Fw 190D-9 and Ta 152C in-progress

[matrixone]

Thanks for the comment on the tires Gator!

Luiz,
More often than not I wuss out and cover up too much of the pre-shading on my models, on these two I will be leaving a bit more pre-shading showing...even though this goes against my preference for having the pre-shading barely visible on finished models.

On the Fw 190D-9 the radio access panel will be darkened slightly by a mix of RLM 76 and RLM 65, on ''red 18'' that panel looks darker than the surrounding RLM 76 fuselage sides. Why that is I don't know. :idonno


Matrixone

 

[matrixone]

Earlier today I toned down the pre-shading by spraying on a thin coat of RLM 76, the models look much better now even though the pre-shading is still showing quite a bit. After the markings, weathering, and flat coat are on the pre-shading won't stand out at all.

The Fw 190D-9:
In this first picture the red arrow points to the radio access panel that was darkened with a mix of RLM 65 and RLM 76 sprayed on it.

The Ta 152C:

Matrixone

 

[lupanzer]

Les.

I am very impressed with the subtle effects...great reference for my future projects , such as FW 190 A6 and 109's....waiting anxious for next updates :frantic

Luiz

 

[matrixone]

Thank you Luiz.

Time to get something done on these models...I can hardly believe its been nearly a month since my last update. :S

I started the painting of the upper surfaces on the Fw 190D-9. I am trying to get the demarcation line between the upper and lower surface colors exactly right and this is easier said than done since all the photographs of this machine show it after capture and show that the paint job is in various stages of weathering making it difficult to determine certain details of the camouflage pattern. Red 18 is a Marienburg built Fw 190D-9 and I looked at photographs of other Doras built by this factory to try and get a better idea of what the camouflage should be on this aircraft and this was not much help since it looks like parts of the airframe might have been repainted sometime in its service life, for example, the demarcation lines between the colors on the engine cowl are a bit different on the left and right sides with the right side being higher than the left.

On the right side of the fuselage I will have to change up the painting and decaling sequence for the fuselage cross. I will need to spray the area where the fuselage is to be placed RLM 76 and then gloss coat and add the decal and then carefully re-spray RLM 82 around the fuselage cross.
The images below have the arrow pointed to show the area I am talking about.

And a word about the color called RLM 83: There has been a Luftwaffe document discovered about two years ago that states the color RLM 83 was a blue color intended for use on aircraft operating over water in the MTO. So far there has been only one confirmed use of this blue RLM 83 paint color on a Ju 88 that landed by mistake at Dubendorf airfield in Switzerland.
So if RLM 83 is a blue shade of paint what was the dark green used on a so many Focke-Wulfs and other late war aircraft in the last months of the war? hmy:
Right now there is no knowledge of what the late war dark green was officially known as but this should not be all that surprising since an awful lot of documents were destroyed at the end of the war but since the dark green color was in such widespread use in the German aircraft industry it was not likely just some sort of temporary paint shade. In my build threads of late war German aircraft models I will refer to RLM 83 as it has been known for the past 20years as dark green since so many other modelers know it that way.

Matrixone

 

[lupanzer]

Perfect painting job...like a lot the considerations about the RLM 83...very elucidative

Best!

Luiz

 

[ij001]

&



Ian

 

[moon puppy]

I understand things being lost in translation, lost to time but why would you worry about destroying documentation of what the color of your camo scheme was?

Butcherbird lookin' great Les, I know you're going to nail this paint job.

 

[matrixone]

Thanks guys!

Bob,
Keep in mind that some of the documents related to the war were destroyed upon request by the Allies after the fighting ended, I can't recall there being any postwar studies of Luftwaffe paints or camouflage schemes by the Allies...during that time they were more interested in jet and rocket powered machines and rounding up those that committed war crimes.
Some of the surviving German population was even worried about possessing photographs of their family members that served in the armed forces for fear of being accused of being hardcore Nazis and being harassed by the occupation forces, many valuable photographs of Luftwaffe machines taken by the Germans in the late war period were lost this way. For example, one of the members of JG 301 said he had taken several photographs of the Ta 152H and IIRC they were either ordered to be destroyed by the occupation troops or were destroyed out of fear violating the laws set forth by the occupation forces...luckily not ALL the photographs were lost!


Matrixone

 

[matrixone]

More painting done earlier today, the other camouflage color for the Fw 190D-9 was sprayed on and the Ta 152C had both of its camouflage colors sprayed on the fuselage.

