Hello,
I don't start a new thread because my questions concern the same subject, they are also only guesses and, in the same time, it's a kind of poll...
And it's also while waiting to have reached a good level in the work of advanced weathering !!!
I read this excellent book writen by Dana Bell but, like several modellers, I would like to build a model the closest to the reality. But in this case, we can only suppose because, no photo exists of this F4U-1 BuNo.17472 for the moment.
So, it seems that this aircraft was delivered in Blue Gray/Light Gray and maybe (or not) repainted in the unit. In this case, it's very probable that the national insignias of the fuselage were leave in place, so further back on the fuselage, with only the white bars and blue surround added (or not) and the right upperwing and left underwing national insignias repainted over (or not !?) with white bars added.
Another question, the main, that I ask myself, in the event that this plane has been repainted, was it not easier for the ground crews to paint/add only the sea blue on the upper surfaces leaving the blue gray on the fuselage sides and the tail and light gray on the center section of the underside ?
In my researches, it seems that several F4U-1s in light gray/blue gray belonging to VMF-215 were repainted with the addition of the sea blue but impossible to know or to see if the intermediate blue and the white were also added.
So, to resume, the probabilities are :
- Not repainted => blue gray/light gray (without and with white bars added)
- Field-applied Sea blue 1 (over the blue gray)
- Field-applied Sea blue 2 (over the blue gray)
- Field-applied standard 3 tones camo (with the national insignia leave in place or not)
The "poll" is in the probabilities above... In your opinion, what is the best option for the F4U-1 BuNo. 17472 of VMF-215 the 1st of November 1943 ?
My personnal preference is something close to F4U-1 BuNo.02435 : light gray/blue gray with sea blue added on the upper surfaces. I quite like this mix in the national insignias with the one on the fuselage left further back. But hard to say if the intermediate blue and the white were added or not. It seems that it's still the blue gray color on the tail and the sides of the fuselage...