Here is tonight's installment:
Remember when I mentioned earlier that I was not too sure about the color call out for the area ahead of the cockpit, inside the fuselage ? The area where the landing gear retracts up into and the engine mount, oil tank, and turbo charger are all located behind the firewall is specifically what I'm talking about.
The instructions call for this area to be painted in the same color as the outside of the aircraft, or the same as the underside color.
I don't think this is entirely correct. Instead I believe it was more often than not painted using what has been called "Grumman Gray". Here's why...
Some years ago a very well preserved FM-2 was pulled up from the Great Lakes. It was in remarkably good condition, as were most of the planes that were recovered from this area. It was a time capsule of sorts, and shows how these planes were when in service. It still had air in the tires !
I scoured the internet and found some really good pictures of this FM-2 that is being restored. I zoomed in on what I found, in order to get a better closer look at the paint colors.
What I found confirmed my earlier suspicions. In all of these following pictures you can see how the Light Gray color is visible in these areas. You have to look beyond the muscles and sea grown vegetation.
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1. Notice the Light Gray color here.
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1. Light gray visible on intercoolers
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1. Light Gray
2. Original GSB color
3. Notice the GSB here
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1. Light Gray with stencils visible
2. More light Gray here
3. and here
In this last photo you can see how the FM-2 is being repainted the way it was found. However, the area where the wheel / tire would retract over is still in a Light Gray color. I believe this area should be the same as the surrounding underside colors. In this case, it should be GSB, which is also visible in many WW2 era photos too.
So now I'm 99 percent sure this presumption is correct, even though some have claimed that Eastern painted these FM-2's differently than how Grumman did with the F4F series. I think these photos show it was done just like Grumman did it, at least in some of the production blocks anyhow.
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1. This area here should be the same as the bottom of the plane
2. More light Gray
3. Overspray GSB
What I "think" Eduard is telling us to do is this.
Paint the area behind where the main wheel and tire assembly retracts over, in the same colors used as found on the bottom side of the aircraft. Here you can see it was done like this. The Dark Sea Blue is sprayed over the top of the Light Gray. You can also see more Light Gray paint visible inside, and it's especially visible on the engine mount and landing gear supports.
so... I loaded up the air brush and repainted what I did last night... It looks "White" in my pictures because of the lighting. It's actually a Light Gray color.
Here you can see the fresh Light Gray that I sprayed directly over the previously painted Dark Sea Blue. The Light Gray I sprayed on today looks like it is a White color, but that's due to the lighting. Trust me, it's Light Gray and not White. ๐
This is a great picture I found online of a Wright R-1820. This is the same type of engine that was used in the FM-2. I suspected the color call outs mentioned by Eduard for the engine too. They would have you paint the crank case in an aluminum color.
Last night I painted mine that way too... but it bothered me. I thought every WW2 era American radial engine I've seen was painted with the crankcase in a Light Gray. Aluminum would likely be true if the engine was used in a Sherman tank... but since these engines were destined for use in a salt air environment, I believe they should be a Light Gray color...and not left in a natural as cast color. I could be wrong, but I don't think I am.
Here's a great picture showing the accessories on the back of the engine... The magnetos, carburetor, starter, generator and so on are all painted Black.
So I repainted the Aluminum color using Engine Gray. I completed the engine, so now it will be ready to install soon.
This is what it looks like after a final wash was applied. I think Eduard got it right with how the plastic parts for the engine should look. Other than adding the decals, this part is done.
Since I was painting Black, I painted the smaller details on the cockpit parts. Tomorrow I will start adding the PE parts, paint the landing gear retraction chain, and hopefully seal up the cockpit.
Thanks for stopping by.
As always, comments are encouraged.
