Model Kit: Hasegawa Kit # 09148
Scale: 1:48

Model Box

Can any one explain why the crosses are a lighter colour than normal. I suspect it has something to do with toning them down for the Russian front but that doesn't stack up with the other insignia remaining dark black and adding even more around the cowling.

Originally Posted by Bunkerbarge

Can any one explain why the crosses are a lighter colour than normal. I suspect it has something to do with toning them down for the Russian front but that doesn't stack up with the other insignia remaining dark black and adding even more around the cowling.

I agree. Don't know why they did that.

Re Balkenkreuz. In the late war schemes the balkenkreuz were not applied in black. Infact they weren't applied at all. Four white right angles were sprayed to give the outline of the cross in an area which was painted in a dark camouflage colour,usually the darker of the two colours incorporated into the aircrafts scheme. Sometimes the dark colour was solid sometimes the order was rather loosely interpreted and the outlines were painted around a mottled area. If you then paint this aircraft white,either overpainting or matching these white outlines you end up with an unbordered balkenkreuz in the aforementioned camouflage colour.
Here's a couple correctly marked.





And here is Erich Hartmann standing by an aircraft marked so that the outline balkenkreuz encompasses a lot of mottle.



Cheers
Steve

The strange thing with the model Steve is that the black of the balkenkreuz is faded as well as the white surrounding being almost indestinguishable against the light grey. I've seen the white only style that you show but I've never seen this style.

I guess towards the end of the war there were more and more personal interpretations and one off schemes but this does seem to have been done for a purpose.

I think that's down to the decal and the modellers interpretation of the winter white coat. I think the kit is trying to simulate the effect of an outline cross left behind after the rest of the aircraft had a white winter coat applied.
I can't remember if this Hartmann profile is based on photographic evidence or,as many are,a flight of fancy on the part of a profile artist.
Having said that there is plenty of evidence of Luftwaffe units overpainting national markings to mitigate what they considered their compromising effect on camoufalge. As early as the Battle of Britain some units were overspraying the large white borders of the early style Balkenkreuz with green or grey camouflage colours. Later the entire marking sometimes received a light overspray,typically of a grey camouflage colour. There are pictures of aircraft in winter white camouflage in which the original markings are barely discernable at all.

Here's Priller's Bf109E-3 demonstrating the effect nicely.



I've dragged these out of my Fw190 file for a bit of variety and to show how far they'd go.





All this was of course contrary to orders that prohibited the inerference with the national markings.

Cheers
Steve