Interior Color For A SBD-1 Dauntless At Pear Harbor

Modeling Subjects Aircraft
1

I was wondering If Anyone Knows The Interior Color Of A SBD-1 Dauntless That Would Have Been At Pearl Harbor in 1941

2

Pretty high odds it was aluminum.

3

I have an SBD-1 in the line up, wondering the same thing! It seems like the interior finish was in a state of transition around the time of Pearl Harbor, so aluminum or some shade of interior green?

Looking forward to more opinions on this

4

You could likely go with either aluminum lacquer or interior green. TBDs in the pre war Yellow Wings were seen with green interiors, so likely Douglas also did the switch on the SBD around the same time.

5

Douglas SBD’s never had aluminum interiors as per Mr. Color, Dana Bell.

Here with the real answer on page 2:

https://www.tapatalk.com/groups/hyperscale/question-re-sbd-1-yellow-wings-markings-t493297.html

https://www.tapatalk.com/groups/hyperscale/viewtopic.php?f=149674&t=495470&p=2591084&hilit=sbd+1+interior+color#p2591084

And the photos of a recovered SBD-1 showing Douglas interior green:

http://109lair.hobbyvista.com/DETAILSITE/US/USN/SBD/SBD1/1612.htm

6

That first link leads to one of those stupid amazon redirects…

”you’re a winner!”

7

It worked for me but here it is again:

https://www.tapatalk.com/groups/hyperscale/question-re-sbd-1-yellow-wings-markings-t493297.html

8

Here is a great original color photo of one in late 1941 off Quantico. If you look close at the cockpit, you can see green on the rollover structure behind the pilot.

This overall gray scheme with the the white lettering is how they would have looked at MCAS Ewa on the morning of the attack.

9

Scorched

10

Up close, the ADF loop, in front of the backseater, looks like it’s green too.

11

Would tend to agree, some kind of zinc chromate coating, just for the corrosion resistance in a salt air envirionment.

In the link photos, the alum. interior does make the detail painting pop though.

12

yeah… pretty much…

13

Interesting comment about SBDs never being coated with aluminum lacquer in the cockpit. Accurate Miniatures‘ pre-war SBD-1 boxing does indicate that the cockpit was aluminum lacquer and I believe does describe how the coating was made in the instructions. I have that kit in the que to build so it looks as if I have a decision to make. Not looking at the instructions right now, but I wonder what AM’s reference was.

14

So I just looked at the instructions for the AM SBD-1, and it does say that pre-war, “All aircraft were primed with zinc chromate finish on all metal surfaces, inside and out. Silver lacquer was applied over the primer.”

15

Well, period color photos show the interior green on SBD-1s. Most photos of SBD-1s, even b&w, show something other than aluminum lacquer in there. There is too much tonal and reflective difference on interior components visible in the b&w photos that do not match the aluminum lacquer exterior. Not so much photo evidence to support the lacquer interiors as commonly used. I’d say that interior green is the safer bet. Model companies are known to err in their instruction sheet color call outs.

16

In the link provided, one of the posters/researchers said something along the line of “I think this is what it might be” and supposedly the model company took it as gospel for their color callouts…

17

To the point where it’s not even worth the trouble to check these out.

I find that the Holy Grail is an unaltered, not colorized, photo that’s contemporary. But those are really hard to find.

18

Exactly. Research online for photos and sites like the 109 Lair and IPMS Stockholm with all their troves of research. Detail and Scale books are another super source.