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Early C/KC-135 Wheel Well Colors


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Trying to determine wheel well colors for early C/KC-135 aircraft from initial unpainted birds in the 50's and 60's to coroguard painted one's.   Were they unpainted or same silver as coroguard.   I'm pretty sure they weren't white until they got the aircraft grey paint. 

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Don, The Italeri #1353 1/72 KC-135A kit features an early markings version ("Ram Rod" circa 1960).  Perhaps the Italeri instruction sheet makes a distinction?  Do you have a copy of USAF T.O. 1-1-4 for 1964 or earlier?  Maybe not on the two pages fo rthe KC-135, but on one of the other sections with generic markings, it may specify wheel well colors.  Duraluminum sounds right, though I remember seeing the crew access hatch & main well painted zinc chromate green in an old photo.  I'll keep looking. K/r, Dutch

Edited by Dutch
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I dont have a corroborated definitive answer but I’ve got an old corrosion mil standard. It explains painted areas such as lavatories, interior areas etc. in general terms. I’ll see what it says. If it were me, silver is always a safe bet or maybe interior green wells and silver inside doors. I know I’ve seen several 135s with adc gray later in life. I would think somebody out there has a 135 corrosion tech order that might offer a clue.

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I wouldn't either.  Italeri's instructions call for gloss white on the front and rear bulkeads,  keel, and gloss silver on the spar, no callout on the roof of the bay, and flat gull gray on the interior of the gear doors. 

 

Rick L. 

 

 

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On 3/21/2020 at 10:49 PM, Spruemeister said:

I wouldn't either.  Italeri's instructions call for gloss white on the front and rear bulkeads,  keel, and gloss silver on the spar, no callout on the roof of the bay, and flat gull gray on the interior of the gear doors. 

 

Rick L. 

 

 

Not definitive but it implies that they didnt change it at all

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After Vietnam I was sent to Plattsburgh to crew chief FB-111's. (Jan. 1971) Since I had to wait almost six months until they arrived I crewed KC's. As I remember the wheels, landing gear and wheel wells were painted in a dull aluminum finish. Inside the gear doors as well. It's been a while but NOTHING was white or grey.

Hope this helps you out.

 

DET1460

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I think of silver as too ambiguous. Aluminized lacquer is more likely. Kinda like the under coat for fabric. On metal it’s main function being anti corrosion. Probably dulled easily. 

 

Rick L. 

 

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14 hours ago, DET1460 said:

After Vietnam I was sent to Plattsburgh to crew chief FB-111's. (Jan. 1971) Since I had to wait almost six months until they arrived I crewed KC's. As I remember the wheels, landing gear and wheel wells were painted in a dull aluminum finish. Inside the gear doors as well. It's been a while but NOTHING was white or grey.

Hope this helps you out.

 

DET1460

Thanks for that! I will keep it saved to the KC-135 file. K/r. Dutch 

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On 3/26/2020 at 3:44 AM, Spruemeister said:

I think of silver as too ambiguous. Aluminized lacquer is more likely. Kinda like the under coat for fabric. On metal it’s main function being anti corrosion. Probably dulled easily. 

 

Rick L. 

 

Yeah artistic licence is always a thing in any hobby, especially ours, but saying like that makes it sound like they sprayed the metal with a metallic paint to make it look like silver.

Or do you mean you think they might possibly have put a clear lacquer over the metal to protect it?

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I have no first hand knowledge of what Boeing put in their early KC gear wells. But in the days before everything went white, landing gear components had an aluminum pigmented lacquer (similar to but not the same as dope

for fabric) applied as corrosion control. Corogard was like this. It’s possible the gear wells got the same coating as the struts and links. It’s also possible they started out just bare aluminum,  then maybe gray. I don’t know. Trying to remember landing gear paint from my A&P training. 

 

The only 135 wheel well I ever stuck my head in was an RC in 2011 and it was the same 16473  gray as the fuselage underside. 

 

Another thing. At the same time Boeing was building KC-135s in Renton, it was finishing up B-47 production in Wichita with yellow chromate  well wells and gear door interiors. Why two practices for different airframes?  But it’s possible. 

 

Its not beyond possible that a model company looks at aluminum painted anything and labels them as “silver”.  Not caring about the finer points of accuracy we get used to. 

 

Rick L. 

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