Folks,
I'm building a 1929-1934 Lufthansa Dornier J Wal commercial mail carrier for our local Museum of Flight display. I have the Huma kit, which has schemes for "Monsun" and "Passat", as well as the "around the world" "Goenland" Wal. But I find the color schemes in the kit to be a little suspect. I'm wondering if any of you have any definitive color scheme info? I've seen several photos of Monsun, and I think the aircraft had a black planing surface, red cheat line, seafoam gray sides, with silver dope/seafoam gray upper surfaces. Anyone disagree? I'm not certain of this, and the Dornier Museum reproduction DO J Wal is for Amundsen's artic expedition is in overall gray and black, so it's no help-- given that photos appear to show a different scheme on the Lufthansa boats. There doesn't appear to be much info on on-line either.
VR, Russ

Hello Russ,
I built the HUMA Wal for the Flying Boats campgain here on Aeroscale.

http://aeroscale.kitmaker.net/forums/257065&ord=&page=1

The information about the color of these mail flying boats is really thin. I agree with the black lower hull of the Wal. Huma wanted a RLM 02 grey for the upper surfaces, but I checked the rebuilt Grönland Wal and chose a lighter grey.

On some photos the wing seems to have another color. Maybe it was painted silver or, it is an effect by the reflection of the color on different materials.



On other photos it seems to be a similar color.




As I found no clear evidence, I painted the wings in the same color as the main hull, as seen on the Grönland Wal.

Additionally, there is a great video on Youtube called "Katapultschiff Westfalen"

https://youtu.be/8ab7gQt8pqc

I hope, this will be of some help for You. Please post some pictures of Your Wal!

All the best!

Oliver

Oliver, thanks for the links and the video-- it's a great help, although for a little newer Wal than I was considering. I'm convinced more than ever from the film that the Wal has a two tone color scheme-- something on the fuselage sides (gray maybe?) and something on the top deck planking and wings. It also appears there is a black "cheat line" (a line used to disguise the border between two colors of paint) running from the top of the Lufthansa "wings" at the bow all the way back to the tail. I think the kit Profiles may be right--in a way, the bottom was black, not aluminum, but there may be a red "cheat line" there too, which the kit profile shows. I've seen one photo of Monsun with what appears to be aluminum paint on the lower hull (this photo is used on a postage stamp too), but I think it was an early photo. This tells me there is something more to the paint scheme. I have an aviation historian fried who's doing some research, but he is coming up with very little info. I wonder where Huma got thier paint information from?

I remember your Wal from the Flying Boat build-- you've done an excellent job with the kit, and your diorama is fantastic. I just started building my Wal, which will go into a commercial aircraft display at our local Museum of Flight in December 2019. But I remembered the issue with the bow fit and cockpit you showed in yours, so I made "adjustments" to mine. You build is the "gold standard" I'm aiming for though. Thanks again for your assistance. I'll try and post some photos when it's finished.
VR, Russ

I would suggest going to the Flight International magazine web site. They have an archive that goes back to WWI, or before. the search on Dornier Wal. I think the first article is 1923.

The Aeroplane magazine also goes back to 1911.

These magazines are English, and the archives are maintained, AND you can write them!

On that note as I recall looking at my Dornier Wal drawing, the Aluminum was varnished, looking silver when new, much like the early Junkers G24. the Black stripe was Black as were the Lettering. The RAF museum has a JU-52 on its site painted in the same style.

Go to the Aeroscale photo gallery

Thanks Tom-- I'll check it out. I'm convinced on close inspection of photos of 2068 "Passat" and 2069 "Monsun", they had at least two colors for the topside (gray sides and either dark gray or silver dope for the fuselage decking and wing tops, probably started with aluminum planing surfaces which were then painted black, and had "cheat lines" along the planing surface and at the top of the fuselage sides)---at least at some point in thier existence. Given the rigors of trans-Atlantic flight between Africa and S. America, it's also a good bet they were re-painted at least once between 1930 and 1935 too-- I know they both received an inclosed cockpit during that time for sure, and I think they may have been repainted in overall gray or silver dope at that point, but I'm not sure. Gotta do more research I guess.....
VR, Russ