I'm dabbling a bit into late war fighters in 1/72 scale, late 109's, 190's and 152 with a little bit of interest in the 'almost rans' like the Do 335's . Not going into the full luft 46 thing just yet, trying to stick a little closer to reality (whatever that means..)

I'm mostly a late war German armor guy so I get how there is no definitive source for paint info. And while my library is deep with reference photos and technique books on armor, it's pretty slim on the a/c side. Most of my magazine subscriptions are entirely armor content and I dont have a decent hobby shop locally to pop into for an issue or two.

I'm not naive enough to believe that every kit manufacturer has accurate paint schemes and paint references called out in their instructions, much less every paint manufacturer gets the shades 'right'
And the internet.. well there is a lot of info out there, some better than others.


Are there a couple of decent technique sites or Step by Steps or tutorials for fuselage mottling and general late war day fighter painting?

I read here and on ARC a lot of paragraphs like " I used ABC brand paints rlm X/Y/Z and sprayed through the PDQ airbrush" , I'm looking for a little more depth than just that.

Specific digital article recommendations for paid download from Air Modeler or another source would be welcome too.

I'm hoping that I am not going to spend big $$ on another library at this point, as this is a side interest to my main focus (cough cough mental illness.. cough cough) in armor.

TL, DR?
online late war fighter painting how-to's, where?

Thanks
Mike

I am new also to Aircraft modeling after 30year gap, and I had to start again with web sites that would help me.
Try this one for starters...http://www.cybermodeler.com/resource6.shtml# and maybe this one...http://ipmsstockholm.org/colorcharts/colorcharts.asp
They will give you a start on colors...

try u-tube for tutorials

Hello Mike !
I'm an armor guy just like you.My last built, but not painted aircraft is 20 years old. Now I'm coming back to aircraft as well,but my choice is 1/32-th scale.
Some suggestions if you don't mind:
-be careful with putties and fillers,cause planes require more delicacy;
-when assembling a particular kit, check reliable reference drawings and/or photos to see if certain lines should be visible or not (split line between fuselage halves etc.);
-get RLM paints of the brand you wish (ModelMaster, Gunze),plus some basic colors like gun metal,rubber,leather etc.
-Train hard-fight easy!Try your paint/AB/pressure combination on a piece of carton or plastic before painting the model itself;

Watch and read the following:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RPTd54NZaWA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ziJq9zOneis
http://forum.largescaleplanes.com/index.php?showtopic=36679

HTH and happy modeling
Paul:-H

Thanks all, esp. Paul

Those youtube videos pretty much comfirm what I was thinking.
I guess I am just old school enough not to think of youtube as a reference source.

Too bad none of them really do it on 1/72

As for paint matches and profiles, for now I guess I am going with the best info I can find and build these things for fun

Mike

Hey Mike !

Always a pleasure to be helpful !

Here are some more links:
http://modelingmadness.com/review/axis/luft/hudakg14.htm
http://www.scale-models.co.uk/threads/painting-fw190-mottles.7076/
http://www.clubhyper.com/referenc.htm

By the way, google up Chris Wauchop and Brett Green works.
They are mostly in 1/32 and 1/48 scale, but some of my all time favorites.
Cheers, Paul

And one more :
http://www.hyperscale.com/2009/features/fw190a8tam48ms_1.htm

Hi guys

I've got to say it's really been down to books for me, with the work of authors like Ken Merric, Eddie Creek and Michael Ullman among many others - and then just studying photo after photo for the exceptions that break the "rules" and make Luftwaffe modelling so rewarding. The JaPo guides are also outstanding for specific aircraft types.

All the best

Rowan

I love late war luftwaffe schemes, an prefer 1:72 so here are my thoughts on the subject.

1. There is plenty of references for how the planes *was supposed* to be painted based on RLM orders, but in fact many factories made due with whatever paint they had, and the quality of the paint wasn't necessarily up to the official standard as well. The good thing is that it's quite difficult to say a given aircraft is painted "wrong" unless it is one of the planes captured and studied by the allies and even then the actual shades are not 100 % clear. In other words, never take a given reference source as absolute gospel.

2. Many aircrafts had a mixture of markings and field applied camo, having been handed around between the units still in operation. Some airframes are known to have been used by 4 different units in the span of 2 months. This, again, give you as a modeller some leeway if the goal is a plausible paint job, rather than a 100 % confirmed and authentic paint job.

3. Late war Luftwaffe camo mainly shifted from "greys" to "greens" as the 70'series of RLM colors gave way to the 80's series, but again, not all factories (or units) could follow the set spesifications. Many aircrafts was delivered with bare metal or just primer on parts of the airframe. Add to that the fact that parts would be cannibalized from one crashed aircraft to make another operable, and you get real patchwork machines.

I guess what I really want to say is that if it's one part of "modern" air warfare where you more often that not need to make educated guesses on colours and markings, Luftwaffe anno 1945 is it.

Mike,
I know you don't want to spend money on buying very many reference books but if you really want to learn about late war paints and painting practices used by the Luftwaffe Volume II of Jerry Crandall's Fw 190D-9 book set has plenty of useful information that would be of great help in learning more about this subject. This book of course deals mostly with the D-9 but the chapter on Luftwaffe paints is excellent and what you learn from it can be put to use with other late war airplanes.

I agree with Rowan about the value of reference books and the authors he mentioned are leading researchers in the field.
There are some reference books that are better than others but IMHO the best books are those from Eagle Editions, Classic Publications, JaPo, and Kagero. Yes the Eagle Edition books can be expensive but are worth the money especially the two volume set on the Fw 190D-9.

Matrixone