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RAF Tomahawk wheel well colour


Smithy

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Hopefully somebody can clear this up for me as I've done a search here and online and ended up more confused than I started!

 

What was the colour of the wheel wells on RAF Tomahawks? Obviously the metal would have had an anti-corrosion treatment over the metal so zinc chromate, but was there any other paint layer applied over the ZC layer or were they just left ZC?

 

TIA,

 

Tim

Edited by Smithy
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I would expect the undercarriage bay where the legs go to be in the underside camouflage colour but as the aircraft were delivered into service with canvas covers inside the wheel well proper, I don't know whether the groundcrew would have bothered to paint the wheel well the underside colour too when the canvas cover invariably failed in service, I know I personally wouldn't have bothered.  So to answer your question about the wheel wells themselves they could just be in primer, others will no doubt know more @HBBates  is your man when it comes to P-40's.

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On 20/10/2018 at 15:05, Smithy said:

Thanks Wez, it all helps. I'm leaning to ZC myself - well at the least it would have had a ZC layer to start with.

 

These RAF Tomahawks aren't so easy to nail down detail-wise!

Tim,I'm building Trumpeter's  1/32 Tomahawk as an RAF machine and have gone for ZC ,as you say not a lot

out there on RAF machine's and what there is often conflict's with the other theories.

29989249227_81ce72ce01_b.jpg

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39 minutes ago, stevej60 said:

Tim,I'm building Trumpeter's  1/32 Tomahawk as an RAF machine and have gone for ZC ,as you say not a lot

out there on RAF machine's and what there is often conflict's with the other theories.

29989249227_81ce72ce01_b.jpg

 

Thanks Steve, I went for it and like you, painted the wheel wells on mine ZC yesterday. The RAF Tomahawks really are confusing when you start trying to research them.

 

I've gone for Humbrol 150 for the interior (it sits somewhere between ZC and interior green), ZC for the wheel wells and interior of the radiator intake and a metal seat. Is it right? I have no idea but I'm hoping it will look nice ;)

 

I'll have a shufti at your build thread as from that pic yours is looking very nice! Are you going for a 112 Sqn shark mouth scheme or something different?

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3 hours ago, Smithy said:

'll have a shufti at your build thread as from that pic yours is looking very nice! Are you going for a 112 Sqn shark mouth scheme or something different?

An RAF Gatwick based aircraft Tim to be honest only a couple of hour's work left to do on her.

44965747982_822aa43df6_b.jpg

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All P-40s had snap-in canvas wheel well liners standard.  I’ve read that each aircraft was shipped from Curtiss with them installed plus a spare pair.  The way the wheel well was built, you didn’t want to operate the aircraft without them in place, since all manner of dirt and crud could get inside the wing and foul control cables, etc.

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4 hours ago, Sonoran said:

All P-40s had snap-in canvas wheel well liners standard.  I’ve read that each aircraft was shipped from Curtiss with them installed plus a spare pair.  The way the wheel well was built, you didn’t want to operate the aircraft without them in place, since all manner of dirt and crud could get inside the wing and foul control cables, etc.

 

This seems to be another area where you hear conflicting information. I've seen it quoted elsewhere that the canvas covers either fell off/were removed/disintegrated/etc.

 

I think that's one of the most confusing things for those with only a casual interest in RAF Tomahawks, is that when you start trying to research there's an enormous amount of differing and conflicting information and opinions. It makes trying to button down what's correct difficult to say the least!

 

I ended up thinking bugger it, and painted the interior Humbrol 150 (what seem like a close approximation of the Du Pont colour which most seem to say they were painted), metal seat - I couldn't find anything really hard and fast about these but interior colour, a slightly greener colour and metal seemed the best bets so I went for metal for no other reason than it provided a nice contrast in the cockpit. Wheel wells I've done as ZC. All of this is quite possibly wrong but I couldn't be bothered faffing around anymore!

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  • 3 months later...

Does anybody have info on the correct colour for the inside of the undercarriage bay doors and the lower wing area that forms the floor of the bay? I have seen photos of restored P-40's that show either: i. green zinc chromate, or ii. same Sky Gray color as the rest of the wing undersides.

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