Defense of the Reich

[Centurion3RTR]

Here we go, now i can see it's all finished and loved every minute of the build.

Tamiya's D-9 and Kubelwagen, Italeri Opel Blitz and the great ICM figures. Not a clue on the history of this aircraft, i build tanks after all but i hope you like the photos.

As always have fun, John

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[Guest]

Very nice John. Amazing how a few extras can bring it to life isn't it. Very nice paint job all round and the figures look really good. Has to be a 5 star mate.

[Gern]

That's a mighty fine piece of work John!

Gern

[stona]

Lovely! tremendous piece of work. I was a bit suspicious of what was going on between a couple of the figures so it was a relief to see that one was helping the other with his parachute!

Really well done.

Cheers

Steve

Edit: I'm away but Blue 15 with that defense of Reich tail band would be from II/JG301. It's probably really well known and flown by someone ever so famous but I'm b*ggered if I can remember.

[Guest]

I was a bit suspicious of what was going on between a couple of the figures

Must admit I did a double take lol. Got to love the vehicles on here though, that truck and the posing of the chatting figures is very well done.

[Guest]

Looks great , superb dio

Richy

[Centurion3RTR]

WOW!! Thanks lads yes, them figures are great and as been said, two are "a bit suspicious". It's my post and i had to look twice lol. I know one thing though, the next GB i'm just building the subject (yeah right, famous last words).

Steve love the edit, Graham thanks for the five stars mate.

Have fun, John

[Guest]

John, this is beautiful work mate there is nothing out of place here the paintwork is first class, the vehicles look well done and the figures are excellent so you get a big five from me too.

scott

[tr1ckey66]

Bravo John:terrific: All superbly done. I especially like the subtle weathering on the vehicles. It seems that you and I have chosen the same figures. When I assembled the pilot and 'friend' I thought they looked sus too!!! They are very good figures though and much better than an Eduard set that I bought for the same project. The low angle shots are great and the Dora looks every bit the mean SOB ready to take on those bomber streams!

I echo the 5 star sentiments above (and will give them when I work out how to do it!)

Cheers

Paul

[Centurion3RTR]

Been doing some digging for info today on "Blue 15" and this is what i found out..................

This aircraft, a FW 190 D-9, was discovered at Langansalza by US forces in the spring of 1945. Only one photo of the aircraft has been published to date (Hildebrandt, 1987), but at least one other is known illustrating the same junked fuselage. The aircraft has been identified as “Blue 15” of II./JG 301 in the past, but a reinterpretation of the original, and other photos reveals that its true identity as “Yellow 15”, WNr.500666, from 3./I./JG 301.

Fw190 D-9 Yellow 15 WNr.500666

Have fun, John

[Guest]

Mmmm, interesting. Have to say that even given the lack of sensitivity of Panchromatic film in those days, and the use of filters being quite limited, that '15' does not look yellow to me. if filters were used on this, I would have expected a yellow or orange, fairly low density. Both these would have rendered the yellow '15' much lighter, almost white. Given the underside is very light, I suppose a blue filter may have been used but it would have been unusual to do so. A blue filter would have darkened the yellow slightly but not, in my opinion, by that much. Blue filters would only have been used to lessen contrast on B&W film, their main use id for colour film in tungsten lighting.s

[stona]

Unfortunately interpreting B+W images is something of a black art,an art about which I am blissfully ignorant. I do know that different types of film can cause some interesting variations (look at an RAF roundel photographed on ortho film). Also,I was led to believe that the use of filters was quite common,I am however definitely no expert and would defer to expert opinion.

The link did ring some bells , I'll try to look it up when I get home.

Cheers

Steve

[Guest]

The use of filters for panchromatic was common for landscape pictures where a yellow, very subtle, Orange, a bit stronger and red potentially very dramatic were used to give detail to skies. Orange and red would darken blue thus giving greater contrast between blue skies and white cloud. A deep red would make a summer blue sky turn almost black. It was fairly common to keep a yellow filter on for assisting the contrast boost for many day to day shots but, and this is my point, it would lighten yellow to almost white. To be honest, I don't know why I said the use of filters would be 'quite limited', I had a train of thought going that I cannot recall now lol. Old age is a terrible thing.

I was probably thinking that filters would not have been used to alter anything in a shot of this nature, who knows.....

[stona]

Cheers Graham,thanks for the explanation. I know you know a lot more about photography than I ever will!

A quick note,if John will permit on his thread,about the relevance of the colour of the code numbers.

Late in the war most Luftwaffe fighter wings (Jagdegeschwader or JG) were organised into four groups (Gruppen) which are denoted by a Roman number...I ,II, III, and IV. The second Gruppe of JG 301 would thus be II./JG 301. The Gruppe an aircraft belonged to was indicated by various bars or wavy lines etc but that is for another time.

Again late war Jagdegeschwader were organised into four squadrons (Staffeln) and a "staff flight" (Gruppe Stab). The Staffel number is always given as an Arabic numeral... 1,2,3 and 4. The second Staffel of JG 301 would thus be 2./JG 301.

The various aircraft of the officers of the Gruppe Stab are marked with various chevrons and bars,again for another time, and were supposed to be coded with black or green numbers.

The four Staffeln of each Gruppe were assigned a colour.

1 staffel White

2 staffel red

3 staffel yellow

4 staffel blue

So John's aircraft of 3./I./JG 301 was from the 3rd Staffel of the first Gruppe of JG 301 and would therefore carry a yellow number.

An aircraft with a yellow number would be from either the 3rd (I Gruppe),7th (II Gruppe),11th (III Gruppe) or 15th (IV Gruppe) Staffel of the Jagdegeschwader

It isn't as complicated as it seems. Unfortunately not all units were rigorous in their adherence to the rules which causes much fun and games today.

Remember it's only a model!!!!

Cheers

Steve

[yak face]

HI john, just catching up on the threads , this is one excellent piece of work,absolutely top class.The vehicles and figures are a great addition,well done , 5 stars from me,cheers tony