1/32 Hasegawa Bf109K-4 Weisse 8

[LyleW]

I can’t imagine this level of skill. Wow!

[jkim]

Cutting down that tail wheel door was major pain in the knuckles. There is probably an easier way but I simply upscaled a technique that I used on a 1/48 Bf109K-4 build.

I'm starting to think about the colors on this aircraft. There are some funky things going on in the photo that I'll be basing my decisions on. I'm also heavily referencing the JaPo book, Bf109K Camouflage & Marking book.


The Werk Number for this aircraft is 332884 and the fuselage camo pattern corresponds well with the general scheme that JaPo describes for 332xxx aircraft. Generally speaking, the switch from an offensive war to a defensive one led to certain changes that you see reflected in this color photo of White 8. The priority became protecting the aircraft on the ground as opposed to in the air and colors changed from greys and greens on the upper surfaces to browns and greens. The same rationale drove the demarcation between the top and bottom colors lower in a simpler pattern without fuselage mottles. The photo seems to indicate a main fuselage coloration of RLM 81 Brown and RLM 83 Green on the top side with the bottom of the fuselage in the unusual yellow-green variation of RLM 76. This color has also been referred to as "RLM 84", although there was never an official RLM designation. The fuselage coloration contrasts with the tail unit, which appears to be in the older RLM 75 Grey and RLM 83 Green combination with the standard RLM 76 Light Blue on the bottom. There appears to be sprayed line of dark color between the fuselage and tail. This line, in combination of the color mismatch may indicate either a repair replacement or simply a result of the decentralized manufacturing process, which various sub-components were painted at separate factories and then assembled later.

The discussion will be continued...

[mustang1989]

Interesting facts and observations about the paint schemes. I never put 2 and 2 together on the color changes but you're right. And true....there were a lot of inconsistencies in paint at the end of the war.

[Floki]

Been staring at that photo for a bit now that dark line appears to be the same color as the 884 right beside it, I don't think it's a shadow being cast i believe it is marked on the aircraft. The tail is in the grey with green molting on it, like you said probably from being produced elsewhere. Is this a orginal color photo or a b/w that has been colorized? That dark line seems to be darker than the 884 but still the same color like it was added at a different time. Maybe it was a mark by a salvage team?

[speedgraflex]

I believe this is "Gabi,"right, John? Is this a Bodenwohr-Mappach "Forest Factory Scheme?"
Clint/Floki, I believe what John is showing is from a color slide taken by a U.S. photographer.
Also this is not Gabi, but you can really see the way the camo was painted here!



John, I look forward to your work very much - cheers!!

[jkim]

Thanks for the great discussion, guys! I'm not an expert on this but am trying to employ the available resources to make my color choices.

I am assuming that the photo of White 8 is a color photo and not colorized. And yes, I believe the inscription below the cockpit reads "Gabi" as shown in the profile by Herbert Kruse. Mr. Kruse's profile shows White 8 to be a uniform RLM 75/83 from nose to tail so that's where my interpretation will veer off from his. My eyes see a distinct color shift between the engine cowling, fuselage and tail. These shifts are immediate and occur at panel lines as if the components were painted separately and assembled later or replaced due to damage.

Not to say that Mr. Kruse is wrong, but my interpretation of White 8 falls closer in line with the profile by Claes Sundin, which show the color shifts between the three sub-areas that I mention. I believe that the fuselage color underneath the cockpit is a brown, not a grey.

Also this is not Gabi, but you can really see the way the camo was painted here!



John, I look forward to your work very much - cheers!![/i]

That's a great photograph of a K-4 but I would have to say that it maybe not representative of a 332xxx aircraft due to the lack of color demarcation immediately aft of the of canopy. But it does illustrate some of the variation that was occurring at that time, making it so hard for us to decipher now! Great shot of the hard-edged tail spot mottle, which I believe was sprayed using a mask or template of some sort.

[jkim]

Here is the generalized schematic of the 332xxx batch of Bf109K-4, as described by JaPo. I think the location of the color demarcations correspond fairly well with the photo of White 8.


