I got my Revell B-17G almost ready to paint the aircraft’s exterior. The painting guide says to use Olive Drab…but that color looks a little too much like brown…were most of the B-17’s painted Olive Drab or i think its a Dark Green…not so sure…can anyone give me some advice or any information on what most B-17’s colors were? I do know some had a light grey belly…but not so sure how that would fit Olive Drab. Any help?
-Brian
From my limited knowledge, if the belly was lt. grey, it was most likely Olive Drab on the top coat. “OD” as they call it was a dirty green color, and faded really bad in many cases, so it could very well look brownish. If you have OD paint already, you may have noticed the brownish appearance.
I’m sure others on the sight will have the proper Federal Standard (FS) number of the OD. If you haven’t purchased yet, check out the Aeromaster line at:
http://www.aircraftcolors.com/
THey even offer a pre-faded OD.
Good luck and make sure to post pictures!
B-17Gs were usually painted OD uppers and Neutral Gray lowers. (sorry, I can’t remember either the ANA or FS equivelant number). The OD paint faded with time to a browner tone (note: the fabric covered surfaces (elevators, rudder and ailerons) were painted with dope which faded even faster). Hope this helps a little.
Some B-17s were done in bare / natural metal finish as well as Olive Drab (OD)FS 34087. It would depend upon which aircraft you are depicting. Run a google Image search on B-17G and you’ll see the difference in paint scemes.
Some “experts” say that OD 41 was a color somewhere in between FS 34086 and FS 34087, with a slightly reddish hue. The latter color is bottled by Testor Model Master as “olive drab,” the former color as “green drab.” Next time I build a B-17, I’m planning to try this by mixing half and half green drab and olive drab, add about 10% red–and see how it turns out. It seems from looking at period photos that almost no one makes a “real” OD 41 straight from the bottle. Another MM color labeled "olive drab (stock number 2050) is supposed to be ANA 613, but I’m not sure that this color wasn’t produced so late that no B-17’s ever wore it. As has been pointed out, the paint often faded so drastically, that you could probably get by with any olive-brownish-greenish finish, and no one could dispute your choice. Good luck.
ok thx for the help and advice. I already have the olive drab and the lt. grey belly color. i think ill go with OD instead of dark green…OD seems much more realistic.
-Brian