Do 215B-5 Nachtjager - Now with New Tool Kit! *Finished!*

[Andwil]

The nacelle joints are about as good as I’m going to get them.  I’ve re-primed the undersides and primed the top.  Ready now for some colour:

 

 

 

I have also made up and painted the main wheels and props:

 

 

There is only a very slight difference between the RLM66 of the wheels and the tyre black!  Glad I took the time to mask the wheels before airbrushing the tyres.

 

 

Thanks for looking.

 

AW

 

[vppelt68]

Looking good, AW! Are the prop blades black or a very dark black green?

[Andwil]

4 hours ago, vppelt68 said:

Looking good, AW! Are the prop blades black or a very dark black green?

Very dark black green, RLM 70 schwarzgrun. (Lifecolour)

 

AW

Edited June 22, 2022 by Andwil
Added information

[Andwil]

I did a pre-shade on the undersides today, not something I normally do.  Thinned black painted on with a brush.  I didn’t bother with the topsides as they’re going to be mostly black anyway.  I’ve decided to do it in the RLM 66 and 77 black/ light grey interpretation of the camouflage scheme.

 

 

Thanks for looking.

 

AW

[vppelt68]

3 minutes ago, Andwil said:

I’ve decided to do it in the RLM 66 and 77 black/ light grey interpretation of the camouflage scheme.

 

AW

 In that case I can go for the 74/75/76 scheme - 

[81-er]

Both are great schemes, so I'm looking forward to seeing them both finished

 

James

[Andwil]

Undersides sprayed RLM 76 today.  Some of the pre-shade is showing through, so I’m pleased with that.  Black next.

 

 

Thanks for looking.

 

AW

[Andwil]

Black!

 

 

 

Now to find the closest match that I can in my paint collection for RLM 77 lichtgrau, a colour that doesn’t seem to exist on any of the acrylic paint ranges available to me.  Looking at the colour charts on Cybermodeler one of the modern USN light greys might be close to the right colour.

 

Thanks for looking.

 

AW

 

 

[Andwil]

Following the black base yesterday, I moved on the the light grey today.  Normally I would pant the lighter colour first, but in this instance I wanted to replicate the application of the light grey at unit level over the factory applied black.  Now, as I mentioned in my previous post, I do not have, nor can source, RLM 77 lichtgrau.  This colour is variously translated as light grey or pale grey.  Cybermodeler gives four examples of the colour from different published sources and these range from a light medium grey shade through to a very pale shade.  Now I have a close match for the palest of these greys in FS36459 light grey and working on the assumption that the RLM 74/75/76 trio get lighter, I have assumed that 77 would be  quite a light shade.

 

So, on with the painting.  Firstly, blue-tack worms:

 

 

Looks like the aftermath of an accident on the spaghetti factory!

 

FS36495 airbrushed quite thin at low pressure to limit overspray:

 

 

I really do not like the result at all.  I think its far too light, there is too much contrast with the black which makes it look like some kind of winter camouflage.  I’ll have to go over it with a darker shade, possibly light compass grey.  I’m conscious of not going too dark or else the grey codes will not be legible.

 

Thanks for looking.

 

AW

[Andwil]

So I resprayed  the light grey with light compass grey, it is still very light but the contrast is at least a little reduced.  After rectifying some overspray on the black I removed the bluetack worms.  The model looked a right dogs breakfast.  As I had applied a clear coat over the black to protect it before masking, the areas covered by the bluetack were shiny, the repainted overspray areas were matt and the light grey a kind of satin.  There was also some bleed of the two shades of light grey.  Yuk!  After attending to the bleeds I gave the model another clear coat which tied everything in together.  So here is where I am at:

 

 

 

 

Glossed and ready for decals.

 

Not my best painting effort, and I think with hindsight I would have preferred the 74/75/76 scheme to this.  I have also stuffed up the pattern at the rear of the fuselage by transposing the black and grey, but I think I can get away with it as the three different profiles I have of R4+DC (sounds like a Star Wars droid number) are all different anyway.

 

Thanks for looking.

 

AW

[Walter]

Nice work may I make a suggestion you could do a light dusting of something like a buff or a mix with grey to reduce the contrast. It will lighten the dark colour and darken the light but ever so slightly. 

[PeterB]

On 6/26/2022 at 8:51 AM, Andwil said:

  Now, as I mentioned in my previous post, I do not have, nor can source, RLM 77 lichtgrau.  This colour is variously translated as light grey or pale grey.  Cybermodeler gives four examples of the colour from different published sources and these range from a light medium grey shade through to a very pale shade.  Now I have a close match for the palest of these greys in FS36459 light grey and working on the assumption that the RLM 74/75/76 trio get lighter, I have assumed that 77 would be  quite a light shade.

 

 

I really do not like the result at all.  I think its far too light, there is too much contrast with the black which makes it look like some kind of winter camouflage.  I’ll have to go over it with a darker shade, possibly light compass grey.  I’m conscious of not going too dark or else the grey codes will not be legible.

 

Thanks for looking.

 

AW

Hi AW,

 

The naming of the various RLM colours can be a problem as there seem to have been various interpretations at local level and in things like the official Paint Shop Handbooks which were sent out yearly. For example I have seen Hellblau, Weissblau, Graublau and others for RLM 76, which may perhaps reflect variations on the actual shade over the years. As to RLM 77 which you call "lichtgrau" this is indeed not mentioned very often and I remember getting involved in a discussion with Graham a few years back on this very subject when building a Frog Bf 110.

