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Color speculation: AB264 wheels/struts/gear doors


Seawinder

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This is markings option A in the most recent Airfix Spitfire Mk. V kit, AB264 GN-H flown by RCAF Robert W. McNair based on Malta. Looking at the one photo I've got, the main struts appear to be aluminum, the gear door inner surfaces fuselage color (Sky according to Airfix and apparently backed up by other people's research), and the wheel hubs either aluminum or fuselage color. Do others agree on these calls, and what do people think about the wheel hubs?

 

Thanks! Pip

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I think given the low res of the pic and all the known issues of interpreting b/w photos it is pretty difficult to come to any firm conclusion, at least for me, so you could well be correct here.

 

However although I've no real knowledge of the Malta Spitfires I'd say generally that the oleo legs and hubs look to be painted, as in not silver/aluminium/natural metal, and as to why the inner gear doors would be sky I'm not sure as they were often interior grey/green which would look very similar. Perhaps if the factory knew the aircraft was going to see service in the MTO they may have painted the inner doors and hubs a different colour to the standard for those in NW Europe in order to meet the differing camouflage spec/requirements?

 

Not being a Spit or Malta Spit expert in particular I'm sorry I can't ne more help but just my personal take on the pic.

 

A great subject though!

 

Regards

Colin.

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Reading through Edgar Brooks's notes, it seems that the wheel well, inside of gear door, and undercarriage leg would have been most likely painted silver (not gray-green) at manufacture. During servicing/refinishing/overhaul the wells and inside of the doors could very well have been painted the lower surface colors, rather than go to the trouble of masking and refinishing them separately. The legs could be refinished in silver, or lower surface colors, depending on the painters inclination. The wheel hubs probably remained painted silver (these are rotable items that would go on any airframe the needed a tire change, so wouldn't  be keyed to any particular scheme.)

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Undercart struts, inner doors, wheel wells and wheels would have been painted the same colour as the wing underside was at the factory. Only the "interior wing" (where the struts nestled into) would be painted silver. These components would remain that colour unless they were were replaced at a later date with parts from a differently painted aeroplane. 

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Not your aeroplane or necessarily scheme, but this genuine color IWM photo (& B&W copy) does illustrate the factory default colors for the undercart. The same colour as the undersides. It also shows how difficult it can be to interpret colors from B&W photos, specially so when various areas are subjected to shade differently. spacer.png

Edited by wmcgill
correct image link
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2 hours ago, wmcgill said:

Not your aeroplane or necessarily scheme, but this genuine color IWM photo (& B&W copy) does illustrate the factory default colors for the undercart. The same colour as the undersides. It also shows how difficult it can be to interpret colors from B&W photos, specially so when various areas are subjected to shade differently. spacer.png

That's pretty persuasive, thanks! With regard to the under surface color of AB264, there seems to be research indicating that it was painted Sky, which is what Airfix calls out in their instructions. Do you happen to know if there's a location online where one can see that discussion?

Thanks again! Pip

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On 16/05/2022 at 10:07, Seawinder said:

That's pretty persuasive, thanks! With regard to the under surface color of AB264, there seems to be research indicating that it was painted Sky, which is what Airfix calls out in their instructions. Do you happen to know if there's a location online where one can see that discussion?

Thanks again! Pip

I did find this right here   

 

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