I'm doing an Olive Drab P-61 Black Widow for the Twin Boom campaign and got an Aeromaster decal set with great nose art.
The painting specifications say the radome was "natural fiberglass".
The color in the pictures is kind of a a beige.

anyone know what color "natural fiberglass" is and what Model Master or Tamiya paint might approach it?

thanks

Here's a picture a quick Google found

http://www.pbase.com/9146gt/image/35780014

Looking at this I would say it's close to a RAF Hemp or Buff colour?

Hi Allen

It seems to need a password to see whatever that url is.

All the best

Rowan

Hi again

Looking at these pics, I'd just go with an off-white:

http://aerofiles.com/north-p61a.jpg

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_KgIqQvYUs3I/SMH3h9fvDOI/AAAAAAAAHvw/QjvH_DQW-ck/s400/P-61(03).jpg

All the best

Rowan

Odd they must password protect images that are linked? all I did was goggle "natural fiberglass" and it was the second hit that I got.

What ever color you pick will be correct as the radomes were painted with what was available "as an in the field application", they were actually translucent (semi clear/frosted), when "factory fresh". I've seen Beige (RAF Hemp is good) and I've seen off white as Merlin mentioned. I've even seen black.

The best part is the OD Duct tape sealing it!

I used to work with fiberglass for a living, so:

depends, does it have a gel coat? the navy aircraft pictured above does. if it has a gel coat, then the color is the same color as the gel coat (or a faded version thereof).

the color of fiberglass without a gel coat depends on 3 major variables(and many other things that are less influence) - what resin was used to impregnate the fiberglass, how old is it, and how much UV exposure has it seen.

these days there are common two resins (as in cheap and readily available) - polyurethane and epoxy.

polyurethane will be a slightly greenish or purplish white when new (depends on the catalyst mix, age of the resin, and other stuff i don't remember) and also translucent or even semi transparent (only very carefully finished fiberglass is totally transparent). this will yellow with age and become correspondingly opaque, but what yellow depends on how much sunlight exposure it's seen and other things (but mostly amount of UV - this being the reason gel coats are used - so UV doesn't age the cured resin).

Epoxy resin will start vaguely yellowish, and will sometimes weather to a darker yellow than polyurethane. and while also loosing some transparency, epoxy will typically retain more than polyurethane will (though is usually starts less transparent/translucent than polyurethane).

salt, rainwater, pollution, chemical cleaners, and other things will also affect color and transparency.

Eventually even deep yellowing goes to powdery white as the UV totally breaks apart the resin (either kind), esp on the surfaces most exposed to sunlight.

and even cured resins that have never seen sunlight will yellow a bit thru slow oxidation or whatever.

my guess is the radomes of P-61s were non gel coated polyurethane. they would start a crisp semi-translucent white, yellowing quickly in the Pacific and not so quickly in Europe, though even the transparency would diminish fairly quickly as the fiberglass roughens via rain (esp on the top)

I'd say a hemp or yellowish beige would be good for a plane with some action behind it. I'd vary the yellowing between the tops and the sides to add interest and probably accuracy

a model of a factory fresh plane should actually have a vacu-formed frosted (i.e. lightly sanded) clear plastic radome made for it very lightly hit with a touch of clear yellow with maybe a hint of clear green.

Thanks for all the feedback.
I'm not planning on factory fresh - a little weathering, but to too much.
I think I'll go with the hemp color.

Dave - that duct tape pic is great. My first job out of college was in a duct tape factory and I got to meet with a several customers who were vets with great stories of how and where they used the stuff.