I found this cool photo on Ebay. It has a very clear view of the nose cap, which is painted in a grey color. The rings around it appear to be putty. Might the dark blotches elsewhere on the nose section be the same or similar to the grey seen on the nose cap? What if that same grey is used as a primer undercoat on most, if not all, of the nose section? It intrigues me that these dark botches are present on virtually every bare-metal Me 262 and these blotches always seem to conform to the particular panel lines on the nose section, but these dark grey blotches are not clearly present anywhere on the fuselage.
I didn't know about the resin based lacquers. That makes a lot of sense. However, I've read that the entire nose section of Me 262s was made of steel and so was easily corrosive unlike the metal on the fuselage. In my "Stormbird Colors" book, the author comments about Black X, noting
"the wings and majority of the fuselage of Black X were constructed of an alloy that did not require further preparation before camouflage painting. Undercoat or primer was therefore only applied to the non-alloy elements of the airfarme. These included the steel fuselage nose and engine nacelles; plus wooden components such as the undercarriage doors and leading edge of the fin." (Pg. 49).
The author goes on to note that on Black X, which has the best preserved original paint scheme of any surviving Me 262, "the nose displays evidence of at least two undercoat colors. One color closely matches RLM 02 Gray...and a cream color similar to RLM 05." (Pg. 49). The author also remarks that "very large sections o RLM 02 Gray primer are visible on the cannon access hatch." (Pg. 59).
Based on the above information, the best preserved Me 262, Black X, had its nose section clearly primed in RLM 02 and another cream color. This is consistent with my understanding that B3+ZM and bare-metal Me 262s probably had their noses systematically primed by their manufacturers (though presumably different primers were used).
In light of this description of Black X's nose section, it makes sense to me why the nose sections of bare-metal me 262s like 711 and 722 look quite different from the fuselages. In the picture of 711 that Fubar just posted check out the cannon access hatch...it appears almost completely light grey, but with the expected dark patches. Also, the presence of light grey/ dark grey on the nose section is even more apparent in the photos of 712, which Wurger posted.
Thoughts?
Regards,
Jon