Hi,
Does anyone know weather late war luftwaffe camo was hard or softedged. I am doing the Tamiya FW-190 D-9 from JG 301. The undersides and fusalgage are RLM 76 and the upper-surfaces and top of fusalage are dunkelgrun and grauviolett. Also, what colours was the mottling and was it just applied to the tail or all of the fusalage?

chers

Philip

Hey procrazy-

I'm fairly sure that late war 190-D's from JG 301 used a hard edge cammo scheme and that the mottled finish stayed on the tail.

I haven't been able to find any hard photographic evidence, but a quick google search trned up some nice info...

http://modelingmadness.com/scotts/decals/aero/am48637.htm

Good luck and keep us posted...

The camo on the fusalage looks featherd?
How would i do panel lines?

cheers

Philip

I agree with you that the fuselage looks like it has a feathered cammo. You'll either have to use a light hand with your airbrush or elevate your stencil off of the surface of the model.

To do that, I usually cut out my stencil and then attach it to the model using small balls of tape or silly putty underneath... anything that will lift the stencil off of the model's surface a few mm's. That should give you a nice soft edge.

As far as the panel lines go, there's nothing like a simple wash or a really sharp pencil to bring out panel line details.

The camouflage was soft edge. I find the best way to do this in 1/48 scale is just be good friend with your airbrush. Practice on scrap. I don't use masks on this type of camou.

As to the mottle , it varried from aircraft to aircraft. If you can find a picture of the aircraft, or a similar one if you do not need to be exact, it helps, The mottle colors were usually the top colors, but a third color was not uncommon.

Hi Steven welcome to Armorama Where have I seen that name before?
Sorry for not answering sooner Philip, I've been having connection problems.
I'm with Steven on this and I would also do the camo freehand. However Philip, as you are new to using an airbrush it wouldn't hurt to use masks and do hard edge, or as Big Ton says use something to lift the edges of the mask, just of the surface. The closer to the surface the tighter, in theory, the spray will be. To do this successfully you will need to spray at right angles to the mask. IMHO there is only one way to paint mottle, as seen on Luftwaffe aircraft and that is to do it free hand. For this you will need to have great control over your brush. For this you will need to thin the paint and adjust the air pressure so that you can get in close, open the air valve and gradually introduce the paint. Then it is simply a matter of drawing the piece of mottle. Another thing to remember is that you don't always want complete coverage. The only way to be able to do this is PRACTICE.
For panel lines there are a couple of articles in the Features section
Panel lines with lead pencil
Oil washes
Mal

I read an article in FSM a while back, about a FW190D, which mentioned that the bulk of the camouflage painting of late war a/c was done by the ground crews at the fighter airfields. Presuming that they used spray guns, I would say that soft edge camouflage is pretty much the norm.

The splinter cam on the wings appears to have been more freehand than previously,the lines not being so sharply delineated, possibly as a time saving measure.

I finished it a coupple of weeks ago, but thanks for the info! You will be able to find photos in my gallery.

cheers

Philip

Take a look her
http://www.jpsmodell.de/dc/shemes/fw190d9.jpg