I have an Italeri 1/72 F6F-5N Hellcat, and in the painting guide says that I must use for the landing gear, wheel hubs and landing gear wells’ doors Insignia white… here’s the problem, Model Master makes FS 17875, it is Insignia White, a very gloss white… but I have a can of Tamiya Color for Aircraft AS-20, and it is Insignia White (US Navy), no FS number… but this is a different color, it is more like a “pearl” white… which of this colors must I use?.. I know that the Hellcat is a US Navy aircraft, but in the instruction sheet is FS 17875… any suggestion?..
Shoot, just paint it white. I usually can’t tell the difference between shades of white, so I doubt that anyone else will notice either. Also, the gear wells in the Hellcats were sometimes painted Dark Sea Blue as well, depending on when the aircraft was built. So, maybe blue is the way to go… The best thing to do is check your references, if you’re not sure.
Just shoot it with flat white, by the time you weather it up it won’t make a bit of difference . These Hellcats and other Navy birds had “dirty bellies” anyway. I would suggest using the preshading technique to represent the underside and topside of the aircraft.
ANother option: Since you have a F6F-5 you can accurately depict this aircraft in overall Sea blue if you want. That way you won’t have to mess around with the two tone scheme.
See…
Yeah, it is a night fighter version, and it must me painted overall Sea blue… here’s the problem: gloss or flat?..
Every thing I’ve read would indicate that the color is flat white.
I like using gloss. Anything you want to add to it sticks better. Looking forward to seeing the photos.
Cheers,
Eric
The only difference betweeh insignia white and flat white(Testors Model Master) is the first digit which indicates flat or gloss, so use flat white
There’s some confusion here. The F6F-5s and -5Ns were painted overall gloss sea blue. At least a few F6F-5Ns, probably on a unit by unit basis, had the gear doors painted white, interior and exterior. An example is VCN-2 based at Key West as shown in Squadron Signal’s F6F Walkaround, although the gear struts and wheels were still blue. Another is VF(N)-107 based at Quonset Point as shown in Squadron/Signals F6F Hellcat in action. There’s also a picture in the latter of an early F6F-5N in test at Pax River with white struts and gear doors but until I saw the VCN-2 pictures I’d assumed that these were spares or otherwise left over from the F6F-3 tri-color scheme.
I’m speculating, but it probably had something to do with not bumping into the landing gear in the dark on a carrier deck or more likely to provide the deck crew with positional awareness relative to the prop. The practice seemed to be post war and one that didn’t become standard.