Wooden Aircraft carrier deck painting

[Heraldcoupe]

I'm looking at making or buying a carrier deck base to display some FAA aircraft. The subject is likely to be HMS Ravager or one of the other lend-lease carriers, so a US design in RN service.

 

http://www.royalnavyresearcharchive.org.uk/ESCORT/Galleries/RAVAGER_Gllery.htm

 

I see Eduard produce exactly what I need in US Navy configuration, but what colours should the Royal Navy carriers be painted? Not just the wood, but the metal areas, as well as the flightdeck markings.

 

Thanks for any help, could equally have gone into the maritime section I know,

 

Cheers,

Bill.

 

[dfqweofekwpeweiop4]

If it was a USN carrier I'd be able to tell you, whichever one it was, as they all had Blue stained flight decks!

 

All I can tell from the pics is that it wasn't camouflaged. I would hazard a guess that the deck may have be painted a grey (not like the USN Blue deck though) but I'm not sure. Why don't you post this question in the ship section and see if anyone notices, perhaps you could try Modelwarships.com too.

 

thanks

Mike

[John @ WEM]

The US-built CVEs were delivered wearing RN camouflage patterns that were painted with USN colours. They were also delivered with flight decks stained in USN Flight Deck Stain 21. How long they stayed that way....?

[Heraldcoupe]

Thanks John, that's a good starting point. 

Assuming that repainting/maintenance became necessary at some point, what's your opinion on subsequent finish of the deck? Do you think I should I look at how the RNs metal-decked carriers were painted?

 

Cheers,

Bill.

[Seahawk]

Alan Raven's Camouflage Volume 3: Royal Navy 1943-44 (Warship Perspectives series) has this to say about the colours of US-built carriers in Royal Navy service:

"After US-built escorts completed working up and trials and, in many cases, refits to bring them up to Royal Navy standards, they discarded their US Navy style camouflage and colours in which they had been delivered and repainted into British camouflage. In many cases they carried their Royal Navy pendant number on the hull.

The question as to the colours of the flight decks has come to be something of a problem. The flight decks were of wood and it was American practice to apply a medium blue stain or dark blue stain. However there is evidence that in some cases the wood decks were left unstained and unpainted while some appear to have been painted in a dark tone (probably G10) and, in a few ships there was the practice of wearing a patterned camouflage." There follow 2 pairs of sketches (of Nabob and Striker) as they appeared after repainting in RN colours - but no hints re their flight deck colours.

Photos in David Hobbs' Royal Navy Escort Carriers show that HMS Avenger had a very bold camouflage pattern on her flight deck (period 8/42 to 11/42) and that Hunter bore a pattern, or the remnants of one, on 25 June 1944. The book has no photos of Ravager's deck.

PS From the excellent photos in the link you provide, I'd personally go with a worn US Deck Stain. NB how the disruptive camouflage includes the round-down of the flight deck.

HTH.

Edited January 9, 2013 by Seahawk