Almost ready to paint my Revell Hellcat, in overall sea blue?Anyone know what colour to do the wheel wells, gear doors and hubs? The instructions say interior green (but what do instructions know?), I initially thought zinc chromate yellow, then I read they should be the same as the underside (ie dark blue). I’m leaning towards the latter, unless someone knows different, with silver hubs.
Keith
Yep, the struts and wheel hubs were usually (but not always) the same color as the underside of the plane. The Corsairs also had this painting fiasco. If you’re looking for absolute accuracy, always check your references. Otherwise, who’s gonna know unless you tell them?[:D]
This whole thing about wheel wells seems to be a complete minefield. I have photos of the undersides of New Zealand Corsairs where they make a point of the fact the wheel wells were painted green, yet I also have photos where they appear to be painted silver!! [banghead]
As for Hellcats, these sites may help or confuse!!
http://www.airmuseumsuk.org/Legends2003/800/pages/202%20Grumman%20F6F-5K%20Hellcat%2040467%20TFC.htm
http://www.air-and-space.com/20030815%20Hawthorne.htm
http://www.aviation-history.com/garber/vg-bldg/grumman_F6F-1_m.html
http://fleetairarmarchive.net/Aircraft/Hellcat.htm
Hope this helps
Bert Kinzey is adament, based on his personal and extensive research (“thousands of photos at Grumman, the National archives, the National Museum of Naval Aviation, and the Smithsonian”), that the WWII F6F wheel wells and landing gear - struts and hubs, were invariably the same color as the underside of the wing when the aircraft was delivered. I’ve never seen anything to the contrary, except on restorations, although I suppose that a light colored or even zinc chromate finished hub might have been installed on an all-blue Hellcat occasionally in the heat of battle.
I always paint the wheel bays , etal, in the underside color unless I have photographic evidence otherwise. I do recall running across a photo that showed a gloss dark sea blue Hellcat with white wheels and drop tank, so you never know for absolute sure.
The wheel wells on an F6F-5 in overall sea blue should be the same color as the underside (ie. sea blue). The same applys for landing gear struts and gear door interiors. Wheel hubs were usually silver (I think). Heres a pic that might help.
hope this helps
Color illustrations from Squadron’s Hellcat in Action show two overall blue F6F-5s ( VF-3 USS Yorktown and VF-9 USS Lexington, Feb 1945) with struts and wheel hubs in silver.
Illustrations can be wrong; however, there are pictures in that publication of F6F-5Ns with light colored landing gear doors - from an F6F-3 or just white so crewman can be more aware of them (and the prop arc) in the dark? - and F6F-5s with light colored wheel hubs.
I have an F4u-4b Academy corsair. I am doing the boxtop art but I am not sure what color the gear wells should be. Is it zinc chromate, yellow zinc chromate or the body color? I believe this is a Korean War plane.
The Corsair I saw at the Pensacola Naval Air Museum a few years ago had white wheel wells. Don’t know if it was a bird from a civil restoration or not. It was marked “WR” with white checker board on the nose cowl. There was a F7F and F8F on the “deck” and they had the whell wells painted exterior blue. The CAF’s F6F used to have white wheel wells but took those pictures back in the late 70’s.
On your Corsair, the wells should be the same sea blue as the underside in standard USN practice, just as on the hellcat, Exception would be rare but the do occur. Keep in mind, all Hellcats and all F4U-4 Corsairs were built by their designers (as oppossed to licensees) so quiality control was pretty tight. I’d bet most of the exceptions were replacement parts, especially those cannibalized from earlier models. As for your Corsair, it spent 5-6 years in the peacetime navy before going off to war, plenty of time to get it’s paint job up to “code”. Just my 2 cents.