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That matches up with conversations I had back in the late 70s with some of the old timers from the WW-II era Taylorcraft factory. A common thread was, they didn't waste ANYTHING! One thing that interested me was where the absolutely DISGUSTING color Zinc-Chromate on my 45 fuselage came from (NO ONE would have gotten a color like that by CHOICE, even if no one would have ever seen it but a restorer!) and why was there so many subtle trim variations in the paint schemes? One of the guys I talked to was a covering and paint guy and he said after the war there was a lot of Zinc-Chromate left and the military just gave it to them. There were basically two colors and towards the end of 45 they just dumped them together to make a NASTY looking paint that looked like something from a baby diaper. Just like what was on my plane! Mystery solved. I had custom E-Poxy paint mixed to reproduce it (and it was SO UGLY they made me sign a no-return letter before they would mix it).
The placing of the trim lines was similar. He said the reason some planes color division was higher or lower and at slightly different angles was two guys would go out to mask for the darker color. Where they pulled the tape was where the line went. There WAS NO standard. It was how they did it that day and all the factory cared about was that the left and right sides be the same. That explained the four different leading edge trim shapes and why the trim line could go to the base of the fin post, the middle or (rarely) to the stab leading edge. Evidently they were doing the same with parts. If you had a full set of hinges, you used them!
Hank
Nice to have confirmation from John!
The placing of the trim lines was similar. He said the reason some planes color division was higher or lower and at slightly different angles was two guys would go out to mask for the darker color. Where they pulled the tape was where the line went. There WAS NO standard. It was how they did it that day and all the factory cared about was that the left and right sides be the same. That explained the four different leading edge trim shapes and why the trim line could go to the base of the fin post, the middle or (rarely) to the stab leading edge. Evidently they were doing the same with parts. If you had a full set of hinges, you used them!
Hank
Nice to have confirmation from John!
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