HE 219 painting

[vvwse4]

Working on the Revell 1/32 Uhu, need some advice or opinion.

 

The camo on this plane was as far as I know RLM 76 light blue with a mottling (Is this actually English?) RLM 75 gray. How was this applied, was the whole plane covered in RLM 76 first and the mottling after that or the other way around? The pictures of the restoration HE219 suggest the latter but it would seem a waste of effort to paint the upper first in RLM75 and then do a sort of reverse mottling with RLM 76.

 

What is your opinion about this?

 

Cheers Rick

[mattlow]

I think that is correct. The aircraft would be provided to units as a 75 uppers and 76 lower and side of fuselage finish. Then other camo could be applied. Some use this 'scribble' type application, some isolate the 75 into 'blobs'. Some aircraft have 81/82 added to improve the ground camo. It is a bit analogous to the way armour was supplied in that sandy buff colour and the units added disruptive camo using supplied tins of green and brown...

Matt

[Iain]

Hi Rick,

 

Yes, exactly that - a 'reverse' mottle.

 

Here's one I prepared earlier: 

 

 

 

There's an abbreviated article that mentions the mottle here on LSP - and also a full eBook from KLP Publishing ( @LSP_Kevin ) with a lot more detail.

 

On some airframes the mottle was softer than others...

 

And airbrushing it freehand made my eyes bleed - I had to do it over several sessions!

 

Iain

[Wouter]

To add to Lain's post: I painted mine the same way. https://forum.largescaleplanes.com/index.php?/topic/101318-zoukei-mura-heinkel-he219-a2/ . I also head crossed eyes afterwards.... but worth the effort in my opinion.

[vvwse4]

Thank you for the replies.

 

So reverse mottling it is.

 

Cheers Rick.

[LSP_K2]

I recall painting a Dragon 1:72 He 219 a few years ago. I painted small blobs of 75 by hand and though technically not correct, as I later discovered, the effect is much the same. 

 

[Martinnfb]

14 hours ago, Iain said:

Hi Rick,

 

Yes, exactly that - a 'reverse' mottle.

 

Here's one I prepared earlier: 

 

 

 

There's an abbreviated article that mentions the mottle here on LSP - and also a full eBook from KLP Publishing ( @LSP_Kevin ) with a lot more detail.

 

On some airframes the mottle was softer than others...

 

And airbrushing it freehand made my eyes bleed - I had to do it over several sessions!

 

Iain

Hands down the nicest build of the Revell Uhu out there. 

[Gazzas]

It does seem like a waste of time to cover the uppers and vertical surfaces in 74/75...   but it is the correct way.   The real deficiency is good he-219 photos.  Unless there is a hidden pool somewhere, there just isn't enough for us to work with.  And what there is available online are often overexposed and only show the sides and lower parts effectively.  

 

But that is really the whole Nachtjagd in a nutshell.  Very few photos of each type, usually taken from too far away to help the modeller with complete information.

[LSP_K2]

26 minutes ago, Gazzas said:

But that is really the whole Nachtjagd in a nutshell.  Very few photos of each type, usually taken from too far away to help the modeller with complete information.

 

It's a bummer that they weren't more considerate. 

[KiwiZac]

The Uhu has never been on my radar much - I suspect I'll change my tune when I eventually get to Udvar-Hazy and see one in the flesh - but, even so, this is a fascinating discussion to follow. An interesting challenge for the modeller in both research and execution.

  

17 hours ago, LSP_K2 said:

 

It's a bummer that they weren't more considerate. 

It's the clear and obvious answer to "What would you do with a time machine?": take your camera (or smartphone) and get nice reference photos.

[Juggernut]

There's a photo of an He219A-2 (if memory serves) that is painted in wellenmuster but the late war 76 (yellow-blue by my observation but not guaranteed as there's no way to tell exactly what shade of 76 it was) is clearly painted in little circles (among other shapes).  This is just out of the factory as it has no gruppe markings on it.  I think the caption in my book says it was picked up and being transferred to it's assigned airfield.

 

After painting a 1/48 Tamiya He219, I would recommend using an airbrush with an adjustable stop on the end (such as the Iwata HP-B+ or similar) because it's just so easy to screw it up by going too wide or too narrow with the 76 Wellenmuster.

 

Edited Thursday at 11:57 PM by Juggernut

[phasephantomphixer]

I do agree some field applied colors, but the U-Hazy bird had the original squiggle camo continuous on fuselage where it was covered by the wings and fairings. 

In that way they had unaltered colors and pattern. 

[Gazzas]

On 9/3/2026 at 2:59 PM, LSP_K2 said:

 

It's a bummer that they weren't more considerate. 

 

If you get the right publications, you'll find that a lot of Luftwaffe boys were shutterbugs.   When it comes to aircraft...   even those that exist in museums today, you find that many walkarounds are so intent on small vertical details that they don't even get a single shot of the upper wing skin.  Or the lower for that matter.  I mean...   how hard would it be to lay on the ground for a second and point your camera up that the underside if a B-29 wing for Pete's sake?

 

Edited Friday at 09:31 AM by Gazzas

[mattlow]

10 hours ago, phasephantomphixer said:

I do agree some field applied colors, but the U-Hazy bird had the original squiggle camo continuous on fuselage where it was covered by the wings and fairings. 

In that way they had unaltered colors and pattern. 

Yes, that's a good point...

Did the NASM restorers not sand back the post-war US applied paint to see what lay beneath? Or was that machine actually stripped back (on external surfaces) thus leaving no trace of the original colours to be discovered?

Matt

[dennismcc]

Here's a link to the NASM restoration showing the original paint under the wing fillet.

Heinkel Night Fighter He 219: Wing Painting Complete | National Air and Space Museum

 

Cheers

 

Dennis