This is a project that I have been wanting to do for many years. Now that Tamiya has released their fabulous P-38 with the proper markings, I can finally do it !

I have done some research on this event in the past, and have collected all of the kits needed to build these planes. This will have a scheduled completion date of April 18th, 2020. If things go well, I might be able to pull it off...

Here goes !

The long awaited P-38 is finally starting to reach our homes. I had pre ordered one shortly after they first were announced. This beauty arrived yesterday on the doorstep.

This is the Betty kit I'll be using. Tamiya actually released a version later that was specific for Admiral Yamamoto. It had a small figure of the Admiral and the specific markings for his plane. I think I have enough decals in the stash to build this older "Betty" kit wearing the markings of the plane in which he was shot down in.

After talking about this with our friend Chuck Villanueva, @uscusn
he came up with the wonderful idea to add a Zero in the mix. So I did some quick online research and found some information about one of the Zero pilots who flew on this mission. He also survived the War, and has been interviewed on several occasions. His name was Kenji Yanagiya. He was the only Zero fighter pilot of the Yamamoto mission to survive the War.

I will be using Chuck's online work in progress from when he recently built up his G4M. He posted a lot of very useful information and a lot of pictures during his Betty build. It's a gold mine !

and it turned out really nice too...

As far as the Zero... Tamiya has this one. It's an older kit, but it still builds up into a very nice looking plane. This plane will be painted as a Zero form the 204th Kokutai, and will have the tail number "T2-169". It was flown by Kenji Yanagiya on that day.

I'll most likely use this one, but I do have another A6M-3 that was manufactured by Hasegawa. The Hasegawa Zero's are nicer and more detailed than the earlier Tamiya Zero's. The Tamiya kits build up a little easier. The fit is very good on both kits.

Who knows ? I might just end up building both the Tamiya and the Hasegawa kits. Time will tell. I can always paint the other one in different markings.

Chances are I will most likely build the Tamiya Zero, to keep it all Tamiya.

As always,
Comments are encouraged.

Thank you very much Stephen
@stephen-w-towle

Man oh man ! This is perfect.

There have been some postings recently on opinions about the colors that were used on these early Lightning's. I prefer facts like you have presented. I recently ordered a book that was written by Dana Bell on this subject, and I'm anxiously awaiting it's arrival. It will be interesting to see what he has written about the colors used. There's a lot of speculation about the various shades of OD Green, and even the cockpit colors. It definitely pays to do your homework.

I remember watching a show on television that documented them removing the plane from under the ice. I thought it was rather ingenious how they used boiling water to bore down into the ice.

I remember the information you provided on my recent B-25 "Stuff" about the turret. This cleared up a lot of incorrect stuff that was being spread about the frames on the turret, or the lack of...

I sincerely appreciate what you have shared with us here.

Those are some amazing photos !

Thank you again.

Thank you James ! @jamesb

Duly noted and appreciated.

I just don't buy into the RAF interior colors though. It doesn't make sense that Lockheed would change up the colors for planes that were headed to England, and were property of the US Army. If this was from a RAF contract plane, then maybe... but still highly unlikely. They more than likely would have used "US Equivalent" colors on the outside, but on the interior sections, they most likely used standard colors.

I could be wrong...and I'm very interested in seeing what Dana Bell had to say about it.

I'm sure it was a similar color however just as you recommended. I am open to suggestions, and encourage feedback that is factual based and not hypothetical or someone's opinion.

Please don't think I'm getting snippy with you. In fact it's just the opposite.

I want to hear about what information that is out there just like the pictures that Stephen presented. I would prefer the information be backed up with some sort of documentation of sorts if possible. This way we all benefit from it. Otherwise we are spreading rumors that are not always true.

Thanks again buddy. By the way, those are some great pictures you shared with us from the airshow.

