I am building an Italeri 1/720 USS Independence, circa late 1960’s, and noticed in color photos of that time frame that the sponsons on the port side of the hull appeared to be painted black or dark gray(deck gray?). Can anyone confirm this? I’m getting close to painting the hull and need to verify this, if possible.
Thanks,
Jim
I was stationed on Ranger from 1972-1975. She was *Indepence’*s sister ship. I have never seen any carriers with a dark painted hull. As far as I know, all the US carriers were painted the standard haze gray. It must be a lighting/exposure problem that you are seeing.
I am providing this link to support my belief that the sponsons may have been painted a darker gray, how ever it may be a lighting issue. Likely the sponsons are in shade. what do you think?
<img src="images54.fotki.com/…/69indylibertyboat2001-vi.jpg" id=“stretch_photo_id” alt=“69-indy-libertyboat-20-01” title=“69-indy-libertyboat-20-01” height=“325” width=“500”>
Well, that didn’t work. I’ll try again when I figure out what I have to do.
Jim
That is definitely a shading issue. The sponsons are painted haze gray like the rest of the ship. I have seen this many times over 40 years, please take my word for it.
OTOH the underside of the stabilizers on those F-4’s are DEFINITELY flat black!
[W]
subfixer is right, it just looks darker because, well, it’s an overhang and it’s not getting the same amount of sunshine as the flat vertical surfaces. In that respect, the camouflage is working - it’s distorting your perception of what you’re seeing [:D]
Plus it’s getting reflected light from a dark blue surface.
Thanks subfixer, GMorrison and mfsob, Shadows it is. I’m glad I looked for help on this or else I would have made a DUMB mistake. I really had myself pretty much convinced the sponsons were painted that way. Again, thanks for your help.
Jim
There are no dumb mistakes. There ARE, however, dumb questions. Those are the un-asked ones.
