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EE Lightning undercarriage bay colours


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Hi all, in the Matchbox GB I’m building a Lightning F.6 using Xtradecals to represent XS919 in the 1980s dark sea grey scheme, as she’s seen here.

 

But wondering what colour the undercarriage bays and the inside bay doors were painted on the grey jets? Aluminium? Or a grey? Online images are not clear.

 

Any wisdom appreciated,

 

Gerard

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1 hour ago, 224 Peter said:

I'll have a look at our EE P1 and report back on Friday,  but from memory everything is grey aluminium. 

Isn't a grey jet and the undercarriage on the P1 is different to the in service Lightning.

 

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The AD grey jets undercarriage bays were silver and got a tad dirty.

The gear and the bays never got painted.

Looks like the pilot's name is Tim Brunskill or ET as he was know on the Sqn.

Edited by tweeky
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8 hours ago, canberra kid said:

Some photos I took.

EruAJ1.jpg

EruO3j.jpg

EruhUJ.jpg

John

 

John these are the Bruntingthorpe F6's from talking to the guys that run them the U/c bays have a good coating of wax oil or the like so that's not representative of how the jets were in-service. I'm in work at the moment and will try to dig my photos out this afternoon.   

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3 hours ago, tweeky said:

John these are the Bruntingthorpe F6's from talking to the guys that run them the U/c bays have a good coating of wax oil or the like so that's not representative of how the jets were in-service. I'm in work at the moment and will try to dig my photos out this afternoon.   

True, I should have pointed that out, but under that wax oil, it is still aluminum and muck. 😊

John 

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5 hours ago, tweeky said:

John these are the Bruntingthorpe F6's from talking to the guys that run them the U/c bays have a good coating of wax oil or the like so that's not representative of how the jets were in-service. I'm in work at the moment and will try to dig my photos out this afternoon.   

The wax oil was called PX32 IIRC!

 

Selwyn

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3 hours ago, tweeky said:

This was done post service Selwyn. 

Are you sure? Because I know a lot of in service aircraft used this stuff on their undercarriage systems.

 

Selwyn

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On 19/05/2022 at 13:07, tweeky said:

This was done post service Selwyn. 

 

On 19/05/2022 at 16:57, Selwyn said:

Are you sure? Because I know a lot of in service aircraft used this stuff on their undercarriage systems.

 

Selwyn

Selwyn is perfectly correct.  Most of the Lightning F.3's of 11Sqdn had gold coloured legs/inside of doors and bays in the summer of '76.  Similarly the PR.9's at Wyton had gold coloured inside of doors and the main/nose legs coated in late '77.  

It seemed to be a bit of an ad hoc finish dependant on which company performed the overhaul of the legs.  I know that the SR.2's at Wyton had odd bits of the main legs so finished but in general we just ignored it until the next time the leg came off.  The painters then stripped it for NDI and it was re-finished Aluminium on completion.

I've got some shots on file somewhere - I'll dig them up and publish here in a bit.

 

Dennis

 

Right - pix

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HTH

Dennis

 

Edited by sloegin57
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34 minutes ago, sloegin57 said:

 

Selwyn is perfectly correct.  Most of the Lightning F.3's of 11Sqdn had gold coloured legs/inside of doors and bays in the summer of '76.  Similarly the PR.9's at Wyton had gold coloured inside of doors and the main/nose legs coated in late '77.  

It seemed to be a bit of an ad hoc finish dependant on which company performed the overhaul of the legs.  I know that the SR.2's at Wyton had odd bits of the main legs so finished but in general we just ignored it until the next time the leg came off.  The painters then stripped it for NDI and it was re-finished Aluminium on completion.

I've got some shots on file somewhere - I'll dig them up and publish here in a bit.

 

Dennis

 

Right - pix

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HTH

Dennis

 

In my 5 years on type we never sprayed anything in the u/c bays or the legs. the main u/c bays got dirty, A/C's were washed pre check servicing.

  

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Sadly, the EE P1A WG763 at BDAC and owned by the RAF Museum has had the inside of the wheel wells, and the legs, sprayed silver, covering everything, hoses, wires and cables. A bit of scraping suggested that this was over old, dirty silver. Quiet when it was tarted up is unclear, the airframe was at the. now defunct Manchester Museum for many years where although under cover wasn't looked after very much. 

Externally the airframe is unpainted, grimey aluminium of some sort. The engineering team is slowly removing the grime, but it will not be mirror polished as is the one at Cosford, which looks rather too "new"

 

Once cleaned up it will be parked next to the cockpit section of our F2A, XN 726. 

 

WG763 flew often from Boscombe Down and had its maiden flight on 18 July 1955 reputedly piloted by Roland Beamont.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I can't speak for the Lightnings but there were certainly other RAF aircraft that got a coating of that waxy stuff sprayed onto and into the U/C bays during second line servicing in ASFs etc. It was a lot thicker than the Waxoil you could buy from the shops and did give the legs and bays a slightly golden sheen to them (on top of the silver paint). Needless to say that it was a favourite item to be "requisitioned" for coating the undersides of Ford Capris, Escorts and other rust buckets in our possession at the time (ideal for winter-proofing motorbikes too but don't get it on the hot bits!).

 

Duncan B

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3 hours ago, Duncan B said:

I can't speak for the Lightnings but there were certainly other RAF aircraft that got a coating of that waxy stuff sprayed onto and into the U/C bays during second line servicing in ASFs etc. It was a lot thicker than the Waxoil you could buy from the shops and did give the legs and bays a slightly golden sheen to them (on top of the silver paint). Needless to say that it was a favourite item to be "requisitioned" for coating the undersides of Ford Capris, Escorts and other rust buckets in our possession at the time (ideal for winter-proofing motorbikes too but don't get it on the hot bits!).

 

Duncan B

Get your wallet out Duncan, just what you need for your old Capri or Escort!

PX32

 

Selwyn

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4 hours ago, Duncan B said:

I can't speak for the Lightnings but there were certainly other RAF aircraft that got a coating of that waxy stuff sprayed onto and into the U/C bays during second line servicing in ASFs etc. It was a lot thicker than the Waxoil you could buy from the shops and did give the legs and bays a slightly golden sheen to them (on top of the silver paint). Needless to say that it was a favourite item to be "requisitioned" for coating the undersides of Ford Capris, Escorts and other rust buckets in our possession at the time (ideal for winter-proofing motorbikes too but don't get it on the hot bits!).

 

Duncan B

Sprayed on cor you light blue lot are posh....navy just got a two inch brush (5 cm) a tub of px32 and some sort of solvant to thin it down.

To be fair naval aircraft have a good use for the stuff ( and px24 cab wipes) what with being in a salt water environment etc....pig to clean off in depth maintenance though....avoided AMG like the plague me .

 

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22 hours ago, Selwyn said:

Get your wallet out Duncan, just what you need for your old Capri or Escort!

PX32

 

Selwyn

 

Holy moly how much??

 

22 hours ago, junglierating said:

Sprayed on cor you light blue lot are posh....navy just got a two inch brush (5 cm) a tub of px32 and some sort of solvant to thin it down.

 

 

and of course the solvent was environmentally and Erk friendly (not).

 

Duncan B

 

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