Exhaust pipe colour?

[Alfisti]

I read somewhere that exhaust pipe colours were not as badly dis-coloured as say WW2 exhaust pipes,being due to the fact that WW1 engines never ran at the same high temperatures.If this is the case,what colours would the exhaust system be on a WW1 aircraft,and what model paints would people recommend.

 

TIA.......Dave.

[europapete]

Hi Dave, the exgausts were welded steel pipes, so the started out the colour of a new car exhaust pipe but faily quickly weathered to a burnt rusty. Nip over to Memorial Flight website and see their photo's, or go to the WNW's site and look at their colour photo's. Regards, Pete in RI

[Werdna]

I can't claim any particular expertise in WW1 engines - but as a general principle, discoloration is going to be far greater on parts of the pipe that are nearer the exhaust ports/closer to the engine itself.  In other words, the longer the pipe, the less discoloration you will see towards the back end as the gases begin to cool.  WW2 engines (talking mainly in-line, 'V' config engines) typically seemed to use very short exhaust 'stubs' which are obviously going to get very hot.  Not sure what combustion temperature differences there might have been to compare engines of the two periods, but the principle would remain the same.  Other factors would include the type of iron/steel used for the pipes, whether they were cast or welded and what (if any) protective coating might have been applied to the metal.  All this would contribute to overall colour.  Hope this doesn't confuse things

Edited April 30, 2020 by Werdna

[dogsbody]

One difference would be the fuel used. I believe that most gasoline in that time frame was maybe about 70 octane. How this might pertain to the heat of the exhaust, I'm not too sure. It probably did burn a little cooler than the 100+ octane fuel used in WW2.

 

 

 

Chris

[melvyn hiscock]

Remember also less grey from the lesser amounts of lead used in those fuels

Edited May 7, 2020 by melvyn hiscock