Hopefully not an open can of lozenge worms

[oldgit]

Chaps,

Could anyone advise, without me hopefully re-opening a can of worms, which is the best 1-72nd 4 & 5 colour lozenge decals?

By best, I obviously means consideration of colour and pattern accuracy, but also value for money & availability.

Could anyone advise a source, and also a source for German aircraft construction number decals in the same scale please?

Which aircraft had 4 colour lozenge & which had 5? Is it down to researching individual machines, or was there a change of

cammo patterns at a certain date?

Also, is there a rule of thumb for applying lozenge decals - i.e. in regard to the direction of pattern, or is it again down to

researching specific manufacturers or individual machines?

Lozenge cammo seems a dark art to me & any advice/pointers would be very welcome.

Thanks,

Tim

[tonyb]

Hi Tim

For all things lozenge try the Aeroscale early aviation forum and search for lozenge camouflage101

it has all you need to know about lozenge camo.

As for decals I would try Doug Baumann's or the new one's from Norland Models.

Hope this is of some help.

tonyb

[stevehed]

You could also try the Aerodrome website. Go to the search facility and type in lozenge and I'll be amazed if you're not deluged with information.

Regards, Steve

[gcn]

I have to say the Norland weathered decals do look very nice and they come in all scales. I've no idea how well they perform as they are just out but I will certainly getting some for my next lozenge build.

[stevef]

Chaps,

Could anyone advise, without me hopefully re-opening a can of worms, which is the best 1-72nd 4 & 5 colour lozenge decals?

By best, I obviously means consideration of colour and pattern accuracy, but also value for money & availability.

Could anyone advise a source, and also a source for German aircraft construction number decals in the same scale please?

Which aircraft had 4 colour lozenge & which had 5? Is it down to researching individual machines, or was there a change of

cammo patterns at a certain date?

Also, is there a rule of thumb for applying lozenge decals - i.e. in regard to the direction of pattern, or is it again down to

researching specific manufacturers or individual machines?

Lozenge cammo seems a dark art to me & any advice/pointers would be very welcome.

Thanks,

Tim

Dear Tim,

You have indeed opened a can of worms as there is much confusion about these schemes. Most aircraft had the patterns running across the span of the wings as the fabrics were printed on rolls. The fabric was stonger across its width so that is why it was laid along the wings. Usually they started at the centre line of the wings and worked outwards towards the tips. Some large aircraft had the fabric laid at 45 degrees to the leading edge but this was quickly abandoned. Moveable surfaces and sometimes tailplanes did not conform to standard practice as the fabrics were applied according to availability and ease of application. Fuselage coverings tended to be two or three longitudinal strips sewn together and laced along the under centre-line of the machine. Some aircraft had the fabrics applied transversely if they were of plywood construction.

Both 4 and 5 colour patterns were used and both groups came in day and night schemes which can be distinguished by their shades. Do not forget that on many large aircraft the fuselages were hand painted with irregular polygons while the flying surfaces were printed fabric - you need to check photographs to be sure. Some smaller aircraft have been reported to have had hand painted lozenges on the flying surfaces but I cannot find a reliable source to confirm that. Again I suggest you look carefully at the photos: the problem is that it all happened a long time ago and records were not always kept as the ground crews had better things to do. Photos can also be misleading - in short there seem to be some general rules and then there are the exceptions! Do your research and then you can argue your own case.

Sorry but I cannot help you with advice on decals.

Stevef

[Redman]

Hello Tim, I find the whole thing a bit confusing. I work with 1/72 scale and am in the middle of applying lozenge pattern to 4 Fokker D.VII's and I have used a mixture of decals. I got a top and bottom set from Techmod via Hannants. Sheet number 72113. They go on very well and shrink down well. They also don't have a problem with decals on top. I have found that some of the Roden lozenge decals will not conform to the contours and are brittle.

I would post a picture of the D.VII if I knew how?

Regards, Andrew

[JackFlash]

Hi Tim

For all things lozenge try the Aeroscale early aviation forum and search for lozenge camouflage101

it has all you need to know about lozenge camo.

As for decals I would try Doug Baumann's or the new one's from Norland Models.

Hope this is of some help.

tonyb

TonyB, Thanks for the kind words.

[tonyb]

Sorry JackFlash I should have credited you in my post.

It is a great piece of work and one I refer to very often.

Cheers

tonyb

[JackFlash]

No worries! The 101 thread is a show stopper. I am currently adding to the 201 thread.

Eventually I would like to replace some of the earlier placed images in 101 with sharper ones.

Edited May 22, 2012 by JackFlash