****DONE: Bf109G-14 Yellow 1 Magg. Mario Bellagambi - Aircraft in Foreign Service GB (1 Viewer)

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Hi,
this discussion became any time more interesting.

About the rudder color.
The book from Ferdinando D'Amico and Gabriele Valentini, already mentioned above, dedicates two pages (116 and 117) to "Tail rudder painting: New discoveries" where there are several very interesting photos; two of them are:

Bf 109 rudder0001.jpg


Bf 109 rudder0002.jpg


Additionally, as I feel a bit involved because we speak of an Italian subject, I wanted to try to investigate more and I sent a memo to Ferdinando D'amico and here following is his answer translated in English:


"I would like to remind that the rudder and part of the fin were produced under license by small subcontractors, based here and there in Germany, who followed a standard painting method that varied only on colors used (from 75/83 to 81/83) keeping the same pattern, with wave (EKG-style) separation from the small lower portion painted in 76.
The above pattern was adopted since early 1944 (there is a photo of a G-6 wrecked in February by an Allied bombing that shows this type of painting on fin and rudder) and used until the end of the war on aircraft like G-6, G-14, G-10 and K-4.
To confirm that the painting of those parts was, initially, totally out of context are the various attempt by MTT and Erla to blend the painting on G-6 with patches or wave mirror in 76.
Therefore, the presence of a dark rudder on Bellagambi's plane is perfectly in line with the supply of it from those subcontractors and this is confirmed by the fact that the lower portion doesn't show any difference in color tone with the 76 used on fuselage and apparently has the typical "EKG-style" demarcation".


About the other question, the marking on wings, this is a question I raised when I made my Miani's G-14.
About Bellagambi's plane there are no photos available today the shows the upper side of wings.
Therefore i's almost impossible to be sure of anything.

Areonautica Nazionale Repubblicana (ANR) struggle to keep an Italian identity to their aircraft, so the Italian flags on fuselage and fin, but to ease identification from Flak, the Balkenkreuz on lower wings were kept in place.
A different story for upper wings.
For instance on my Miani's plane there are the black ANR fasces

BF109G14 Miani 3.jpg


instead on "Yellow 3" there are white Balkenkreuz, so any decision will be good, until new info will be found.

Hope the above will be of some help.
Cheers
Alberto
 

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That's very interesting Alberto. I don't think anyone would argue that these unmatched fins/rudders were being attached to various airframes at the time that Wayne's G-14 was built. The question is whether one was attached to this particular aircraft. By no means all aircraft were finished in this way.

I'm certainly not going to argue with such eminent authors but I would wonder why the small sub-contractors would receive new paint colours first. The stock argument doesn't seem reasonable. Main production/assembly plants would,I agree,hold larger stocks but they would also use much,much more of the paints. Did the small contractors receive their stocks directly from the paint manufacturer or,indirectly,from Messerschmitt AG?
Anyway,that's another topic.

Very interesting to see the seemingly arbritrary application of German/Italian national markings.

Cheers
Steve
 
Interesting discussion points from Alberto and Steve and me thinks the discussion on rudder and upper wing colouring, paint supply and what have you could almost turn out as interesting and absorbing as the high level of construction detail Wayne presents.
 
Interesting discussion points from Alberto and Steve and me thinks the discussion on rudder and upper wing colouring, paint supply and what have you could almost turn out as interesting and absorbing as the high level of construction detail Wayne presents.

I dunno! I've seen Wayne's models,I expect the build will be far more interesting than our meanderings :)

Steve
 
Well...er...thanks very much Steve..:oops:

I've stared at the main photo on and off for quite a while over the past few days and looking for any additional images of 464XXX machines, I most sincerely appreciate Alberto's input (and Steve's) along with his asking of details from Ferdinando D'Amico.
With the greatest of respect, I am still not completely convinced of that 76 'strip' along the bottom of the rudder at this point, and I reserve the right to change my mind too!! :)
Miani's aircraft does not show this pattern and it should be obvious from the angle the image was taken from.
If only that photo (Bellagambi's)was clearer and taken on a sunny day...anyway I will continue my study and will consider all input as we go along, a final decision on painting is still a long way off yet!
 
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All the cockpit stuff ready for painting here too....
 

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Thanks....especially our man Jan with his super double thumbsup posts....!! :)

Cockpit painting with some detail painting....same as the other one....easier to do them together while the paint jar is open...!
 

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Wow Wayne, you are the first, in my knowledge, doing model mass production! Are you also thinking to automate the process, may be by robots?
Alberto
 
I just looked at this picture in your other tread................

C'mon....I'm trying to take them from slightly different angles....so they are not identical pics......

the production line continues with the painting of both aircraft while the paint brush is wet.....or dry.....
 

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