Want advice on painting a Dauntless

[compressorman]

I am finishing up the assembly of my AM SBD Dauntless and I want my dive flaps to be in the fully opened position. The flaps are red inside and the outsides are going to be blue for the top and white for the bottom. I am thinking about going ahead and painting the interiors red then I will airbrush and weather my exterior paint (including the dive brake exteriors). Then when the painting is finished I plan to touch up the red insides that inevitably got some overspray on them. While this doesnt seem foolproof to me it is the best plan I can come up with. How have some of you solved this problem?

Chris

[Jennings]

Why not paint the outside, mask it, then paint the inside? No overspray, no problem.

[compressorman]

After thinking about it some more I think that I will go ahead with my initial plan and just apply some masking tape over the red areas.

Chris

[Hal Marshman Sr]

Latest wisdon says the middle flaps, both the ceiling, and inside the bottom of the flap, were the underside color of the airplane, rather than red. I have seen photographic evidence that this is the case, but I've also seen photo evidence that indicted that some were indeed red. In that case, it was really hard to tell from a B&W photo, with the center flap in shadow. I was not convinced, so would stick with the bottom color, in your case, white. The various pix I've seen supporting that were pretty clear. Naturally, in the case of the outer flaps, the innards were indeed Insignia Red.

[Steve N]

I carefully examined an SBD that had just been dragged out of Lake Michigan back in the early 90s. The inside of the center flap, as well as the flap well, showed no trace of red (disclaimer: these areas were in contact with the lake bottom sediment and suffered the most deterioration, and little original paint remained.) When the aircraft was restored these areas were painted the underside color. Here are some photos of the aircraft prior to any restoration work. As I said, little (if any) original paint remains on the center flap, but there was no trace of red, even in the nooks and crannies of the structure.

As for painting, I'd take Hal's advice: paint the outer surface, mask it, then paint the inner surface. The only problem might be if you intend to use a wash on the inner surface, which could bleed under the masking.

SN

[Jennings]

My thought is that masking the outside will be easier than masking the inside, since the inside has the strengthening ribs. But if you're careful, either way should work.

[dnl42]

Gotta agree with Jennings on this as the best approach. You only need to do the one color on the outboard flaps v. the entire exterior paint job...

[WymanV]

I've built about a half dozen of the AM kits and have 2 on the bench now. I've always painted the red first, masked it and painted the outsides. This way the red doesn't get into the holes making it visable on the outside. I don't even take them off the sprue until I'm into final assembly.

And yes, center flap and well are underside color overall. And the top flaps are normally closed when on the ground. They only open them in a dive.

Ken

[compressorman]

Thanks for all the great info guys. I believe that I will try to prepaint and then mask the red areas. Also glad to hear about the areas that are not supposed to be red.

Jennings, I do not want you to think that I completely disregarded your first post. I believe that we posted simultaneously.

Chris

[Hal Marshman Sr]

Stve N, Thanks for providing the photos to back up my post. Always nice to see verification.

[Joel_W]

I did a fair amount of research on the proper colors of the dive flaps when I built the Hasegawa SBD-4 kit a few years ago. The center flap was usually painted neutral gray, not red nor white. I added ribs and formers as I cut the dive flaps out, then drilled all the holes out. I painted the insides red for the wing flaps, and neutral gray for the center flap. I left the installation of all the flaps till after painting, decaling, and weathering.

Joel

[seawinder]

I know the red is eye-catching, but would either the top or bottom flaps have been open when the plane was parked?

[Hal Marshman Sr]

Joel W, I doubt if Neutral gray would have been used, nor would as some suggest, would it be Gull Gray. I suggest that for the scheme you illustarte with a model, the shade should be USN Non Specular Light Gray. it should match the bottom color. Ergo, in the case of the "3 tone" scheme, it would be white. As to the question of open or shut, on a parked airplane, the top flap would not be in the open position. there are many pix depicting planes parped with the bottom flap lowered.

[seawinder]

Joel W, I doubt if Neutral gray would have been used, nor would as some suggest, would it be Gull Gray. I suggest that for the scheme you illustarte with a model, the shade should be USN Non Specular Light Gray. it should match the bottom color. Ergo, in the case of the "3 tone" scheme, it would be white. As to the question of open or shut, on a parked airplane, the top flap would not be in the open position. there are many pix depicting planes parped with the bottom flap lowered.

Re the flaps, good to know, thanks. Will we be seeing you at Patcon tomorrow? Hope so!

Pip

[Hal Marshman Sr]

Unless something untoward occurs between now and tomorrow morning, I'll be there with bells on, Pip.

[Joel_W]

Joel W, I doubt if Neutral gray would have been used, nor would as some suggest, would it be Gull Gray. I suggest that for the scheme you illustarte with a model, the shade should be USN Non Specular Light Gray. it should match the bottom color. Ergo, in the case of the "3 tone" scheme, it would be white. As to the question of open or shut, on a parked airplane, the top flap would not be in the open position. there are many pix depicting planes parped with the bottom flap lowered.

Hal,

You're absolutely correct as to the position of the top flaps. When I built the SBD-4 I didn't realize that issue till much later. It's still on my list to go back and fix. As for the color of the bottom of the USN two tone paint schemes prior to 1943, it was referenced as ANA 603, and is referred to as Sea Gray (Neutral), I just transposed it to Neutral Gray, which I shouldn't have done. I painted the inside of the center dive flap the same color as I did the bottom of the SBD-4. The use of the term "Non Specular" refers to the Matt finish of the paint, rather then to a specific color.

Joel

Edited September 13, 2014 by Joel_W

[compressorman]

Glad to learn about the top flap being closed while on the ground. I would have made a booboo on that one.

Chris

[Hal Marshman Sr]

I undertand the meaning and proper use of non specular. Neutral gray was an Army color, and moderately dark, compared to the Navy's gray.

[Joel_W]

I undertand the meaning and proper use of non specular. Neutral gray was an Army color, and moderately dark, compared to the Navy's gray.

Hal,

I just explained how I derived at that wording,and offered an apology for it. I also gave the correct color ANA 603, which is what I painted both the inside of the center dive flaps and the underside of the aircraft.

Joel

[Hal Marshman Sr]

No apologies necessary, Joel. The written word often doesn't really convey emotion or intention. I really believe we may be oj the same page with this,

[Joel_W]

No apologies necessary, Joel. The written word often doesn't really convey emotion or intention. I really believe we may be oj the same page with this,

Hal,

Thank you, and yes I think we are.

Joel