Normolly, I just pop the aircraft type into Google and browse through pictures of original aircraft. this time however I am having a bit of an issue with that. I bought revel’s pro modeler Messerschmitt Me-410B kit, a plane I’ve very much been wanting to build. I cannot however find a good (colored) picture of paint schemes. I’ve picked up a few from Google, but there isn’t a very wide variety. what do you guys use to find and decide on a scheme?
By the way this is my first thread here, so hello everyone from the Texas newbie !
Hmm, I didn’t seem to have any trouble finding color pics. Try using keywords like “walkaround” or “museum”. Or look on wikipedia.
It may be time for a trip to the library or online book store or hobby shop to find a good reference book. If not, you might have to paint it per the instructions. [:)]
Down in the Tools, Techniques and Reference Materials section of the FSM forums there is a forum just for Reference Materials. Try asking there. Not a real busy place, but they do have some interesting threads there, and folks willing to respond to this kind of query.
I actually did that I searched my library section and Barnes and Nobles History Section for books on the luftwaffe and come up with absolutely zip the colors that the Box says to use are hard to find where I’m at as there is only one good model shop in the city and it’s about half an hour away from me I ended up going with the Good Ol grey and dark grey almost black coloring that the luftwaffe like to use a lot
A -410 dayfighter or recon/bomber was usually in the midwar scheme of 74/75/76 grays. Most hobby paint companies make those colors or close approximates in both enamels and acrylics. As far as unit and individual markings go, you can do image searches for the various units that flew the 410 to see if you can find a marking scheme you like. I don’t think that the 410 sported any flamboyant markings like some 110s did.
Anything I’ve seen has been pretty straight-forward, probably the “most standard” camo they used on anything. IIRC there are unit markings, small ones at that, using a black & yellow wasp, and another with a Dutch style wooden shoe.
I’m no expert, but research is one thing I am good at. I generally decide/figure out what time period the plane I’m building is from. Once you do that, it’s super easy to find the rlm codes and such. After you have all of that, you can look up different camouflage variations to your heart’s content. This process has more steps than just googling the plane with the word “camo” beside it, but it’s actually a lot faster unless you are researching a really famous plane or popular kind of plane. I’m sure there is a better way, but this is the system that works best for me.
