HK Models 1/32 Do 335

Robert1968

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This is looking awesome and such detail and dedication to the finer points ( that front grill has really smartened it all up in the nose.


Those engines are really the doggies doodaas very good work indeed


Kind regards


Robert
 

stona

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I've been priming and painting which doesn't give much to show. I now have the underside done in RLM 76.


Wing tips will be aluminium, hence the masking.


IMG_1588_zpsrflhcq4f.jpg



As usual I can't capture the post shading etc in one of my snapshots, I like it subtle anyway.


This brings me on to the topic of the upper camouflage colours. The Do 335 hand book is explicit about the colours, RLM 81 and RLM 82, both with the descriptive 'dunkelgrun' or dark green.


I don't want to write an essay here but there is a problem with RLM 81 and recent research has done much to explain what was going on.


I have sprayed potential colour combinations for the model on a trusty milk bottle to explain why I'm making the choice I am.


The combination on the right is RLM 82 with a British Dark Green colour I sprayed as an experiment and we can ignore that.


IMG_1589_zpsxy9i9zhu.jpg



In the middle is what we normally think of as an 81/82 combination. Nobody with normal colour vision could describe the 81 as dark green. It is to the casual observer a distinctly browny olive colour. I don't think this is how the Do 335 was finished, though plenty of models are!


On the left is what we normally think of as an 82/83 combination. In this case the RLM 83 is most definitely a dark green colour. I think this is the combination in which the Do 335 was finished.


This begs the question, why are you using 82/83 when original documents specify 81/82?


The answer lies in the mis-identification of RLM 83. There is a mounting body of evidence to suggest that RLM 83 was in fact a BLUE colour, used for maritime camouflage, certainly in the Mediterranean. BOTH the brownish colour referred to as RLM 81 AND the dark green colour usually referred to as RLM 83 are in fact versions of RLM 81.


The jury is still out on this, but I'm convinced enough to go with the two greens combination, as seen on the left of my milk bottle.


Cheers


Steve
 

stona

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Thanks Scott!


Whilst the undersides are drying I have time to spray the lovely resin wheels and tyres.


IMG_1592_zpsalmhln6i.jpg



Someone didn't put the lid back on the semi-gloss black properly last time and it was unusable o_O. The wheels are far too glossy, but I'll knock that back with more processes. The tyres are just a monotone grey at this stage too.


There's also the rather complicated undercarriage assemblies to build, this is front and starboard.


IMG_1591_zpsmhy8dsof.jpg



When that's done I need to re-finish a couple of figures to look more German winter than North African desert.


Cheers


Steve
 
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Fenlander

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This guy can paint a milk bottle better than I can paint a kit ;) The great work continues Steve. I know nothing about the technicalities of RLM colours but I would trust your research and opinion anyway.
 

stona

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\ said:
I know nothing about the technicalities of RLM colours but I would trust your research and opinion anyway.
Michael Ullmann has come up with some original documents regarding the exact nature of RLM 83.


It's long been known that there were variations in RLM 81 and some fairly heavyweight opinions are starting to come behind the idea that the colour we have all been thinking of as RLM 83 is nothing less than the green version of RLM 81.


For me the blindingly obvious anomaly is that in the original Dornier handbook for the Do 335 RLM 81 is described as dark green. These descriptions were unofficial, but nobody would have described the olive brown version of RLM 81 as a dark green. We do see descriptions of that brownish colour like 'Dunkelbraun' and Braunviolet, which are self explanatory.


This is just my conclusion, it's my model and I can paint it how I like....so of course can everyone else, I wouldn't dare or want tell them how to do theirs :smiling3:


Cheers


Steve
 
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0ne48thtel

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This is coming along nicely Steve the whole colour thing sounds a bit of a mine field.
 

stona

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\ said:
the whole colour thing sounds a bit of a mine field.
All part of the fun Terry! A 'mine field' is a good description for late war RLM/Luftwaffe colours :confused:


Fingers crossed, I might get the camouflage on this week.


