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PE-2 prop colour


lesthegringo

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I don't have a definite answer, but in my copy of Finnish Bomber Colors, 1939-45, by Kari Stenman and Karolina Holda, the six captured PE-2's the Finns bought from the Germans all had black prop blades with yellow tips. The aircraft were shipped to Finland and refurbished before being used; it is obvious the aircraft were all repainted in the standard green/black RLM65 camouflage, but I am unsure if the propellers were also repainted or were left in their original finish. In the book, all of the photos of the PE-2's used by the Finns had black prop blades with yellow tips. On the Soviet Warplanes webpage, there is an article by MassimoTessitori that describes early PE-2's as having unpainted props, but after 1941, they were to be painted matte black. Best I can do from my references.

Mike

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On page 48 of our book, "Colors of the Falcons", it states:

“Metal propeller blades were originally finished on the rear face only, using gloss black oil enamel AE-11 or nitro enamel DM paint. The overall matt finishing of the blades was introduced only in 1941, using the paints A-26m or AMT‑6. In either case painting was preceded by applying an ALG-1 or ALG-5 primer. On those blades where AMT-6 was used, a reddish-brown primer, 138A, was also applied. It was only after the war that propeller tips were painted medium yellow, for a distance of 15-20 cm.”

This may be where the "rust colour" prop blades comes from.

 

Falcons cover.jpg

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11 hours ago, Richard502 said:

Colors 0f the Falcons: Do you recommend this book?

 

As editor and publisher I don't feel it would be appropriate to blow my own horn. Instead, here's a link to a short IPMS USA review. One thing to note... since this review the book has been reprinted, and the price has been reduced to $14.95 (plus shipping).  https://web.ipmsusa3.org/content/colors-falcons-soviet-aircraft-camouflage-and-markings-world-war-ii

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1 hour ago, PFlint said:

is there anything in the reprint that is not in the original?

in other words...I have the book ...should I buy the reprint?

No... the reprint is the same, with a couple of typos corrected.

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Colors of the Falcons is based on a translation of the works of Hornat and (in its best part) of the articles of late '90s of Vaklamov and Orlov published on M-Hobby, and contains a lot of useful informations. 

Unfortunately some parts were 'enriched' with informations from a previous web site now known for its unreliability. 

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The only possible alternative book is Real colors of WWII- Aircraft, of AK. It is a much more expensive book, but it is more updated and extensive. The author of the part on Soviet planes is Orlov, that was the author of the original research on the subject. There are chapters on US, German and British planes.   There is a third book on the subject, but it is very unreliable. I don't remember of further ones in English.

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Thanks for the comment on the AK book.  As a result of the comments on the AFV equivalent, I was not intending to buy this.  After all, I do already have much on British, German and US colours.  However, an up-to-date thorough guide to the VVS is definitely needed that goes further than Falcons, so perhaps I'll change my mind.

 

The very unreliable book is however very pretty.  Shame.

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On 7/30/2020 at 2:24 PM, Graham Boak said:

 However, an up-to-date thorough guide to the VVS is definitely needed that goes further than Falcons,

There is a new generation of Russian authors, a great series on 1941 colours and markings was published in 5-6 issues of the M-Hobby magazine in 2019. Hopefully there will be a Russian book soon, and an English translation in the future.

I see that Black Cross/Red Star series is being revised/reissued/expanded with new research too.

 

Cheers,

Vedran

 

 

Edited by dragonlanceHR
Typos
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