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General Forums => Custom Skins => Topic started by: Nr_RaVeN on March 01, 2010, 03:23:57 PM

Title: 109F4 I/JG52/ByNrRaVeN
Post by: Nr_RaVeN on March 01, 2010, 03:23:57 PM
I/JG52/ByNrRaVeN
This is an upgraded version of an old in game skin 109F4 .
 many new layers and a more realistic rivet effect and paint work.
It's a Very unusual paint scheme .


(http://img.villagephotos.com/p/2004-8/809754/jg52%20sea1.jpg)

(http://img.villagephotos.com/p/2004-8/809754/858_1138556408_109f_5.jg52_2.jpg)

(http://img.villagephotos.com/p/2004-8/809754/858_1138556429_109f_5.jg52_3.jpg)

Big Ones Here (http://8raven8.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=skins&action=display&thread=782)

SLIDE SHOW LINK HERE (http://picasaweb.google.com/115682032798697848472/IJG52ByNrRaVeN#slideshow/5443770213272363394)


(http://img.villagephotos.com/p/2004-8/809754/ahss25.jpg)

(http://img.villagephotos.com/p/2004-8/809754/ahss24.jpg)

(http://img.villagephotos.com/p/2004-8/809754/ahss26.jpg)

(http://img.villagephotos.com/p/2004-8/809754/ahss27.jpg)

Title: Re: 109F4 I/JG52/ByNrRaVeN
Post by: caldera on March 01, 2010, 05:54:19 PM
Uber!  :aok
Title: Re: 109F4 I/JG52/ByNrRaVeN
Post by: The Fugitive on March 01, 2010, 06:08:25 PM
It seems to me that both the 109F4's you done are too bright/sharp. The same with Mus51's Black 13 (http://bbs.hitechcreations.com/smf/index.php/topic,283871.0.html). Maybe you guys have the sun real bright for your screen shots, but they seem like gloss paints instead of flats. As an example Greebo's Typhoon (http://bbs.hitechcreations.com/smf/index.php/topic,283823.0.html) looks more like I think they "should" look. Of course what do I know  :D

Other than that, I think the detail is great as well as the colors.
Title: Re: 109F4 I/JG52/ByNrRaVeN
Post by: TwinBoom on March 01, 2010, 06:14:16 PM
 :aok
Title: Re: 109F4 I/JG52/ByNrRaVeN
Post by: USRanger on March 01, 2010, 06:17:40 PM
I love it! :x
Title: Re: 109F4 I/JG52/ByNrRaVeN
Post by: lyric1 on March 01, 2010, 06:39:29 PM
My only concern is based off the photo there seems to be a fair amount of green on the aircraft even though they only make mention of two colours & your skin seems to lack any green at all? A bad colour picture maybe?
Title: Re: 109F4 I/JG52/ByNrRaVeN
Post by: Greebo on March 02, 2010, 07:13:47 AM
That's a great looking skin of an unusual scheme.  :aok

I'd agree with Lyric about the colours though, despite the caption the colour looks to be a lot more green than grey on the photo. Perhaps the specularity could be notched down a bit too.
Title: Re: 109F4 I/JG52/ByNrRaVeN
Post by: Krusty on March 02, 2010, 09:23:05 AM
I think the colors are a tad too dark.

I also notice you have not skinned the parts of the spinner that reside on the left/right/top/bottom of the fuselage. It has sections on the fuselage, oil cooler, and upper cowling portions of the skin. These will need to be the same color as the spinner.
Title: Re: 109F4 I/JG52/ByNrRaVeN
Post by: Reschke on March 02, 2010, 09:33:30 AM
My only concern is based off the photo there seems to be a fair amount of green on the aircraft even though they only make mention of two colours & your skin seems to lack any green at all? A bad colour picture maybe?

