Luftwaffe Aircraft (Bf-109) North African Desert Camouflage (Leopard Blotches)

[George]

Gents:

 

Happy USA 250th Birthday!  I looking to build JG-27 1/48 and 1/32 Bf-109E-4/7's in the future and wanted to see how my fellow modellers are painting RLM 80 Olive Green "leopard" blotches on their Bf-109s. Metal and vinyl masks/stencils are available from various model accessories companies but I am not happy with them because the blotches are too close to each other or the brass stencils can scrape off paint.  Are you airbrushing them or using toothpicks to apply RLM 80 Olive Green.  Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks.  Kind Regards, George 

[Rick Griewski]

Hello George

i use paper templates and brass. I tape the brass stencil on the side facing the model paint.  It prevents the scratching and positions the stencil off the surface to avoid a hard edge.  My talented hobby club mates just free hand the blotches. 
 

 

[mattlow]

Hi

You could use card for templates to put the green areas on. Cut the pattern out in the card, put some spacers on the back side of the card to give a slight feathered edge and spray away. Of course you might want to try out doing it freehand in 1/32.

Matt

[Chippyminton]

Hi George,

 

I did mine freehand with an airbrush. As you'll see - this is exactly the kind of JG27 109E-7/Trop you're referring to. It's part of a 'work in progress' diorama, and it's 1/32. The numerous photos I've seen of this scheme show RLM78/79 109's with the RLM80 blotches applied in multiple different sizes and densities, so I went for quite big ones. Other aircraft had many more which were much smaller, and it seems that your stencil guys have gone down that route. I've also seen photos showing these blotches with a much harder edge, maybe indicating groundcrew application with a brush. You could do the same if hard edges are your thing. I hope these pictures help; 

 

 

 

 

Hope you get fixed up.

 

Kev

Edited Thursday at 09:37 PM by Chippyminton

[Mal_Belford]

24 minutes ago, Chippyminton said:

Hi George,

 

I did mine freehand with an airbrush. As you'll have figured out - this is a JG27 109E-7/Trop which is part of a 'work in progress' diorama, and it's 1/32. The numerous photos I've seen of this scheme show RLM78/79 109's with the RLM80 blotches applied in multiple different sizes and densities, so I went for quite big ones. Other aircraft had many more which were much smaller, and it seems that your stencil guys have gone down that route. I hope these pictures help; 

 

 

 

 

Hope you get fixed up.

 

Kev

Now that looks fantastic. yaih.

 

Sorry didnt ad to this post with my post, but couldnt help it.

[Chippyminton]

2 minutes ago, Mal_Belford said:

Now that looks fantastic. yaih.

 

Sorry didnt ad to this post with my post, but couldnt help it.

 Thankyou very much mate - and my apologies to the OP also 😀