The Ta 152C:

The Fw 190D-9:

On the right side of the fuselage I added some light mottling, in one of the photographs of ''red 18'' there was what could have been very light mottling seen on the right side or it could have been dirt...I chose the mottling option.

Both models together.

Matrixone

 

[lupanzer]

Perfect Les!...they look superb...learning a lot...thank you

Best!

Luiz

 

[matrixone]

Thanks Luiz.

The painting of the wings has started. The RLM 83 has been sprayed on the tail planes of the Fw 190D-9 and both the tail planes and wings on the Ta 152C. Tuesday morning I will be spraying on the RLM 82 medium green color to complete the camouflage pattern.
On the Fw 190D-9 the wings are painted RLM 75 and RLM 83, RLM 75 has been sprayed on and near the wing root the paint has been weathered slightly. The RLM 83 will be sprayed on soon and it will get similar weathering on the wing root on the left hand side.
I don't know why but in these pictures the RLM 75 looks way too light, I suspect its because of the surrounding dark camouflage paint colors and the black background...in real life the paint is not that light of a paint shade.

Matrixone

 

[ij001]

I'm far too easily influenced by other folks' builds. I keep looking at the 152C and thinking how nice it would be as a Luft 46 build in another units operational colours... :hmmm

Ian

 

[matrixone]

Ian,
Oh, I have plans that you might like for the markings to be used on the Ta 152C...(insert evil laugh here). :evil: Just wait and see!


Matrixone

 

[lupanzer]

Les

...unusual painting squeme on D9 wings...high contrast...interesting ... very fun to watch...

...learning a lot with your projects

Best!

Luiz

 

[Skinny_Mike]

Great job Les. These builds really look great. I also wanted to thank you for the step by step tutorial. I have admired your builds since I first joined MA, and I appreciate you sharing your techniques. I've already written more then a few notes!

Mike
:drinks

 

[matrixone]

Thanks much for the comments! :drinks

As long as these in-progress posts are of some help I will keep on posting them.

Luiz,
The wings on ''red 18'' have different camouflage colors than the fuselage because the wings were built by a subcontractor at a different location and they were shipped to an assembly center for the wings and fuselage to be joined. It was not unusual for the fuselage and wings to have different paint colors on them since the subcontractor that built the wings would not always know exactly which Fw 190D-9 plant the wings might be sent to so it would be impossible to attempt to paint the wing sets in matching colors, remember there were a number of factories producing the D-9 and each factory had their own interpretation of the official camouflage scheme, also some factories switched over to the late war green colors earlier than others so that adds even more confusion to the aircraft painters (and modelers!).
There are color photographs taken just after the war ended that clearly show some Mimetall built Fw 190D-9's with green painted fuselages and 74/75 gray wings, even in the last weeks of the war there were still limited stocks of the earlier outdated gray shades of paint being used in the German aircraft industry.

Matrixone

 

[lupanzer]

OK!...

Best!

Luiz

 

[jugjunkie]

Wow this is really top notch stuff - very fine modelling indeed.

 

[matrixone]

Thanks again Luiz and thank you jugjunkie!

More painting done earlier today.

The D-9 has all the upper surface colors on now and the wing roots were given the first stages of weathering with some paint fading done using the airbrush, later weathering in these areas will be done by oil paints and brushed on enamel paint.
In the last set of pictures that were posted the other day the RLM 75 on the wings looked WAY too light for my taste and am happy that after the other color was sprayed on the RLM 75 looks as it should.

Below is a color painting of ''red 18'' showing what my model should look like after I am done painting. Note the rear half of the wings are BMF and the front half painted RLM 75.

After the paint on the model dries for a day I will mask and spray on the BMF.

While I had the airbrush out today I painted RLM 76 on the right side of upper fuselage where the fuselage cross will be placed, after the cross is on the model I will need to spray on RLM 82 around the upper arms of the cross like that seen in the color profile.
Also I re-sprayed the radio access hatch on the left hand side of the fuselage a slightly darker color, for reasons unknown ''red 18'' had a distinctly darker painted radio access panel than is usual with Fw 190D-9s.

And here is the Ta 152C, it has all of its camouflage colors on now and after the paints are fully dry I will do some masking and paint on the RVD fuselage band.

Matrixone

 

[SA Dave]

Stunning as usual mate