Luftwaffe Primer On Wood

[Madoc]

Folks,

I need some help here.

I'm planning on doing a "war prize" version of a Luft 46 subject.  The bird is of "mixed materials" comprising steel, aluminium, and wood.  As I'm envisioning it, the plane was captured fresh from the factory which, due to wartime constraints, hadn't gotten any camo of the thing.  The metal portions of the aircraft would therefore be in their natural bare metal state.  Those parts aren't the problem for me, the wood portions - in this case the wings - are the problem.  What color would they be?

Did the Luftwaffe primer the wooden airframe parts?  If so, what color was the primer?  Were they left untreated - i.e. in their natural wood - state?

Inquiring minds want to know!

Thanks,

Madoc

[Captain Canada]

Sounds like a call to Hyperscale is in order, Madoc. They'd know over there.

Good luck !

[Dork the kit slayer]

I can tell you when I get access to my " every boys big book of Luftwaffe camo" vols 1,2,3.

Alas Im at work until Thursday....if you get no joy by then PM me. B)

[Radish]

Wasn't the primer a sort of off-white colour?

Modern primer for wood, like for household stuff , can oftewn be PINK.  

[Madoc]

Radish,

Thanks for the info.  As to anything being pink, I'll side with the USAF on this one.  Allegedly, when Lockheed first rolled out the Have Blue stealth demonstrator it used a lot of pink in its camo.  Lockheed pointed to the studies which showed how much more effective pink was in melding with the environment.  That idea went nowhere fast.  The word was that no fighter pilot worth his wings would be caught dead flying a pink airplane!  So, sorry, no pink on mine either!



Now, as to the rest.  Yes, I have put it up on Hyperscale.  I've gotten two bites there.  One said that "red lead" was the usual primer for wood and fabric during those days.  The other said that wooden subassemblies might come from their factories already camo'd or perhaps in RLM76 or perhaps just with a layer of fungus/liquid protection in fluorescent green or yellow.

I've been asking this question on several different boards and such and Dan Johnson (of Luft46.com) said that my best bet would be RLM 02 grey primer.  That's sort of a greenish gray in color.

No small part of my intent here is to avoid any extensive masking / set up work with this model!  Doing just the single primer color would be a lot easier than the standard collection of greens, blacks and grays that adorned even most late war Luftwaffe birds!  This isn't saying that I'm trying to be lazy here, just practical!

I appreciate the help folks and when I get this thing going I will indeed be posting it here!

Madoc

[matrixone]

Madoc,

I hope I'm not too late to give you this information, late war prototypes such as you plan to model would have RLM 00 Wasserhell (a clear lacquer) painted on the wooden parts and then whatever camouflage paints applied after that. RLM 02 was used on prototypes and a primer for German aircraft up until the last few months of the war, late production warplanes had little or no primer used on them. The Me 262 had some parts of the airframe made from sheet steel and those areas HAD to be painted but otherwise late production 262s had a thin coat of paint sprayed on the uppersurfaces of them or left unpainted except for national markings. Very late production Fw 190Ds had wooden flaps instead of metal and these parts were painted in RLM 00 except the area of the flap could be seen from under the aircraft in which case would be one of the late war versions of RLM 76 (a very light gray or a green/blue color). By the end of the war most aircraft production centers did not have much or any RLM 02 to use in painting aircraft parts, why waste time/money priming aircraft when they only had an expected ''lifespan'' of only a few hours?

Matrixone

[Madoc]

M1 & all,

You're hardly too late!  I'm still assembling as much reference materials and tips before I even cut parts from sprue!

As the kit is so small and as my desire is not to get into any elaborate finish for it, I'm aiming at it being a quick build - within a month or so total time from first cut of sprue to last detail detailed and "proof of done-ness" photo taken.  That being so, this is gonna be my next "Model In A Month" entry over on the Starship Modeler site's Model In A Month Challenge.

So, please, keep those ideas coming!

I've also been advised that, seeing as how this would be a late war, chronic shortages, bit of rushed construction, the wooden portions might be left in their bare state - much like you've just suggested.

If it hasn't been painted yet, would it be primed?  What would the wing surfaces be made of?  Birch plywood?  You would want a very pale, almost parchment color.  Head down to the local DIY shop and get some wood stain brochures, and see what birch looks like.  Paint it a base coat, put in the panel lines, and then use the dryest of dry brushes to get a HINT of wood grain.

That sounds simple enough - but emulating wood grain could be a bit of a challenge!

Madoc

[matrixone]

Madoc,

I have seen decal sheets that are made for WWI aeroplane models that are wood grain and might work on your model, sorry I can't remember who makes them.

Also Eagle Editions makes (resin) wooden replacement flaps for the 1/32 scale Fw 190D-9 and come with a decal with wood grain on it to be used on the inner portion of the flap, the wood grain decal is supposed to be accurate and would give you an idea what sort of color and grain of wood be used on a late war a/c.

Avoid using the brick red color primer seen on some planes at the end of the war, the reddish colored primer was mostly used on fabric covered control surfaces, sometimes used on other parts of the airframe after repairs from battle damage.

HTH

Matrixone

[Radish]

hi,

I understand the US reluctance for pink.
In the '30s, while conducting various camouflage exercises, the USAAC employed purple as one of the colours used on uppersurfaces certainly, and in some of the wraparound schemes() like on the YB-17???
purple was eventually replaced in the experiments by Neutral Grey.
What if it hadn't been replaced? Purple undersurfaces on B-17s?etc?

Anyway, back to the Luftwaffe.

I'm sure that in those Luftwaffe Camo books, a white primer was extensively used towards the end of the war and not covered by any paint. Examples are given of '109s and '190s, and possibly '262s.
Some interesting possibilities therefore as white's easy from a rattle can.