Wright flyer - colors?

QUOTE: Originally posted by jazzkat Sorry, I have never seen the Wright flyer painted with silver dope. The guy just wanted to know what color to paint his flyer, not a history lesson on aircraft dope.

Nevertheless I enjoyed it :)

Enjoyed the history Quincy, thanks! I'm not much into WWI and before AC but it was interesting all the same!

Jtilley posted a link to some research his university did on the Wright flyer over in the ship section, it's in a message with the same title as this one. Lot's of neat pics and it's worth a peek!

Sorry, I have never seen the Wright flyer painted with silver dope.
The guy just wanted to know what color to paint his flyer,
not a history lesson on aircraft dope.

I would like to point out that the fabric used to cover older aircraft is not "canvas" but some form of linen or in some cases unbleached muslin (basicily the same thing that bed sheets are made out of - been more than one aircraft covered with bed sheets). The stiffness of the fabric comes from the coats of dope (either butyrate or nitrate) with which the fabric is coated (painted actually).
Basic aircraft fabrics can be found in color in colors that range from very light greys, to tans to whites depending on what materials were used in their manufacture (unbleached cottons tended to be a light tan) Up until camoflage colors were introduce, the basic cloth colors were simply covered with clear dope and then the aircraft was flown. In most cases this resulted in a gloss light tan finish. However, the Germans started printing camoflage on the fabric, applying the fabric and then applying dope over that.
During and before WW l this caused no real problems because most aircraft were recovered or destroyed in a short period. During the mid 20s it was discovered that the ultraviolet rays of the sun caused rapid deterioation of the doped fabric and it was found that by applying a coat of silver dope over the clear dope the rate of deterioration was retarded. The regulations today call for three coats of clear dope applied by brush (sanding between coats recommended) followed by three coats of silver (aluminized) dope brushed on (sanding between coats recommended). After that you can spray on any color coats that you want.
Sorry about the rant, but after 35 years of working on flying machines, this is a subject near and dear to my heart.

I use this mix for all my WW1 planes that have doped linen.

70% Desert Sand and 30% Flat White
I use Model Master paint.
Lighten or darken as you see fit.

Whilst not directly answering your question If you like to read the background of your models then Fred Howard's "Wilbur" and Orville - a biography of the Wright Brothers"
ISBN 0-486-40297-5 is a very informative read. I found this within its pages describing the First Flyer:
"The wing covering was still unvarnished Pride of the West Muslin, but the cloth was now stretched over both top and bottom sides of the ribs, and the ribs themselves were an improvement in strength and lightness over the solid spruce ribs of the Wright Gliders. Each rib was made as light as possible by reinforcing two thin wood strips of the proper curvature with blocks of wood, wrapped into the ribs with glued paper at the place of insertion". From Chapter 13 pg 105.

Probably you're right :)
Thanks.

funny as it might sound, the Ship topic might be the best place for this question, a lot of them do the old sailing vessel type models. With both wood and canvas...