Photostudy Reference
Messerschmitt Me 262 B &
Focke-Wulf Ta 152

by Kirk Olsen

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This one is quite a departure from my usual stuff. It is about one of the basics of modeling, determining correct colors and markings.

I have found that sometimes the usual sources have not always been that helpful with this problem. A clear example of this is a publication providing "official" paint chips taken from museum sources that seem to have it wrong. A chip claiming to be RLM76 shown alongside an excellent color photo of some GI posing with a wrecked JU88 night fighter still in its factory fresh RLM 74/75/76 paint job and clearly not a match to this "official" RLM76 color.

I look at the actual color photographs rather than color chips or some RAL approximation. Many of these old photos have degraded and have lost their original colors so I look for color "constants" if possible to judge how poor they have become. The color "constants" are things like sky, trees, grass, skin tone etc. If these known colors look good in a photo then the rest can be trusted to be accurate. I call this Photostudy.

In my search for good color photos of German aircraft I came across these often seen images of a captured Me 262, and Ta 152. In spite of being painted over with allied markings I saw that a lot of the original colors were still there.

Using my friend "Photoshop", I used segments of the remaining paint seen on the aircraft to restore the fuselage and tails to their former condition. After adding some fictional "decals" I ended up with two pretty cool images that approximate their original appearance before capture. The 262 in its 75/76/22. The 152 in 82/75/76. Before and after pics shows how I modified the originals. In summary, I have found that the computer can be an invaluable tool for the model builder. My favorite use of course is for displaying my models using the photo overlay technique.

Model, Images and Text Copyright © 2012 by Kirk Olsen
Page Created 10 September, 2012
Last Updated 11 September, 2012

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