Hawker Tempest - colour of wheel wells/gear doors?

[Troy Smith]

2022 EDIT

 

As this has been linked recently,  I thought I should add this, it's a Tempest documentary, with excerpts from a servicing film.

link to time

note the wells is a mid grey tone, and the shiny retraction jack.  

A few seconds later there is film of the side of the cockpit with removed access panels,  note the mid grey tone of frames and seat

Aluminium pain photographs as near white,  and has a shine to it, grey green is a mid grey tone, and is flat in appearance.  This is what is seen in the linked filem. 

The Tempest is late enough in the war that the switch to all grey-green internals had occurred.  Note also, all Tempests were made by Hawker, while apart from 15, all Typhoons were made by Gloster.  They seem to have carried on using Aluminium paint for internals. 

 

original post/question below.

=========================

 

Medium sea grey is recommended on the Jaguar upgrade set for the Eduard Tempest.

Scanning wartime pics the inside of the UC doors are pale, but not aluminum, which the UC legs are, so could well be Medium Sea Grey.

The Tempests at the RAF museum are in Interior grey green, but have been restored, and looking at the walkround photos of LA607 here http://www.hawkertempest.se/album/la607/

LA607 is in Aluminium paint, but could be grey under the flaking paint, and also has a lot more pipes and cables than the Hendon planes!

looks to be pretty much unrestored, but it was the 2nd prototype of the MkII so may not be typical.

A photo in "Typhoon and Tempest At War" of a Tempest under construction having the gear tested shows a darker colour but a paler colour on the inner gear door, so I presume Interior grey green and medium sea grey. pages 120-121.

is there a more definite answer, or are there just variations with all being possible?

thanks

T

Edited March 17, 2022 by Troy Smith
add film and additional information. 2022

[Edgar]

Before its restoration, I saw the RAF Museum's Tempest, when it was at Cardington, and the wells were green, legs and door interiors were silver.

Edgar

[dfqweofekwpeweiop4]

Kit instructions are split on this one too. The Special Hobby Tempest II says the normal interior green whereas the Academy Tempest V says silver. Now I accept one or both of them may be wrong but could it be they were different on the different Tempest marks?

thanks

Mike

[Seawinder]

I'm just finishing up the new Eduard Mk. V and went looking for any information/opinions on the color of the gear-down indicators. I discovered this thread, which apparently casts doubt on Eduard's call-out of Interior Grey-Green for the gear doors interior color. Of course, that's what I used on mine. I then took a look at several models in the Ready for Inspection forum: all had the door interiors grey-green. So, before I possibly proceed to hand-paint them Medium Sea Grey (hoping to avoid messing up the wheels/struts), what's the present opinion on the color in question?

 

Thanks, Pip

[wmcgill]

Don't know if this will work but Imperial War Museum photograph "IWM COL 750" is a WWII era colour photo of a Tempest Mk.V showing the inside gear doors...

 

https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205225461

 

And "IWM COL 44" shows the same for a Tempest Mk.II...

 

https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205191271

[Graham Boak]

Now identify that colour - for it surely is neither MSG nor Grey Green.  Nor Aluminium, which would have been my suggestion had I dared to make it.  Is this the "Hawker yellow" reported on Sea Furies?

[Johnson]

 

5 hours ago, Graham Boak said:

Is this the "Hawker yellow" reported on Sea Furies?

 

I think that's a good call Graham.

 

There's a section on Hawker Yellow near the end of this post:

 

http://www.aussiemodeller.com.au/pages/Reviews/acft kit/Long Airfix 1-48 Sea Fury.html

 

or the BM thread;

 

There is the same colour in the door of the Mk.V, with the rest of the door painted MSG, or maybe that's what you were referring to.

[Seawinder]

Do people think the color shown on the  Mk. V is the same as that shown on the Mk. II in the photos posted by wmcgill? I can't tell, and of course the two photos have different color balances stemming from development/printing. It's probably wishful thinking on my part, but is it possible to see the Mk. V color as a pale, washed out rendition of Interior Grey-Green, especially given the extremely pale Sky spinner and fuselage band?

[Graham Boak]

It is possible, but equally possible is a washed-out version of the colour on the Mk.II.  How washed-out is washed-out?  A bit of a difficult assumption to get precise about.

[Troy Smith]

8 hours ago, wmcgill said:

Don't know if this will work but Imperial War Museum photograph "IWM COL 750" is a WWII era colour photo of a Tempest Mk.V showing the inside gear doors...

 

https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205225461

 

And "IWM COL 44" shows the same for a Tempest Mk.II...

 

https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205191271

 

 

 

Tempest II  at Langley airfield in March 1945 by Etienne du Plessis, on Flickr

 

Hawker Tempest II,  Aug. 1945. by Etienne du Plessis, on Flickr

 

Hawker Tempest. by Etienne du Plessis, on Flickr

 

Tempest mk. 5,  1944. by Etienne du Plessis, on Flickr

 

interestingly this shot dated 1954 shows aluminium, but maybe have been repainted 

 

Hawker Tempest Mk.V,   1954 by Etienne du Plessis, on Flickr

 

FWIW, I think this is shows Grey Green, Hawker Yellow is a dirty yellow. 

 

Did remind me of this image which I don't recall being discussed,  

 

 

 

 

Note the cannon barrel fairings, the smaller image look less washed out

 

 

I suspect that this is Hawker Yellow, which I also suspect is just a zinc chromate primer.

 

Hawker Hurricane repairs,c1940 by Etienne du Plessis, on Flickr

 

while I'm on roll, note the colour of the area here usually concealed by the wing fillets, which I have not seen mentioned in relation to Spitfire interior colours.

 

Spitfire boneyard. by Etienne du Plessis, on Flickr