Cellon and Curtis dopes. 1915

[Stefaan]

Hi Guys.

I tried searching for these colour specs but come up with nothing.

I found an order for Cellon and Curtis dopes for our Henry Farman and BE2C aircraft we received in 1915.

I am sure the Farman was for Natural Linen colour spec as the photos of those a/c show they were not painted in military colours.

The BE2C appears to be in a PC-10 colour.

For accuracy, would there have been a colour spec for the natural linen??

I know PC-10 is a controversial colour,  but which spec would the BE2C's have been painted in.

Does anybody have the colour specs for Cellon company colours pre- and WW 1.

Same for 'Curtis' dope, as that was an American company, so I don't understand why we would have asked the Air Ministry for that dope.

My knowledge of WW 1 colours are suspect as it is not in my area of research.

Thx

Stefaan

 

 

[e8n2]

I'm not an expert either, but from what I gather, natural linen is whatever was used to cover the aircraft with clear coats of dope put over it to tighten it up and help preserve it. 

Later,

Dave

[melvyn hiscock]

There is no colour spec for natural linen. There would be a spec for the dope to shrink and seal it but that would technically be clear. The fact it would get affected by oxidation and sunlight, to possibly yellow it, is just wear and tear. Remember also areas that got doused in castor oil, and there would be many, would change colour significantly. There’d hardly be a spec for that either.

 

Natural Doped linen can vary from straw coloured (natural plant fibres after all) through various light ochres. No one can tell you that you are wrong if you are in that range.

 

The old ‘Tips and Tricks’ section in Wingnuts had some good tips and pictures.

 

Some aircraft were covered in cotton, some of this was bleached lightly so colours, again, vary on the base material and how much weathering the clear stuff has.

[Paul Thompson]

Random points.....

 

IIRC Mister Kit paints break down their CDL paint by country, there being a difference in the preferred linen used that slightly affects the colour. They also have both dark and light shades for Italian aircraft, and a specific colour for US usage. I've tried out a set by AK Interactive in their Air range which has 2 CDLs, one being more yellow, and a bleached linen, which is more like the Xtracolor effort. Humbrol CDL is very yellow, and you may want to use that for French aircraft from the fatty varnish period.  TBH there are loads of suitable colours, both acrylic and enamel, you could use from almost any paint brand, and unless you can find a specific record that states your country covered and clear varnished with a specific result (I've no idea how accurate the Mr Kit representations are, talking just about CDL), I'd just pick something likely after studying as many period photos as I could unless I'd learned otherwise from articles in the likes of Windsock. More important for the finish of a model is to understand the likely weathering regime and translucency, and avoid overdoing it at all costs. Again, photos, period for translucency (which you can forget if the top surfaces have pigmented dope), period and modern flyable examples for weathering.

 

Paul.

[Stefaan]

Thx Guys.

I thought it might be the usual variants we use.  Just curious as to why there would have been a Curtis dope in 1915 from the UK already, which I read was a grey doped colour.

That would make sense on the engine covers of the BE2, but would have thought that the UK would have their own (Battleship Grey) colour as used by Bristol.

I read somewhere that Curtis used grey dope but have no knowledge if they used it in the UK and shipped the technology to the USA, or vice versa.

Thx for the help.

Stefaan