1/72 Dornier 335 Pfeil.........help

[Guest]

first post on this forum guys so hi y'all.

umm. ok i "have" to build a Dornier 335 Pfeil, in 1/72nd for a competition.

now i think it may be the one from pocket bond, dont quote me on it though!

ive seen a few pics around, like this.

http://www.militaryfactory.com/aircraft/imgs/do335.jpg

i have a couple of probs though.

i dont know what to use as the paints?

im assuming its the same colours as Airfix's Heinkel, so i think ill run with that.

the bottom colour, i dont know!

i also dont know where they flew? im sure in the instructions it will say, but cant find a reference to it anywhere.

my Q????? is.....has anyone built one of these?

if so......any tips, washes you used.

(oh just on the washes note, whats the best way to weather an aircraft, exaust pipes, OK, you have the black staning on the fuselage, but on the wings, and such?

no pilot, so cockpit details much appreciated.

thanks everyone

iain

[Guest]

Hi Iain,

I'm not much help coz I've only done armour thus far, but have a look at my thread about the same aircraft-it might shed some light on your questions:

http://www.scale-models.co.uk/general-aircraft-chat/8358-tamiya-1-48-scale-do335a-pfeil.html

Cheers Patrick

[stona]

Two Pfeils in two weeks! In the thread Patrick directed you to I posted the relevant page from the original Dornier handbook. The RLM was the German Air Ministry responsible for all things Luftwaffe,including the colours to which they gave numbers.

Your upper colours are RLM81 (described as Dunkelbraun or Braunviolet) and RLM82 (olivgrun or Hellgrun). Lower surfaces RLM76 (Lichtblau). Propeller RLM70 (schwarzgrun). Cockpit interior RLM66 (schwarzgrau). Many paint manufacturers do their versions of RLM colours or you may need to find a paint conversion chart. The finished machine should,according to the RLM, look something like this:

Don't go mad on your weathering. At the end of the war these aircraft were less than four months old. Late war construction techniques meant that fighters were given a smooth finish. Panel lines were taped or puttied and sanded as you can see on this unpainted Me262:

You can google "pin wash" or "panel wash" to find some techniques.

Exhaust stains were not really black. If an engine had been running at combat power (a rich mix) they were dark but the high lead content in the fuels gave a greyish tone. I use dark browns and greys.

I'm not sure which units received the Do335. When the Americans over ran the production facility at the niftily named Oberpfaffenhofen,in April 1945,only 11 Do335A-1 fighters and 2 Do335A-12 trainers had been completed.

There is at least one encounter report from 3 Sqdn. RAF. 4 Tempests encountered a Pfeil at low level but it easily out ran them and they didn't get a shot at it. The Tempest was a seriously fast airplane so this gives an idea of the Pfeil's capability.

Good luck with your model.

Cheers

Steve

[Guest]

thanks guys

sorry about the double post.

[selrach]

Dear Sniperlain, The colours mentioned by stona and the patterns he has provided are correct. The colours on the pattern however should be adjusted. There is a photo, perhaps the only one in print, that shows what the colours of the Do 335 were. It is in a book called Dornier Do335...by J. Richard Smith. The picture shows a medium leaf green with what looks like a somewhat faded dark brown. A very pale blue is underneath. It is worth checking out if you can.

[stona]

Quite right Selrach. The profile is only a guide and late war RLM colours were very inconsistent, often lacking in pigments.RLM76 was notorious for this,taking on a greenish hue (not unlike the British colour Sky) as the yellow zinc chromate in the lacquer broke through the blue pigments. Whichever colours you go with you will need to lighten them considerably before applying to a 1/72 model or they will appear too dark.

Cheers

Steve

Found these on my computer,taken from "Dornier 335 Arrow" by Smith, Creek & Hitchcock [Monogram, 1997]. They are some of the incomplete,and largely unpainted, airframes captured by the americans. You can see how they are finished.

The only colour images I have found are of WerkNr240102, firstly in Munich,1986

And then where it is now in Washington

I am always wary of restorations, but this looks pretty good to me.BTW the letters on the fuselage are called Stammkennzeichen and are a sort of factory code. They would be removed when an aircraft went into squadron service.

Eureka!