 

In my collection of ancient paint I have this from the original early Humbrol Authentic range.

I believe it was actually intended to be RLM 76 to go with their RLM 74 and RLM 75 but I mentioned that to me the name "Hellgrau" was more likely to belong to RLM 77. After pointing out that most of the "official" names modellers quote were not actually used in official documents, Graham said that RLM 77 was only used for the markings on night fighters, and indeed my book on Luftwaffe camo by Ullmann confirms this. He includes a copy of the German equivalent to the AMO - Air Ministry Orders  - L.Dv 521/1 from November 1941 which stated that the crosses should be painted in washable paint 7121.77 - 77 being the shade of course and 7121 is some sort of washable paint whereas 7124.22 is permanent black for example.

 

It seems to be a very light grey used to replace/tone down white on planes for the lettering and maybe even the national insignia, but references to " RLM 77 was used on night fighters" in some  sources may have resulted in the impression that it was actually a camo colour, when it is more likely that RLM 76 was used for that purpose. Of course there is then a problem with just how blue RLM 76 should be - some say that many model paint versions are too blue, and indeed I have mentioned this in my Do-217 K build where I am using Gunze H417 "RLM 76 Light Blue". For what it is worth one of my references suggests that RLM 77 was close to FS36493 whilst RLM 76 was close to FS36473.

 

Cheers

 

Pete

Edited June 28, 2022 by PeterB

[Andwil]

1 hour ago, Walter said:

Nice work may I make a suggestion you could do a light dusting of something like a buff or a mix with grey to reduce the contrast. It will lighten the dark colour and darken the light but ever so slightly. 

Good idea and probably worth a try as I am still disturbed by the contrast.

 

@PeterB, you know I was really beginning to wonder whether the reference to “RLM 77” in that research was in fact a typo and should have been 76, a colour that would have been readily available at unit level, certainly in the quantities needed to effect camouflage on aircraft the size of the Do-215.

 

AW 

[vppelt68]

I don't think the "trouble" is in the 77/76 but in the black, which is a fresh unfaded one. That light grey would look very different next to tire/NATO/anthracite black, whatever except that true black. Filtering it with a wash will most likely improve things! V-P

[Andwil]

On the strength of @Walter’s and @vppelt68’s helpful suggestions I am going to try a couple of experiments on mules to find the best way of toning down the contrast.

 

AW

[Walter]

👍cool a light grey oil wash will also work.

[Andwil]

As ICM give two sprues for the engine, prop, exhaust etc parts which include the nacelle halves, you have enough parts for four nacelles.  I airbrushed the spare halves black and then added stripes of the light compass grey.  That gave me some pieces of plastic looking just like the model.  I then tried different ways of toning down the contrast.  Firstly a misting of dark compass grey.  This was too strong and turned the black to grey.  Then I gave another piece a wash of light grey brushed on.  That just looked horrible.  Then I made a thin mix of the grey wash and airbrushed it at fairly high pressure, around 18psi, at a long distance.  This did the trick so I gave the model two light mist coats.  The effect looks better to the naked eye than in the photo and will probably look even better after a matt coat.

 

 

So I think I can now proceed to decals.

 

Thanks for looking.

 

AW

[81-er]

It's subtle, but definitely not looking as stark a contrast as before.

 

James

[Andwil]

I’ve started on the decals, got the upper and underside ones done today.  The ICM decals are quite thick and stiff and take an age to release from the backing, even in very warm water.  But they go on nicely don’t tear or roll up, even the narrow stripes.  I wasn’t going to use all the upper surface stencils as some are on the black and wont be seen and others may have been overpainted by the field applied camouflage, but then I thought, as its German, they probably followed regs and did a thorough job, so I used them!

 

 

Incidentally, you can see from the crosses how the black camouflage has been toned down by the light grey misting.

 

Thanks for looking.

 

AW

[Walter]

Looks good are going to pit a wash over it?

[Andwil]

Rest of the decals on today.  The swastikas are from a Modeldecal sheet of the infamous symbol in a variety of sizes.

 

 

 

I’ll let these settle overnight and then do a flat coat.  After that I’ll fecide whether to put on any washes, generally I don’t go in for panel line washes  and am not very good at it.

 

Thanks for looking.

 

AW

 

[Andwil]

The matt coat was sprayed yesterday, today I added the exhausts and their shrouds and also unmasked the cockpit.  The P Mask set did. Great job of keeping out the paint, however they stuck glue, were very difficult to remove and left a nasty sticky residue on the clear plastic 🤬.  I first tried to scrape this off using a toothpick but all that achieved was scratching of the plastic.  A cotton bud dipped in IPA did the trick and some polishing with toothpaste cleared up most of the scratches.  A further polish will probably be required.  I would recommend anyone using a P Mask masking set to de-tack it before application.  Naturally I broke the pitot off during this process.  I have also added the pilots armoured windscreen.  Undercarriage next.

 

 

Thanks for looking.

 

AW

Edited July 6, 2022 by Andwil
Typo

[81-er]

That's annoying about the issues with the masking, but the model is looking good

 

James

[Walter]

Yeah that brand of masks isn't the best, at least you got it sorted. Almost finished! 

[Andwil]

She’s up on her legs.  Being worried about the small locating points for the undercarriage assembly, I used an epoxy glue and once firmed also applied some CA to the joints for extra strength.  This should set fully hard overnight.

 

 

 

Only a few more bits to go now, including the parts I’m really not looking forward to, the aerials for the FuG. 205 Liechtenstein array.

 

Thanks for looking.

 

AW