F4u-1a color question

[Stinger16]

How is it going guys, Currently I am building the new tamiya -1a, and I would like to build Ira Kepfords corsair, now my question for all the f4u experts. I can't find any good reference shots of Kepfords f4u in regards to the correct cowl flap color and wheel well color. I'm not sure or can't really tell by the pictures I have seen if these areas were interior green or yellow zinc cromate or even for the wheel well It could of been white ? On my -1a build I have the engine complete and now the cockpit, getting ready to work on the cowl area and then the wheel well. If you guys could help me out on this one I would greatly appreciate it

 

Jeff

[David Hansen]

Hi Jeff,

 

Thats a toughie. I don't know very much about Kepford's Corsair aside from the fact that i was one of the very first -1A Corsairs. Considering the fact Willys Overland built the wing center section, my guess is the wing center may very well have arrived with the wheel wells painted light gray, or simply YZC like the exterior of the wing center section. I think some gear doors were installed with light gray interior sides, with flat white being sprayed on the outsides along with the wing undersides, while the gear was retracted up in the wells with the doors closed. I can't see Chance Vought wasting time re painting the wheel well interior white. That being said, the change over to the three tone scheme occurred before the change to F4U-1A production. Maybe Willys was delivering wing sections with white wheel wells....?

 

After experimenting with Salmon, i'm of the opinion the wheel wells were probably light gray or YZC, based on the recovered -1 from Lake Michigan. Honestly, nobody knows for sure. i think you could use any one of the three and be OK. Since YZC was intended as an undercoat, i think they would have sprayed... something over it.

 

I'd say the cowling flap interior was probably YZC. The nose bowl was light gray.

 

Dana will probably have more to add when his book comes out. Like i said before, i haven't researched Kepford's plane at all. I'm sure you will get more opinions.

 

david

[jwest21]

I am glad I saw this- I received my F4U-1A and was totally unaware there was any YZC in it at all.  I just got all the different colors for the Birdcage memorized and now this!

[Dana Bell]

Kepford certainly flew several Corsairs, but the aircraft seen in the famous right side, ground photo is a later-model F4U-1A.  When I brighten up my 600 dpi scan of that image, the serial appears to be in the 563xx range.  The good news is that we can eliminate a number of the colors used in that transition period in late-summer 1943.

 

The cockpit is almost certainly Interior Green - the true color that we've all been using since the 1960s, not one of the earlier substitutes.

 

All unfinished interior components would have been untinted (yellow) zinc chromate.  If the surface was Alclad, there would be a single coat of yellow; anything else would have had two coats of untinted yellow.

 

Wheel wells would have had a finish coat of Light Gray or (more likely) white; the same possibilities would exist for the gear legs.

 

The inside of the cowl and cowl flaps could have been finished in Light Gray or Intermediate Blue.

 

The other interesting feature of the camouflage in that photo is the lack of Intermediate Blue on the fuselage.  Instead, the NS Sea Blue appears to have been feathered down the sides (before and aft of the wing) to subtly blend into the white of the undersurfaces.  Intermediate Blue did appear on the vertical tail, under the outer wing panels, and a few feathered inches into the wing center section.

 

(I'm looking forward to seeing who's first to enter a Corsair in that scheme at a model contest!!!)

 

Cheers,

 

 

 

Dana

[Pete G.]

Dana,

 

Thanks for the comments.  I've had something of a fascination the last few months with Kepford's Corsair.  I've never been able to track down any info on the serial# of his last #29.  Lee Cook's second book about VF-17 had a very interesting photo in it that was apparently taken as he was departing (late) on the mission he was credited for destroying his last three Zeroes.  It's interesting because it looks like the aircraft was only recently received by the squadron.  It has the # 29 on the gear legs and fuselage, but no kill markings, no white tape/paint on the fuel cell seams and no skull and crossbones emblem.  I am assuming all of these items we're added after Feb 19th and the end of the squadron's second tour in March.  The photo I am talking about confirms what you are saying about the sea blue.  It seems there was little, if any intermediate blue on the cowl.  Perhaps a thin strip between the sea blue and the white.  The intermediate blue seems to start in the "normal' spot right at the rear of the wing root, but definitely seems to be covered with more sea blue along the top edge.  Maybe the sea blue extend's 6 to 8 inches further down from the top of the fuse than typically seen?

 

Don't know why I'm so interested in this scheme.  I don't have plans to model it, but it seems quite different in delineation than typical three-tone schemes on other -1A's.  In all the year's I've seen photos of this airplane, I never recognized the differences until just recently.

[Stinger16]

Thanks for the input guys. Dana when is your next book on the f4u going to be coming out

 

Jeff

[Dana Bell]

Hi Jeff,

 

I'm caught up in the holidays and family things, but I still hope to deliver in January and publish in February!

 

Cheers,

 

 

 

 

Dana

[David Hansen]

See? Dana Bell FTW.

[Allan Peters]

I have a question for you Dana. Here are some photos of the unrestored F4U-1D in the UK. As you can see the forward portion of the cowling is light gray but the rest is ZC. Would this be applicable to a large portion of -1A's and -1D's? Or what?

 

Thanks!

 

Actually John, KD431 is a Goodyear built FG-1A.

 

Allan

[Dana Bell]

I have a question for you Dana. Here are some photos of the unrestored F4U-1D in the UK. As you can see the forward portion of the cowling is light gray but the rest is ZC. Would this be applicable to a large portion of -1A's and -1D's? Or what?

 

Thanks!

Hi John,

 

I'd have to say that your evidence is very strong that some Goodyear-built Corsairs used only primer on portions of the cowl interior.  From the archival side of the discussion, I haven't anything that indicates when such a change was introduced, how long it was in play, or how many manufacturers might have used it.

 

I wish we had a lot more unrestored Corsairs out there to help establish some parameters!

 

Cheers,

 

 

 

 

Dana

[gunfighter366]

I ran across a picture of VF17's planes on a carrier passing through the canal. It's B/W but it appears the planes are not in three tone and the star and bar on the side have a surround of either red or light blue, but the ones on the bottom of the wings don't. Any body have answers to this or ideas?  It would make for a different paint job.   gunfighter366

[Dana Bell]

I ran across a picture of VF17's planes on a carrier passing through the canal. It's B/W but it appears the planes are not in three tone and the star and bar on the side have a surround of either red or light blue, but the ones on the bottom of the wings don't. Any body have answers to this or ideas?  It would make for a different paint job.   gunfighter366

Hi Gunfighter,

 

The contrast on that canal shot is pretty poor, but on the better quality photos you can see the Intermediate Blue on the fuselage sides.  You're right about the insignias, though - it will make for a very interesting model!

 

Cheers,

 

 

 

Dana

[ScoobyDoo]

I have a question for you Dana. Here are some photos of the unrestored F4U-1D in the UK. As you can see the forward portion of the cowling is light gray but the rest is ZC. Would this be applicable to a large portion of -1A's and -1D's? Or what?

 

Thanks!

 

John, I need to read my KD431 book again. I have a feeling they stripped the engine panels to see what was underneath it.

 

I know at the time of the writing of the book that they thought the gray in the cowl was not a standard paint job. They thought it was painted postwar and didn't understand why it was gray. I'll grab the book tonight and post my findings in the AM.