I don't know if it is a bad color photo or just an old photo that was used long after it was taken and might not have been stored properly. OR it could just be the way the lighting was when the photo was taken. I have seen some LW camo grey that when the sun hits it a certain way that turns a shade of green; maybe that is the color that was used in the camo pattern instead of a true grey.
Title: Re: 109F4 I/JG52/ByNrRaVeN
Post by: Nr_RaVeN on March 02, 2010, 10:14:37 AM
Thanks guys  :aok

The thing to remember about a colorized  photo from the 40's is that its not very accurate  it may look green but as you may notice in lots of colorized photos were the sun hits tends to show as a blue green especially when its an older color photo that's exposed to UV light as the above shot is.
Look at the bottom of the camo netting, its green too. Some green would be cool for sure... I just dont think its accurate.

As far as the sheen of the finish, here is the short version.
As many of you already know the Luftwaffe paint of that time period depending on pigment was primarily a "ketone resin film.... much like a lacquer paint finish..
It had a semi sheen /shine. This aided in aerodynamics. These ac were actually waxed and polished to help limit drag. They were not Flat like Primer.

Yes weather conditions  very much effected the paints, again very much color dependent the sheen could range across the boared dependant on the UV heat cold ect.
I would tend to lean twored a sheen (not high Gloss) over the flat primer look on lufft AC. they dint have a Tank primer flat finish.

Even the weathered pre-restoration AC I have seen, most lately FW white 1, It is now being restored in Florida. still have a sheen to the paint and its been over 60 years worth of ageing.

I cant speak to the typhoons or spits finishes as I don't have the books on the type of paint technology was used on the as I do for the German ac.
 I do see that restored Typhoons do have a sheen to them but that doesn't mean they did during ww2.

I will re dile this number and see if I can find a happy medium for the sheen  and still maintain the accuracy of the true paint sheen.

Along with perhaps lightening her up a bit.
 for some reason on the computer I'm on now looking at the slide show... the wings look all color banded ... They are not on the skin. Must be compression. It took me HRS on end to rid the skin of that issue...  :cry

and those  wavy lines OMG what a pain in the BLEEEEEEP.  :furious

Thanks For all the input Guys
 Its helpfull to get lots of view points :aok :aok
RaVe
Title: Re: 109F4 I/JG52/ByNrRaVeN
Post by: lyric1 on March 02, 2010, 01:05:58 PM
In that case on the green nice job. :aok
Title: Re: 109F4 I/JG52/ByNrRaVeN
Post by: valad94 on March 02, 2010, 04:37:54 PM
Sexy :aok
Title: Re: 109F4 I/JG52/ByNrRaVeN
Post by: Nr_RaVeN on March 02, 2010, 04:53:21 PM
Hows this for a happy medium?

(http://img.villagephotos.com/p/2004-8/809754/LIGHTER.jpg)
Title: Re: 109F4 I/JG52/ByNrRaVeN
Post by: Greebo on March 02, 2010, 04:59:00 PM
That finish looks better to my eyes Raven, although you obviously know way more than me about LW paint. I should have realised that first photo was colourised.
Title: Re: 109F4 I/JG52/ByNrRaVeN
Post by: The Fugitive on March 02, 2010, 06:50:57 PM
That looks better to me too  :aok
Title: Re: 109F4 I/JG52/ByNrRaVeN
Post by: FTJR on March 02, 2010, 06:58:41 PM
That finish looks better to my eyes Raven, although you obviously know way more than me about LW paint. I should have realised that first photo was colourised.

How would one tell?
Title: Re: 109F4 I/JG52/ByNrRaVeN
Post by: Krusty on March 02, 2010, 09:34:43 PM
I think those colors are better. However, I'm not totally sure the photo is "colorized" after the fact.

(http://www.hyperscale.com/images/iliad48017reviewse_ref1.jpg)

One guy says (and on inspection, he might be correct) that it looks like the brown/green were heavily mottled, and the squiggles were applied on top independently of the brown/green demarcation lines.

When you think about it, this makes sense. There were a few other paint schemes where they applied squiggles on top of an existing camo scheme, such as a MTO 109G-2 with green/brown camo, and some more squiggles on an all-sandgelb 109. There is precedent for "random squiggle application"  :D

Slightly larger shot of the first pic:

(http://www.hyperscale.com/images/iliad48017reviewse_ref2.jpg)

I don't think it's recolored, as much as it's just an old photo with some color bleeding and a bit of color shifting.

