Two late war enigmas

[Hardcore]

I have an Hase Bf 109K-4 on the way from Hobbylink Japan, and then there is the new revell G-10 in January.

They should be great builds!

Problem is the cammo schemes. As usual there are as many variations as there are sources. The aircrafts I am going to build are well known, so no doubt i can get some good opinion here.

 

For the K-4 I think the red tulip adorned "Black 4" look nice. I have one in 48 scale that I am finishing according to MMPs book "BF 109 LATE VERSIONS. Camouflage

& Markings". The author describe it having single colored (Rlm 82) top fuselage and wings! I figure the more recent publication the better the information. At least for something focused on a specific subject.

Other, older, sources like Eaglecals suggest Rlm 74/75 top from what it appears. That is quite different, isn't it?

 

Then we got the (almost) mono green G-10 "Yellow 7" from outside prague.

Or maybe it's Red 7. The Reich Defense bands are shown as red-white-red in the book but on an Aeromaster sheet they are blue-white-blue.

 

 

I would have provided more info but the book is at home, and I am not;/

[Showtime 100]

Cool; Looking forward to the builds.

[Hardcore]

FalkeEins blog says this in their review "As I mentioned, one or two of his colour choices will raise eyebrows, for example the well-known 'Green 7' of JG 300 (P73) has here become a III./JG 6 machine - 'because JG 300 were never based in Prague' - when we know that the rump of this unit was indeed in Prague, thanks to the accounts in Lorant and Goyat's JG 300 history quoted in this volume's bibliography."

This seems such a glaring error that I wonder if the author of the book know something others don't! I have considered mailing the company and ask but haven't got a around to it yet:)

[thierry laurent]

Identifying the correct colors of many German camo schemes is not very far from being impossible!

 

Orthochromatic/Panchromatic B&W pictures shows major differences in the way some colors such as reds and yellows are translated on paper. Moreover, most wartime color pictures are not really relevant sources. Add to this the use of foreign paints such as the Italian and Russian ones, the weathering, the possible slight variations between the paint hue batches and the doubts with regard to the naming conventions of some late war colours (is RLM 83 a dark green or a medium grey? what is in fact the so-called RLM84? etc.) So, misinterpretation is very probable.

 

As far as you comply with some coherent combinations of colors and the contrast showed on reference pictures, you cannot be wrong!

[Cpt_Farrel]

One can almost never be certain but all uppersurfaces in RLM82 seems wrong. The most likely combination for black 4 would be 74/75 or 81/75. (Dark green 81) Forget RLM 83, the latest documents found by Michael Ullman described 83 as a dark blue color for maritime missions in the MTO.

 

As for the G-10, it's almost certainly a JG300 aircraft with blue-white-blue fuselage band. New decals are coming for this aircraft...

 

The book you're referring to have some errors unfortunately.

 

/Anders

[Hardcore]

One reason to travel to the Med is to see the wonderfully blue sea. That the LW researched a new color for that theater make sense to me; gray greens would work better in North sea and the Atlantic.

 

While it doesn't make more sense of the German color system we get more fun cammo schemes! A blueish ju 188 would be nice. But wait, I already got 12 kits to finish. Darn.

[Cpt_Farrel]

I've started thinking Dark Green, Bright Green, Brown Violet. Keep the numbers out and things get easier. The two greens seems very consistent as well, it's just the Brown Violet that is seen in so many shades. 

[Hardcore]

Clever! Still leaves me with an Mono-green black four, however. I haven't found any photo on web either. Then there is the Rlm 82/83 Eduard Fw 190 D waiting in the stash.

It doesn't bother me really; when I started building again the good feeling of being creative turned up. This is an art form really; the model is your canvas and you have your idea of what you want to do. I will make a Mono-green black 4 when the package from Japan turn up. I like the combination of green and Tamiya Sky.

However... I am really curious how the author of the above mentioned book come to those conclusions. They are no mere typos nor sloppy research. He has had a long list of reference material (helpfully listed on the last page) .

[Cpt_Farrel]

Wouldn't want to speculate too much, but with many references there's bound to be some conflicting interpretations and given the sheer volume of work it seems almost inevitable to make some mistakes or to interpret things differently.

 

I'm including a link showing the two topcolors clearly on that Bf109K-4.

 

http://www.asisbiz.com/il2/Bf-109K/Bf-109K-JG52-Green-4/pages/1-Bf-109K4-Stab.JG52-Green-4-WNr-332529-Deutsch-Brod-1945-01.html

 

/Anders

[Hardcore]

Thanks a lot! Yeah, there is a clear difference behind the cockpit, but the Tulip could be all cammo colored considering how invisible it is. Then we have the color of the fuselage; Sky, or 76?

Ouch, the madness!

[Cpt_Farrel]

I'd say regular RLM 76. The sky color will usually show a higher contrast with the white of the fuselage cross.