SPA Modeler

Before you guys get too far down the road of possible wing repairs to Black 13, please note the photographic examples of fuselage panels aft of the exhaust that look to be painted in a dark color, probably black. It's far more likely that Black 13 had some form of this treatment and that the exhaust stains from Black 13's engines have obliterated or covered the painted areas closest to the exhaust, leaving the portion towards the wing root trailing edge intact.

The photo of Black 1 that initially started this conversation seems to be painted in a similar way.


Another photo from the net of a 6./JG26 A-1 that shows a slightly different pattern.

Thanks so much, John! What you wrote makes a lot of sense. I am grateful you took the time to present the evidence to support a much larger swath of black painted on each side of the aircraft. I sincerely appreciate that you took the time to do this as well as for following along.

Kari, Thanks once again for following along! Your support is greatly appreciated!

Plenty of FW-190 squadrons incorporated black into that area to reduce the visibility of exhaust stains. That it showed up on an early A-0 is not surprising. But as photos above show, the exhaust staining was pretty pronounced and would overwhelm the upper portions where airflow in flight deposited it more heavily. While the lower areas were better defined due to those same airflow effects.
For your viewing reference, a color and better defined photo of a Korean War B-26. Since WWII color photos of FW-190s are not so common or clear. The exhaust stains against the black color is well visible in this color photo, whereas in black and white might not be so pronounced.

I throw back in this known photo of Bruce' black 13, but this time more balanced. What we can see is maybe a blend between the exhaust staining along the wing root and the darker camo paint of the wing, that overlaps on the side of the fuselage towards the pull-out step. What do you think?

Wow! Thank you, Torben! Based on the details in that port side photo, now more fully revealed, I am thinking exhaust stain with a painted fuselage touch up of either RLM71 or RLM70 which was brushed around her 13 then feathered in the opposite direction. This was likely field applied. My Dad would call that a “broom painted” job. It was done over the exhaust stain.

Tonally, based off of that photo, the non exhaust stained darker area matches the propellor blades, so that would indicate RLM 70 Black Green... but seeing how the rest of the upper wing areas do not match, that indicates the wing upper pattern is conceivably in RLM 71/02.

The upper wing RLM71/02 you identified matches with the PCM supplied color profiles, Carlos!

Ok that photo shows things really clear now I think you finally found the answer. Now you need to get to building

Now, since this is November 1941, the aircraft could conceivably be in the new 74/75/76 scheme. If that is the case, seeing how the dark area is not light enough to match either the darker gray of 74, or dark enough to match the black in the insignia, it could be either 70, or possibly even RLM 66. But that is purely speculation on my part.

Floki wrote:Ok that photo shows things really clear now I think you finally found the answer. Now you need to get to building

Yessir! I will get on the building this weekend. I still have “gills” to fill on each side of the fuselage and the first rivet practice runs to do on sheet styrene. Good luck to you, too in Columbus!