EDIT: It almost looks like there's a 50% white / 50% "black" band at the base of the spinner, not part of the fuselage. Almost looks like there was a spinner pattern there, underneath the existing one? Or some other pattern.
Title: Re: 109F4 I/JG52/ByNrRaVeN
Post by: Nr_RaVeN on March 03, 2010, 09:23:48 AM
I think those colors are better. However, I'm not totally sure the photo is "colorized" after the fact.
I don't think it's recolored, as much as it's just an old photo with some color bleeding and a bit of color shifting.

Agreed
Probably an old photo often those old photos were color retouched or  rephotographed with a view camera 4x5 film then color retouched . well never know for sure but the colors are defiantly not dead on.
 With out question the squiggles were added after the fact just as The MTO G2 ,They differ from the MTO G2 as those were contiguous but idea is the same.

Question is what was the original scheme? It was working in the sea. was it originally a brown grey or a brow green scheme.
Its been so overpainted its almost impossible to tell.

Its going to have to be an educated guess. as i can't find the Serial # of  that AC.

 Kusty any info in the book you have so I can research it's background further. IE were it was before. What book did you use?

 
That photo of the guy on the wing is great.
All I had to go on was the first photo and the silly model for the wing pattern. After looking at the wing pattern looks like I'm going to re work it to the random squiggles.

Thanks Kusty very helpful.
 Its great to have all this input from everone.
It makes it a team effort.


Title: Re: 109F4 I/JG52/ByNrRaVeN
Post by: Krusty on March 03, 2010, 11:47:13 AM
Frakking forum ate a post I was typing for 30 minutes...  :mad:

EDIT: Let's try again...

If I'm brief it's because I don't want to retype EVERYTHING I just did, so if I'm unclear please let me know.

Sorry, no book on my end. I found that with a mere 2 minutes searching online the other day. What luck!

Hyperscale decal review:
http://www.hyperscale.com/2008/reviews/decals/iliad48017reviewse_1.htm

He doesn't say whether the photos come with the decals (would be worth it, if they did!) or if he pulled his own resources for the sake of review/comparison.

However, I don't think the color issue is as bad as you think. You can clearly tell there are color demarcations at work. You can then limit the color options to exsting RLM colors and LW precedents.

I disagree that there could be multiple configurations based on long-term overpainting. The 109F-2 was a short-term production model with limited service time. The 109F-4 replaced it very quickly. It would not have been around long enough to acquire long-term overpainting history, like end-of-war 190s (for example).

Instead, I think that like the multi-color MTO 109F/Gs, and like the early JG54 190As, the color scheme was mostly intentional and applied (or overpainted) at one period in time. The squiggles may or may not have come later, I'm not sure.

I think you can use it for a lot, just cannot use it for a color sample. Looking at the photo you can see something green, and something brownish/purplish tinted. I think the green is definitely a green. I think it would be a heavy over-painting of the other colors, as found on a number of MTO 190s and 109s.

As for the other color, I'm going to take another track. I am going to propose it is not brown, nor is it pruplish. I'm going to suggest it was a dark gray. I'm going to say the reddish tint doesn't look right, and rather resembles color bleedout, as if the photo aged and the red pigment came through, giving it a tint/shade that was not originally there, or that the early color photography light-sensitive film crystals were poorly made (common at the time, color photos were a new thing).

Now, bear with me! I had 2 trains of thought as to the underlying color...

A number of LW planes that flew over the wavetops had a grayish color. The Ar196, for example, used some gray shades for better over-water camouflague. Semi-recently I was doing a lot of research regarding the colors on the Ar196 (gray vs green debate). After probably a couple of months of looking and reading online debates (there is no debate green was used, the debate was whether the grays were all wrongly-identified greens!) I came to the conclusion, with the aid of a decent color WW2 photo, that grays were used.

So JG52 came to the same conclusion and found similar paints to blend in with the water, then over-painted that with green all over the upper surfaces.

