Standard RAF WW2 camo lines.

[claudius]

British friends, I need from your expertise the ultimate word for this dilemma of mine.

In the standard camouflage pattern used by the RAF during WW2 in its various colors (dark earth, middle stone, dark green, ocean grey etc) the demarkation between each color in the real aircraft is just slightly soft (i mean sprayed, sorry for my poor English), as I noticed in museums.

But...

in 1/48 scale in your opinion this "softness" shouldn't appear as a sharp line?

I have built my RAF models for years taking in account this, masking in order to have a sharp demarkation lines...

But I see many master modellers making 1/48 RAF planes with soft, airbrushed lines.

I hope I explained myself adequately...

Here's an example....

[Edgar]

This subject causes almost as much controversy as rivets. At the beginning of the war, aircraft camouflage colours were "blended," i.e. merged, but it was found that this was often done by lifting the gun away from the surface, so that paint was drying before it hit the surface, causing excess drag.

At a meeting, early in 1940, Farnborough, who were the Air Ministry's source for camouflage, said that blending was a waste of time, so the Ministry sent a circular to all Resident Technical Officers, saying that mats could, in future, be used. This covered the manufacturers, and POSSIBLY the Civilian Repair Organisation, but probably not M.U.s., and certainly not the Squadrons.

Mats probably caused ridges between colours, which needed smoothing down, but nothing like the roughness of the blending process, and a smooth finish was what the Ministry really wanted, but couldn't achieve with cellulose. Synthetic paint, in August 1942, was found to be smooth and matt, so was used until after the end of the war.

Understandably, modellers often think of their model first, and the real thing second, and this is where the fun starts. Ideally, blended colours had a "join" only one inch (even half an inch) wide, which, in photographs, looks very prominent, but, divide that down by 72 for a model, and it comes to 1/3rd of a mm, or 1/2 a mm in 1/48, 3/4 of a mm in 1/32, even 1/24 is only 1mm, and spraying to those limits is really difficult (I've never managed it.)

Ideally, taking all this into consideration, a model's finish should probably be hard-edged, but, as always, it's up to the individual, and long may that remain so.

[claudius]

That's the ULTIMATE answer I was looking for! Thank you very much indeed Edgar!

[Paul J]

Hm. I've seen many a model in 1/72nd with soft sprayed camo and although well finished look b888dy awful! Especially in that scale. In 1/48th the same but if done right does not look so bad but still 'overscale'.

I achieve about the right effect with my preferred masking when doing two colour camos with white/blu tack with the airbrush poised about right to get the effect I want.

[Giorgio N]

Fully agree with Edgar's post, really even in those cases where some overspray was allowed this is extremely hard to reproduce realistically in scale, although of course some can do this (not me). If you can achieve something like 1/2 mm overspray, could be worth a try on those subjects, if not a hard line will look good.

It should also be said that there are pictures showing some softer demarcations on WW2 RAF types, most likely the result of repainting. I remember having seen pictures of Spitfires where the demarcation lines were even a mix of hard and shoft edged...

Edited December 19, 2014 by Giorgio N

[Calum]

Great explanation there Thanks Edgar.