Tubing color preference windshield area?

[Clark]

Has been a question as to both historicity and safety as to what color is recommended on windshield tubing. I see the preference and understand the color black as to its non reflective quality being used. I also see peoples reference that it often was a dark blue as well from the factory. In the videos I've watched I see the lighter colors reflecting in the windscreen which I would find annoying and maybe unsafe, yet visually appealing in the interior cabin area. Any inputs of any and all types are being sought. I am working from the stand point of historical correctness, incorporating consistent safety improvements as much as possible, working towards airworthiness first, while preserving historical authenticity while maintaining its airworthiness in the process.

[PA1195]

I think one driver of choice could be the background color you'd most often experience without adding nearby distraction. Snow - white; desert - tan, foliage - green; sky - blue; night and general use - black, and so on. Eventually we accommodate our senses to what's there and the tubing disappears like wearing glasses does. My current plane is white but flat black has been the most common. Black interiors do heat up on sunny days. The weirdest is a local SQ2 with bright green tubing.

Not sure what Taylorcraft chose - probably whatever was handy and cost low. Chet Peek's book shows a variety.

Gary

[3Dreaming]

It probably depends more on the configuration of your airplane when it was new. The trainers had the interior and exterior painted the same color, and the tubing matched. If it had a finished interior I suspect the tubing was black or a dark brown. Stay away from high gloss finishes if at all possible.

[Hank Jarrett]

From the bits of paint I found when stripping my 45 down the tubes in the cockpit area were all painted in the trim color (blue in my planes case). The blue tapered away to a nasty baby poop color mix of two different Zinc Chromate aft of the cockpit. The gloss of the blue doesn't seem a problem at all when I sit in her, but she is on the gear and not covered now.

Hank

[astjp2]

Stick with flat black so you don’t get any glare,