Author Topic: p400 Yellow 16  (Read 605 times)

Offline rogerdee

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p400 Yellow 16
« on: October 06, 2008, 12:43:49 PM »
Why i been delving into p39s heres another Russian p400.
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Offline Squire

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Re: p400 Yellow 16
« Reply #1 on: October 06, 2008, 02:58:18 PM »
Looks good but the P-400s had the RAF roundels on upper and lower wings (both), so they would have had the Red Stars there as well. P-400s were not delivered from the USA, but from the RAF. VVS markings did not have just single stars on one wing ala the USAAF. They would have none, or both.
« Last Edit: October 06, 2008, 03:00:15 PM by Squire »
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Offline Fencer51

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Re: p400 Yellow 16
« Reply #2 on: October 06, 2008, 07:37:16 PM »
Are those supposed to be RAF roundels under the stars or painted out RAF markings?
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Offline Squire

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Re: p400 Yellow 16
« Reply #3 on: October 07, 2008, 02:12:38 AM »
It would be correct if it was an ex US P-400 (and it could be) but it would have a red star on both upper and lower wings. A plain red star needs to be added to the right upper, and left lower wings (with no blue circle).

Osprey P-39 Aces of WW2 page 80 (paraphrasing):

For ex RAF Airacobras:

"The British national markings were simply painted over upon arrival , the roundels on the upper surfaces with Russian Green A-24 and those on the undersides with Light Blue A-28 - the latter paint only partially obscuring the RAF roundels. Soviet Stars were in turn painted over those areas, and in late 1941 and early 1942, these had either no border or occasionally a black outline.

For P-39s/P-400s (ex USAAF): In addition to the standard US insignia in four places (left upper wing, right lower wing, and fuselage) they simply applied the red star over the white US star, although this was often slightly larger in size, and protruded beyond the disc. On the wing surfaces, this produced an asymmetric effect, with a star on a dark blue circle on one wing, and a plain red star on the other.

Occasionally the US serial # and markings were overpainted with Russian Green, and red stars applied over top.

Later P-39s were delivered with a "transit marking" the "white discs" that had the red stars on them, in all 6 places.

Also, some later P-39s had the red stars applied directly to the a/c at the factory, with no background discs at all."

So...you have to ask: is it an ex RAF Airacobra or a US P-39/P-400 and figure out what the a/c would have had for markings originally, and then what the VVS did with them. Also, decal sheets from models help, and I would suggest skinning were you have very good sources, to have at least some cross references.

Whats clear that the VVS did not do was paint only one star on the upper wing, and one star on the lower wing. Only the USAAF did that.

Here is the best internet site:

http://vvs.hobbyvista.com/Markings/P39/color_mark_1.php

http://vvs.hobbyvista.com/Markings/P39/color_mark_2.php

« Last Edit: October 07, 2008, 02:25:34 AM by Squire »
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