Me 262 A-1a / U4 W.Nr. 170083, "V083" camouflage

[Milos Gazdic]

Dear all,

I am getting close to final stage of construction of 1/48 scale kit representing Me 262 A-1a / U4 W.Nr. 170083 aka V083.

Model went quite easily together without any major issues and looks & feels decently for a kit paid less than 10$ here where I currently live - China.

My question goes: What is the latest consensus regarding the colors of this machine?

Based on the photos available it looks like not so densely painted upper surfaces of the fuselage are covered with a dark color (one or maybe two colors over-sprayed over each other in with undefined pattern).

Main issue for me are in fact the wings' upper surfaces! Would it be painted in same manner as the upper surface of the fuselage too or should it have some of the standard patterns applied?

Thanks for your help

Milos

[ChrisMAg2]

Hi Milos,
gee, you always pick so challenging projects.
Anyhow...
I looked at photos of "V083" and IMO it is a simplifyed, irregular and soft edged stripe pattern, with a light and dark green. All edges are irregularly feathered out. But the application of both greens are not evenly opaque, more translusively applied, like a wash. That is why you could assume it is oversprayed. Especialy the rear fuselage is very unevenly sprayed or worn/ washed out.
From what I can see on the engine nacalles, I would assume the wings were sprayed in a similar way as the fuselage.

When you look for the photos, look out for the photos where V083 was in the hands of 54th ADS. They are the best showing the original application. If you compare those photos with the photos when V083 went to Watson's Whizzers, you will notice that the plane has been patched up and paint retouched. The overall impression is slightely different.

Idon't know, if you are/ will be able to detail a 1/48 model like that. Good Luck, and first and for all have fun.

[Milos Gazdic]

Hello my old friend!

First of all, strange camouflages are always the most interesting, aren't they?

Second, you seem to confirm my assumption.

I am not 100% sure if the airframe was "reused" to build V083 or it was completely new, but it for sure seems that it was sprayed in same manner even on the wings... I cannot guarantee but it for sure doesn't show any demarcation lines on the wing's leading and trailing edges where splinter colors would meet.

And yes - when it became 'Happy Hunter II" it received more spraying! Nose was resprayed to remove: Wilma Jeanne, that white line that was originally there behind it, V 083, german and first American markings, tail... and they also added more of the spray under the wing on the sides of the engines!
But I am not interested in any of the captured markings - though I love to do those (in last few months I did 190 in Yugoslav, Japanese & Soviet markings).

It is true that on V 083 while still in German markings the rear fuselage looks a bit lighter. That is what I believed made some of the modelers to paint their representations of V 083 into splinter or similar defined two tone camouflage.

One more question about V 083 is: was it featuring Camera in the nose or not!? Some sources do not mention that but few say - it did not. On the other hand one of the US soldiers is peeking in some hole in the nose:

and I wonder - if camera was not installed - was there a mouth for it - just not featuring camera inside (hence the "no camera statement"?)

Isn't it strange there are no US observations surfacing about this machine describing it's colors anywhere on the known net?

Best,
Milos

[Vince Malfara]

Hi Milos

There is an opening under the cannon which looks like a camera port but no indication of if there was one or not. I wonder how stable it would be with that huge cannon and what the pictures would turn out like.

Regards

Vince...

[Vince Malfara]

There is a nice photo of it on eBay now ended auction here

http://www.ebay.ca/itm/182431639553?...%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

[ChrisMAg2]

Hi Milos,

we are not far apart, not? Let me show you some of my observations.

this is the photo I mean, when V083 was just captured and assigned to 54th ADSq:
https://i.imgur.com/bjLe5ce.jpg

Maybe an even earlier one:
http://www.stormbirds.com/warbirds/i...aU4_photo1.jpg

Look at the front fuselage. You will see, that the two green values are actualy very, very close. The same would very likely also apply to the wings. Also the the lower 2/3 of the fuselage are sprayed very unevenly as in the opacity and the genneral evenness. It looks like an oversprayed mottle. This part will ofcourse not be visible on the wings.
The engines also show a two tone application.



Here is the best representation, I found so far from a model plane and pretty much shows what I mean:
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-bABufMu5TZ...zI/s1600/6.jpg

Although, I'm not so convinced by the lower fuselage part, as it is in IMO it there still too even.


Do we agree?

[piero]

Hi, this is a shot of my 'unicorn' built in the year 2000, 1/72 scale, totally brush painted.

http://forum.12oclockhigh.net/attach...1&d=1487996661

HTH

Giampiero Piva

[Milos Gazdic]

Dear Vince, Piero & Chris

Thanks so much for all your comments & links above.
Please forgive me for the delay in reply. I didn't forget about the topic, I was just back to Serbia for few weeks dealing with few things regarding my now aging mother & after that I got the worst flu I remember

Here I am - back to the forum. Just posted about few Fw 190s in the old threads & getting back to our V 083 now.

Vince, I believe that there was an opening on the nose of the airframe but I doubt camera was installed there. On the other hand I question myself how much would an open hole on the tip of very fast airplane cause a problem in real life?

Also Vince, the photo of Ebay which you have posted is really amazing! I've played with it in Photoshop with curves and no contrast, lightness, curves variation shows any precise camouflage patterns either on fuselage or the wings' leading edges just as we have discussed previously with Chris above. This makes me happy

Chris,
Not that we are not far apart with the idea about the bird - but we basically agree fully I think It reminds me of good old times on those good old boards when we discussed all those Luftwaffe fighter camouflages! That was nice. I see some of those conclusions and suggestions we came up with being published here and there as "truth" and it makes me feel good to know that among all the experten out there we maybe suggested few little things. Strangely enough - there don't seem to be that many discussions dealing with camouflage as 10 years ago. Everyone talks about tech aspects & losses... Anyhow, no more romantics... back to the subject!

That photo of V 083 in the hands of 54th ADSq - is for me new!
I wonder why did they paint the tail black? It was not like this elsewhere.
The fuselage on the model you have posted looks very similar to how I imagine it too. No clear pattern but more like two colors tangled together... Possible that they've even extended the camo down over the mottle or it was even applied like that from the start with overly dense mottle in that area.
I strongly believe that wings were painted in same manner too and not with the splinter pattern as everyone shows them.

Piero, I am taking my hat to you for the brush painting you've done there!! Wish I knew how to do things like that since sometimes airbrush is simply not meant to be used for some applications & I simply don't know how to use brush.
I guess your model's fuselage is close to what Chris & me are discussing above but what I've mentioned in comment to model shared by Chris applies to yours when it comes to wings. Unfortunately for all of us - I am still waiting for the image of Unicorn's wings! And until then everything is only assumption - and yours is as good as mine if not better

I am 95% ready to paint my Hobby Boss model... Will need to give it a good wash before I do so and sand 2-3 small details here and there.

Best regards to all,
Milos