US Army Air Force paint set

Olive drab and gray of the US Army Air Forces

The six shades put together the typical look of USAAF machines in the Second World War. The base is formed by two olive drabs: the early variant for the upper surfaces of aircraft up to 1943 and the later tone that replaced it afterwards. The difference between them is clearly visible on a model and separates the machines from the fighting over North Africa from the later ones. Medium green is added, which up to 1942 was used for irregular blotches over the olive base, most often along the leading edges and on the tail surfaces.

Undersurfaces and bare metal

Neutral Gray holds the undersurfaces on all the olive drab schemes. From the end of 1943 a darker gray tone joined it on camouflaged machines, and that is in the set as well. The sixth bottle is aluminum, and for good reason: after 1943 American aircraft largely flew without camouflage, in bright unpainted metal, because saving weight and time weighed more than concealment. From one box you can therefore build an olive drab machine as well as its later silver successor.

Water-based acrylic

The letter A in the code marks this manufacturer's acrylic range that thins with water. It is taken straight from the bottle and the consistency is adjusted by a few drops of water or by the acrylic thinner from the same company. It can be used indoors without extraction and the airbrush is flushed out while the paint is still wet. It is better to lay the coats on thin and leave a short pause between them, otherwise the olive drab easily builds up at the edges into an uneven surface.