Hi all,
I had read of Aluminium doped Strutters, but was guided by the Windsock data file 34.
It seems at the time of writing, doped Aluminium Strutters had not been known.
From what I now read it seems a few Strutters were supplied to the French for evaluation.
They were considered worth using and licenses were given to allow the French to build the aircraft for their use.
Production was slow to start, as happened with the earlier Caudron aircraft.
The Sopwith aircraft built by the French looked similar to the British counterpart, although it's thought the 1.A2 (reconnaissance) version may have had reinforced wings and different equipment.
However, only the few early models originally supplied British were clear dope linen.
Later French built Strutters were probably Aluminium doped and by the end of 1917, the five coloured dope camouflage was universally adopted.
The camouflaged aircraft had the standard French 5 colours pigmented dope. On the upper wings pigmented dope was used, which is why a difference can sometimes been seen in hue between doped surfaces and the roundels.
If the landing gear, cowlings and plywood coverings were camouflaged, it was with the standard paints.
On the Aluminium doped aircraft, the colouring was apparently:
One coat of clear tautening dope
Two coats of Aluminium tautening dope
One coat of clear finishing dope
That fuselage and wings were similarly doped.
The cowlings left the factory burnished (sometime painted in unit level) and the exposed plywood decking was varnished. The landing gear was either painted silver (most often) or left with the blue -grey protective paint.
As with most WW1 aircraft research, very little can be actually confirmed.
However, given this and the helpful comments elsewhere, I've decided to amend the colouring of this model to that of an all Aluminium doped finish.
Mike
