Finger Paint...
Painting this thing was supposed to be easy. Many
hours were spent researching what paint formulas were use. Two books on
the Daylights have conflicting information. I also corresponded with
folks to see what they thought. The orange shade selected is below.
I like this picture. Can't wait
until the pilot and lettering are put on. The Dzus 1/4 turn fasteners
(silver screws) haven't been painted yet but will be.
Here's the pilot with the brass
diamond plate rough cut for the steps.
Here's were things went wrong.
Days after the orange was prayed on I spent a ton of time masking the
pilot trim straps. I painted it a gray color but it looks WRONG! The
4449 uses stainless steel. Been trying to find out if the Daylights
built in 1943 used stainless steel or was painted, and if it was
painted, what color? One book says it was painted "aluminum bronze" and
may have changed to "silver gray" in 1947. The same book also shows a
picture and just has "aluminum" for the pilot trim.
I did end up stripping and repainting the pilot
with silver accents.
Here's a perfect example of the
"gray" paint not looking right. After I masked the numbers on this tiny
piece, it looks like I will have the opportunity to do it again because
I'm going to sand blast this clean and start all over. I
eventually used the same
"silver" shiny paint that I used on the pilot trim.
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