The Little World

The colour of the underwear is always important. And not just in the gusset, either.

Trying to find authoritative material about the insides and undersides of aircraft can be a problem. There are air museums, of course, and you get to peer from a distance at what the wheel wells and control surface recesses look like. But what you see may have been the result of a vigorous repaint campaign by the staff – and it might not be what the plane wore when new.

You can bet on zinc chromate for some, bare aluminium for others. There is a Japanese colour that approximates unicorn sparkle and the Russian aqua blue cockpits. I suspect some were just black…whether from dirt and bad maintenance or a deliberate coat of paint is open to question. I welcome any specification that the plastic kit maker cares to dictate.

This the insides of the Ouragan are chromate and the gear doors are aluminium. The cockpit is dark grey. The inside of the air intake is aluminium and the tailpipe is the colour of an old barbecue.

If it were me making decisions in full-size aircraft I would follow the US Navy’s lead and paint the inside of working things white. At least then you could see oil and hydraulic fluid leaks early.