Hi, Kevin and Everyone Else!

I've had a LOT of additional health-issues since the beginning of November, 2019- Hopefully, I can get back to building, soon. In the meantime, I've purchased four, that's right, FOUR of the new 1/48 TAMIYA P-38 F/G Lightning kits. That's not counting a Christmas gift for a friend, either!

I will be following Kevin's build with great interest...

I'm sticking my big nose in at this point, mainly because I came across some P-38 information SOMEWHERE, and I CAN'T for the life of me remember where I originally read this. Has this ever happened to any of you..? I've been combing through all of my books and periodicals trying to locate exactly where I came across this information. It MAY even have been on line, somewhere. A build/review, maybe? I'll find it sooner or later, as I have all kinds of time on my hands, anyway...

This info concerned the earlier batches of P-38s, from the Lockheed Model 322-B, (This was the British export version, with BOTH Props turning "Right-Handed" and NO Superchargers, according to RAF/British Air Ministry Specs & Requirements!!!), the P-38D, thru the P-38E, F, G-variants and midway thru the P-38H block of Lightning-production. This info concerned EXTERIOR and INTERIOR COLORS, and reading this stuff kind of threw me for a loop, no pun intended!!!

According to the writer, (I forget WHO the he was), this info was obtained from one of his relatives, (I THINK an Aunt of his) who, if memory serves, worked in the Lockheed Paint Shops. RAF paints, that's right, as in ROYAL AIR FORCE PAINTS, were used on and in the above-mentioned earlier P-38 production-block airplanes...

Please bear with me, because I really don't want "to put a bee in anyone's bonnet"!

It seems that RAF INTERIOR GREEN paint was used in the earlier-versions of P-38 COCKPITS, with the appropriate "normal" colors for US-made electrical boxes, oxygen hoses, radios, etc. THIS was ONLY as far as the Cockpits were concerned. All other INTERNAL structures, Landing Gear bays, Gun Bay, etc, were the left in the "normal" NMF ALUMINUM or painted in their appropriate US-style ZINC CHROMATE and/or other colors, which was inconsistent(?) with the normal WWII RAF INTERIOR GREEN. I can understand this to an extent, since different components of aircraft were assembled in different sections of the manufacturers' facilities, hence the discrepancies...

Now, we come to the P-38 early-blocks' EXTERIOR color schemes...

HOO-BOY!!!

Let's remember that the RAF and the Air Ministry sent their official Purchasing Commission to the United States with the idea of buying US-made military aircraft to supplement their hard-pressed aircraft industry. Keep in mind that this was transpiring during the height of the "Battle of Britain". The British-export Model 322-Bs, as nearly every P-38-fan knows, were painted in the more-or-less Standard British Day-fighter Camouflage Colors of RAF DARK GREEN and RAF DARK EARTH "mirror-patterns" on their Upper surfaces, with SKY Type-S Lower surfaces initially, and subsequently, with RAF MEDIUM SEA GRAY Lower surfaces. Some 322-Bs were sent to Great Britain for testing and evaluations. As it turned out, these 322-Bs didn't fare very well.

The British returned this small batch of Lightnings to Lockheed, since the Model 322-Bs failed to meet RAF-requirements. Now, Lockheed built the 322-Bs IN ACCORDANCE WITH RAF-SPECS, and these Lightnings FAILED because the British SPECIFICALLY requested "Right-handed" Prop-rotation for BOTH Engines and NO Superchargers, DESPITE Lockheed's warnings! NO WONDER the Model 322-Bs turned out to be DOGS!!! The British CANCELLED their contract with Lockheed, outright. Suffice to say, Lockheed was going to sue for "Breach of Contract". The British responded with, "Go ahead and try!" The whole "donnybrook" was settled in Washington D.C. without any publicity, I'm assuming behind "closed doors"...

As it happened, the British weren't very happy with our P-400s, which wound up in the Pacific-Theatre, or our P-40s, which wound up with the RAF in Africa, mainly in the ground-attack role. OK, 'nuff said on that score...

Lockheed, in anticipation of big RAF orders not only for their Model 214-B Hudsons, but also for the Model 322-B Lightnings, received HUGE stocks of British camouflage paints, direct from Great Britain. Supposedly, after the British rejected the 322-Bs, Lockheed touched base with the US Army Air Corps, soon to become the US Army Air Forces, regarding the use of these RAF paints. The story goes that the US Air Corps' "Powers That Be" gave Lockheed the "OK" to go ahead and use all British paint stocks until they were gone, (except for the RAF DARK EARTH, for some reason or other), and THAT'S how earlier P-38s wound up being painted in RAF DARK GREEN and RAF MEDIUM SEA GRAY colors on their Upper and Lower surfaces(?)... WHEW!!!

The BIGGEST "BUGABOO" in all of this is that in the VAST MAJORITY of model-related publications, any and ALL P-38s in camouflage-paint, the color "call-outs" refer to US OLIVE DRAB over US NEUTRAL GRAY or MEDIUM GRAY, depending on the publication...

Since we're mainly concerned with the earlier P-38s intended for use with the US Army Air Forces, let me run this by you:

The piece I read categorically stated that BESIDES the RAF INTERIOR GREEN-painted Cockpits, the P-38Ds thru midway in the H-block, were actually painted with RAF DARK GREEN Upper surfaces, and RAF MEDIUM SEA GRAY Lower surfaces. That also explains why, (for me, anyway), there seems to be a tonal variation in surviving color photographs, where earlier P-38s are parked or flying in relatively close proximity to other USAAF aircraft such as US OLIVE DRAB over US NEUTRAL or MEDIUM GRAY-painted P-39s, P-40s, etc. This is even taking into account weathering, relative age of the subjects in the photos, etc...

For me, at least, this discrepancy in colors has always been a "head-scratcher", because RAF DARK GREEN is NOT OLIVE DRAB, and neither is RAF MEDIUM SEA GRAY the same as US NEUTRAL or MEDIUM GRAY. And CERTAINLY, RAF INTERIOR GREEN is VERY different from US ZINC CHROMATE GREEN, ZINC CHROMATE YELLOW, and US INTERIOR GREEN! Let's not even "get into" the US BRONZE GREEN Cockpit colors found in later Republic P-47s and certain Grumman-built WWII aircraft...

So, here we have yet ANOTHER LONG DIATRIBE over accurate color-representations on the Kit Maker Network!

Nevertheless, I would LOVE to get some feedback/opinions and mainly, some CONFIRMATION of this info, before I go making some HUGE MISTAKES in the painting processes of my new TAMIYA P-38s!!!

VR, Dennis