SPA Modeler

Well, I did come across great supporting evidence for aluminum lacquer rims. At least for the outer face. The inner face appears to match the landing gear strut color. Here is an early production F4U-1. These are factory new pre test flight shots, so that is about as good an example of how they look at the start of their service life as you can get...





And just food for thought, especially in b&w photos: one, with use, the rims will end up getting covered in runway grime and brake dust in service. Those planes were not “detailed” like today’s warbirds are by their owners. And two, spare parts in the original paint colors would still be floating around in the supply system and would find their way onto a newer painted aircraft on occasion.

Thank you for those reference shots, Carlos! They perfectly illustrate the article I posted earlier. Of the early F4U-1, it said the wheel wells and legs were the underside color, Light Grey (check!) and the hubs were silver (check!). However, as we transition to the F4U-1a, things change a bit with the move to the tri-color scheme. The wheel wells were the underside color, now Insignia White but the legs remained either Light Grey or silver. Nothing is said about the hubs.

Now I could stick to what this article outlines but I have photos of the actual aircraft and aircraft in the same unit serving at about the same time as the actual aircraft. I consider these photos to be more relevant than the SOP from the factory.

From the photo below, my eyes tell me that the landing gear legs appear to be lighter than grey and seem to match the undersides of the aircraft, which was known to be Insignia White. So I am going to paint the gear legs Insignia White. Unfortunately, this photo stops short of the wheels so for the hubs, I'm going to consider some other photos.


Below are some more photos of 740. The quality is not great but they show the wheels. The outside hubs appear dark in color with the center somewhat lighter in color. Are these silver or white hubs that just got dirty? Perhaps. But interestingly the inner hubs appear to be a lighter color corresponding to the landing gear legs. If the outer hubs were dirty, it would stand to reason that the inner hubs would be similarly affected, if not more so.




There are other photos of Corsairs from VMF-214. These are not the actual aircraft but since they are serving in the same unit at the same time as the subject aircraft, I consider these photos to be a more relevant reference than the SOP from the factory. These photos tell me that the coloration of the hubs could have varied from aircraft to aircraft. One has obviously light-colored hubs, either silver or white. The other two show a darker hub. Again, there is a possibility that these were lighter hubs that had gotten dirty but my eyes tell me otherwise. They are too uniform to be stains. They look to be painted in a darker color.




What that darker color could be, I do not know. It could possibly be one of the two blues for the upper camo since those colors would've been available. Here is a photo of another F4U-1a that served with VMF-214, #883.


I guess I'm not the only one who has guessed that the wheel hub color on some of the VMF-214 Corsairs may have been blue as this profile suggests.


I haven't decided what to do about the wheel hub color yet but I don't think it will remain white.

The Montex mask set supplied decals for the #740 on the landing gear covers. So I made some paint masks for it.


I've painted the armored glass using the masks provided by Montex.



The tail wheel gear has been painted and assembled. Some additional weathering will be applied to struts and doors.

That armored glass looks beautiful in place John! Just my opinion I would probably paint the hubs silver then weather them very heavily.

on both points! The dark rims are most likely a build up of brake dust, airfield dust, and leaked hydraulic fluid residue.

on both points! The dark rims are most likely a build up of brake dust, airfield dust, and leaked hydraulic fluid residue.[/quote]
Thank you!

And I heartily disagree! I've explained my rationale and mapped out what I believe and why I believe it. There has been no compelling evidence to the contrary except factory fresh photos of a birdcage Corsair, which is of limited, if any, relevance. As a modeler, I've been operating under a motto of Believe What I See. I trust my eyes enough to discern that some of the VMF-214 Corsairs had their hubs painted in a dark color and that BuNo 17740 had what appeared to be dark hubs. I've not seen ANY photos to me that indicate that these dark hubs were originally light colored and darkened due to wear. So... if ya don't want to see blue hubs, I suggest you look away!

Well, not yet. I'm not quite there. But I do have some tail gear weathering to show you. The tail wheel is free spinning so the flat spot will get put into the right position later on.



I personally don't like working with WHITE as a base for weathering. It just makes everything stand out too much... hard to hide mistakes and sloppy technique.

jkim wrote: So... if ya don't want to see blue hubs, I suggest you look away!

Not a problem.

Roger Wilco out.

Still looking good John. It's your project build it to suit you no one else.