Doras Galoras - Unofficial GB

Black 6 got its RLM76 on today. Crandall's profile has the light green version of 76 over the entire fuselage and tail but here's what I figure: if the D-9 had it's various bits and pieces built in different places, what are the chances that they all got the light green version of 76? I decided therefore to mask off the power egg and rudder and paint those the traditional blue-gray 76 and the fuselage the light green. I'm still prepared to change this and would be interested in hearing from Dan, Wayne, or anyone else with an educated opinion on whether this is an appropriate decision. The only thing that concerns me at this point is that the profile of Black 6 in Crandall's D-9 tome is based on an analysis of an elusive colour picture of this rig before it was blown up. So theory would suggest the profile to be accurate though I question the 3 colours on the wings.....




The light green was achieved by taking my previous formulation for the blue-gray 76 and adding a bit of yellow and white - my first time trying to depict this colour.

Coming along Andy!

Good stuff Andy, well I can't say I've studied the colours of this bird in detail as yet, however i do think the fuselage would be 81/82 and the greenish 76 would be likely, it is also possible the engine started out as a Dark Green 83? or other over 76, however the 50XX series appear to have had some light overspray of the 81 or 82 upper and maybe the greenish 76 to blend the engine mating with the fuselage....
The wings...well they could be a few combinations, even greys! BUT it is difficult to look past the fact that Jerry bases this machine on notes provided from a colour image, so the detail provided must have some truth to it.
3 colours on the wings doesn't gel with me either...if the 75 is true a stretch could be 74, although as i said above if the 81 was used to blend the cowl, then it is possible a touch up in mating the wings becomes a possibility....where IS that colour photo!!

Yeah Black 6 is tough one, due primarily to the elusiveness of the supposed 'pre-destruction' colour photo - or any pre-destruction photo! (one would think with all the effort going into D-9 research and the facination surrounding the Ta152 tails, that this image, used on the cover of a publication of all things, has not re-surfaced!)

But to look at things from a Block point of view - a basis of RLM81/82 is a good start on the fuselage. I would likely do the power egg in RLM76/RLM83, then lightly blend the colours over with RLM84* an RLM81/82 (as you may note, Crandall depicts the nose green a darker shade than the green on the rear fuselage). Fin I would do the same with (RLM76 with RLM84* overspray) and the rudder would be a lighter shade of RLM76. 5006xx series aircraft didnt sport much in the way of mottling, so that should make life easier...

There is nothing to say the wing upper surfaces need to be only two colours - there are a number of examples of the use of three colours on the uppers (such as II./JG2 - Yellow 11) and any number of reasons for this; repair/maintenance, field application of additional camo... There are also other reasons too, such as fluids/exhausts staining things and soaking into paints (can radically change colours in fact, especially on B&W films). Now knowing this, and the fact that the Junker's supplied egg was probably in RLM76/RLM83, I find it quite possible that a wing set in RLM75/83 or RLM74/75 or RLM82/83, had some extra RLM81 to the wing roots in order to blend things a little - we all seem to agree that colours were oversprayed to create blendings on the noses of the numerous a/c, so why not the wings too?

Remember, the wing sets were supplied as complete 'wings', attached to the fuselage, then the MANUFACTURER would attach bare metal fairings between the wings and fuselage (we see a number of these LATE in the war barely or not painted at all), so it stands to reason that this upper-surface bare-metal would be painted; and logic would say at the same time as the centre fuselage. So if you're flinging round RLM81 on the fuselage, why not on the wing roots too? So I agree with Wayne that RLM81 was a likely colour to blend things together...

The issue now is, WHICH RLM81??? The earlier 'green' version or the later 'chocolate/earth' version? Or the middle 'brown-drab-green' variant???


Dan

well i got a little time to do a bit of colouring in on my effort

have to say its not going too well, get that bit off more than i can chew feeling with this one lol. Nose and canopy only tacked on at the mo, but i wanted to see what it might wind up looking like

ho hum lol ... something nice in a tamya box next i think

Looking real nice Dave

Very nice work everyone so far, love the way these are coming along and the amount of advice from all invovled.
A quick update from me...the engine plug completed. Not done too much to this as it will be closed up, so I've omitted the guns and mountings and also trimmed off the top of the ammo feed parts to ensure the cover fits properly (lesson learned from my 190A)





A (not so) quick test fit of the cockpit and engine sub assemblies has shown up some fit issues - particularly around the fire wall/ gun deck and I shouldn't have bothered with the coolant tank as it inteferes with the fit of the upper cowling. I'm glad it was just a test fit - now to take it apart and make the necessary adjustments!





I've decided that I'll probably fit the Quickboost flaps - anyone have any ideas if these would be painted RLM 02 or left as natural metal on the inner surfaces??

Thanks

Adam

That's looking pretty good Adam and your fit issues are slightly reminiscent......