OR

JG52 is using the standard 109F gray/gray uppers camo... Or some variation thereof. The dark gray found on the upper surfaces of 109Fs also has an inherrent purplish tint. Over time this could bleed out a bit brownish or redish on poor quality film. The green is oversprayed so excessively (leaving gaps and shades, mind you) that the gray/gray demarcations go away, leaving only mostly gray/green patterns. JG54 had a similar white distemper paint scheme, albeit with white instead of green. The so-called "cow" pattern (IMO wrongly so, it was not black spots, it was the 2-tone gray camo underneath showing through). Here we have a dark color that helps blend in with the water, but the green breaks it up like the waves might look from a distance. The white squiggles came afterwards (wild guess on my part!) after they looked at it and said "it needs a little something more."


It could be either pattern. I'm going to suggest perhaps the second option is more likely, just for debate's sake. The problem with this is the low camo line on the fuselage sides. Not without precedent (see JG54 green camo lines, see later desert 109s with green sprayed all down the sides), but definitely requiring thought as to how the gray/gray pattern would extend underneath the green over-painting.


Here's a picture of a model just as example of what I mean when I say the 109F-2 in question has green overpainting:
http://hsfeatures.com/features04/images/Bf109G2_ICR5.jpg

A model just as an example of the gray used on Ar196s:
http://pic20.picturetrail.com/VOL1312/4776356/9915355/227487738.jpg
The forum with a debate on the colors here:
http://airfixtributeforum.myfastforum.org/ftopic9455-0-asc-20.php

How I chose to do my Ar196 after some careful thought:
http://www.nakatomitower.com/models/airfix196/ar196_painted_unmasked1a.jpg
I cannot find the color photo online, but have saved it on my other computer.

This is probably a little disjointed, sorry. I was trying to re-create my thoughts on the matter and I KNOW I left out a chunk in the middle because I couldn't remember how I had typed it up.



[EDIT 2:] Forgive my terms when I say "gray/gray" etc... Working here, and can't look up RLM numbers or anything.
It all may very well be a winerot type of shade, or perhaps a violetbrun or some combination of brownish color, but I present the above ideas in the spirit of "getting it right" and trust the end result will be well informed, regardless of how it is done.
Title: Re: 109F4 I/JG52/ByNrRaVeN
Post by: Nr_RaVeN on March 03, 2010, 01:28:18 PM
Lots of good stuff there Krusty Thanks For taking the time :aok

The photo was taken in 1941 at a base on Hollands coastal North sea.
 It sure looks like Violet brown to be grey original and bleed out that bad in the photo makes it a tough call.. yet it makes sense though, if they took an already painted ac and modified the camo, they would start with a standard scheme.
  I don't know of any violet browns being used then there. There were lots of grey shades and Grey green . It's so brown, Its hard to imagine the color got that far off. If it did then were back to ,what looks green is really grey.
 Perhaps there was some Violet brow kicking around the paint shop who knows its a tough call on this bird ,so much up in the air.
 Its all speculation and educated guess work.
I'm going to have to chew on this a bit. I may do a few variations. Theres defiantly some room here, it could go in several directions.
Thanks RaVe
Title: Re: 109F4 I/JG52/ByNrRaVeN
Post by: Krusty on March 03, 2010, 07:11:07 PM
Keep in mind that even a simple "gray" can range from the brown-tints to the red-tints... The particular gray in question could be on the red end of the spectrum, like RLM75 kind of has a tint to it.

Then any red pigment bleeding on the film/photo has less to bleed before it exaggerates things.


Also, it's quite possible to have specific colors bleed or leech out without the others doing the same. You can see this on some photos where the black and the white were not "stopped" properly, and kept developing after the rest of the photo, expanding and spreading just those pigments. It may be that the one color shifted more than the rest, so green is still green, but purple-red is exaggerated.

