What color scheme is this Beast in? Is it the Tri-color or overall GSB? It looks like tri-color, but I’m not completely sure.
edit: bad link removed
new link: www.scriptmapper.com/helldiver-02.jpg
I’m going to build this bird at sometime in the future, so I appreciate your help.
-Jeff
For operational service the SB2C wore both the tri color and overall sea blue schemes.
BTW, I cant get that link to work…
Jeff,
The link is screwy but I was able to find it under ESSEX as a VB-83 SB2C-4 (side nr ?07) and the picture taken March 1945. 2 indicators tell me it could be glossy sea blue:
type-model-series is a -4. The -4 was a later production Helldiver and more probably delivered in glossy sea blue;
Date of photo. By 1945 most aircraft were in glossy sea blue, but there were exceptions.
The very next photo shows 308 and 318 in formation and they are very obviously glossy sea blue. Generally air wings that late in the war would commission with aircraft right off the production lines delivered in a group – so VB-83 probably got their 18-36 aircraft as a “lot” from Curtiss and they were probably all painted identically in glossy sea blue. Notice the timeline is also after the repairs to ESSEX’s Nov '44 kamikaze attack. She may have taken onboard a new airwing (AVG-83) at that time and gotten relatively new aircraft at the same time. Her airwing was AVG-15 in Nov '44.
This link: http://www.clubhyper.com/reference/ussessexandavg83_5.htm
is to someone who modelled the same aircraft you wish to model. He says it’s tricolor and references Barrett Tillman’s book on the subject. There may be evidence of that in the navsource photo as well because you may be able to just see the white landing gear door under the right wing. The lower outer wing panels and tail were NS intermediate blue so in the photo it may look dark with little contrast to a faded (to flat) glossy sea blue.
Bottom line: more than one ref helps!
GS
NAVSOURCE probibits hotlinking of their content.
Here’s the code on how to decipher their file name structure. Archives/02 is aircraft carriers, Archives/01 is battleships, 05 is destroyers. Play with it a while & you’ll see hos they lay out. The file name 02957.jpg is aircraft carrier (02), hull number 09 (CV9 = Essex), 57 is picture #57 in the Essex aircraft carrier series.
Ship modelers have learned to call out the image number down the page to identify the pictures on NAVSOURCE. In this instance it is image 31 on the main page - and yes the image number in the file name does not guarantee the image number on the page.
That’s funny about the link. It works just fine for me when I copy/paste it.
What gets me thinking it is Tri-color is the cowling. I think I can just barely make out a difference between colors there.
Thank you guys for your help. I’m planning to build a display with the 4 aircraft carried by Essex in '45 along with Essex herself in '45.
-Jeff
This’s what I get with the link…
Oh well…
My sources indicate that the “three-color” was actually four… Non-specular (read: Flat) Sea Blue for the upper fuselage, non-specular Intermediate Blue for the fuselage sides and vertical stabilizer & rudder, Dark Sea Blue for upper surfaces of the wings and tailplane, and non-specular Insignia White for the undersides…
The main difference between non-specular Sea Blue and Dark Sea Blue is that the dark blue is glossy… I can’t really see if there’s a difference in the shade of it though… I haven’t got anything painted with both those colors side-by-side to check…
Ok, I found the same picture somewhere else. How does this link work?
www.scriptmapper.com/helldiver-02.jpg
Also, is it possible that this plane was repainted into overall Glossy Sea Blue at some point in time?
Thanks again for all the responses.
-Jeff
It works for you because you have a copy in your local cache memory. Your computer checks that before going offboard to locate the picture.
If you were to clear your cache/erase temporary files and attempted to access the link directly you would have similar problems. Its one of them little PREVIEW gotchas you need to be aware of
Hans,
The Navy T.O.actually calls for the upper surfaces of the horizontal flight surfaces to be painted in semi-gloss Sea blue, not Gloss Sea Blue. In actual use, the semi-gloss paint quickly weathered to a flat sea blue. And for certain larger a/c (usually flying boats, PBY, PB2Y etc) called for the use of flat white and gloss white in a somewhat complicated scheme of counter shading.
It’s a tri-color- you lucky dog! Dash 4’s were initially delivered in the three (or four, you persniciteers!) color scheme. The all-gsb scheme came later, and all -4E’s were gsb. If you ask me, it looks like the plane in the mid-wing-fold pic is wet, which would darken the colors and make 'em harder to differentiate, but if you look, the divisions are there. The white lg cover peeking is a dead giveaway- good eye there!
Thanks Ed for the info about the link. I won’t make that mistake again.
And thanks chukw. They say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. I just hope I can do a good enough job on this beast to even make it look like I’m TRYING to imitate your build! And trust me, I will be trying. [BG]
-Jeff
Looking at the pic of the bird in the new link, you can also see traces of the intermiediate/sea blue demarkation lines at the cowling and vertical stabilizer area.
[#ditto] I played with some photo effects and it appears to have been “altered” to create the best effect for the web (okay, I’m speculating). At any rate, everything I did made squat to the photo. But I do see the demarcation on the nose and the underside of the right outer wing panel is every so slightly different than the upperside of the left outer wing panel. It’s interesting to see other photos of the same squadron, same series aircraft at the same time and the photos appear to have absolutely no demarcations and are obviously overall sea blue.
I agree with the one poster who said the paint faded to a flat very quickly. Glossy schemes don’t stay that way for long at sea unless very well maintained (read, lots of manhours). Pre- and Post-war maintaining shiny schemes is something to occupy time, builds pride, etc. But during combat functionality is prime.
GS
You can also see in the pic that the “bump” on the exhaust outlet is also white.
