Krusty said:Got a quick description of Balthasar's ride?
A pic's worth a thousand words, so here you go (I managed to get it pretty much done today, PLUS managed to stop at a truckstop with WiFi for the 2nd night in a row):
There are many representations of this plane in books and floating around the web, some of which (including an Aeromaster decal set) show it having Green 1+|. However, the photo I have of the plane shows these markings painted out, which is also how Sundin & Bergstrom did their profile, so I went with that. Basically, it's RLM 71 overall, with some fresh 71 or possibly 70 overspray of the 1+|, and then carried on as mottling.
BTW, it was lots of fun making the 1s on the nose line up across the seam between the sides and top pieces
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Are you sure that first one is from 9/JG54? I had a profile or two of it but could not find anything on it. It had a leaping cat on a yellow background on the port (and probably starboard) side. I tentatively ID'ed it as a plane from III./JG52
Well, there I worked from shakier sources, as in an Aeromaster decal sheet and no photo. The cross-hatched pattern on the side is typical of JG54 (it was from before they spread the hatching out and filled in the gaps with lighter green, like on your F4 skin), the ~ is for III. Gruppe, and the yellow is the 3rd Staffel of that group, so 9./JG54 definitely works. However, it lacks any Gruppe or Staffel badge, which in the case of 9./JG54 was the yellow shield with the red devil's head on it. Still, a lack of a unit badge at this point in time wasn't uncommon, because replacement planes might not have gotten them applied before they started going on sorties. So, in the absense of any unit badge, I think it's safe to call it 9./JG54, although it could of course be 9./something else.