Hello again guys- I posted here a few weeks ago about colors for the Hornet and recieved some help. My question with the colors is, what color would have been used for the wavy splotches on the lower hull ? Sea blue doesn't look dark enough.(I started painting the hull with Ocean gray and will continue tomorrow with navy blue for the lower hull.) Thank you for your help in advanced. I'l try to post pictures with an explanation of the build soon.

The darkest color (the "wavy" part) was navy blue.

Hey Martin-thanks so much for your help. Sorry it took so long to reply. If you don't mind a few more questions: Would the life rafts attached to the sides of the ship be black? I'm assuming they were made of rubber.

The other small boats on the ship appear in references to be white with either a black bottom or wood color. Which is correct? And finally, is it correct to say the Hornet carried Dauntless, Avenger and Hellcat aircraft (or Wildcat) for the Battle of Midway? Thanks again for your help !

You may want to read this entire thread.

http://www.shipmodels.info/mws_forum/viewtopic.php?f=46&t=4866&st=0&sk=t&sd=a&sid=ac5fdcfb036224cf43e639d83cb5c48d

Good luck.
RW

Working link:

Calling all USS Hornet CV-8 fans tread at Modelwarships.com

Rui

Hi guys
Thank you Rob and Ruis-I checked out that link and it was very interesting.....I'm enjoying this Hornet model very much. I might be hooked on ships now !

The lower part of the hull is Navy Blue. The upper part of the hull is Ocean Gray.

The rafts are gray. The colored picture of her show them to be gray I don't know if the were painted Ocean Gray or some other gray color. I painted mine Ocean Gray that I had lightened for contrast.

I painted the sides of the ship's boats Ocean Gray on top and black on the bottom.

The aircraft are F4F-Wildcats, SBD- Dauntlas 'and TBD- Devestators.

I'm looking forward to seeing the pictures of your build.

Gordon

Hi Gordon,and thanks for getting back to me. After checking out the links that Rob and Ruis posted, I found that they painted almost everything to blend with the sea I would guess. A friend showed me some color plates from a carrier book by Squadron which I was told contained numerous errors. Some of the boats were painted white; which to me would be way too visible on the ocean even under poor conditions. That link I checked even mention tarps that were painted to blend in with the ship-very interesting. I guess ship camoflage principles weren't that much different than armor camo. Thanks again for your help everyone.

Hornet received more attention to her war-time paint than any other carrier that left the ways prior to mid-1942. I have not dug into it, but I would be amazed to find that her boats were painted "bright", particularly considering her early career.

By the way, that book I refer to is Squadron's "Yorktown-Class Aircraft Carriers" Warships in Action #30. On page 28, there are two color plates of Hornet showing the ships boats white-at least that's what color they appear to be. Some of the other color plates in the book show other carriers also with white boats. I'll follow the suggstions to paint them a gray color-makes the most sense to me. Sometimes it's hard to tell, but some of the black and white photos in the book make the boats appear to be a gray color.