10/JG4 'Black 8' Me 109G14

[Mus51]

Since i couldnt find any real life photos of this bird i used this model as a profile:
http://www.arcair.com/Gal4/3101-3200/Gal3166_Bf-109_Longhitano/00.shtm

I still have doubts about it being historical correct.

This plane was flown by Oberleutnant Rolf Schlegel and belonged to 10./JG4






Comments /Criticism is welcomed

[Krusty]

well my comment would be: You're basing it all enitrely on a single model buildup? Don't get me wrong, Eagle Cals are generally respectable, but can't you find the decals instructions themselves as well as (maybe) some color profile of it somewhere or similar aircraft in that unit?

I've done 1 or 2 skins with thin references, so I can relate, but I would ask: "Are you totally attached to THAT particular plane?" What if you found a very similar plane from another gruppe (or even the same) that had more references, perhaps real photos, or something?

That's all just debate on the subject. The skin itself looks pretty nice, except for one thing. I'm noticing that along most of the dark camo demarcation, and along some of the light camo demarcation, you have a really solid extra border. Almost like drawing the outline of the parts you were going to fill in (like a coloring book, or a cartoon cell) and it looks a bit off.

Do you see what I mean, or have I not described that very well?

[Krusty]

The prolific (and should I say profilic? hehehe) DekkeR has this to offer:



Interestingly, his has a more odd-color patch under the "black 8" as if covering previous markings, which seems to match some other planes from the time (including 109s and 190s late in the war).

Edit: I was only able to find low-res scans (thumbnail size) of the Eagle Cals sheet profile (with no details).

[Mus51]

Thanks for the feedback krusty! I noticed those white lised across the darker shades, its because of the high contrast i used in photoshop, i can get rid of it.

I've seen that profile aswell but i found out there is very little to find on the net about JG4 109's. There is a guy who skinned similar JG4 109's like this one for another sim with the same yellow front belly and colours.

[Krusty]

The plot thickens... Just found this on hannants (model builders, unite!)



Look familiar? hehehe, even has the same over-painted area! Just has a different unit in the label and rvb. Some differing camo, but the colors on these guides are roughly defined.

[Mus51]

The guy i was refering to from another sim:



He said he used different kind of WW2 books as his reference. I wish i had more stuff to work with

[Krusty]

Overall what you're skinning is not that different from the general "standard" paint scheme of the time. The only differences being the lower camo demarcation (possibly just mottling, or possibly solid colors, or a combination of both) down the sides. I would say (but it goes without saying, hehe) to look at the basic G-14 camos for references as well, if this specific one isn't available.

Then fill in the details, like the over-spray area under the 8. For example, your skins has it as a "loop" of color that extends downward. To me, looking at the decal sheet low-res profile, and looking at the ARC buildup and the DekkeR profile, I would say you might have it wrong there. It looks more like it was a larger over-painted area that was "cut off" at the panel line (perhaps a replacement tail was attached?). Mind you, this is just working with what we've got in this thread. If that is the case, I might expect the over-spray area to be a different shade or entirely different color than the surrounding camo colors. If gray, it would be a fresher application, more hastily or thickly applied than the underlying. If green or some shade of brown, I would expect it to stand out more.

I'm not totally sure, but I also think the RVB in your screenshots is too thin. It seems like it ought to be 50% wider at the outer edges. This is generally from looking at late-war RVB and noticing they are much thicker ("wider"?) than prior theater bands.

[Mus51]

I'm glad your noticing the sames things i do Krusty! At the moment i've got an error in photoshop so i cant progress the work that way. I'm going to dig deeper in some books i can find around. Thanks for the feedback! I highly appreciate it

[Krusty]

One other thing: I notice you have a brown streak on the side of the fuselage near the wing root. I assume that's an exhaust stain?

The problem is it's cut off becuase it passes below the wing joint, and comes out the back side of the wing. There are a couple of things you can do. The first is to arch the smoke trail up and around the wing, following the wing root shape (this happens because the airflow carries it up and around, you can see this on many planes). The second is to hug the wing root closely, but also put the stain on the upper surface of the inboard wings. You will see on my 3/JG27 (Marseille) skin on the F4 that I did something like that -- in my case I was following photo evidence.