More Ark Royal questions.

[stevej60]

Hi folk's not a repeat of yesterday's PE question more on colours etc,now I'm no sea dog so apologies if any terms are wrong.OK I'm doing Airfix's

kit OOB another exercise in building for nostalgia with hopefully  a better finish than the younger me,here we go,is the layout of airfix's kit different

from when she operated her Swordfish in pre war silver schemes? What was her pre-war colour(Airfix say slate gray for her wartime scheme)?

Where the recesses housing the boats the same shade as the Hull?What colour were the different boat/s/Launches?And finally for now I've noticed in

a photo taken of the stern the area inside under the fantail seems to be painted white

http://navalwarfare.blogspot.com/2013/07/hms-ark-royal.html?m=1

Appreciate any guidance folk's.

[Our Ned]

For more detail, you may find a thread on the Ship Model Forum useful: http://www.shipmodels.info/mws_forum/viewtopic.php?f=46&t=4870. Prewar, ARK was painted in AP507A, a dark grey colour, with a bronze grey flight deck.  The boat bays, fo'cs'le and other areas opening in the ship's side were the same colour as the ship's side, but the quarterdeck (the term "fantail" is an American one, and woyuld be unfamiliar to RN sailors!) was white - note that the deck areas in all of these openings would have been either unpainted teak or, in some areas, covered in linoleum or painted - not sure what colour.

 

Her configuration changed little from completion until she was sunk; the only significant alterations were the addition of the two port-side pompoms (omitted on build because the flight deck crash barriers had not been fitted) and the addition of a degaussing cable around the ship (visible above the quarterdeck openings in some of the later photo in the article to which you included a link.  The pompoms, crash barriers and degaussing cable were fitted after the war began; the pompoms and barriers probably in May 1941 and degaussing in March 1940.

 

Edit: I stand corrected - Jamie has done a lot of research into RN colours!

Edited July 18, 2019 by Our Ned
Subsequent post

[Jamie @ Sovereign Hobbies]

She was commissioned in Admiralty Pattern 507C Mediterranean grey. Flight deck almost certainly would have been Admiralty Pattern 631 bronze grey. Decks other than flight deck dark grey.

[stevej60]

Thanks  Folks much appreciated. 

[Jamie @ Sovereign Hobbies]

To avoid any uncertainty about exactly when her light paint she had from launching through completion to operating silver Swordfish, you could probably safely go for Home Fleet Grey overall which, pre-1939, would defacto have been Admiralty Pattern 507B as 507A hadn't been reintroduced yet. Non-slip paints as potential candidates to replace the pattern 631 on the flight deck would likewise not be promulgated until September 1939.