Inching closer and closer to building my P-51D (still researching and finishing up an F-4U). In photos i’m finding online the interior colors (landing gear wells, gun compartments) are either olive drab, yellow-green or yellow. What’s the appropriate color? A lot of the photos i’ve been looking at are restorations so I’m not sure how accurate they are…
P-51D wheel wells should be bare aluminum with the rear spar in yellow zinc chromate. The spars were primed before assembly. North American got the O.K. to leave the wheel wells bare to speed up production. The inside of gunbays should be yellow zinc chromate.
You will find most of what you want to know here:
http://www.ipmsstockholm.org/magazine/2004/01/stuff_eng_interior_colours_us.htm
If you are not building a US aircraft it is a different story depending on the time frame. Foe example, P-51’s produced by CAC in Australia had a different colour interior green (sort of an apple green) and aircraft used in Japan as part of BCOF had a different wheel well colour in some cases.