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Luft 46 Colour Camouflage Applications, Part 1: Fighters

Part 1: Fighters

The idea for this feature came from a good and simple question from Mal (Holdfast)...”how does anyone in to Luft 46 decide upon a camouflage scheme?”

First and foremost there is a lot more freedom in choosing a colour scheme but some care is needed as, personally I believe, a Luft 46 model should look as if it actually existed. It should look unmistakably German in colour and scheme. After all in different circumstances many projects may have made production and operational status. I try and achieve this by, generally speaking, keeping to standard RLM palette of colours, although there are many opportunities to try new colours and camo patterns.

There are many things to consider before choosing a scheme and the colours all of which have a distinct influence. 

WW2 Germany probably had the largest range of colours and camouflage patterns ever seen and this was compounded by many directives and orders issued by the RLM, often contradictory. 

Most camouflage schemes were completed in the field which in itself offers a wide scope of possibilities. An individual ground crews’ interpretation of the guidelines could affect any official scheme slightly or greatly. 

Improvisation and the irregular supply of the correct paints and shades and the thinners with which a ground crew may have been forced by circumstance, to use, could all have had an unmistakable effect.

The theatre of operations and the intended role an aircraft was to fulfill also plays its part in selection.