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  #31  
Old 04-14-2012, 09:21 PM
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Another reference: Fat Man at the USAF Museum is yellow with the waist and nose "bands" dark gray as pictured above. Fat Man at the Eglin Armament Museum is uniform off-white all over. Factsheets : "Fat Man" Atomic Bomb
Actual photo (BW) here: http://www.atomicarchive.com/Photos/Tinian/image4.shtml
Color photo (can't guarantee provenance): http://www.newmexicowanderings.com/trinit23.htm
Little Boy at the USAF Museum is olive drab all over. Factsheets : "Little Boy" Atomic Bomb
Actual photo (BW) here: http://www.atomicarchive.com/Photos/Tinian/image3.shtml

Yogi
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  #32  
Old 04-14-2012, 09:45 PM
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Well after watching the DVD, each time they show the real one it is B/W footage. The replica in the color "movie" parts is Olive drab.

Looks like Yogi has found the best reference so far.

Mike
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  #33  
Old 04-15-2012, 12:45 AM
The_Conqueror_Worm The_Conqueror_Worm is offline
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This is the only bit of info I have been able to find so far-
"He wanted to match everything, right down to the shade of paint--which is harder than one might imagine, Coster-Mullen said, since there is no record of exactly what color the real Little Boy was painted. (He ended up choosing a very dark green."(1)

This seems odd to me. Hasn't Coster-Mullen interviewed quite a few of the people who were there? None of them knew the color?

(1) With a Little Boy in the back.....WI, Man Builds A-bomb in garage And Drives It Across The Country
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  #34  
Old 04-15-2012, 06:44 AM
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I found a picture and the source states it being the released picture published of 'Little Boy' dating 1960-12-06. That picture suggests somekind of blue color. See for yourselves, picture is here.

BR Tappi
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  #35  
Old 04-15-2012, 02:07 PM
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Interesting research project. Best answer for the first two weapons would be to get a book/video with the color (then-classified) pictures from the mission at Tinian. There were more weapons made to these designs. This source (uncurated) Nuclear Weapons in the Strategic Air Command Arsenal - indicates up to 5 Little Boy weapons were made and 120 of the Fat Man implosion type.
Yogi
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  #36  
Old 04-16-2012, 04:45 AM
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It’s fantastic how the people in this forum answers to my help request.

Thanks Yogi, Mike, BR Tappi, The_Conqueror_Worm

@Yogi
Thanks for the large amount of references. Interesting the difference between the Little Boy weapons made (5) and the Fat Man type (120). Maybe this difference is because the large inefficiency of the U235 gun type bomb. The U235 was difficult to enrich and a very small amount of it was extracted in time for the first bomb. Also, when the bomb exploded, only a minimum part of the charge entered in the chain reaction (only a reported 1.38% of the U-235 fissioned).

@ BR Tappi
Thanks for the link. I think that the blue shading in the picture is maybe given by the natural shading of a black&white emulsion or by the hand-made colorizing, at this time usually used in the publications (see the portrait of general Groves).
There are many other examples of this image on internet but black&white.

In a discussion I found, we talk about “a Dark Olive Drab with a green cast”

I again studied the books I have, and I found this information:

The making of the Atomic Bomb

The Enola Gay crew describes the color of the exterior of the LB as “matt steel burnished” (my translation from Italian)

Atom Bombs: The Top Secret Inside Story of Little Boy and Fat Man

The color of the postwar Little Boy […] stockpile production units was a semi-matte dark olive/khaki green.
...
The Little Boy casing on display in the Smithsonian Institution National Air and Space Museum in Washington corresponds to FS 24097.
...
The color of the actual L-ll Little Boy combat unit was most likely a semi-matte olive-drab primer
...
Jeppson stated later, "It was gray or dull green”

Here the comparison between FS24097 (semi-matte field-green?) of the casing at Smithsonian and FS34087 (mat olive drab).

I think the olive drab is the better choice and I agree with Yogi and Mike. So I tried this color on my model and here You can see an example

I’m curious to see how this color results after printing.

Best, Nando
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Last edited by nando; 04-16-2012 at 05:45 AM.
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  #37  
Old 04-16-2012, 06:19 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by nando View Post
The Enola Gay crew describes the color of the exterior of the LB as “matt steel burnished” (my translation from Italian)
Actually that crew description would fit with the impression of the first published photo (handcolored or not).

Burnished steel implies to me that it was not painted at all. Imperial war museum has a 'facsimile' of the bomb and the outlook of that suites with the crew testimony too.

Ok I take a cooling facemask and calm down.

BR Tappi
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Little Boy-imperial_burnished.jpg   Little Boy-facemask.jpg  
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  #38  
Old 04-16-2012, 09:09 AM
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Hi BR Tappi, I hope You are cooled and calm now

I printed the FS34087 version and It appears very dark, very drab and little olive green, but it seems to me brighter and greener than on the screen.
Little Boy-img_3176.jpgLittle Boy-img_3177.jpg

It's hard to render the true color, but the first picture is taken with artificial light the second with natural.

I saw Your beautiful rowboat and i recall the coracle that i made some years ago (... too many ). Ok not completely of paper but the cover is paper!

Little Boy-coracle01.jpgLittle Boy-coracle02.jpg

Now I can build my model
Bets, Nando
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  #39  
Old 04-16-2012, 09:41 AM
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That coracle looks fantastic. I have that on the list of my series of small vessels. Along with japanese tub boat taraibune. Indian birch bark canoe is next, I just finished an inuit kayak after the rowboat.

I'd go for the shade seen on the screen. Good work on the bomb desing Nando.

Best Regards Tappi
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  #40  
Old 04-16-2012, 07:52 PM
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Great research and design work, Nando. Burnished steel (unpainted) for the first weapon actually makes sense in the quick-reaction wartime context. Follow on weapons would have been painted with something for corrosion control - and repainted as needed with whatever color was the latest standard ...
Yogi
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