Aircraft finishes

[stona]

Haven't posted any pics for a while and all the talk of Matte varnish got me thinking. The Luftwaffe and RAF both used lacquers with a smooth finish (I understand that the Japanese manufacturers did the same).

You could get a nice shiny Spitfire:

Or you could get your groundcrew to give your Messerschmitt a once over:

Don't dull down too much!

Cheers

Steve

[Guest]

A glossy plane does have slightly less surface drag and the extra 2-3 knots might just be what makes you get away!

Steve you have an amazing collection of pix mate.

Theuns

[stona]

Thanks but the two Luftwaffe pics are from another forum (so I can't credit the owner). The Spit is from my hard drive,it's a well known much published image. I reckon you are right about that few extra mph.A friend runs a P-47 special interest group and tells me at least one USAAF fighter group polished their aircraft as a standard procedure.

Cheers

Steve

[Guest]

I know that the guys in the air races pollish befor the flight.

The bare metal P-47 and P-51's were polished to stop the corosion of the alclad skins.

Theuns

[yak face]

great pics steve,just goes to show it doesnt matter if you cant get a really matt finish,its more realistic if its slightly satin. Didnt the air ministries frown on polishing planes due to the extra reflective properties, or were they more bothered about the extra speed? tony

[Guest]

I think the ground staff didn't worry about pollishing most of the time as the planes stood outside all the time and then went matt very quikly anyway, and most of the time was spent maintaining and repairing them I recon

Theuns

[stona]

Tony I don'y know about the RAF but the RLM certainly disapproved of Luftwaffe units polishing their machines. I have a copy of a report from 1940 in which an RLM inspector complains to the Luftwaffe that a unit (can't remember of the top of my head which) has destroyed the finish on their aircraft by polishing! The RLM were incredibly anal about such things,even issuing directives on what should be used to clean various aircraft finishes. I think Theuns point about a bit of extra speed was of more concern to the pilots than any directive from Berlin. They were the ones being chased by,or chasing, Spitfires and Hurricanes. Having looked at literally hundreds of images of Luftwaffe machines I think that polishing was fairly common practice,certainly amongst fighter geschwaders.

I find that aircraft were generally well maintained and cared for. You will find images of somewhat tired looking machines but rarely the filthy soot covered patchworks so beloved of some modellers (the panel gap on a Bf109 amounts to .002 of an inch and the skins are generally beautifully let in.) Of course there are exceptions. I will try to dig out an image I have of a Beaufighter which really does look a mess! Look at this Spitfire which is obviously losing oil.

As I say,there are always exceptions! If someone wants to make a really dirty model I'd say go for it.

Cheers

Steve