Like you said, worth mulling over.
Title: Re: 109F4 I/JG52/ByNrRaVeN
Post by: Nr_RaVeN on March 03, 2010, 09:27:46 PM
 Been reading up allot today, here's what I have so far.
After drilling down a bit further, the green guys may have a case here. I will have the answers when the new book comes in. :x
 In June 1941 RML issued an order that officially approved the change over to a new day fighter scheme incorporating RML 74 and 75 over 76, soon afterward issuing a painting guide that applied to the the 109F.
It specified colors 74 and 75 were to be applied to the upper surfaces approximately in equal parts using the type 5 splinter pattern but with a soft demarcation I.E. no masking.
While the sides of the fuselage fin and ruder and all under surfaces were to be finished in RML 76.
 Fuselage molting was to be applied softly in equal amounts of  02,70, and 74(a dark green).
  No two planes were the same between June and Nov 1941 wile this change was being implemented, there was no masking it was all free hand.
The differences and variations were based on the skill and taste of the painter and that was permissible.
No suprise to see that this Bird surfaced.

so now for the guess work scenarios. :headscratch:

If the painter painted over the RML 74 and 75 uppers with squiggly lines in either RML 76 or white or even 02 they would not have much contrast.
 In the photo there is allot of contrast between the squiggles and the base paint.
 I tested this and on the skin.. the squiggles get lost in the RML 75. cant be that combo in the photo.

 But if the painter painted over the original upper of  75(the lighter grey) with some of the 70 Schwarzgrün(that's kind of a drk green like seen in the photo) and perhaps fogged in the  RML 74 a bit and used either the 02, white ,or 76 for the squiggles now we end up with the contrast that we see in the photos as well as a decent effective sea camo.
if that's what happend then that photo is wayyy off the chart.

 The other scenario is that there was some  Luftwaffe RML maritime camouflage being used. After all it was a coastal field. Those colors started to be used in 1938.
If they used or had on hand RML maritime camouflage of 72 and 73 both greens...  (73 almost a Brown green).... we are getting much closer to the photo and still a good sea camo.
The Brown look in the photo could be the RML 73, this combo with either 76 or 02 or even RML 75 or white for the squiggles is closer.
It would still put the photo off but not nearly as much as the first hunch.

 Here's another thought.
The Paint shop actually painted over the Plane with (Dunkelbraun RML 61) that color is almost exactly like the brown in the Photos. It was used starting in 1938 as well. That along with the RML maritime camouflage of 72 and 73 or the 70 and using either 02 76 withe or 75 as the squiggles... gets us really close to the photo. Only catch is that if its sea camo, brown doesn't works so well.

 Here's the kicker......The images are taken at Katwijk, Holland, 1941, before the unit got involved in operation Barbarossa. So this may have been a repaint for that terrain.

Anybodies guess as to what is going on there.

New angel Bad scan Ill post good scans when I get the new book.

(http://img.villagephotos.com/p/2004-8/809754/Bf109F-2.jpg)

(http://img.villagephotos.com/p/2004-8/809754/PLFA2.jpg)

RaVe
Title: Re: 109F4 I/JG52/ByNrRaVeN
Post by: Fencer51 on March 04, 2010, 11:02:42 AM
You guys are really over analyzing this.  It is commendable, but what it boils down to is that this is a Luftwaffe plane, and it will end up a burning pile of twisted aluminum on the ground.  :lol

Cool skin NR_Raven.
Title: Re: 109F4 I/JG52/ByNrRaVeN
Post by: lyric1 on March 04, 2010, 01:00:02 PM
You guys are really over analyzing this.  It is commendable, but what it boils down to is that this is a Luftwaffe plane, and it will end up a burning pile of twisted aluminum on the ground.  :lol

Cool skin NR_Raven.
It will be in good company with the Beaufighters huh?  :lol
Title: Re: 109F4 I/JG52/ByNrRaVeN
Post by: Nr_RaVeN on March 04, 2010, 09:06:44 PM
You guys are really over analyzing this.  It is commendable, but what it boils down to is that this is a Luftwaffe plane, and it will end up a burning pile of twisted aluminum on the ground.  :lol

Cool skin NR_Raven.
Only when I fly it...  :joystick:
Title: Re: 109F4 I/JG52/ByNrRaVeN
Post by: Krusty on March 05, 2010, 05:13:45 PM
That may be so Fencer, but just ask Guppy: It's all about looking GOOD while you fall from the sky in pieces!  :x