Post
by Stefano » Fri Dec 18, 2009 3:52 pm
I agree with Vince.
Let us see a brief history on RA interiors colours, for what we know until today.
Before standardization of Tavola 10, colours used were simply protective industrial paints, as you can see in elder metal furniture or equipment. They had the hue of their components: i.e. Bakelite grey was FS36231.
An example: SIAI sheet of 21 February 1940 stated the following paints:
- SIPA P 495 Green primer for light alloy stuctures as cowlings and exterior parts
- ARSON 53518 Grey primer for propellers and metal furnitures
- Arson 6083 Grey paint for metal parts, over the primer
- Bakelite anti-rust Grey paint for metal airframe, inner parts, etc.
- SIPA I.T. 534 Garnet paint for control sticks
- Dark grey paint for doors & floors (simply obtained by adding black to Bakelite)
- Havana paint for pilots' seats
and so on...
For standardization purpose, Tavola 10 ordered that all interiors had to be painted Grigio Azzurro Chiaro, itself probably a finish coat, as it had little of blue. This happened at least by Spring 1942, but probably the same paint was yet in use before.
Some factories, later in the war, didn't apply the grey finish over the primer, probably to spare time/money, and the green was left for interiors. Clearly, in aircraft like CZ.1007 that were entirely wooden-made there was no reason tho apply the green primer. So we can say that models of CANTs with green interiors are a mistake.
Photo and relics suggest that the factories which had green interiors were Aermacchi, Reggiane and perhaps Caproni, while FIAT (at least on CR.42 and G.50) and Breda kept the grey.
Of course, primers had different hues, even in the same aircraft. The RE.2002 relic, currently under restoration, had cockpit painted FS34300, rear fuselage interior FS34241, exterior surface primer lighter than FS34373 and bare metal fin frame!
As for wheel wells, it was often easier to paint them with the same colour of undersurfaces than to mask them. This happened also for Luftwaffe, RAF, USAAF and USN. There is a photo of a late Aermacchi-built MC.202 (so presumably with green interiors) with GAC1 wells.
If you're interested to ANR MC.205s I can tell you that in Museo di S. Pelagio, near Padua, is kept an ANR Veltro seat painted Verde Anticorrosione, so, the cockpit was likewise.
As Vince states, we can't find a rule, expecially in a Country that was soon to loose the war. Unless credible documents on that same aircraft are available, an educated guess is better than a historical mistake.
Stefano
