Shooting some Olive Drab

Although autumn is definitely in the air, I still haven’t quite acquired the fall modelling bug. It is mostly down to having that horrible bronchitis morph itself into a truly disgusting sinus infection. About the only thing you want to do with this illness is sit around and read, which I am naturally inclined to do anyway. But at least the planets aligned for one evening and I was able to get the airbrush in gear.

Not a long session; just enough to paint the upper surfaces on two models, which both needed the same color. Fist was the what-if USAAC F4U1 Corsair. I’ve given it a slight designation change in the meantime. I had been calling it a P-72 (if only because the modeller that inspired me to do this called his a P-72). But after giving it some thought, I remembered that there actually was a P-72 that was built. It was a P-47 derivative, and has in fact been kitted by Alliance Resins in 1:72. I have it in the queue for my long term P-47 project. Though I'm not terribly doctrainnaire about this - or anything else for that matter - I decided to find another fighter number that at least did not have metal cut. I eventually ended up with P-52. The Bell P-52 was similar to the Curtiss XP-55 Ascender, but was never built. Thus, P-52.

The other one in the queue requiring an Olive Drab upper coat is the Ho-229, also a what-if, which will be designated a P-58. Presumably it was brought over after the war to jumpstart the American jet program. When I first shot these, I thought the finish on both these looked a bit grainy, and that I might need to buff them both up and shoot a very thin surface coat to just even things out and gloss them up a little. But since curing they look fine, so I should be able to move on to the next steps.

I still think the P-52 might get a red cowl ring and tail tip, but that remains to be determined. At least with a what-if type no one can complain you got the markings wrong.