Primer colour

[P.o Prune]

Well, as my "man cave" is slowly getting more and more habitable every day, I'm beginning to look for more information regarding the Spitfire I'm planning on building.

Can anyone tell me the colour (or what colour that comes closest) of the primer used on the aluminium surfaces? I'm thiking wing spars, stringers and longerons etc.

Thanks in advance

[Edgar]

Grey.

[P.o Prune]

Are you sure? (sorry I don't mean to be a pain) The reason I ask is because nowadays we use a yellow or very light green substance and I thought that is perhaps hadn't changed much from back when.

[Greenshirt]

Edgar is the smartest person I know on the Spitfire...

Tim

[Edgar]

The drawing 30000 sht. 28D says:-

"For this machine all components & parts are to be finally protected with one coat of UP1 undercoat grey followed by a finishing coat pigmented with aluminium to D.T.D. 63A unless otherwise stated in the following list."

The list gives green for the cockpit, of course, which, at some later stage, was extended to include the rest of the interior.

Aluminium alloy parts, after working, and before priming, were to be anodised; the only mention of chromate comes for magnesium castings, and even they still followed that with grey undercoat, with silver over the top.

It's a pure guess, but the silver might have been discontinued due to ingredient shortages, which are mentioned in a 1943 lecture on the subject.

Wooden parts were white enamel, but still over the ubiquitous grey primer.

Edgar

P.S. I should have added this; I don't think you're a pain for asking for clarification, since I've had access to a huge amount of material, which I doubt you have.

Edited September 27, 2013 by Edgar

[Tim T]

As Greenshirt said earlier....

What Edgar doesn't know about Spitfires really isn't worth knowing.

[georgeusa]

Pheww!! Thought this topic would turn into about 10 pages with an arguement over the shade/hue/gloss/patina of grey. I like the simple answer grey. (Or is it gray?)

[P.o Prune]

Thanks Edgar. I'll go with the grey.
As for material on the Spit. I bought a dvd through www.fighter-plane-blueprints-plans.co.uk (no, it's not an advertisement :-) ) It's very interesting, but it really doesn't say enything about the paint scheme and such.

[ben_m]

As the parts you're painting aren't likely to be chipped or abraded ("wing spars, stringers and longerons etc."), is the colour of undercoat important?

[P.o Prune]

As the parts you're painting aren't likely to be chipped or abraded ("wing spars, stringers and longerons etc."), is the colour of undercoat important?

I think so, Ben. I'm going to make it so you can take off the machinegun panels and other access doors. And I would like to get the right colour of the aluminium inside ... Probably me being too much into details, but I like to think that this is going to be as "real" as possible.

[Greenshirt]

I think so, Ben. I'm going to make it so you can take off the machinegun panels and other access doors. And I would like to get the right colour of the aluminium inside ... Probably me being too much into details, but I like to think that this is going to be as "real" as possible.

I think Ben's comment is meant to clarify that while grey was the primer, there was a color coat over the grey of either aluminium or grey-green depending on the area. My impression from Edgar's information is that unless you want to show it in a primer'd condition only, the insides of a delivered machine will either be silver or green.

Tim

[Edgar]

Precisely; generally, items were painted before assembly. When I helped on a XVI, about 30 years ago, we found that cockpit parts had been painted green, then assembled.

Edgar

[P.o Prune]

I seem to remember when we repaired the old C-47 way back, that the longerons and stringers and wings beams etc, was primed as an anti corrosion treatment. But now I'm not so sure any more. It could be that we only primed the areas where there were danger of corrosion. For instance where two pieces were riveted together, or where a doppler plate had been installed.

To clarify the reson for my question:

I thought that all metal surfaces was primed (for anti corrosion purpose) and therefore had planned to paint the beams, stringers and longerons under the skin. so when you lifted up the machine gun panel and looked down you'd see the primed metal. (am I making any sense here?)

Just for reality's sake.

[Edgar]

(am I making any sense here?)

Perfectly, but the primer was always viewed as just that, with a coat of "proper" paint (whether internal or external) being added on top, at all times, except for specific areas, e.g. the copper pipes carrying hot water to the radiators, or exhaust stubs.

Edgar

[ben_m]

You'd see metal that had been annodised, undercoated in grey and given a top coat of either aluminium dope or interior grey green, depending on the area and time frame. Nothing was left in the undercoat colour.

On US built types interior surfaces were commonly left in yellow and green primer.