Hi

Working on the dragon fw190g3 in 1/48. The only bomb for this one is what scales as a 500 kilo. This is the best reference I can find. It says sky blue, hellblau is my assumption. But I've not seen any blue bombs that I can think of, the instructions say flat black. Often bombs seem to be painted in black green.

Thoughts?

The majority of bombs were RLM 66 black grey. I suspect that the "sky blue with yellow stripe" was a marking on the tailcone indicating what the explosive was, especially since there's mention of the yellow ship silhouette for anti-shipping bombs.

I believe that some German bombs were in fact painted the underside colour, if hung externally, to aid camouflage. The yellow stripe on the fin is used the same as the yellow nose on US bombs and the light green ring around British bombs, it donates "Explosive" filled.

Hi Richard,
I seem to recall reading that a yellow line parallel to the long axis of the bomb denoted that the bomb was encased in a thinner steel casing than some other types. Anyway, I hope I am right and if so that this is a little useful. Take care
Jim

Here's another site with a post including a WW2 Luftwaffe bomb book:

http://www.scale-models.co.uk/general-aircraft-chat/13661-luftwaffe-bomb-colours.html

Google Aircraft of the Luftwaffe, 1935-1945: An Illustrated Guide By Jean-Denis G G Lepage and see Pg 62, right column, 3rd paragraph. SC (high explosive) = yellow stripes; SD (Semi-armor-piercing)= red; PC (armor-piercing) = blue; NG (smoke) = white, and incendiary bodies were aluminum or light green.

The bodies seem to have varied. Those at USAFM:

250Kg is RLM 2, while some smaller ones seem to be RLM 66.