> With the F4B-4, I think it would be smart to split the difference; shoot
> the interior with a silver and dull-cote it. It'll end up looking
> slightly metallic gray, which is probably pretty close to what it was.
> As for museum pieces, I'd be careful; renovated planes are frequently
> painted incorrectly.
>
Everything I've located on the web says natural aluminum for the P-26,
and light gray for the F4B-4.
If they had painted the P-26 cockpit, it probably would have been in
zinc chromate green.
It's very unlikely that the F4B-4 would have been left in natural metal,
because service aboard the carriers would mean it would be in a
environment where corrosion occurs easily due to the humidity and salt,
and they would want to protect the metal from that. There would be one
way to check for sure, and that would be to contact the Smithsonian Air
and Space Museum; they have a restored P-26 and F4B-4, and they pride
themselves on restoring aircraft completely accurately as far as paint
scheme goes.
It looks like this guy, who pretty much scratchbuilt the entire cockpit
for his Hasegawa F4B-4, put a fair amount of research into its paint
scheme: http://modelingmadness.com/reviews/preww2/huif4b.htm
I found the silver-doped wings interesting, as I always thought they
were gray.
BTW, I had the 1/32nd P-26, and it looks really sharp in that blue
fuselage scheme.
Pat