Normally, the wing colors would match the fuselage colors. But even this standard cannot be assumed with late war Luftwaffe fighters. Decentralization of the manufacturing process resulted in wings being assembled and painted in one factory, while the fuselage was built and painted in another. So what color would the wings of White 8 be? There is a limited view of the top of the wings in the color photo and it's hard to make any definitive conclusions but I can't see any hint of brown. On the deployed leading edge slat of the port wing, I can see what appears to be a color demarcation (look at the leading edge of the wing just beneath the white fuselage cross). This demarcation matches the typical camo pattern for 332xxx machines so I am assuming that I am looking at the two upper wing colors. Both look greyish, possibly grey/green but I'm not seeing browns.


For a possible clue, I look to another 332xxx machine, White 12 (332380)...


JaPo has a color profile and analysis of White 12. It says, "The fuselage carried 81, 83 and 76 but the wing was in 75, 83 and 76 which can be seen in the photograph."

So... based on what I am seeing in the color photo of White 8 and the example of another 332xxx machine, I am leaning in painting the top of the wings in 75/83.

[speedgraflex]

I defer to your research, John. I was not looking at production runs only factories that were involved, and photos of the methods of painting used by factories and whatever photographs that were available on Google images.

Regarding your Gabi source photo my photographer’s perspective is that the image looks like a Kodak color reversal frame that has desaturated a bit over time and has been manipulated by someone more recently either for publication or simply to make the most of the details. It is definitely 35mm reversal, slightly overexposed and scanned from a negative. So it is a generation removed and interpreted from the actual slide. My major concern is the color reproduction.

My color correction attempt 1:



I feel the corrections I made clearly fall in line with your thoughts only with the caveat that the profile you have accentuates the overall brown too much. The brown at the wing roots is earth from the ground itself in my opinion. There are three greys on the fuselage—the tail fin and the painted over section behind the white 8 are both bluish and one is field applied while the other is from the factory itself perhaps—the area under the cockpit still reads grey but with a brown cast to it. I do think the trick is less to harmonize these colors as to subtly enhance their differences. You may note at least in my correction attempt how the green on the fuselage is slightly more assertively green, and I feel that that color would be a close match for the upper wing camouflage of the aircraft.

[speedgraflex]

On the deployed leading edge slat of the port wing, I can see what appears to be a color demarcation (look at the leading edge of the wing just beneath the white fuselage cross). This demarcation matches the typical camo pattern for 332xxx machines so I am assuming that I am looking at the two upper wing colors. Both look greyish, possibly grey/green but I'm not seeing browns.
...



...

So... based on what I am seeing in the color photo of White 8 and the example of another 332xxx machine, I am leaning in painting the top of the wings in 75/83.

Superb analysis! Bravo.

[jkim]

Wow... that's a great analysis, Bruce! Thanks so much for your photographic expertise! I didn't even notice the brown at the wing root but your analysis does lead me away from the assumption that there were brown tones on the upper wings. So my thinking that the upper wings were 75/83 still holds water... I think.

Although the upper surfaces of the wings are difficult to see, you can see the elevators more clearly. Your corrected photos have removed a bit of the brown tone from the starboard elevator and that was throwing me for a loop. I think greens/greys may be interpreted from your color correction so maybe the elevators would match the wings with 75/83.

What do you think about the engine cowling area? The engine cowling looks grey to me. With soldier positioned where the possible demarcation may be, it's hard to discern but there does seem to be two shades of grey on the cowling. If this is the case, a two-tone grey cowling corresponds to some other K-4's I've seen.

Bruce... you've said that the Claes Sundin profile accentuates the brown too much. You also mentioned that there was some desaturation in the image. Could not that have affected the richness of the brown shade, along with the physical wear and tear that this derelict aircraft experienced? I ask this because my goal, as a modeler, is not to depict the aircraft as she sits, decrepit in the weeds as the photo depicts, but a more "restored" version of her... what she might have looked in an operational state. So my choice for brown would be a richer shade than what is depicted in the photo.