Consensus on exhaust collector ring color

[peebeep]

So you are saying that colouring is due to heat staining of steel alloy in those rings?

Sorry about mishap to your name!

 

 

Yes, the silver doped airframe (with the red prop spinner) has a collector colour that has very little evidence of heating and you can see clearly that it's not copper. The other pics are of the Shuttleworth Gladiator that has quite a coppery hue to the collector on account of it running probably for hundreds of hours, but it's heat not the material that gives rise to the colour.

 

 

For anybody building Airfix Beaufighters that might be puzzled with the paint instructions calling for black collectors, that's because later on in the war Coastal Command was painting them with heat resisting black paint.

 

 

I'm not at all fussed about mishaps with my screen handle. I changed my account to my real name but the software still uses the original screen handle.

[dogsbody]

These are new, unused collector rings, at the Bristol engine factory during WW2.

They are not made of copper, but from some steel alloy. When heated up by the 800F+ degree exhaust gases, they soon become heat-stained and turn a brownish colour. How stained depends on how many hours of engine running time they go through.

Some flying restored aircraft:

Chris

[SD45elect2000]

I hope this is close enough. I used a copper color over the silver color then highlighted it with violet and clear red. I tried to leave the cooler areas silver but it is hard to see in photos. The Beaufighter kit calls for black paint, I assume stove black, so I painted a light black over the silver copper finish. we'll see how that photographs.

Randall