bombs used on Bougainville in WW II were painted green, ANA 612 Medium Green, to match the surrounding landscape. They also rusted quite rapidly due to the jungle conditions. The bombs used on Roi-Namur were painted white, ANA 601 Insignia White, to match the color of the coral surfaces on these islands. This was done to make the bomb dumps less visible to the enemy when over flying these islands. Dave

This aircraft flew with VPB 133, stationed on Roi-Namur in early 1945. Dave PS I couldnt install the rear-most window on the right side from the interior. The framing on the glass had to be removed and the window installed from the outside.

Covered with salt. Ready for WEATHERING. Dave