Jump to content

Grumman F3F-2 cockpit colour


MickE

Recommended Posts

I have just started Academy's Grumman F3F-2 and the instructions say to paint the cockpit interior silver and so does the instruction sheet for the Accurate Miniatures kit.  However, pictures on the Internet show the cockpit painted in light grey and the Eduard Zoom etch set has the side panels and part of the instrument panel in dark grey. Does anyone know what the colour should be?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, Tailspin Turtle said:

Aluminized lacquer with a "black" instrument panel and bit/boxes. For much, much more, see: http://www.ginterbooks.com/NAVAL/NF112.htm

I highly recommend the above, NF112, Grumman F2F/F3F And Civilian Variants. It's very well detailed!

It's also the best source of F2F info.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

There's a simple trick to understanding most of the Navy's interwar cockpit colors - if the exterior of an aluminum fuselage was Light Gray enamel, the interior would be the same.  (Aluminum enamels and lacquers didn't adhere well to the Navy's primers.)  Once the Navy switched to zinc chromate primer and aluminum lacquer exteriors beginning in 1936/37, the interiors switched to the same color.  As noted above, the F3F-2 came with the aluminized lacquers.

 

(Of course, everything got messier in 1939/40 with the introduction of the greens...)

 

Cheers,

 

 

Dana

  • Like 4
Link to comment
Share on other sites

One caveat to Dana's response - at least some F3F's had an 'anti-glare' addition to the cockpit sidewalls.  Of course, the  photo insertion process isn't working, but go to http://www.aviation-history.com/grumman/f3f-3a.jpg and you'll see that the forward part of the sidewall is black.  No idea when this started in the production process. 

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...