painting schemes for Do 335 and Fw 190

[Aramis]

Hello, friends... I have recently bought these two 1:72 diecasts for my collection: a Do 335 and a Fw190 (JG 26, Josef Priller). I'd like to improve their accuracy by painting the propellers and spinner which I believe were not originally black. I don't have good profiles of those airplanes but I wonder if their propellers were really painted in dark green (RLM 70). Also, does anyone know about the spinner of those aircrafts... were the spinners also RLM 70 in both airplanes? Thanks!

 

[stona]

The propellers and spinners would both have been RLM 70.
That 'Black 13' is I think his A-5. RLM 70 was standard at that time.
Late war things were a little more complicated. The colour RLM 70 was discontinued as a camouflage colour but was specifically retained for propellers(and spinners) in Sammelmitteilung Nr.2,15 Aug 1944. The official RLM handbook for the Do335 (December 1944) specifies RLM 70 for both.
Your model (VG+PH W.Nr 240102) was the first pre-production aircraft to fly though it was the second built. The first one built (VG+PG W.Nr. 240101) was destroyed in a US bombing raid.
Steve

 

[Aramis]

Thank you, very much, Steve! Precious info! Is it true that Americans took two prototypes to US, but one of them was lost?

 

[stona]

Yes,two were shipped in July 1945. They were the Do335A-0 (W.Nr240102) which your model represents and a Do335A-1 (W.Nr.240165). They were shipped with 14 other captured enemy aircraft aboard HMS Reaper. 240165 was flown at least once at Newark. The original plan was to fly it to Freeman Field for assessment but problems on a test flight at Newark meant that it was ferried by road. It is doubtful that it ever flew again.
240102 was assigned to the US Navy but they never flew it. It was donated to the Smithsonian institute in 1961. It was placed at the organisations Siver Hill facility. It was joined there by the wings of the USAAF's example (240165).
In May 1974 the Deutches Museum in Munich asked to borrow a German wartime aircraft and the NASM decided to send their Do335. This was by then,and still is,a composite aircraft.
The fuselage is from 240102 the A-0 originally shipped to the US.
The wings are from 240165 the A-1 originally shipped.
The horizontal and dorsal tail surfaces are from 103,the ventral fin from 105 and the starboard flap from the wreckage of 101.
This aircraft was returned to the US in 1986 (I think) and after further restoration went on display at the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy centre,part of the Smithsonian Institute located near Washington's Dulles International Airport,in 2005.
Cheers
Steve

 

[Aramis]

Wonderful, Steve. Thank you, indeed. Just one more question: On this Priller's FW 190, was the spinner totally black or was it partially white with spirals?

 

[stona]

The spinner on that Fw190 was certainly RLM 70,black-green.
There may have been some substitution of black for RLM 70 on some Messeschmitt Bf109s which had an earlier identification marking in which a section 1/3 of the spinner was painted white. This was not officially sanctioned. RLM 70 remained the official colour for spinners at least until the last painting directive known in late 1944.
The spinner spirals were not officially ordered until February 1944 though some seem to have been applied as a result of unit initiative much earlier. There is a picture of a Bf109 taken in May 1943 wearing a thin and tight spiral (unlike the later official one but a spiral nonetheless).
At the base of the Fw190 metal propeller blades there would normally be a 30mm wide band left unpainted. This was so that marks for blade adjustment would remain visible.
Cheers
Steve

 

[Wurger]

Here you are for the Priller's Fw190A-5 shots and profile.... image source : http://www.asisbiz.com

 

[Wurger]

And here something interesting for Dornier Do-335 painting

Camouflage of the Dornier Do 335: A Critical Re-evaluation by Michael Ullman

Also I found the profile....

 

[Aramis]

Steve and Wurger, thank you so much, guys!!! Very helpful!

 

[Aramis]

Speaking of Priller's Fw 190, was this specific "Black 13" based in Lille-Vendeville (1943) or somewhere in Belgium?

 

[Wurger]

You'r welcome.

And yes the Fw190A-5 Werk Nummer 7298 is believed to be the kite based in Lille-Vendeville and flown by Priller at the beginning of the Summer 1943

 

[stona]

As Wurger said. Stab/JG 26 started receiving their A-5s in February/March 1943 and I bet Priller got his hands on one of the first ones. Priller was at Vendeville from January until early August 1943, a very long time for any unit to be based in one place. The unit started to get A-6s around the time they moved on from Vendeville,to Schipol.
Priller survived as Geschwaderkommodor for more than two years which makes him very good or very lucky!

Good link to Michael Ullman's article. I'm familiar both with it and his references and there's not much do argue with in it. I'm not convinced that Dornier,who were used to making bombers,didn't continue to paint RLM 65 undersides until later but it's a moot point, not worth beating ourselves up over it.

Cheers
Steve

 

[stona]

Here's a picture of one of the two Do335s being loaded aboard HMS Reaper at Cherbourg as part of Operation Seahorse.

Cheers
Steve

 

[Wurger]

 

[Wayne Little]