Hi guys ...I'm currently working on Hasegawa's P-40E kit and I'm trying to figure out what color to paint the area behind the cockpit on the outside behind the glass...I thought it might be interior green but I can't tell from pictures and the museum p-40's are all different... What was the usual color??

thanks in advance
Rick

Hi Rick,

In virtually every case, they were painted the camoflauge color.

Really? That means I can't add the glass till after it's all painted ...Thanks for your answer.

Rick

Here you go -

i took some pics of the P40 in the museum. when i get home i will check if they could help.

Just a warning, some museums are not sticklers for accurate/authentic colors and markings. Even USAF Museum at Wright-Pat has acknowledged some of their birds are, or were, mispainted.

As we are finding out these days, a lot of the "official" information we had as reference material up through the 90's was self-perpetuating junk.

Whether it was modeling that drove it or not, the last two decades have seen an explosion or new material based on newly-available artifacts, plus the ability to share this information widely and rapidly.

Armor expert Steve Zaloga acknowledged that he lead many astray for years with US armor "Dark green", that he now has found didn't exist.

And recently I posted that someone in Asia has offered up an original WWII Japanese Navy color chart, which is dispelling many ideas about "true" IJNAF colors.

Caveat emptor!