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Vought Corsair wheel bay colours??

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  • Member since
    November 2011
Posted by Newtothis on Thursday, December 3, 2015 7:10 AM

I just did a coat of salmon right now.  Mine is a bit lighter than the pink on that previously submerged corsair.  But I suppose that accounts for any darkening effect after being sunk in a lake Smile.  That's what I'm going to tell myself.

  • Member since
    November 2011
Posted by Newtothis on Thursday, December 3, 2015 7:08 AM

Thanks again!  Anyway, what was this corsair doing in the lake?  

Looks like the anti-corosion agent did its job pretty well!!

GAF
  • Member since
    June 2012
  • From: Anniston, AL
Posted by GAF on Thursday, December 3, 2015 5:59 AM

Oh, and if you want to know what that Salmon Pink color looked like on the Corsair they pulled out of Lake Michigan, here's some photos:

http://largescaleplanes.com/walkaround/wk.php?wid=119

Gary

PS> I am reminded that this color is similar to the protective coating they use on some steel products in the construction industry.  Take a look at the pipe valves in the background, 2nd picture from the left, 2nd row.

  • Member since
    November 2011
Posted by Newtothis on Thursday, December 3, 2015 5:57 AM

Thanks for the advice guys.  So much info about this plane suggests any given unit could potentially have a huge mix of different possibilities, thanks to the changes like those in Gaf's article, or field maintainence.  It's quite an opportunity to mix it up however I like, while keeping some degree of realism.  Toshi, like you, I want to do the wheel wells a colour, simply because I like the contrast.  But I'm thinking I will do salmon in the rear, because I like the idea of this being such a colourful model (I used the three colour scheme, with insignias with the red border - not the ones that came with the kit).  Anyway, photos shortly :)

  • Member since
    March 2015
  • From: Streetsboro, Ohio
Posted by Toshi on Thursday, December 3, 2015 5:20 AM

GAF's information is correct.  I live in Streetsboro, Ohio.  A suburb of Clevelend, Ohio.  They pulled a fully intact Corsair out the Great Lakes sometime ago, and lo and behold, there was that salmon pinkish color.

I'm also building the same kit.  I'm not building my kit to be authentic but, as close as possible.  I just painted everything in the interior a green chromate.  In the end, it's your call, you bought the kit, you have the right to build it anyway you wish.  I've been told time and time again by my wonderful forum members of FSM, just have fun!

Toshi

On The Bench: Revell 1/48 B-25 Mitchell

 

Married to the most caring, loving, understanding, and beautiful wife in the world.  Mrs. Toshi

 

 

GAF
  • Member since
    June 2012
  • From: Anniston, AL
Posted by GAF on Thursday, December 3, 2015 5:04 AM

Well, it's a tough question to answer.  The best I can do is reference you to the IPMS Stockholm site on interior aircraft colors.

http://ipmsstockholm.org/magazine/2004/01/stuff_eng_interior_colours_us.htm

http://ipmsstockholm.org/magazine/2004/05/stuff_eng_interior_colours_us_part3.htm

Some may argue that this is not comprehensive, but it's not bad information.  Here's the relevant part that may interest you.

*****************************************************************

Vought F4U Corsair

Sorting out the interior colours of the Corsair is particularly tricky. For the F4U-1 Birdcage Corsairs, photos taken at the time show the cockpits being a very dark colour, most probably black. Analysis of some crashed examples of F4U-1s indicates black, while the factory Erection & Maintenance Instructions called for Dull Dark Green.

As mentioned before, early production Corsairs had their interior surfaces in areas other than the cockpit covered with Salmon primer. This colour mixture was used relatively long into Corsair production. It would seem that all F4U-1s and a number of early  F4U-1As were finished this way.

Somewhere during the production of F4U-1A model Vought discontinued the use of Salmon primers and switched to Zinc Chromate Yellow with cockpits in Interior Green.

In the engine cowling area, Vought adhered to the practice of painting its inner surface the same colour as the underside, ANA 602 Sky Gray on early F4U-1s, ANA 601 Insignia White on F4U-1As.

The wheel wells of early model Corsairs deserve closer inspection. Like the cowlings, the main wheel wells, undercarriage legs and both sides of well covers were painted in the underside camouflage colour, ANA 602 Non-specular Sky Gray. Wheel hubs were silver. However, the smaller forward area of the wheel to which the leg itself retracted was left in the factory primer finish, Salmon. Some aircraft had also Salmon inner surfaces of the small covers attached to the undercarriage legs.

The canvas covers in the wells were probably drab-coloured.

With the advent of the tri-colour camouflage on F4U-1A the same principle was applied with white replacing the Sky Gray with ANA 601 Non-specular Insignia White, and the  However, the undercarriage legs remained grey throughout the production of this model, possibly due to the failure or indifference to notify a subcontractor about changed colour specifications. For the record, some photos of -1As seem to show silver undercarriage legs, but it could not be established to what extent such finish was applied. One theory is that Aluminium lacquer was applied on these assemblies during field depot overhauls.

In October 1944 the new factory instructions for the F4U production called for application of Interior Green on all internal surfaces including the cockpit. As an anti-glare measure, all cockpit panels above the lower edge of the instrument panel were to be painted matt black. Curiously, the new directive did not explicitly state what was to happen with the cowling's inner surface. Thus, subsequent machines showed either Zinc Chromate or Interior Green cowlings, until the last standardisation of colour post-war whereupon black was introduced in this area.

During that period, the wheel wells were also painted Interior Green. Undercarriage legs were initially still finished in light grey, but as existing stocks of parts were used up at the factory, the overall Glossy Sea Blue finish was carried over to the undercarriage legs and wheel hubs.

***************************************************************

Salmon

 

Salmon was a pale pink-coloured chromate primer used by Vought in production of the F4U Corsair. It was produced by mixing Indian Red pigment with raw Zinc Chromate primer. The actual tone was reddish orange.

 

  Colour sample    

As Salmon was a mixed primer, claiming an exact colour shade for it would be misleading. However, the FS colour match could be somewhere between FS 32276 and 32356.

******************************************************************

 

Hope that may help you out in your search.

Gary

  • Member since
    November 2011
Vought Corsair wheel bay colours??
Posted by Newtothis on Thursday, December 3, 2015 2:04 AM

Hi All!

I'm really enjoying the 1/32 Tamiya kit and I'll put some pics up eventually :) .  In the mean time, I've been pondering wheel bay colours.

I understand these colours are primers, and therefore could vary quite a lot.  For that reason I've decided to use an interior green colour for the front wheel bays purely because I like the contrast (Tamiya recommends white - same as the under-surface, but I think green will look nicer).  Is this too much of a crime against realism?

But what about the rear wheel colour?  Why is it that salmon colour?  I know it's another primer, but if I'm doing the front ones green wouldn't it make sense to do that for the rear too, or did they intentionally prime different parts different colours?

Cheers!

-

Tom

 

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