F4U Corsair questions

[Monty Python]

Possibly opening a can of worms but here goes

 

Have 2 Tamiya F4U Corsair kits, 1 is a F4U-1 Birdcage and the other is the F4U-1A. Have seen on various sites that 2 of the colours in the instructions are open to question, namely the cockpit and the tail wheel bay. One thing is the F4U-1 should have a Dark Dull Green cockpit the other is the F4U-1A should have a Zinc Chromate Yellow tail wheel bay. As I'm not up with U.S WW2 aircraft, I bow to your superior judgement.

 

TIA

Chris

[LSP_Ray]

First thing you should do is buy Dana Bell’s book, F4u-1 Pictorial, Vol. 1. Its about $15 on Amazon. 
Interiors on Corsairs started out in the salmon colors (except the cockpit) then switched to zinc chromate of varying shades ( they were mixed at the factory). Gear wells often ended up in lower surface color if they were serviced in the field or forward depots.

And we haven’t even started on versions of the 3 or 4 color camo! 
Again, get the book!

[Thunnus]

Per IPMS Stockholm article, "Interior Colours of US Aircraft, 1941-45, Part III"...

 

https://www.ipmsstockholm.se/home/interior-colours-of-us-aircraft-1941-45-part-iii/

Vought F4U Corsair

Sorting out the interior colours of the Corsair is particularly tricky. For the F4U-1 Birdcage Corsairs, photos taken at the time show the cockpits being a very dark colour, most probably black. Analysis of some crashed examples of F4U-1s indicates black, while the factory Erection & Maintenance Instructions called for Dull Dark Green.

As mentioned before, early production Corsairs had their interior surfaces in areas other than the cockpit covered with Salmon primer. This colour mixture was used relatively long into Corsair production. It would seem that all F4U-1s and a number of early F4U-1As were finished this way.

Somewhere during the production of F4U-1A model Vought discontinued the use of Salmon primers and switched to Zinc Chromate Yellow with cockpits in Interior Green.

In the engine cowling area, Vought adhered to the practice of painting its inner surface the same colour as the underside, ANA 602 Sky Gray on early F4U-1s, ANA 601 Insignia White on F4U-1As.

 

The wheel wells of early model Corsairs deserve closer inspection. Like the cowlings, the main wheel wells, undercarriage legs and boths ides of well covers were painted in the underside camouflage colour, ANA 602 Non-specular Sky Gray. Wheel hubs were silver. However, the smaller forward area of the wheel to which the leg itself retracted was left in the factory primer finish, Salmon. Some aircraft had also Salmon inner surfaces of the small covers attached to the undercarriage legs.

The canvas covers in the wells were probably drab -coloured.

 

With the advent of the tri-colour camouflage on F4U-1A the same principle was applied with white replacing the Sky Gray with ANA 601 Non-specular Insignia White, and the However, the undercarriage legs remained grey throughout the production of this model, possibly due to the failure or indifference to notify a subcontractor about changed colour specifications. For the record, some photos of -1As seem to show silver undercarriage legs, but it could not be established to what extent such finish was applied. One theory is that Aluminium lacquer was applied on these assemblies during field depot overhauls.

 

In October 1944 the new factory instructions for the F4U production called for application of Interior Green on all internal surfaces including the cockpit. As an anti-glare measure, all cockpit panels above the lower edge of the instrument panel were to be painted matt black. Curiously, the new directive did not explicitly state what was to happen with the cowling’s inner surface. Thus, subsequent machines showed either Zinc Chromate or Interior Green cowlings, until the last standardisation of colour post-war whereupon black was introduced in this area.

 

During that period, the wheel wells were also painted Interior Green. Undercarriage legs were initially still finished in light grey, but as existing stocks of parts were used up at the factory, the overall Glossy Sea Blue finish was carried over to the undercarriage legs and wheel hubs.

[Monty Python]

thanks guys that's a big help

[JayW]

Chris - I am headlong into a giant F4U project in 1/18 scale and have explored a good bit of this territory already.  Cockpit - I honestly do not know where to find the definitive specs on that.  I say go with interior green for both models.  You cannot go wrong there.

 

As for the wheel wells, the colors are specified on drawing VS-10900 "Markings- F4U-1, F3A-1, FG-1 Airplanes".   Here:

 

 

 

This drawing I have shown is at revision level "G" (date 7/?/43).  Here is the revision history next to the title block:

 

 

The title block (which I don't show) shows the original release to be 1941 (cannot read the month).  So this drawing covers the entire F4U-1 series from the birdcage to the -1D (the early ones anyway).  It is then superseded by drawing VS-37990 (beginning at line number 3125, which is about 300 units into the -1D block, released 3/44).  It is that drawing that specifies the familiar dark gloss sea blue for the entire airplane with exceptions - effective on -1D's only.  Not our drawing.

 

So for F4U-1's and F4U-1A's our source is 10900.  Putting aside any painting done after delivery, the factories at Vought didn't just willy-nilly paint however they wanted.  They were controlled by engineering drawings like 10900 which were created in engineering departments at Vought, and those departments were controlled by the Naval Bureau of Aeronautics (BuAer).  Engineering requirements changed frequently, which left factories scrambling on how to incorporate changes without scrapping already made stuff in the pipeline, reworking when they could, leaving inventory as is if permissible.  That included finish requirements.  So, evolving finish definition can be tough to pin down sometimes. 

 

Here are some close-ups of 10900:

 

  

 

 

This closeup shows that the main landing gear and the wheel well are to be either light gray or white.  I chose gray for mine.  Those little circles with "F" inside bug me.  That means the notes were either added or modified at revision "F".  The revision block dates revision "F" at June 1943.  So one might wonder what those notes said prior to revision "F"..... 

 

Another:

 

 

 

This close-up shows that the tail gear and arresting hook mechanism are also either gray or white.  Again, with the circle with "F" inside.  But curiously it says nothing about the well itself.  I chose to paint mine gray as well, to be consistent with the main gear wells.  And I do not recall whether or not I got some coaching on that.  Wish I could answer that one more definitively.

 

I should also say that if you dirty the bay up enough, it won't matter if it is gray or white.  It will look about the same!       

 

 

Edited January 24, 2023 by JayW