P-38 42-67762

greatgonzo · **Posted:** Fri Jan 11, 2013 6:03 am

I've been watching the pics of this bird and a couple of things made me wonder.
Is she really in original 1946 state?
The red primer on the wings. Could it be the wings were subcontractor product and hence primed in different way and would it be typical for lightnings? Or could it be the rest of some occasional painting - the aircraft was used to perform some tests, I believe.
On the star side of the nose OD camouflage looks weathered up to a point where underlay shows through. It looks NG to me. Was underside colour painted first and went that high on the pilot's nacelle?

http://www.flickr.com/photos/24101413@N ... otostream/
http://airandspace.si.edu/collections/a ... 9600295000

The red primer extends to windscreen area too:
http://www.warbirdregistry.org/p38regis ... 762-4.html

I would be obliged for help here.

Deuelly · **Joined:** Thu Jul 05, 2012 3:30 pm **Posts:** 97

It has to do with the elements that pigment the paint. Many people have heard of the pink P-40's that flew in different desert areas during the war. The sandstone color would turn pink in the hot desert sun. We have chunks of OD over NG P-40 wreckage at the shop that had started to turn more of a red color from sitting in the sun. It tends to show up soonest at blend lines or thinner painted and high wear areas of the upper surfaces.

greatgonzo · **Posted:** Fri Jan 11, 2013 1:27 pm

It is very interesting information. Thank You. Is there a chance for a picture of those P-40 pieces?

John Dupre · **Posted:** Fri Jan 11, 2013 7:28 pm

I can second Deuelly's information. I have read that paints from certain areas (CA if I remember right) would fade red but not so for others.

groundpounder · **Posted:** Fri Jan 11, 2013 8:04 pm

You gotta be kiddin' me.

The Inspector · **Posted:** Sat Jan 12, 2013 8:07 am

groundpounder wrote:

You gotta be kiddin' me.

It depends on the chemical makeup of what goes in the paint, regionally sourced pigments and chemicals do have an impact over time.

51fixer · **Posted:** Sat Jan 12, 2013 9:37 am

When the P-38 project that Stephen Grey acquired from Lefty Gardener rolled into the yard at Chino back in the 80s all the OD visible was red or worn to bare alum.
Most of the Gray was intact.
From memory it is 42-67543.
This A/C was on display in a park, towed in parades, acquired by Lefty Gardner and used as a parts source (parts removed by axe) so it sat in TX for many years.
It was a very early J model as some parts showed evidence of G model construction and the outboard wing leading edges were constructed of a series of regular ribs, being neither the earlier Intercooler construction or the later fuel cell in the leading edge type.

C VEICH · **Joined:** Sun Nov 15, 2009 12:40 pm **Posts:** 1471

51fixer wrote:

When the P-38 project that Stephen Grey acquired from Lefty Gardener rolled into the yard at Chino back in the 80s all the OD visible was red or worn to bare alum.

There is a pic of it prior to resto right here in the WRG registry. I remember similar pics in the magazines and was always amazed at how red/brown the OD had become over time.

http://www.warbirdregistry.org/p38regis ... 67543.html

SaxMan · **Posted:** Sat Jan 12, 2013 12:04 pm

Having seen this bird up close and in person, I think the colors you are seeing in the photo are just the original o.d. faded from being well-used and exposed to the elements. Some of the paint pigments would last longer than others. Keep in mind, there wasn't much thought to the paint jobs being lasting ones, as the expected lifespan of an airframe at that time was no more than a couple of years at best.

51fixer · **Posted:** Sat Jan 12, 2013 12:33 pm

C VEICH wrote:

51fixer wrote:

When the P-38 project that Stephen Grey acquired from Lefty Gardener rolled into the yard at Chino back in the 80s all the OD visible was red or worn to bare alum.

There is a pic of it prior to resto right here in the WRG registry. I remember similar pics in the magazines and was always amazed at how red/brown the OD had become over time.

http://www.warbirdregistry.org/p38regis ... 67543.html

The photo is credited as TX but is in the POF yard in Chino after it was shipped there when Stephen Grey acquired it.

John Dupre · **Posted:** Sun Jan 13, 2013 12:51 pm

Robert Mikesh in Restoring Museum Aircraft mentions that the NASM XP-80 and P-38 were both reddish or even salmon pink shade when examined after years in storage and that other examples of "color shift" were more prominent with west coast painted aircraft rather than east coast painted aircraft. When the P-51 Excalibur was first painted after restoration it was a dull maroon shade even though the NASM had taken samples of original color which had shifted after many years from its original bright red.

The Inspector · **Posted:** Sun Jan 13, 2013 2:36 pm

John Dupre wrote:

Robert Mikesh in Restoring Museum Aircraft mentions that the NASM XP-80 and P-38 were both reddish or even salmon pink shade when examined after years in storage and that other examples of "color shift" were more prominent with west coast painted aircraft rather than east coast painted aircraft. When the P-51 Excalibur was first painted after restoration it was a dull maroon shade even though the NASM had taken samples of original color which had shifted after many years from its original bright red.

When the late Carroll Shelby found and restored the original COBRA (CSX 2001 I think) it's original very bright yellow pearl paint had faded out to a psychedelic looking crazy quilt of colors

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