Fw190 d13 paint scheme

[Jerry Crandall]

Years ago we were asked to come the USAF museum and give them information to correct the spurious camo and markings on their D-9. When I asked them how they determined the colors they said they found medium gray (RLM75) on the airframe. At this time they had the D-13 wings with fuselage from  D-9 W.Nr. 601088. The technician that was to head up the project retired shortly thereafter and to this day it remains in the incorrect markings of a IV./JG 3 a/c. By the way, I did not paint the D-13. I did supply them with photos, color chips and diagrams but their crew painted it. The paint was applied too thick and to heavy. The paint on "Yellow 13" was lightly fogged in many areas.

    Cheers, Jerry

[Giorgio N]

3 hours ago, Milos Gazdic said:

Dear enthusiasts, modeler & researcher friends! Hope you are having a nice day & the weekend will be even nicer!

I was unable to dedicate time last night to these matters. Came home too late & after spending few moments with my baby who yesterday turned 6 months exactly went for a dinner with a friend who was leaving Shanghai last night after short visit.

I am aware that these were single layer paints. But still painting multiple layers in top of each other would cause some weight gain. But as I mentioned in my previous post - it is of secondary importance for this discussion but we should not ignore it completely. Why am I asking about this is because I believe that airframe arrived to the unit already camouflaged and NOT with RLM75 painted overall on the top surfaces! Especially not on the wings! And if that is the case then yes - it is a gain in weight especially with single-coat paints (which as I understand apply in ticker layer than the old style ones that demanded the primer). 

And if the machine arrived to unit already camouflaged (power-egg could have been painted in Junkers style as seen in Jerry's book in the video capture) and the rest of airframe would be in camo which is standard to the factory that built the airframe and that is where I say that I agree with JaPo guys! and disagree with the fact that aircraft ever looked as in the first image in the instructions which were posted above coming from Eagle Editions!  Jerry just confirmed that this is the instruction for modelers in how most easily to achieve the result closest to the original airframe and not the way airframe was painted in reality. 

After coming in "standard" camouflage - Kommodore probably ordered for his airframe to be painted similar to it's power-egg style.

As for the "neatness" of the application of the paints on the original airframe, looking at the photos for they look a bit softer than on the rebuilt machine. But those are finesse...

And yes - Fw 190 D-13 "<<" WNr 836016 photos and a photo of 3rd D-13 (burnt, seen here: https://vintageeagle.com/2017/12/11/addendum-ce-vol-i-photo-46-fw-190-d-13/ ) could also help us in determining how did "Gelbe 10" look before the final camo was applied onto it, when it just left the factory.

Looking forward for more thoughts and comments guys!
Have a great weekend
M

 

A bit off topic and not immediately related to the D-13.. we shouldn't give too much importance to the effect of paint weight on aircraft as this effect is smaller than often quoted. The USAAF Proving Ground Command studied the matter during the War and concluded that on fighter sized types the overall contribution of all paints used for the exterior finish was approximately 15 to 20 lbs, figures that they assessed as negligible in terms of the effect on performance.

More important was the increase of drag due to the roughness of some paints but this again was found to affect speed within the usual differences between one aircraft and the other.

Where however the application of paint had a great effect was in the time required to get the aircraft off the factory !

Within the context of late WW2 Luftwaffe fighters, I'd expect that the importance of camouflage, particularly on the ground, would have been way higher than the negligible effect of a few lbs more of weight

[Johnson]

Hi Ian,

 

I used Jerry Crandall's paint guide and got what I thought was a pretty good result. To my eye, the colours Jerry/Thomas Tullis used in his profiles match the b&w photos taken by Ross Finlayson pretty well, though I appreciate that you may find it a bit difficult to make out the individual colours!

 

Best of luck with the build,

 

Cheers,

 

 

 

 

[Jerry Crandall]

The Focke Wulf factory handbook states the weight of camouflage paint for the A-8 is 4.4 pounds. Ross Finlayson , a Canadian Mosquito pilot, is the person that took the great photos of "Yellow 10" when an American pilot ferried it into Gilze-Rijen airbase in Holland. He told of the interest of he and his pilot friends climbing all over this rare German fighter and somehow they dislodged the pilots seat and left it on the cockpit ledge. Of course, the American pilot was not happy about that. Ross gave me the all of the photos and negatives that he took, which I still have, plus his description of the camouflage colors. Without those photos we would know very little about the camo and markings of "Yellow 10". 

   Cheers, Jerry