Hi Folks,
I’m building a Revel 1:48 P-38 Lightning for one of my buddies. The one he chose was the P-38 that major Bong flew (I’m gonna build the Night Lightning for myself). The instructions say silver & black. But I also have a Franklin Mint P-38 and that one is silver & OD/ dark green. I also just saw a picture of a restored P-38 at the Richard Bongs Historical Center in Superior WI, and that one is also silver & OD. So I’m guessing that silver & OD is correct, but if anyone knows for sure let me know.
BTW I’m only a couple hours from Superior WI, so I’m definitely going to have to take a ride up there to the Historical center [8D]
here’s the link if ya wanna check it out:
http://www.scalemodelnews.com/2009/09/us-ace-pilot-major-richard-bongs-p-38.html
I don’t have any reference handy now and I am too lazy to look it up on the web but I am pretty sure that black is what was on Bong’s plane. Some did use OD and some used black. Some used neither one. The best advice that I can give you is research the specific plane.
O.K. I got my mouse in gear and found a couple of photos. When you look at the b&w pictures of Bong’s plane, notice how dark the anti-glare panels are. They are too dark to be OD.\
P-38 Pictures
“Bing” Bong’s ship, “Marge” has been depicted with both Black and OD anti-glare shields…
Judging from these photos (and others that I don’t feel like posting because I think y’all get the idea), I’d say black was the best bet for the anti-glare shields…
What is noticeable is the change in kill marks from the top photo vs. the bottom… In the top one, the red part of the kill mark is painted directly onto the metal from a stencil, while the bottom ones appear to be decals…
Another thing to consider is which P-38 he’s flying… When the NMF was standardized, aircraft that were already painted OD had the OD paint left on for the shields, and also came from the factory that way until the factories used up the stocks of OD paint and switched to black… I don’t know how many "Marge"s there were since I can’t find any photos that show the data plaque well enough to check the S/N, but it’s conceivable that there was more than one “Marge”… After all, Tommy McGuire flew at least 5 "Pudgy"s…
Thanks Hans! I appreciate the reply and the research 
Edited/Update. Well since its my buddy who’s going to be the one looking at it. I left it up to him. He chose silver with black anti glare shields