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Luft 46 Colour Camouflage Applications, Part 1: Fighters

By the late war it seems as though any camouflage was better than none at all, three and even four colour schemes where evident. And if Germany had managed to prolong the war and get some of these aircraft into the air, paint would not have been a priority but camouflage would still be essential. With this in mind it is possible to appreciate “new colours” may well have been produced more by accident than design. For example a shortfall of RLM82 may have had other more plentiful colours mixed with it to stretch the amount of paint available. The phantom sky colour, commonly labelled RLM 84, is a prime example. The huge difference in shades could have been achieved by mixing more plentiful shades with those that were low in quantity. 

Another method for “new” colours is to use German armour colours as these may have been available when normal aircraft colours were not. These can be used undiluted or as part of a mix. 

The two easiest ways to choose a colour scheme apart from following those suggested by the kit manufacturer are:

To find an existing aircraft of similar type or role as the Luft 46 subject and apply the scheme/markings to make it look like a natural replacement.

To check what aircraft a well known pilot was using and apply his typical markings/scheme to a potential Luft 46 replacement 

In the accompanying illustrations I’ve tried to show possible camouflage applications using Luft 46 conceptual aircraft. Each template includes an adaptation of a more typical Luftwaffe scheme and one illustrating a more “adventurous” scheme.

Colours are approximate due to computer resolution etc and should only be regarded as a guide.

PLEASE NOTE

I have started a little experiment whereby I am taking standard RLM colours and mixing them with each other or just white or black to try and simulate what mixing might have produced when eking out meager paint supplies. Already early results have been interesting and some shades come very close to some of the “RLM 84” Sky colours for example. I will include results in Part 2, Heavy Fighters and Fighter Bombers.