Dragon 1.32 ME109

[Guest]

I hope this is'nt too much of a tall order folks. Having just purchased the above kit to partner the recent Tamiya Spitfire, I was a little disappointed in the lack of detail colour information for areas such as the cockpit. grey and dark grey seems to be all you get. Maybe I have been spoilt by the deatail of the Tamiya kit.

Can anyone throw any light on colour references for detailed items. I intend to use Tamiya/Vallejo asI have been pleased with previous results. Thanks in advance. Pete.

[stona]

Pete if you give me some specific parts I will be able to give you the most likely original RLM colour. Some areas are always debateable but a "most likely" is always possible.

These aircraft (I assume you are building an E-4) were built relatively early in the conflict and are much more likely to be finished according to the RLM directives.

I've had a look at the kit painting instructions and have to agree that they are not great! I think sometimes manufacturers assume a familiarity with a subject which is not always the case. This has put me off building Japanese subjects about which I know next to nothing.

Cheers

Steve

[Guest]

Thanks Steve, If you remember, you kindly put me on to this kit as I had difficulty locating one. I have just found Brett Green's build review of the Eduard kit on the Hyperscale site and have found some of the pictures of the cockpit interior painting quite helpful so I think that will explain my dilema. Owing to my lack of experience I am not familiar with with such descriptions as GSI Creos Aqueous hobby colour.etc although model masters rings a bell. I guess RLM refers to some military abbreviation? The fuselage colours seem straight forward enough although that mottled finish seems quite a test. Sorry for sounding a bit of a numpty but painting seems to cover such a huge range of colours and manufacturers. Thanks yet again, Pete

PS... No complaints re the kit quality othere than the box being such a tight fit that it has warped a couple of sprues!!

[stona]

Hi again Pete.

RLM is an abbreviation of "Reichsluftfahrtministerium" which was the German equivalent of our Air Ministry. It standardised aircraft laquers/paints into various groups and assigned each colour a numerical identification. That number was equated to colour cards which the various laquer/paint manufacturers had to match. You will read verbal descriptions of the colours (black-green,dark green,black-grey etc) but these were not used by the RLM and even more confusingly varied between different aircraft manufacturers who had a habit of putting a verbal description,in brackets,next to the RLM number on their camouflage diagrams!

As an example the main camouflage colours on your model will be a splinter scheme of RLM 71 (a dark green) and RLM 02 (a grey-green) over a lower surface colour of RLM 65 (a light and surprisingly bright blue). Many model paint manufacturers make RLM equivalents and most paint comparison charts will give RLM colours.

The basic cockpit and wheel well colour is also RLM 02. The landing gear struts are almost certainly RLM 02 without good evidence to the contrary. The inside of areas like engine cowlings would also be RLM 02 as would the engine bearers. The instrument panel may have been RLM 02 but could easily have been a darker grey (not black) like RLM 41 (?haven't checked that number and my memory isn't what it was!) or even RLM 66.

Wheels a semi-gloss black.

There are a few potential anomalies,dependent on the history of the airframe,for example whether it was an upgrade from an earlier version as many E-4s were.

If you go for Wick's machine let me know as I have some photos which show that the kit's painting instructions are not quite correct.

Cheers

Steve

[Guest]

Many thanks Steve.That has cleared a couple of points. So I assume that a slight variation in the greys for instance, won't hurt a great deal. I was toying with the Adolph Galland Ex. to marry up with JJs Mk9 (Seeing as JJ invited him to dinner post BOB. according to his biography which I'm trolling through Author Silip Dakar)a good friend of JJ's by all accounts.

Will no doubt be in touch before long. All the best for now, Pete.

[AlanG]

Hope you're going to do a work in progress on this kit. I just bought this kit today too

[MORIARTY1177]

Love it, love it, love it! So

Much one can learn from reading these here posts. Would love to see a WIP on this one.

Regards

Chris

[Guest]

Maybe, no pressure!! Won't be for a week or 2 yet though... Pete:computer:

[stona]

Many thanks Steve.That has cleared a couple of points. So I assume that a slight variation in the greys for instance, won't hurt a great deal.

When all's said and done it's a model and I don't believe that exactly matching colours from 1940 is particularly useful,not least because of the scale effect. Having said that RLM 02 was a specific colour and fairly consistent at this early stage of the war.

With the normal caveats about computer screens etc a quick google should turn up some RLM colour charts to get you in the ball park. I have paint chips reproduced in a couple of books but if I scan and send them to you the same problems arise.If that would be useful to you I am more than happy to do so.

Cheers

Steve

[Guest]

Thanks Steve. I've just discovered Model design Construction'.s site who stock the complete RLM range of Aqueous Hobby colours. So that sems to have solved most of the problem for now. I have no experience of these paints so can't vouch for their performance.Have you come across them at all. I totally agree about striving for an exact colour match as it is all an approximation. Thanks for your offer on the paint chips though. Cheers for now, Pete