The separation you have there seems to go all the way along the cockpit and canopy deck so it doesn't seem to be just the firewall. A careful check to make sure that nothing is fouling with a locating strips on the fuselage wall would be my recommendation. It should fit if you can find what's fouling and shuffle things a bit.

Wayne, Dan, thanks so much for your astute analyses. I'm settled on the fuselage being 83 on the nose (the GREEN 83, not the BLUE!), 81 around the cockpit (I'll use the Braunviolet version cuz I like it!) and 82 along the rear spine and up the fin. Now, when you talk about "blending in" the light green over the 76, are you suggesting over the full surface or just at the transition? Dan, you're suggesting, I think, the whole tail to be 76 with the 84* overspray, so kinda what I already have or .....what?

I'm with you, Wayne, that it's hard to ignore Crandall's basing his profile off of the elusive photo so I'll try to stick to what he says. What you say, Dan, about blending in the wing fairings makes total sense so I can see the logic of doing the wing roots in 81 so I'm now committed to that. Just now need to decide on the wing camo combination and I'll likely go with one of the schemes suggested by Jerry.

Thanks again guys. If you could just clarify about the extent of overspray of the light green/84*, I'd appreciate that.

ratpit said:

I've decided that I'll probably fit the Quickboost flaps - anyone have any ideas if these would be painted RLM 02 or left as natural metal on the inner surfaces??

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If metal flaps, most likely Natural Metal - the prototype D-9's were generally RLM02, but I cant say I can remember seeing an operational a/c with painted flap interiors... Same goes for the timber flaps...


Dan

Crimea_River said:

Dan, you're suggesting, I think, the whole tail to be 76 with the 84* overspray, so kinda what I already have or .....what?

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Yes, light 'blending' over-spray of RLM84* over the entire RLM76 surface; both under the nose and the tail... Done in a way that you can still tell that there is 76 under it, but with a distinct tone of 84* in a splotchy way...

Crimea_River said:

What you say, Dan, about blending in the wing fairings makes total sense so I can see the logic of doing the wing roots in 81 so I'm now committed to that. Just now need to decide on the wing camo combination and I'll likely go with one of the schemes suggested by Jerry.

Thanks again guys. If you could just clarify about the extent of overspray of the light green/84*, I'd appreciate that.

Click to expand...

Overspray - see above; and yeah, the RLM81 roots do make sense when you think about 'the process', doesn't it!


D

Great work and info here guys!

*planning* to finally start mine June 9th when my dad goes back. Will be concentrating on Gelben 15 for the August deadline, being complete with everything closed. Braunen 4 is a longer term project...

Crimea_River said:

That's looking pretty good Adam and your fit issues are slightly reminiscent......

The separation you have there seems to go all the way along the cockpit and canopy deck so it doesn't seem to be just the firewall. A careful check to make sure that nothing is fouling with a locating strips on the fuselage wall would be my recommendation. It should fit if you can find what's fouling and shuffle things a bit.

Click to expand...

Thanks Andy
Tried the tub on its own and everything snug, so just need to locate where the problem lies, should be a simple sanding after that.

Zaggy said:

If metal flaps, most likely Natural Metal - the prototype D-9's were generally RLM02, but I cant say I can remember seeing an operational a/c with painted flap interiors... Same goes for the timber flaps...


Dan

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Cheers Dan, thought this might be the case

Adam

Yep, Dan has it Andy, a light overspray mottling effect, sometimes it's real easy and sometimes it's a pain to get just right....

Thanks Dan and Wayne. Unfortunately already painted the tail solid light green from the RV band back, except for the rudder. If I had applied my logic consistently, I should have done it in 76.

I'll see how it goes on the nose and then decide if/how I'll do the tail. Thanks again for the great input.

Lovely work so far guys!

Crimea_River said:

Thanks Dan and Wayne. Unfortunately already painted the tail solid light green from the RV band back, except for the rudder. If I had applied my logic consistently, I should have done it in 76.

I'll see how it goes on the nose and then decide if/how I'll do the tail. Thanks again for the great input.

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You're welcome mate, remember, it's also possible you do have it right.....

Yes, I suppose that's true. If anyone has facts to the contrary, let him stand up now!

This weekend is 4 days long for me but Sat, Sunday, Monday are supposed to be complete washouts. If my Monday tee time turns out to be wet, I should get plenty done in the next 4 days so looking forward to posting some good progress shots.

...so here's today's progress on Black 6. The fuselage has been painted starting with 83 on the nose, then 82 on the tail. While I still had those colours in the cup, I painted the tailplane. I mixed up some RLM 81 and then spritzed that around the cockpit and nose transition.




A close-up of the nose shows the light green overspray on the 76. Close examination shows that you can see a bit of the 76 through the overspray. A few small splatters on the 83 will be cleaned up later.



Close-ups of the rumpfband and tail:




I had finished off the underside a few days ago, spraying the NMF using AlcadII "Duraluminium"




I need to mix up some more 83 tomorrow so I can finish the wings. I figure I'll do them in 75/83.

Looks great Andy!