Wheel color for F4U-1A #883?

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Northwest48

Airman
41
0
Jan 20, 2007
Pasco, WA
I've found a few contemporary photos of F4U's of VMF-214. I think the stock wheel color should have been flat white or possibly light gray, and the wheels on those land-based planes might have been fairly dirty. But, the photos seem to show a really dark shade, maybe even non-specular blue. I'll be trying to do an F4U #883 that is alleged to have been flown by Greg Boyington in late 1943. I don't have a photo of that actual plane showing the wheels, so of course I have no idea what color the wheels should be. What would be a reasonable guess?
 
Funny u should ask this as I am getting ready to build #873, a F4U-1A that my Grandfather flew with the Blacksheep.... I too have run across this question and was one of the things I needed to research...

Here is a pic of 873, and in it u can see the wheel rims are dark.... From what I can gather at this early stage, the rims were Sky Gray and got filthy as time went on....
 

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I know for -1Ds, they just painted the landing gear DSB for ease of production, but all of the -1As that I've seen have had white landing gear. (British ones anyway). I think it would be safe to assume that they'd start off white/light gray. Now, being on a dirty island in the Pacific might change things...
 
Ive seen some corsiar F4u-4 with could be either black rims or a dark blue rim. With your picture above Dan I think I would go with the Grey personally. If you look at the dust on the tire it matches the color of the rim so the true color of the rim in your picture could be either. We know the tires are black so the dust and dirt really makes identifying it hard.
 
By the way, if you mean Long Island, NY, I am also a displaced western Long Island (Queens) native for many years living in Boyington's stomping grounds. He was born in Coeur d'Alene, ID and raised in Tacoma, WA. I live in eastern Washington where another WW II ace trained pilots - Eugene Valencia - at NAS Pasco, WA.
 
Since VMF-214 was land-based, would they have had diamond tread tires? It's just about impossible to tell from the contemporary photos I have seen.
 
Thanks, I found that first pic of Boyington waving from 883's cockpit, but haven't seen the other one. Sorry to be a pest but what color do you think that headrest was? The Tamiya kit says flat black, but it doesn't look flat black to me. Should it be leather color? Or, maybe it is black. Don't know.
 
Got it, thanks. Maybe a dark semi-gloss grey.

From the look of that plane I'll probably be lightening every color. But, I will put rectangles of fresh non-specular blue behind those two 8's, as in the photo.
 
Re the wheels, most RNZAF birds seem to have had straight Aluminium hubs, whether F4U-1a/ D/ or Goodyear FG-1D, although some -1D's had black hubs, and some FG-1D's Glossy Sea Blue.
This is as far as I've been able to find so far, so by no means definitive...

I've seen models made of U.S F4U-1's/1a's with black hubs too, but I don't know what information they based this on.

Good luck with the projects guys!
 
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