....From this evidence, are we supposed to think that the internal colour of the fabric was silver before the French repairs? I don't believe so, and the clinching piece of evidence would be the following photo:
According to the source (
Wikipedia) this represents a "Small piece of the fine linen fabric painted silver from the Spirit of St. Louis from a larger piece presented by Charles Lindbergh to the Belgian Ambassador to France in Paris, May, 1927".
The original source is stated as "The Cooper Collections". I have not been able to identify that source, but I will provisionally accept the photo as being of an authoritative sample. If it was indeed presented by Charles Lindbergh in Paris, May 1927, it was likely a piece of the fabric which was removed by the French mechanics who repaired the torn fabric. If so, it is most probably an authoritative example of what the fabric looked like, which, in turn, means that a colour scheme of silver on the outside, and tan fabric on the inside, is the most appropriate.
It may be the case that the silver painted section on the left side of the inside fuselage originally was slightly larger, perhaps to correspond with the silver doped inside of the door. But I do not believe that any major part of the inside very well can have been silverdoped.
Final consideration: Could the outside silverdope have soaked through to the inside? I don't think so. This is demonstrated both by the fabric sample, and by the photos of the interior, even if the fabric shown there should be a result of French repairs. After all, the French mechanics silverdoped the outside just the same as the workmen at Ryan's in San Diego.
What this means, is that the interior of Rafael Ciesielski's Gremir Spirit will have to be recoloured, or that a tan-coloured paper should be used for printing the inside pattern (with the exception of the inside of the door, and just possibly a corresponding section on the left side).
What do you say?