Julie wrote:
I wanted to insert an image, but I can't seem to do it, so here goes a description. The lines of the star seem very crisp and well defined. The blue circle doesn't look as defined. Why do you think this is? For instance, look at the bottom right side of the circle, is that a bad paint job? Or a bad camera angle? It's just not a crisp circle.
This may or may not answer your question but this star is a great example of early painting style. Unlike most late war and current restorations in which you paint the entire aircraft and then add stencils to add the insignia, this one was done like this: First you paint the section of the wing white (directly over the bare aluminum)....you can see the white poking through under the grey paint (but the grey gets painted last). Second you apply the star shape stencil (not the outline of a star, a star shape) over the white and paint the color blue. Then you would add a circle shape over the star and paint the whole wing grey. The white star would be the first layer of paint....and over time would take the most punishment over the years. The blue is the second color and the grey the third. As apposed to later where you would paint the wing grey, add a blue circle on top of the grey and then paint a white star over it.
I have had and currently own several sections of aircraft with stars and markings from WWII and the variations are awesome. I have one fuselage star from a B-24 that was applied with the red outline (mid-1943) only to have it painted out in a darker blue much later.
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Thanks,
Van
Kosovo, Afghanistan (x2) and Iraq Campaign Veteran
B-29 42-24791 "Big Time Operator"
C-47A 43-15137 "7H" Normandy/Holland Vet
SNJ-5B S/N 84947
UC-45F 43-35764 Cockpit
PT-26A 42-71104
LNE-1 S/N 31556
CG-15A Cockpit
CG-4A Cockpit (x2) and fuselage
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