Bf-109 Natural Metal Wings

Hi Guys,

A quick question for the experts - many late war Bf-109 seem to have had the undersides of their wings unpainted. My question is - would the panel seams have been touched up with RLM02 (or another type of primer) in the same manner as we see on some unfinished Me-262s? Or would the undersides (minus the wing tips, aileron) be completely unfinished? Have yet to see any pictures that show the wing undersides in sufficient detail to figure this out.

Thank you in advance!

John

[harrison987]

Hi!

I have owned many underwing panels removed from Me109's. For the ones that were unpainted, there was no primer whatsoever.



Mike

[Pilot]

There was practice to hand paint areas or point after machine work treatment but impossible to state that that was apply in all cases

[RolandF]

The "seams" on Me 262 fuselages are not primered, but putty of different colour on bare aluminum has been used. Pre-fabricated components like tail unit and nose unit were joined by tape in combination with a thin coat of putty.
The Bf 109 wings weren´t puttied because of the lack of bigger joints like those of the Me 262. Only the pre-fabricated elliptical wingtips were attached by using tape - painted on the upper side (sometimes visible as bright strip) and unpainted on the lower surfaces

Regards

Roland

[D.B. Andrus]

WNF factory at end of war:



HTH,
D.B.

D.B.,

Very helpful indeed. I'm guessing that would be RLM76 around the radiator housing? Not sure why that they would have done that but it makes for a nice visual touch.

Aside from that, I'll probably leave everything else natural metal minus the aileron and wingtip which will also be 76.

[harrison987]

Hi,

That photo is an example of a wing "pre" camouflage. As fas as I know, there were no Me109's that had completely unpainted wings. It was the larger access panels only (screwed on, not riveted) that were left unpainted.

What is shown in this photos is RLM02. There are a lot of steel fittings, bolts, and control linkages in that area of the cooler that would need some sort of "corrosion protection" from the weather...pre camouflage. You will see the same primer in the area of the aileron hinges.

They stopped priming RLM02 on all internal areas, but some areas (steel), needed to be primed so corrosion would not set in before it had time to be painted with the 74/75/76.

The aileron is painted RLM76 (RLM74 on opposite side) as it was a pre-painted part, and mounted before the rest of the aircraft was painted.

At WNF DIANA, the fuselage, tail, and wings were all built in separate tunnels...camouflaged...and then assembled as individual units to make the complete aircraft. This wing is not an example of a finished wing, as it does not bear the cross, as yet. it is simply awaiting camo.

Mike