Bf109G-6 colours.

[markjsheppard]

Evening all,

Just seen Bf109G-6 Black 8

Looks great. Only question I've got is - is it missing the RLM02 blobs to the side? The official guide is that the side blobs are 74/75/02. Now I appreciated there was a lot of variation and towards the end of the war a lot more.

If it were a 1943 bird/G-6 I would have thought the markings would be as per the guide?

Any thoughts?

Mark

[Graham Boak]

Each of the factories producing the Gustav had its own style when it come to applying the mottle, and the colours used varied to some extent as well, in time and space. There were several different arrangements of the top colour pattern too. 1943 is only halfway between the introduction of the 74/75/76 scheme and the end, arguably even later than that, so variation is only to be expected. The first thing to go would be arguably be unnecessary items such as an addition colour that slowed production.

[markjsheppard]

Hi Graham,

....and that possibly would be 02? They were still camouflaging upper surfaces with 74/75 so these blobs would stay.

At which point would it reduce? summer 43? I agree with 1944 onwards.

regards,

Mark

[harrison987]

RLM02 was a primer paint...

74/75/76 was standard...

I do not think 02 was ever a "standard" camouflage color on outer surfaces...?

[Graham Boak]

02 was a primer in the prewar paint standards: aircraft quoted in this were in the very similar Hellgrau 63. With the adoption of superior paints and the change-over to the 70-series of camouflages, 02 became useful as an exterior colour. Initially the Jagdwaffe had 70/71 with a low fuselage demarcation but by the Battle of France there was a high demarcation of the 65 light blue, and 02 had replaced 70 for a lighter overall scheme. This was found too light, so they then adopted mottle on the fuselage sides in a variety of styles, using 70, 71 and 02. There was then a number of experiments with greys until the eventual adoption of the grays 74/75/76 with mottled sides, which was then retained until late in 1944, and could still be seen later. As Mark wrote, this was standard at the time production began of the Bf.109G-6.

There was considerable use by 02 as an overall colour for non-combat aircraft such as prototypes, trainers and communication types, and it could also be seen on some special duty types such as the Ju.86P.

[markjsheppard]

If you can read the attached approved Messerschmitt drawing, you can see that there are blobs of RLM02 to the side mottling as well as RLM74 and RLM75.

regards,

[markjsheppard]

Key from the Messerschmitt painting drawing showing RLM02 which is keyed to blobs on the fuselage side.

Also Bf109G-6 White 10 of JG52 in summer of 1942 and clearly showing the three colour blobs to the fuselage sides.

regards,

[harrison987]

okay...

I guess the question is...how often was the guide followed? In the late stages...probably not often.

So many patterns were field applied or adapted, based on the terrain... Such as the dark green used on Russia...which from what I recall was captured Soviet green paint (used more on the Fw190). It also depended on what paint was actually available. As you know...paint qualities deteriorated as the war went on...as did the color variants. If a factory was out of RLM02, they would not stop production...they would use what was on-hand.

Regarding "Black 8"...my question would be...are they copying a field applied scheme? Something in a photo?...or trying to do one from the the guide, and forgot the RLM02?