Vickers wellesley interior colours

[cherisy]

Hi I'm about to start on a matchbox Vickers wellesley. I intend to do it in the markings of 35 sqn at worthy Down. Couple of questions : I've heard somewhere that the cockpit was interior grey green and the rear areas red doped fabric( as we're the wheel Wells) is this correct? I would have thought it was too early for interior green. I'm sure someone will prove me wrong 

The kit I've got is minus one half of a bomb pannier. So were wellesleys seen without them?  Thanks in advance 

 

[AWFK10]

The Long Range Development Unit Wellesleys certainly flew without the panniers but there are photos of aircraft in squadron service without them in place: see the 76 Sqn line up on this web page, for example:

 

http://www.smartage.pl/vickers-wellesley-rekordowy-zapomniany-bombowiec/

 

and this 148 Sqn aircraft in flight:

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vickers_Wellesley#/media/File:Vickers_Wellesley.jpg

 

I could have sworn there were some interior photos in the Profile on the Wellesley but I'm afraid there aren't.

[mhaselden]

This thread includes some photos of the interior of the Wellesley:

 

 

I think interior green for the pilot's cockpit is appropriate.  The rear fuselage appears to have aluminium geodesic framework and it's fair to assume other rear fuselage components (eg walkways etc) were similar.  The fabric interior would likely be a brick-red colour to reflect the first coat of dope that would be applied to the linen.  As such, the brick red colour may not be particularly uniform in coverage.

[cherisy]

Great info guys many thanks

[mhaselden]

IIRC the interior pics are also printed in the Warpaint Series book on the Wellesley.  It's an excellent volume if you're interested in the type, and it includes a number of nice profiles and some excellent in-service photos. 

[Graham Boak]

By "not particular uniform" coverage of the red primer, it is a little bit clearer to add that it was applied on the outside of the fabric and seeped through to the inside.  So you get a sort of set of pinkish blobs.  I recall a posting of a picture of a sample on this site, some years back.

Edited March 10, 2018 by Graham Boak

[cherisy]

Thanks for all your help guys

[JWM]

If you have one container (pannier) you can replicate it in resin. I do not know if you know how to do it.  It is not difficult and this technique is really worth to learn

Just take one, cover carefully with plumber silicon rubber, left over a week and then take the plastic parts out of silicon rubber and pour a slow fixing epoxy resin glue inside. Remove next day.

Cheers

J-W

 

[Welkin]

There are plenty of videos on YouTube showing how to make the rubber moulds and how to make the resin castings from them - that's how I learned the technique and, as JWM says, it is really worth learning!

[Vulcanicity]

As for the earliness of Interior Green, I'm not sure when it was introduced, but Heyfords definitely used it in the mid-1930s.

[TISO]

Interesting pic. Seems natural aluminium to me:

Wellesley L2639 Training aid Melbourne Photo via BATRAC group

http://www.adf-gallery.com.au/gallery/Vickers-Wellesley/Vickers_Wellesley_as_Training_aid_A?full=1

[Dave Fleming]

Aluminium would make sense - but aluminium (paint) in non-crew areas, Grey green in the cockpit areas. If you look closely you can see the rivets are overpainted