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Henschel of the Eastern Front

Painting

Before beginning painting, I wanted to ensure I put down a good primer coat because of masking I would have to perform in order to paint the colorful scheme of 4/SchG 2 on the Eastern Front in 1942.  While at the local hardware store, I found a new product by Rustoleum Paints that was a gray plastic primer designed for use on plastic lawn furniture.  I thought I would give it a try and it worked like a champ.  It comes in a rattle can and should be available wherever paints are sold. 

I airbrushed all paints straight from the bottle using my trusty Paasch H single action brush at about 15-20 psi.

After the primer coat was applied, I began by painting the lightest color first-RLM65 Light Blue (Hellblau) from the Modelmaster Acryl line of paints.   The underside of the upper wing received the first coat of paint.  Before painting the underside of the lower wing and fuselage Hellblau, I painted the RLM04 Yellow (Gelb) ID band because it would make masking easier.  I painted the upper wing lower wingtips and cowl while I had the airbrush loaded with Gelb.  After the ID band had dried, I masked it with blue 3M painters tape so I could spray the fuselage underside and lower wing with Hellblau.  After the Hellblau had dried, I masked off the lower extremities of the fuselage in preparation to finish the rest of the airframe.  The top of the upper wing, lower wing and remainder of the fuselage received a coat of RLM 70 Black Green (Schwarzgrun).  The instructions make a note of saying that "By 1942, the upper surface of Hs123s on the Eastern Front were often painted in a single camouflage color, either RLM70 Schwarzgrun or RLM71 Dunklegrun.  Our reference photo shows one color but we can't tell whether it was RLM70 or 71.  We have shown RLM71, but the choice is yours."  Given that choice, I went with the Schwarzgrun.  After everything had dried, I removed all the masking tape.  The plastic primer I used coupled with the low-tack painters tape prevented any pealing of tape when the masks were removed.  A few spots required touch-up but for the most part the paint job came out just fine.  Before moving onto the decals, I sprayed a coat of clear gloss to provide a good adhesion surface for the decals.