I’m getting ready to spray the interior of my 1/48 Hasegawa P-40E but I need a little help with the interior color. The directions call for either Khaki Green or Zinc-Chromate Type I… anyone know which would be correct for a P-40E flown by Ed Rector in the 76th FS, 23rd FG (formerly the AVG Flying Tigers)? [%-)]
Scott:
I’m not sure if this answers to the specifics of your question, but according to the IPMS Stockholm website:
Curtiss P-40 Tomahawk/Warhawk
Unlike some other manufacturers (like Boeing), Curtiss painted their aircraft directly at the factory.
The cockpit of the P-40 was Curtiss Cockpit Green, which was the Berry Brothers’ (a local paint vendor) approximation of Interior Green. Reportedly it was a little browner than Interior Green.
The scalloped cutouts inside the fuselage windows aft of the cockpits on P-40D to M models were usually painted the same as the camouflage colour. As the rear windows could be easily detached for re-painting, most field repaints were also performed this way. Earlier P-36 Hawk production practice and some photos of the early P-40D and Es indicate that Curtiss could initially have used a different colour for the cutouts. It could have been the same as the cockpit colour, but the author was not able to find any positive confirmation of this.
Again, credit to the source IMPS Stockholm website.
Cool, thanks for the info Mucker. I use the IPMS color charts all the time for Luftwaffe stuff, didn’t even think about looking there. Doh! [:O]
If I can find the photo… I believe the seat was bare metal. Buit I am not sure if that was all of them.
Check out this website, especially the survivors section “KittyHawk 1 AK803”. This P-40E has not been touched since it was purchased after WWII for $50 and is considered the most accurate and complete P-40E around. http://hawksnest.1hwy.com/home.html
Hope this helps.
Thanks for all the great info guys, I’m going to try and get the base color of the cockpit sprayed before bed.