I've recently invested some $ in a few of the Olimp Pro resin between war Curtiss Pursuit kits.

Research has pointed to the fact that the early "olive drab 22" was a different color then the olive drab used during WWII. I have a chip of "22" from the Monogran book but does anyone know of a premixed commercial brand of this elusive color? If not how about a "darn close to" mix or even a do it yourself mix..........any help would be most welcome.

Thanks: Flypaper

The Army Air Corps O.D. Seems to be a light Olive Drab. I have seen a section fom a DH 4 wing. (1918 of course)

Poly Scale makes a USAAC OD that looks about right, I just bought some for a P-5E. They also have an Orange Yellow that I picked for the wings.

Frank

Steve thanks for the insight, according to the Monogram book aircraft that early that served in the USAAS were finished in "Khaki" which was very close to the British PC10, it seems "the term Khaki and Olive Drab" were interchangeable at the time. At the time of the implication of the USAAS Spec 3.1 a new "Olive Drab" was employed this being Olive Drab22 which when compared to PC10 is different, and also different then later Olive Drabs.

All this reminds me of my hunt for French WWII camo colors........

Frank, I didnt know they still produced Polly-Scale!! Thanks

Hi Flypaper

There's another description in Dana Bell's Air Force Colors Vol. 1:

"QM Spec color #22 was a good match for Air Corps OD, though the latter was a bit lighter, a little stronger, and a little yellower."

and by comparison with F.S. 595a:

F.S. equivalent - 30118, but "#22 is glossier, stronger , darker and a bit redder."

I hope that helps a bit, all the best

Rowan

Rowan
Thanks for your time and reply, I have Dana's book and have read and reread that part over and over and to be honest lighter darker redder greener and the whole thing just made me more confused.

- I'm not alone then...

It's also almost exactly what David Klaus's IPMS Guide says.

One thing to remember - these are probably the same references most model paint manufacturers are going by...

All the best

Rowan

Hello Rowan
That true about the D. Klaus book, from what I see he just put in one place all the material from tons of different places, much of which was out of date. After I saw that I treated his information with a grain of salt.

Now we all have or area's of interest and thats fine but sometimes I wonder about the fact that we know the color of the tip on a relief tube in a Me-109, but still will draw blank stares when you question (as an example) what Olive Drab 22 really looks like........

Oh well..........thanks again

Flypaper

Well after checking everything out that I could between my references at home and various color charts of a bunch of new paint brands I have found my "Olive Drab 22" at JPS paints, a small model paint company in Germany which also offers a Host of colors for several major and minor Air Forces. The only problem I've found is they are only available in a small number of European model shops.
The other paint that came very close to "Olive Drab 22" was the Czech paint Agama A15-Olive Drab, while not an exact match to the JPS paint it comes so very very close.
I must warn you all that even though I think the JPS paint is as close as you will get to true colors, any match with the Agama paints was strictly done with the Mk-1 eyeball so be advised..
Now that I've found what I think is this elusive color the problem is now how to get them...the quest continues.

Cheers......Flypaper.

Just a reminder this "Olive Drab 22" is the olive drab used during the 1920's not the WWII olive drab.