Cheers


Steve
 

stona

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The first green, RLM 82, is on.


IMG_1595_zpsck0kh1uq.jpg



Next will be the splinter camouflage. The often asked question is to mask or spray freehand giving a soft edge. I can spray a tight line freehand but to attempt to replicate the splinter accurately freehand is not something I fancy.


The original aircraft was not masked, it was presumably marked out somehow and then sprayed nicely with a tight demarcation. Here are a couple of original parts, photographed before they were assembled into one of the aircraft at Oberpfaffenhofen which show this well.


IMG_1596_zps17szy5m1.jpg



IMG_1598_zpswenaeesj.jpg



The issue for me is scale. The demarcations you can see at full size are going to be part of the scheme on an aircraft that was over 45 feet long, mine will be 1/32nd of that length. For me, though masking will give a hard demarcation, it will enable me to exactly replicate the splinter pattern and give a better scale representation of the demarcation between the colours.


Others like a softer edge for artistic reasons, which is good too. Whatever floats your boat :smiling3:


Cheers


Steve
 
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Polux

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Ahhhh....I love it.


Another super build....and, another super Steve's thread :smiling3:
 

Vaughan

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Looking good Steve. Just a question why were the wing tips painted aluminium?
 

Ian M

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Just read the thread from start to here. Great work so far on a very unusual looking bird.
 

stona

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\ said:
Looking good Steve. Just a question why were the wing tips painted aluminium?
Hi Vaughan,I should have explained in that post.


The version I'm building, M13, which was the first B-2 'zerstorer' prototype, had extended wing tips fitted increasing the wing area to 41m2 (from 38.5m2).


When they were fitted is not exactly clear, but the photographs taken in March 1945 at Friedrichshafen-Lowenthal show them, and they are obviously unpainted. The filler on the major joints is also clearly visible, particularly on the undersides.


wing_tips_1_zpsit7ioa7b.jpg



The natural metal/puttied joints look is what I'll be going for.


Cheers


Steve
 

stona

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Here's the basic splinter scheme on. It's done as per the Dornier manual, not the instructions.There's something a bit odd about the scheme on the fuselage in the instructions, not sure what, I ignored them :smiling3:


IMG_1600_zpszxkwlekx.jpg



Now, you might ask why didn't you spray the aluminium wing tips before the camouflage? A very good question, one I'm asking myself without finding an answer! I should have sprayed the wing tips, it's not a disaster and I can easily spray them once the camouflage colours have dried and hardened, but it would have been easier to spray them first.


Cheers


Steve


Edit:


The problem with the instructions is that they have lazily just mirrored the two sides of the fuselage making the scheme seem symmetrical.


IMG_1602_zpsjwt4z9c0.jpg



It is impossible to achieve this whilst maintaining the correct pattern over the fuselage. That's because the two sides are not symmetrical. Only the port side is correct here.They should look like this.


IMG_1603_zpslepkt6ry.jpg



Which is not too difficult at all.


It's only a small thing, but I can imagine people trying to follow those instructions getting themselves in a bit of a mess trying to make them work. You have now been warned :smiling3:
 
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flyjoe180

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Great research Steve. I think your splinter scheme looks the part in that scale.
 
D

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Well my knowledge of any colours you could put on a postage stamp, then bin it as I'm colour blind anyway, great job so far though.
 

Robert1968

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This is really coming on very nice Steve and I really am pleased in the splinter pattern you have chosen.


With this Aircraft being mainly experimental I was thinking on the colour ref and with the war closing in on the luftwaffe wouldn't it be fair to say that not all Pfiells were painted the same ( lack of paint/ equipment etc.


It's just a theory but I remember the He162 Salamander I'm sure I read somewhere that these were sometimes not painted in RLM colours?


Your definatly creating a true masterpiece with this


Cheers


Robert
 
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