Brandon Wood Posted March 18, 2017 Share Posted March 18, 2017 Jan, The transitional period is a hard era to model. A general rule of thumb, but one that is NOT foolproof is to use the outer finish to guide what the interior finish was. By the end of 1936, the Bureau of Aeronautics, which controlled all navy aircraft, finally accepted an aluminum lacquer over a zinc chromate primer for metal surfaces that withstood its testing criteria. Prior to that, they had been using a gray enamel because earlier use of aluminum colored varnish had not withstood exposure. So, in 1937, new delivery aircraft and those undergoing overhaul were painted aluminum lacquer. Of course, it never fails, our subject aircraft was accepted in 1936 so it would have been painted originally in gray enamel but repainted when overhauled. The decals depict the aircraft near the end of its career and with the neutrality star applied, so it would have gone through overhaul at least once if not twice by that time. I personally have always wondered if they would have taken the time to completely disassemble and mask an aircraft interior to repaint it, but overhauls would sometimes last several months according to aircraft history cards, so they were out of service long enough for that to occur. So I think it is very likely that the interiors were also repainted during these overhauls. While some of the above can be found on the internet, most is from discussions with Dana Bell, my own research at the National Archives, and a little from Elliott's Monogram Color series. Now, the SBU-2 is easy. The Erection & Maintenance manual issued in January 1937 directs that the metal parts would be primed in zinc chromate and then have two coats of aluminum lacquer. As for the fabric parts, they would have had two coats of clear dope applied followed by two coats aluminum colored dope. The clear dope would have sealed the fabric which is why it remained white on the inside even when the exterior was painted. So, as for me, I am going to be building a late in life SBU so it will be aluminum and white interior. If by some off chance a document and color photograph surfaces AFTER I finish that shows something different, I will just have to live with it!! I hope this helps and isn't too confusing. If you have additional questions, please let me know. BW Joel_W 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Simmo.b Posted March 18, 2017 Share Posted March 18, 2017 Grest progress, will be following for sure Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jan_G Posted March 20, 2017 Author Share Posted March 20, 2017 small progress with SBU I painted over interior (thanks Brandon for recommendation!) with mixture of Alclad aluminium and Mr.Paint light gray as aluminium lacquer (lightened with white aluminium in some areas) and white for fabric and I applied dark wash and some pigments (in reality it`s not so prominent as on photos) and cockpit finished with some subtle wash and matt coat and glued with one part of fuselage (fit is great so far) thanks for looking jan Whitey, Jim Barry, tucohoward and 3 others 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim Barry Posted March 20, 2017 Share Posted March 20, 2017 Great work, Jan. Your interwar USN collection is super cool. Glad you got a chance to get the right color inside before it was too late! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brandon Wood Posted March 20, 2017 Share Posted March 20, 2017 Jan, Good job on the interior, it looks very convincing. I am going to perform some modifications on mine to try and replicate what I see in photos and diagrams, but not sure how much of it will be seen or how many people would even notice the differences. Rather jealous of the progress you have made and speed at which you are able to work! Looking forward to more. BW Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jan_G Posted March 23, 2017 Author Share Posted March 23, 2017 Thanks guys for kind words I have managed to glue together all main parts and now it is ready for the first layer of surfacer. Then I will correct all surface flaws This step was quite simple. I gave attention especially to maintain the geometry of all parts thanks for looking jan Hubert Boillot, Brandon Wood, Zero77 and 3 others 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jan_G Posted March 26, 2017 Author Share Posted March 26, 2017 small progress on SBU details added First I used Mr. surfacer 1000 to unift surface, after I have used several layers of Mr base white and all the stripes masked and ready for painting for fabric surfaces I have used mixture of alclad white aluminium and MRP white (ratio 1:1) - to create aluminium lacquer effect, but even it has still metallic shine It`s too gray for my taste, so will see, maybe I will just play with it more and the upper wing painted from both sides thanks for looking jan the upper wing painted Rick Griewski, Brandon Wood, Whitey and 1 other 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Peterpools Posted March 26, 2017 Share Posted March 26, 2017 Jan Wonderful progress and a joy to follow Keep 'em coming Peter Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LSP_Kevin Posted March 26, 2017 Share Posted March 26, 2017 Lovely work, Jan! I'm just working on my review of this kit, and am quite impressed so far. You're certainly doing it justice! Kev Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jan_G Posted March 26, 2017 Author Share Posted March 26, 2017 Wonderful progress and a joy to follow Keep 'em coming Thanks Peter, really apreciate Lovely work, Jan! I'm just working on my review of this kit, and am quite impressed so far. You're certainly doing it justice! Thanks Kevin, it is very nice kit, and even it`s resin, it goes together easily, so I`m enjoying this buils a lot jan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Simmo.b Posted March 26, 2017 Share Posted March 26, 2017 Hi Jan Looks great!! For silver doped aircraft you csn't go past Tamiya AS 12 straight from the spray can. Cheers Brent Whitey 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jan_G Posted April 1, 2017 Author Share Posted April 1, 2017 Hi Jan Looks great!! For silver doped aircraft you csn't go past Tamiya AS 12 straight from the spray can. Cheers Brent thanks Brent for the tip, however I`m not so comfortable with spray cans jan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jan_G Posted April 1, 2017 Author Share Posted April 1, 2017 painting of main parts finished for metallic surfaces I have used mixture of Alclad Duralaluminium and MRP White (ratlio 2:1) to get this darker look for willow green I tried several mixtures of GSI basic green and yellow FS13538 (329) and I went with ratio geen / yellow (5-7/1) at the end I have sprayed stripes with insignia red I`m quite happy with the paint job, and now I have to polish the surface, spray the first gloss coat, and apply decals Great colourful plane and great kit thanks for looking jan Brandon Wood, Whitey and Joel_W 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hubert Boillot Posted April 1, 2017 Share Posted April 1, 2017 (edited) She looks really sweet with these colors. And some people wonder what's not to love in yellow wings ? Hubert PS: Tamiya TS-12 works well in an airbrush afetr decanting Edited April 1, 2017 by MostlyRacers Joel_W 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LSP_Kevin Posted April 1, 2017 Share Posted April 1, 2017 Now that is just gorgeous! Kev Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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