Quote:
Originally Posted by edNorth
Them old pigments are not the same as used today. A fact few remember, I think. Look it up. Them Luftwaffe (exteriour) paints were Epoxy based, that crack and crase like hell and adhere poorely. Not really bad quality as stated earlier in this thread. High quality stuff used the wrong way (in my opinion). Epoxy is likely heavier than Oil based paints (as used on US and British planes) that were more "flexible" but faded real quick. The pigments faded but not carrier base (Epoxy) on Luftwaffe aircraft, that cracked and crased, and collected dirt real quick. I likely never have seen a photo of a "super-clean" Ju 88, except before assembly and flight (and perhaps a prototype)!
I have several samples of original Luftwaffe, RAF and USAAF paints on some pieces of alumin and have used these for my drawings.
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I have interview few times one craftsman here who was foreman for paint shop and they use German paints in aircrafts manufacture. They used enamel based and nitro based paints. Most of parts were ditch into bath of paint during production. Only external camouflage was spray painted with nitro paints. Each paint had its own procedure and mix ratio with thinners. They have pot and they measure time of paint leak from pot (with hole at bottom). Testing of color was made on metal sheet samples before it goes into production.
Epoxy was discovered in 1930 but I am not sure that paints are used that fast (thank you for info). My knowledge goes that first use is reinforcing of fabric on control tabs but there was used phenolic resin. The same resin was used in Yugoslav pre war industry and first product ever completely made as composite was US trainer Timm N2T.
Thank you for info and sorry for a bit off topic.