[William]

Originally Posted by Elmer

I am not an expert on USN & USAAC pre-war yellows, Ara, but I think you are right, the C1 Wildcat may be a tad off. I am a bit colorblind, so a bit hard for me to tell, but it almost does look a little too "orangish" although there should be some orange in the mix. However, I think the first HM F2A is a tad "bright." The worst I have seen is EI's SNJ--it is way off, way too bright. The Accurate Miniature's color reference chart for the F3F-1 wing is: Orange Yellow, Federal Standard 13538, Humbrol 154. However, we all know what a stickler Frank Dalton is for accuracy... and he is much more expert than maybe anyone on this forum, so he may feel C1 nailed the color.

Edit: From Accurate Miniature's assembly instructions for 3413, F3F-1: "The upper surface of the top wing was an orange yellow very close to FS 13538 (orange yellow, not chrome yellow, was the Navy name for the color. Remember this is before we had ANA and FS numbers to go by)... The wing surfaces were first doped taut, then painted in orange yellow and silver lacquer, which resulted in a highly reflective finish..." To my eye, the C1 wing has a more correct "glossiness" to it than the HM wing which appears to be a bit more "matte-ish."

Hi,

You are right, the orange yellow color is a bit mattish. It is also a bit different from the F2A. So during production we will use an exact match with the F2A so they will look better when put together.

[lanslide]

Originally Posted by William

Hi,

You are right, the orange yellow color is a bit mattish. It is also a bit different from the F2A. So during production we will use an exact match with the F2A so they will look better when put together.

I think there is a misunderstanding here (it may be me)? Isn't HM's yellow color choice incorrect on the F2A? And now HM wants to match their new F3F to their F2A just so they will look good together (I hope that's not the reason)? I thought Elmer was saying this "bright matte yellow" is wrong and that the correct color should be glossy "orange yellow"! oh oh!

[Cruver Collecter]

Originally Posted by lanslide

I think there is a misunderstanding here (it may be me)? Isn't HM's yellow color choice incorrect on the F2A? And now HM wants to match their new F3F to their F2A just so they will look good together (I hope that's not the reason)? I thought Elmer was saying this "bright matte yellow" is wrong and that the correct color should be glossy "orange yellow"! oh oh!

From what I have come across, the correct color should be orange yellow. The model information I have come across all go with the orange yellow wing color (Both plastic and the stick and tissue crowd.) The following is one of the examples I came across and yep orange yellow here is how the statement reads.

The upper wing was painted Gunze Sanyo "Orange Yellow Gloss," which is closer to the color the Navy actually used for their "golden wings" than the incorrect "Chrome Yellow" too many modelers use, not knowing this is an Army color.

Review statement above from: Accurate Miniatures 1/48 F3F-2

See if I can dig up anything else.

[Cruver Collecter]

Originally Posted by lanslide

I think there is a misunderstanding here (it may be me)? Isn't HM's yellow color choice incorrect on the F2A? And now HM wants to match their new F3F to their F2A just so they will look good together (I hope that's not the reason)? I thought Elmer was saying this "bright matte yellow" is wrong and that the correct color should be glossy "orange yellow"! oh oh!

Well the F3F at Pensacola does look to have the orange yellow wing color, HM model may require some tweaking. Definitely more of a contrast between the cowling yellow and that of the wing. Also have to wonder if the Buffalo had this orange yellow color too, found reference in Squadron in action series and it described color as Chrome Yellow. Definitely have to do a little more digging.

[Elmer]

Originally Posted by lanslide

I think there is a misunderstanding here (it may be me)? Isn't HM's yellow color choice incorrect on the F2A? And now HM wants to match their new F3F to their F2A just so they will look good together (I hope that's not the reason)? I thought Elmer was saying this "bright matte yellow" is wrong and that the correct color should be glossy "orange yellow"! oh oh!

Yeah, I am misunderstanding William's reply also.

However, 'slide, let me re-state, I am not an expert on the USN or USAAC pre war yellows, so I don't want to suggest that I know the F2A color is wrong. But I do know that everything I have read says USN wings should be orange yellow and reflective / glossy. I am a bit colorblind, so it is kind of hard for me to tell, but the C1 Wildcat (glossy with orange tint--possibly a tad much??) looks more correct to me than the HM F2A (more bright and matte). When I modeled my Accurate Miniatures F3F-1, I used an orange yellow paint from the instructions paint guide. I got a shade that is a bit in-between the C1 Wildcat and HM F2A, but I think it looks better next to the C1 Wildcat.

[STARMAN 352ND]

One must remember too Museums have a habit of using glossy paint on alot of there aircrafts because it's easier for them to clean i was told once and
their schemes are not always correct either.
I always thought a F3 should have a semi glossy look to the wings.
JP

This is about as close as your gonna get to the real USMC bird.


Only color picture i can find for that era.

[jim]

480 mph ??????????????????????????????????

I will eat my hat if thats true.


Nice video JP.

[Cruver Collecter]

Neat color shot of the three ship formation too.

[Epapazian]

This kit-maker mixed up his own orange-yellow to get the "right" color for his wings:

[Cardinal]

In all honesty, do you really expect to get the absolute perfect shade of yellow given sun weathering and other variables ... ??? No offense intended, but isn't the discussion verging on extreme 'pedantism' ...