Luftwaffe wiring, what colour?

[Lancman]

Hi guys what would the colour be for the wiring to and from the radio sets plus general cockpit cables white or yellow????

 

Cheers

Graham.

[johng]

Color photo evidence suggests yellow as the color wire used in German WWII aircraft.

[SteveM]

Hi,

I agree, yellow is the colour you see most of.

Have a look at the HE162 on http://memorial.flight.free.fr/He162uk.html

There are also some pics of an unrestored Me262 in Model Airplane International May 08, that shows the wiring to be yellow.

Cheers

SteveM

[Chris Hannover - Germany]

Actually there were just yellow wires everywhere

Of course with some exceptions, regarding orginal photos.

 

 

Cheers,

Chris

[Lancman]

Thanks guys, yellow it is.

 

Graham.

[thierry laurent]

Yellow is indeed the most used colour but other colours were used as well. I know i've a description of the colour codes in one of my books about Luftwaffe colours but I cannot remember in which one :-(

[johng]

I've seen pics showing some white and even less red tagged wire but yellow appears to have been used 99% of the time. This must have made wiring up an airplane at the factories an absolute joy!

[Radub]

There is no one single answer.

In a cockpit, one may see a number of items that look like "wiring":

1. Electrical cables - these tend to be fine wires, 5 or 6 mm wide in real life. These were insulated with a number of insulating materials, such as plastic (that could be yellow, red, blue or white) or a braided fire-retardant "textile" insulation that was beige in colour (lacquered fabric colour) and was marked at the ends with paper tabs indicating the purpose. Most of these cables are not visible - they are behind panels, covers, in trunks, etc.

2. "Reinforced" electrical cables, mostly running around the sidewalls such as the cables on the right wall of the Bf109 fuselage running from the rear wall to the switch box. Similar cables can be seen on the walls of many luftwaffe aircraft. These cables tend to be thicker, around 10mm wide in real life. These were covered with a silver-coloured woven metal braiding (like the braided hose you have on your airbrush, only that is it woven from thin metal wire). These were often left in the natural metal colour or were painted in the interior colour. Some could also be covered with a braided fire-retardant "textile" cover that was either beige or interior colour. (Such as the preserved Bf110 or Ju87 in the RAF Museum in Hendon, check your "walkaround" books).

3. Conduits that carried all kinds of liquids or gases. These were flexible hoses or metal pipes and came in a variety of thicknesses from very thin to quite hefty. The rubber conduits/hoses were black. Some flexible conduits were strengthened with a spiral cover (similar to that of a shower hose) that was often a dark brown colour - these were commonly used around engine or weapon compartments. Metal conduits were painted in a combination of colours, such as yellow for fuel (the famous yellow pipe on the left side of the Bf109 cockpit), blue for anything to do with air, green for coolants, red for temperature related conduits, brown for lubricants. These were also combined with stripes to differential further use, sucjh as for example blue with two stripes indicated breathing oxygen, blue with two red lines was compressed air for weapons, etc. A full list of the combinations and the periods during which they were used (some were replaced or discarded late in the war) can be found on pages 424 and 425 of "Luftwaffe Camouflage and Markings 1933 - 1945, Volume Two" by K. A. Merrick, published by Classic Publications.

One thing is for sure, the cables were NEVER twisted - occasionally you can see models with cables twisted together like a rope, but that was NEVER the case in real life. Cables were tied together with ties (specially dedicated ties or tape, wire, or rope)

Ideally, a good colour photo of the real thing would help with the actual colours, but those are hard to come by.

HTH

Radu

[johng]

Thanks, Radu.

 

What we modellers need to know is the color of the cable insulation which, in this case, is primeraly yellow. The individual wires inside those cables would, of course, be differently colored.

 

There is a walkaround of the South African museum's Me-262B on the 'net (sorry, I don't have the link) that has many color pics of inside the fuselage under the cockpit This part of the aircraft appears to be completely original and unrestored, just the way the Brits handed it over after they were done picking it apart. Those photos show virtually all electrical cables to have yellow insulation, as do those of the cockpit and weapons bay. This plane is a good subject for study of internal coloring and parts placement even though many parts are missing, especially from the cockpit. When the SA museum did both (?) of their restorations, they restricted them to external paint jobs only, leaving the cockpit and all internals exactly the way they were when they received the plane. We should be grateful that the plane still exists at all, I suppose, but I just wish it had been kept more intact.

[Radub]

No argument there. I know what the question is, but not all cables are equal. A lot of the electrical cables were insulated with plastic of various colours as well as natural metal colour (if covered with metal braiding) or beige colour if covered with fire-retardant braiding. Yes, yellow abounds, but it is not the only colour. Furthermore, these cables are not visible normally. You can see them if you open a panel, if you lift a cover, etc. Also, these cables are around 5mm in diameter in real life, therefore in 1/32, they would be 0.15mm in diameter, which is very thin. They are usually bundled together.

See these for example:

 

 

 

Some of the cables that you normally see in a cockpit, respectively the cables that are out in the open, are not "only" yellow or even "mainly" yellow. They can be natural metal colour (if covered with metal braiding), a beige colour (if they are covered with fire-retardant braiding) or interior colour. They are around 10mm in diameter in real life, which means that they are around 0.3mm in 1/32, and these are the cables that you are most likely to see in a 1/32 cockpit.

Please have a look at this photo:

 

Compare the thickness of the "metal colour" cables and the yellow cables. Yes,.all of them are cables. Braided metal cable covers were used to strengthen them and prevent them from getting torn during battle. They were used also on Ju87 and Me110 - see the walkaround photos of the preserved aircraft in museums.

 

Hope this helps,

Radu