Zinc Chromate on Outer Skins

Zinc chromate primers were used as primers on aluminum, but then overcoated with color paint. In many cases they seem to have been used as a final finish on interior parts that were protected from the environment, but even for those interior areas, they were often painted with a finish color.  Of course, for those planes left in bare aluminum there was no primer, but if the exterior was painted, chances are good that it was primed in ZC.

Take a look at this thread I posted:

cs.finescale.com/.../161858.aspx

I have found photos that show the wing folds and wheel wells of an F-6F painted with ZC.  Try Googling F6 Hellcat images.

Yes it was. I don't know on what, when, or where, but I have seen chipped paint with ZC underneath

Like any other paint jobs, a good prep and primer are necessary for good results.

Working on a B-29 restoration project, I was told they did not originally use ZC since the AC was not expected to be in service that long due to combat loses. Was this just a story, or common practice by some AC manufacturers?