Hi all

Probably an old chestnut for experienced WW1 enthusiasts but, with Eduard's Albatros on the workbench, I'm confused. I've seen so many conflicting colour interpretations, ranging from pale mauve through to a rich plum... Was there a range of such colours used in real life and are there pictures online of any preserved painted fabric samples for a reference?

In terms of model paints - do any of you have recommended mixes?

All the best

Rowan

Here are some comments from Mark Miller on the subject. I would and do begin with Napolean Purple in the Testors range.

". . . The WW! German purple/green camouflage scheme is not very well documented. To my knowledge NO samples of this pattern exist at all, so any color choice will be a guess. The Munsel numbers that I used below were provided to me by Greg Van Wyngarden. . ."


Purple 2.5P/2.7/3.7 Green 7.5Y/3.5/6 Lt. Blue 2.5PB/7.3/3.1




Due to the chemical replication industrial revolution the colour of purple became very common during the early part of the 20th century. As has been mentioned in the Planet Models Rumpler thread the early form of this colour was cheap and easy to replicate. It be came the standard during the late summer of 1917 to include mauve / purple in German colour schemes. By definition mauve was more a pinkish hue of purple. I tend to go that direction. Here is a rendering by Mark Miller of a late model Alb. D.Va 5359/17 as it was employed in Palestine in the summer of 1918.

Here is an oldie but a goodie. From my first portfolio here. Alb. D.V 1148?17 as flown by Ltn. Hans Adam commander of Jasta 6 before 2 Aug. 1917.



Next, Alb. D.V 2042/17 was a assigned to training duties at Lübeck-Travemunde and is known to have been destroyed in a landing in July 1918. Its pilot Ltn. Wegener is listed as KIC. This diorama took a first place at the IPMS USA Nationals in 2003.



Alb. D.Va 5390/17 was flown by Ltn R. Clauss of Jasta 29 when he was brought down as a POW in one of the strangest combats of the war, 17 December 1917. Lt Clauss was the pilot of the Albatros that is now part of Australian War Memorial collection. . . was recovered by 3 Sqn AFC and became G.101 before being presented to the Australian Government. In German service it had been overpainted in the field after repairs. The mauve was definately more pinkish. Even more than what we believe to be factory standad.

Hi Stephen

Many thanks - that's instantly a great help... and, unfortunately, it looks like I was well off the mark with with my previous effort at an Albatros!





The green in your reference images is a lot more olive than what I used too...

All the best

Rowan

Maybe Habich had his repainted in the field?

Looks like there is a reason for the purple!

Here is a shot of the The Vintage Aviator Ltd's Albatros 7343 showing their take on mauve and green camouflage:



These colour chips were cut from the photo above



And here is Ronny Bar's interpretation

Hi Rowan,

Here are three pix I shot of original lozenge cut from a plane downed, if I recall, by Raoul Lufberry. It is on display at the National Museum of the USAF. I include 3 photos, taken with and without flash.



***NOTE*** AFTER posting this I noticed how old the original thread is! ;-)