F4U-1A corsair color question

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zaxos345

Senior Airman
372
108
Jul 20, 2009
Ilion, Attiki
Hi Guys, i am building Tamiya's 1/48 F4U-1A (Kepford's one, No 29 the latest one with the 16 kills) and i want to ask something. What color to paint:
1. the oil coolers?
2. the rim of the wheels (i have painted the gear legs Light Grey FS 35440)?
3. Engine cowling (the thing behind the engine, i dont know if i am using the right term, i was thinking of painting it zing chromate yellow, as the rest of the inner aircraft)?
4. the spinner of the propeller?

All the best guys, John
 
G'day John,

I have a B/W photo of '29 in flight. The prop boss appears to have been either left unpainted,or the paint has completely worn off, so a gloss Aluminium colour would fit.

Cowl interiors (including the firewall) were usually the olive or yellowy shade of Zinc chromate. Humbrol 81 is a nice match for this, though tones could vary - even within the same aircraft.

On aircraft with the 3-tone navy scheme, such as '29, the radiator grills would most likely be the off-white of the lower fueslage (will attach a pic on a restored bird)

I have a feeling '29's hubs were straight Aluminium, but I can't be 100% sure on this...some 3-tone scheme aircraft had these painted in black. Gear legs would most likely be off-White aswell (flat white with a very slight touch of black added)

Hope this is of use, maybe someone else can be more specific.

Radiator/ oil cooler: Kiwi Aircraft Images : Photo Page
Undercarriage leg: Kiwi Aircraft Images : Photo Page
More images: Kiwi Aircraft Images

Evan
 
A4K thank you very much sir for the provided info.
This i did not understand it ''...a double post on your salad, sir? ''

John
 

The wheel hubs would be either aluminum or off-white, though I would imagine most of the paint would have worn off.
 
Ah, those salads...

Cory, glad to hear you mention the off-white hubs! Thought that some had these, but didn't want to write in case I was talking through my hat, or other round shaped object...

Have to check up on the Black hubs too, though remember reading of 3-tone birds with them and seeing pics somewhere... get back to you on that. I would imagine this to be a rarity in any case.


Let's see if this message goes through in singular...
 
Found some! Would agree that '29's were most likely unpainted though.
 

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Ain't that the truth! The kiwi birds too...

Interesting the clean condition of the white in the stars and bar and the '29', in contrast to the rest of the aircraft - looks like they were repainted...

And Cory, what do you reckon re the u/c legs for '29? Straight Alu or off-white?
 
Yes, you certainly can. All they did was overpaint it with blue, so that makes sense that it stands out so much, because the paint's newer. Looking at the picture some more, it doesn't look THAT dirty actually, besides the oil, more just faded and worn.
 
Thank you very much guys, i will sure do have a lot of fun trying to weather her, we will see. I will post some pics when i wll have made a serious progress. Right now i am painting the cockpit, an Aires one, tough work.
See ya, John
 
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