Spad XIII (early) query

[DaveB]

Dear all,

Currently working my way through Roden's Spad XIII early kit and unsure of Roden's colour call out for a couple of bits.

Specifically the aileron actuator arms and support struts for horizontal stabiliser.  The colour guide calls for these parts to be painted steel.  This may be correct but does seem a bit odd to me.   Is this correct - does anyone know or have an opinion on this?

My feeling was perhaps black for the aileron actuators but have not a clue for the support struts.

Cheers!

Dave

[Rob Hart]

I agree with black for the aileron actuating arms, but the stabilizer supports look to be a shade of gray and I doubt if they were unpainted steel. This is restored SPAD in the Smithsonian.

[DaveB]

That's great - thank you.

I will go with this in that case.

Regards

Dave

[Big Sky Modeler]

I looked at several profiles of Spad XIIIs from Alan Toelle, and it appears the stabilizer bar is painted in the color of the underside.  While the fabric colors contained aluminum flakes which gave the finish a "wet" look, the paint used on the metal and plywood areas contained no aluminum flake and were similar to an enamel paint, called ripolin.  If the underside color was ecru, then the struts were probably a ripolin color similar to the ecru color.  If the underside color was blanc=bleute, then the struts would be painted a ripolin similar to the blanc-bleute color.  The aileron arms could be painted similarly, but I have seen some period photos that show they are dark, so black could make sense.  I have seen one restoration that has the arms as French blue, which was used on some metal fittings.

[DaveB]

Thank you, that also makes sense - I will therefore go black for aileron actuators and linen being the same colour as the underside.

Regards

Dave