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B-17 Memphis Belle paint spots color ??


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Hi Everybody!

I would like to ask if anybody know what color need to be use in Memphis Belle paint scheme...especially for irregular spots sprayed along tail and in top of places on a wing...base color is US Olive Drab, tail section is Medium Green... the spots seems to be a lot darker but what color is? in Revell instruction is mysterious "N" color what has no any description...I think is some mistake to forgot about this letter in color list

here are spots unfortunately in black and white picture

060517-F-1234S-022_zps8bd1d54a.jpg

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The colour was Medium Green. This was commonly seen around the leading and trailing edges of the larger aircraft of the time. It is much less common away from the edges, which suggest that this might be fresh OD over damage patches or (for whatever reason) excessive wear.

The difference in the OD on the fabric flying surfaces is also clear in this photo.

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The tail appears darker because in this case it was freshly repainted with OD (or replaced.) Note how the splotches abruptly cut off at the panel line where the vertical attaches. In many cases, camouflaged B-17s had slightly darker vertical tails and outer wings because those were manufactured by a subcontractor who painted them before sending them to the factory where the planes were assembled. As for the splotching, when fresh the Olive Drab was actually a bit darker than Medium Green, but the OD faded much more quickly, leaving the splotches darker. Sometimes the splotching on the leading and trailing edges was applied at the factory, but in the case of the Belle it looks to be field-applied (and rather sloppily at that.)

SN

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  • 2 weeks later...

The splotches are simply cammo to help break up the outline of the aircrafts shape while parked. It's not damage repair.

The vertical tail is a different color due to the fact that that piece was produced by a sub contractor, very common to all B-17's then.

Not hard to reproduce, general OD over NG base cammo, maybe a darker shade of OD for the vertical tail section, then medium green splotches.

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