As you know, the Italeri He-111 kit comes with decals for three options… one of them is an He-111H-6 from 1./KG 26, North Sea 1941-1942… I know that the standart splinter camoulage is RLM 65/RLM 70/RLM 71… but, in the instructions sheet says that I must attach the torpedoes to this version… so, if is a maritime airplane, maybe I must paint it RLM 65/RLM 72/RLM 73… or not?.. I’ve painted the cockpit interior RLM 66 and the fuselage interior RLM 02… my He-111 is ready to be painted and I want to solve this doubt… thanks in advance
I’ve always been under the impression that the Germans considered maritime aircraft to be those which were strictly used in a maritime environment (ie, seaplanes, flying boats etc). The He 111 (and its stablemates, the Ju 88, Ju 188, FW 200 and He l77) were origionally designed and operated in a land locked environment and were adapted for maritime operations. It appears that most of them kept their 65/70/71 paint schemes with the only indications of maritime use was the “mirror wave” scheme (RLM 65 striping on the uppers) or the “cloud” scheme (RLM 02 splotches on the uppers). Besides, a unit operating He 111s on maritime ops might find themselves operating on the Eastern Front as a medium bomber unit a week later. Very few maritime aircraft (He 115, Do 24, Bv 138 etc) would find that very likely.
Italeri tends to be better than most mfgrs about researching the color schemes they put in their instructions. I would probably go with the 65/70/71 scheme
I see… all right, I’ll paint it 65/70/71…