Landing gear: SR-71 & XB-70

[seadude]

Currently, I am in the process of building 3 different Aurora hypersonic aircraft. Two of the models will have landing gear bays open and landing gear down. But I'm not sure what colors to paint the bays, struts, and the wheels/tires?
I know that during high speed Mach 3+ flight, the SR-71 and XB-70 had their bays, wheels, struts, etc. painted or what looked like aluminum or titanium colors. Is this what I should also go with for my Aurora models?
But part of the problem is that not all the landing gear on the SR-71 was the same. For example, the nose gear tires were not aluminum colored, but regular black tires. The wheel hubs were dark grey or black.
I'm really confused on what colors (Silver, Aluminum, Titanium, Steel, Gunmetal, etc.) I should use for the following different model areas:

Nose gear tires
Nose gear wheel hubs
Nose gear struts
Nose gear bay
Main gear tires
Main gear wheel hubs
Main gear bays
Main gear struts

[eatthis]

personally id paint all the wheels and leave all the struts normal ( re the xb70 wheels wernt the tyres impregnated with aluminium for heat resistance and thats what made them that colour?)

[Scooterman]

Don't know how much this will help, but the NLG on the Blackbird family was in an area that wasn't nearly as hot as the mains so the materials used was quite normal hence black tires etc.

[sandiego89]

Nose gear tires
Nose gear wheel hubs
Nose gear struts
Nose gear bay
Main gear tires
Main gear wheel hubs
Main gear bays
Main gear struts

There does appear to be quite a variation during the life of the SR-71 and into retirement.  Museum birds may be a bit different than earlier operational versions.

My sources seem to show:
Nose tires: black rubber, no white walls.
Noes wheels/Hubs: look like silver in operation. Black in some museum examples.
Nose strut. Most unpainted.  Steelish color
Nose gear bay- unpainted natural metal- likely titanium, with some silver panels for heat dissipation.
Main tires.  Gray rubber, "white walls"- actually silverfish.
Main hubs.  Green or red.  
Main Bays. Unpainted, with a circular shroud surrounding the retracted tires. shroud silver on the inside, red on the outside.  
Main strut.  My sources say painted black, but some appear to be natural metal titanium- a steelish color. "the strut was painted black, while the wheel hubs were usually either red or green" Wings Of Fame Volume 8, page 68. 




 

[zenrat]

I was expecting this to be a Lesnik question.
"Which had the best landing gear the SR-71 or the XB-70 and what would they have looked like if they had been designed for the P51?"

Can't help otherwise except to say that if you can't find a definitive answer then neither will a rivet counter (although they might claim to have special knowledge).

[PR19_Kit]

I was expecting this to be a Lesnik question.
"Which had the best landing gear the SR-71 or the XB-70 and what would they have looked like if they had been designed for the P51?"

Can't help otherwise except to say that if you can't find a definitive answer then neither will a rivet counter (although they might claim to have special knowledge).

ROTFL!