French Hellcat in Iidochine.

[wellzy]

Hi Guys need help with the colour on French Hellcat operating in Iindochiine 1953, on the wheel wells, undercarriage plus inside of the engine cowl .

 

Thanks for looking  Wellzy.

[BushBrit66]

I reckon everything was likely dark blue. 

[wellzy]

l was thinking that  thanks for confirming 

[NorthBayKid]

Inside of the cowling was most likely the as-yet undefined "Grumman gray" - to all intents & purposes, similar to USAF Light Ghost Gray.

[72modeler]

According to the text on the IPMS Stockholm website on USAAF/USN WW2 interiors, the cowling interior surfaces of Hellcats were painted Grumman Grey, interior green, or zinc chromate yellow, depending on the production batch. I have also read discussions that mentioned some F6F-5 cowlings were finished in flat black on the interior, but some sources stated that this might well have been sea blue on F6F-5's, as the entire cowling was a separate assembly and was painted inside and out at the factory - the interior then being dark and appearing as black in photos. My personal opinion is they (the cowlings) were never painted black on  the interior surfaces. Maybe @Tailspin Turtle or @Dana Bell would be the go-to sources, but betting they both might be pretty busy at present. Do you have photos that show French Hellcats to see if the cowling interiors are light or dark? That would narrow the choices down a little!

Mike

[RAGATIGER]

Hi there 

 

Please post some photo and more details of Aeronavale Hellcats in Indochine!!!

 

Cheers 

 

Armando

[torqueofthedevil]

On 1/20/2020 at 4:49 PM, 72modeler said:

My personal opinion is they (the cowlings) were never painted black on  the interior surfaces@Tailspin Turtle or @Dana Bell

Your opinion is completely plausible - there would need to be a compelling reason to paint the inside a different colour (Sorry I don't know how to remove the tags from a quotation - I can't delete them!)