Which is the correct blue and yellow to use on the P-26 color scheme using Model Master paints or its equivalent?
I just checked my reference book. It is called "The Official Monogram US Army Air Service & Air Corps Aircraft Color Guide Vol. 1 1908-1941 ". For the Spec that was issued in 1930 for that Aircraft it called for a " Yellow#4, and a Blue#23, with the interior color of Cream#1. I saw the paint chips and unfortunately I don’t know of any immediate cross overs but I’ll keep looking. However I can say for sure that if you find some old Pollyscale paint they had the Yellow#4 shade. I used it before on the Curtiss Hawk P-6E. They probably had the Blue#23 available also but I can’t say for sure. The Yellow#4 is a little bit deeper and more orangy than we are used to seeing and the Blue#23 is a little bit lighter and has a touch more of a greenish turquoise tint than most blues that we are familiar with. Given these real numbers maybe you can check the “Net” for some sort of cross reference to FS numbers and/or MM numbers. I’ll keep on looking. Good Luck. Bob
From Dana Bell’s AF Colors, Vol. 1, compared with FS 595A:
Ivory Cream #1 (color existed, but use on aircraft not confirmed), 13596, #1 is a little lighter, stronger, yellower
Yellow #4, 13432, #4 is darker, yellower, and weaker
Light Blue #23, 35109, #23 is stronger, a little greener, a little lighter, glossy
Also, try this:
Thanks both for your help. That is interesting about the cream color for the inside. I have the Starfighter Decals resin cockpit and it calls for aluminum lacquer interior. This is the hard thing to pin down about some details. I found somewhere last night describing Testors French Blue in the small bottle as a close match to the Blue 23.
Great pictures Wayne, thanks. I’ve been Googling for pictures and there seems to be quite a variation of the blue shade.
Here’s my album. A few more shots of the Peashooter and a B-10 that shows some variation of blue.
Cool pictures. Thanks for sharing.
USAF Museum cockpit photo even though museum restorations are not always reliable:
www.nationalmuseum.af.mil/…/factsheet.asp
Planes of Fame Museum and NASM both have P-26’s but they don’t show any cockpit photos.