Silver paint on inter war RAF aircraft

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20 years 5 months

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What is the paint finish? Is it gloss or satin aluminium?

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24 years 2 months

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What was painted? The fabric would have been silver dope and metal parts polished bare finish.

Would woden parts (such as struts) have been painted?

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11 years 11 months

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I'm sure someone who knows better will be along shortly, but until then...
The silver paint - and most of the other colours in the immediate post-WW1 period - were mixed by adding pigment to the clear dope that was used to stretch the fabric. In it's 'natural' state this would perhaps be somewhere on the glossy side of what we would now think of as 'satin', but it depends to some extent who did the mixing and under what conditions. Factor in to that the possibility of more or fewer coats of dope than 'standard' underneath it (more = smoother = glossier) and the fact that wear would tend to dull the finish whereas contaminants such as spilt oil would tend to make it look shiny. And there's always the possibility that whoever applied the detail markings might have put a coat of clear over the top to seal them.
I think the short answer might be 'What sheen would you like it to be, sir?'

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20 years 5 months

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Thanks, just wanted to know as I'm about to paint a Bulldog but when I saw how many different shades of silver are out there, I thought I ask what it is.

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11 years 11 months

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It'll be an aluminium pigment, which gives you a good idea of what colour it should be. Aluminium is a different shade to steel, different again to nickel, to real silver, etc., etc. Even that is difficult to match. As I said earlier, the sheen is another matter entirely.

As recently as the 1980s 'silver' was an awkward colour to mix and match. The famous 'Landor' livery for British Airways (light grey over dark blue) was originally conceived with a silver top, and the trial aircraft (a 737) painted up that way. It proved impossible to get guarantees from any paint manufacturer that two batches of 'silver' would be precisely the same colour, so any touch up would produce a patchwork appearance, which was not acceptable. So pale grey it was...

As an aside, my personal theory is that some of the paint manufacturers were rather stung by having had to admit they couldn't accurately match their own colour, and put some effort into sorting it out. They succeeded, and were so proud of their efforts that they made silver available to the world's motor manufacturers at a discounted rate, which explains the sudden appearance of lots of silver cars on the roads from the late '80s onwards. I expect the real story is a bit more complex than that...

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12 years 6 months

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As a model maker i tend to mix humbrol 27001 and 165 in a ratio of around 75% 27001 and 25% 165.The metallic 27001 is a grainy paint and when dry can be lightly buffed.Adding 165 flats the shine off a little and gives a nice silver dope effect.For polished aluminium i use 27002,usually two coats leaving a good 24hrs between coats to avoid lifting the first coat,leaving it to dry for 24hrs then give it a light buff up with a soft clean cloth.You should see a clear difference between the dope finish and the polished metal effect.Hope this helps.

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11 years 11 months

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Another good tip to get metallic paint to look like metal is to use a gloss black undercoat.

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20 years 5 months

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Thanks all, I've been told alclad satin aluminium is good. I was looking at rattle cans for ease, it's 34" wingspan covered wood. Skinning is a fabric of sort instead of tissue. I'd add pix if it was possible from iPhone but I've not found a way.

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The correct/official name was Aluminium but it was often called Silver, even in official documentation. The colour standard was obtained from the Director of Aeronautical Inspection at the Air Ministry, later the Ministry of Aircraft Production. It was produced to material standard DTD 83, nitrocellulose dope. Later to DTD 63 nitro cellulose paint and DTD 260 synthetic paint. Both are material specifications for gloss paints.

After the war the DTD 63 and DTD 260 finishes proved to be not durable enough for the high speed jets entering service. A new material specification was introduced to solve the problem, DTD 772. This new finish became known as High Speed Silver. The new finish matched the old Aluminium colour but was much more glossy. If you are concerned about the exact shade of Aluminium, Xtracolor Speed Silver matches the colour.

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Pre-war paints were cellulose-based, and glossy, which was fine until camouflage was needed.
The Air Ministry wanted matt paints, but with a smooth finish, and this proved impossible with cellulose, and, eventually in late 1942, Supermarine found a synthetic paint, which did the job.
Post-war the old silver paint came back into use, but was useless on high-speed airframes; Sidney Camm had to paint the Hunter prototype in FAA Sky, because the silver simply wouldn't stay on the surface. Finishes eventually had a gloss varnish over them, and many different paint types have been used.
Silver paint isn't all the same, but I have no idea if this was known (or available) 70 years ago; a friend produces a metallic paint, for the model world, and uses a form of aluminium that floats to the surface of the paint as it dries (usually it sinks, leaving a layer of carrier, which can discolour the pigment, over the metal.) This gives a more metallic finish, rather than just silver.

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Sidney Camm had to paint the Hunter prototype in FAA Sky...........

A man of many talents, obviously. I wonder if he used a brush or a roller.

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20 years 5 months

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Gona take a trip 2 Hendon 2moro & photo theirs, now where is my 1 billion candle watt lamp, only way i'll see the damn thing :D

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A man of many talents, obviously. I wonder if he used a brush or a roller.

Staff

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11 years 11 months

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As in 'a wizard's staff has a brush on the end'?

Oh, no, I see what you mean. :D

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As in 'a wizard's staff has a brush on the end'?

.....

Oook