Well I am not here to debate the merits of color balance. But, when the photo of Glacier Girl was taken the aircraft was an "Artifact" frozen in time and everything was original. I think they were able to fire the cannon once they got it above ice. You can see the scuff marks and the wear and tear of a aircraft used in the time period. Today's Glacier Girl is not the Glacier Girl of 42. She was stripped of paint and was totally rebuilt with fabricated new parts where needed to meet FAA standards for experimental flight. If the restorationist where smart thay digitized paint chips and copied the colors but, they weren't the paint used in 42. I know aircraft have lives some of them have 9 lives I am sure more photos where taken of original parts to better document what was once an artifact and the cockpit instrument panel is a good indicator. The a/c today is pristine Warbird and the aircraft of 42 was the tip of the spear with wear and tear. So the sixty four dollar question is what are you replicating? A Warbird or a historical artifact?

Discussing this point with Louis and reading the accounts by the team that pulled Glacier Girl out of it's frozen grave. As well as on research that has been written by Dana Bell on early P-38's not just on Glacier Girl, and more toward what Stephen has mentioned, the chance of RAF interior green was used is unlikely. Bronze Green, a mix of zinc chromate with black at the Lockheed plant which gives it a shade of OD or medium green was most likely and the later variants was US interior Green. James your pics show it a bit darker than the images TC has, and closer to the US OD shade of the period. Not RAF Dk Green. But then it depends the time of the day, clouds and fading factors. A pic of an air frame taken a few years apart or even months apart can be different. But so far I have not found any sources written by anyone or on other forums where this very subject has been discussed that Interior Grey/Green was ever used on Lockheed built P-38's even those air frames destined to the RAF on the Lend Lease program. Louis agrees but he is quite a bit more diligent on his research. Let's see what we come up with.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3IQBPash8SU

This is one segment of a four part series shown on youtube. This segment shows the a/c above ground just arriving to the hanger for restoration. Louis you might get some captures. Whats being shown in this series is an original artifact that was historical frozen in time and then was turned into a Warbird. Can you imagine what Dana Bell would have done had he been there to document the original. The series shows the cannon being fired... I'll bet the Warbird can't do that. At Five Forty Five of the youtube short shows the port tail section with color footage ...above ground. Could be a good capture.

2 attached images. Click to enlarge.

I love history and this site is a great venue for finding it. Modeling is a great pointer and James guys like Chuck, Louis and you help bring it to life. I get better understanding of it and it keeps me on my toes to have some checks, balances and pointers. Everyday is a new adventure and excitement.

Here are some of the pictures I was able to take from the video that Stephen posted earlier today. I watched the video, then snapped these using the camera on my cell phone. Not the most technologically advanced method, but it got me thinking... about how we might be overthinking this whole color subject.

I understand the lighting effects, and how a computer screen monitor can cause colors to look different when viewed from one computer to another. Even the type of artificial lighting can affect how a color is viewed. A fluorescent light shows a color to look one way, while a regular old school incandescent bulb will make the exact same color look totally different.

Colors can be affected by the natural lighting that is present when the pictures are taken. Bright sunlight verses a cloudy overcast day can have a significant change in how the same color is viewed. It can even change based on solely the time of day a picture is taken.

Then we can get really technical and talk about settings...

My conclusions so far: (and these are subject to change)

Look at these next pictures. Here is the rear area behind the pilots seat on Glacier Girl before it was restored.

These next pictures show the forward fuselage of the same plane prior to restoration.


Followed by the interior of some of the metal skinning.

What do you see ? I see a Yellow Green Zinc Chromate that has aged. It's also visible on the main spar, which is also shown prior to restoration. The yellow is more visible in this particular photo than the others.

Here in this next photo, you can see how the color has been affected by the corrosion of the pulleys, as well as the ravages of time. If you look at the outer edges of the picture, you can see the same "Yellow Green" ZC color again, even tough it looks different next to the pulleys.

My thoughts so far are that Lockheed didn't do anything special as far as colors to be used for this particular plane.

It doesn't look like "RAF Interior Green" to me, but that color is fairly close in appearance.

I also think that the shop did a good job matching the original colors during the restoration. The original color had probably deteriorated some over time producing the colors we see here.

Also the main landing gear appears to be an aluminum color. So does the wheel.

Please stay tuned for another installment... It's coming right up.