Jump to content

paint & decal help for a Ju-188A-3


DavidBridges

Recommended Posts

Hello everyone!

 

Working on my first aircraft in probably eight years, and I need a little help picking colors. I'm somewhat familiar with Luftwaffe paint schemes, but it's been a while and I don't have much in the way of reference materials.

 

I've got a DML 1/48th Ju-188A-3 that I'm going to finish as a torpedo bomber. Going to try for the typical bomber camo that had the squiggly lines painted over it (Wellenmuster?) What sort of RLM colors do I need to make this happen, both for the interior and exterior colors.

 

Also, can anyone recommend any good decal sets in 1/48th that would give me balkankreuz, swastikas, and letters/numbers that would be suitable for a Ju-188?

 

Thanks!

 

David

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hi David! I saw your request yesterday, but was hoping someone more knowledgeable than myself would pipe up first. I'm afraid I can only point you in some general directions...

 

To start, interior colors for most German WWII were either RLM2 grungrau (a medium greenish gray) or RLM66 schwarzgrau (a very dark gray). The RLM2 seems to be used for the early war stuff, with most mid and later war items being the later RLM66. Since the later Ju-188 is a mod of the earlier Ju-88, I'd go with a dark gray for your interior crew compartments. RLM66 is available from Model Master in enamel (not sure about acrylics). That said, I'd stick with the RLM2 (a medium gray) for the wheel wells and other interior areas where no crew members are present.

 

As for exterior schemes, there's many possibilities/combinations. I'd do a search on Hyperscale, or Aircraftresourcecenter, or Modelingmadness to look at built models to get an idea of the top colors. However, according to my trusty-rusty Monogram pub. on Luftwaffe camo, almost all bombers were RLM 70/71/65; the 70=schwarzgrun (black-green), the 71=dunkelgrun (dark green), and the 65=hellblau (light blue with a gray tinge) for the DAY scheme. The top greens were applied in a splinter pattern while the bottoms were the single light blue 65. Occasionally lichtblau 76 might be substituted for the 65 (a slightly lighter blue without the gray tinge), and the 76 was used for mottling along the sides. Almost all of these colors are available in model paint lines. As shown in the pic links above, the night schemes were even more complicated. They could be a simple 65 or 76 light blue topsides with RLM22 flat black undersides, or 74/75 grays on top with either blue or black undersides. Some were mottled and others weren't. All of this goes out the window as the war progresses and wave mirror camo schemes are applied, or winter white washes are used over the basic scheme, which greatly complicates the issue. You need to focus in on what/when/where you want for your 188 and that will help you zero in on the paints needed.

 

As for decals, I'm not aware of any 188 sheets (but that doesn't mean much). I know that Microscale (now Superscale) made sheets of crosses and swastikas, as well as a few sheets of generic colored lettering for Luftwaffe plane codes. That said, I don't know what is in production and what has been reproduced over the years. Aeromaster also released a LOT of Luftwaffe sheets and several generic marking sheets, so you might have some luck there. I believe Squadron bought out that line of decals. I'm not sure if they're simply selling stock they bought, or if they're actually producing them still. A short search on Squadron.com turned up a lot of Luftwaffe decals, but no -188 or -88 sheets. Once you've focused on an exact scheme, you can go to various model selling/trading forums and request the side codes and markings you need, which will give you a shot at out of production sheets and leftovers that would enable you to build your model.

 

Hopefully someone will be along with more helpful info. In the meantime, I hope this gets you pointed in the right direction. Good luck!

 

GIL :smiley16:

Edited by ghodges
Link to comment
Share on other sites

My memory was jogged by this thread. I found in my decal stash 2 sets of marking for Ju-188's from Third Group (copyrighted in 2000/2001, the company has been out of buisnes for many years) in 1/48 scale.

 

1) 48-058 has 3 Ju-188's, 2 E's and 1 A, Milch's Transport, KG 26 & KG 200.

 

2) 48-061 also has 3 Ju-188's, 2 A-2's and 1 D-1, KG 6, 26 & Aufkl.Gr.(f)33.

 

The marking are the usual gray, white and black letters and crosses. 48-061 does have yellow 'G's'. Probably nothing that couldn't be found on other available sheets.

 

Thought you might like to know.

 

BoB

Link to comment
Share on other sites

×
×
  • Create New...