He-111 exhaust staining colour query?

[Radleigh]

Hi guys, thinking of attacking the Heinkel tonight on the underside with the exhaust staining but I'm unsure on what colour to do, a straight black or does it need some red/brown in it too?

Colour photos I've seen doesn't really answer this.

Thanks all.

[steveinns]

This is only a personal opinion based on photographic observation's. Luftwaffe a/c did not generally have access to high octane fuel normally only using 87 octane. From the photographic evidence I've seen, this leaves very sooty deposits on the airframe & starkly contrasts with the underside colour.

By comparison Allied a/c exhaust is a much lighter colour. If you've had the good fortune to go to any airshows with todays Warbirds. The fuel octane rating used isn't too dis-similar from the wartime years. That exhaust colour is a light grey to almost a buff colour.

So for a colour combination, I'd go with a black & Black grey mix for your Heinkel. There may well be some very compatible pastels to use ?

[Adrian Hills]

Wow was just looking for a picture for exhaust stains on my Casa 211, based on a matchbox He 111 with Airfix Lanc engines.

Have gone with a 10psi haze of Gunze flat black. It has already had some attention from umber and black pastels. Looks ok to me.

I also very lightly haze over decals which are a bit too shiny with Flat Black. It works well on dunkelgrun and schwarzgrun.

Now all I need is a rear view of the target tug tail wiring !

[Test Graham]

In WW2, the light grey colour occurs when the engine is tuned to run lean and at low revs, and is caused by lead deposits from the additives to make higher octane. It is particularly noticeable on photos of the RAAF Spitfire MK.VIIIs operating over New Guinea. The darker black is seen on fighters when the engine is set to run rich at higher revs, as in combat or rapid climbs. Bombers generally ran with lower octanes, certainly earlier in the war.

The Luftwaffe adopted areas of black paint on their airframes to cover areas of exhaust staining, which certainly points to darker stain. However, it is generally good advice never to use straight black for anything, as it is too intense a shade. Toning it down with a little dark grey would be desirable, and yes, I'd be inclined to add a little brown too, although I'm not sure just how historically accurate that would be.

I presume you are not working on an example from the Blitz, where black is the dominant colour anyway. For such examples, perhaps a somewhat lighter stain would be appropriate to create a little contrast.