I was in my LHS today, and impulse-purchased a Dragon 1/72 Heinkel He.162 Volkjager. Problem is, all the colour call-outs are Gunze Sanyo, not easy to find here in the UK. It is suggested that the undersurfaces should be light blue. Presumably, this would have been RLM76, rather than RLM65? The suggested colours for the uppersurfaces on one version (3/JG1 in March/ April 1945) are dark green (RLM83?) overall. The other version, a ‘what if’ from 2/JG1, has the same dark green on the uppersurfaces, but the starboard wing and horizontal stabilizer uppersurfaces are a blend of 60% olive drab, 20% red, and 20% black. Is this supposed to be RLM81 Braunviolett?
chris,
The undersurfaces of the He 162 was RLM 76, in at least one color photo the landing gear doors were painted RLM 65.
Most uppersurfaces were painted a dark green which could have been RLM 83 or RLM 71.
The color mix you described would mix a color like 81, I would suggest mixing a small amount of blackgreen with French Chestnut to get the RLM 81 color.
HTH
My references show the early He-162’s were mostly painted RLM 71 over RLM 76. Later “official” Luftwaffe color scheme was Rlm 82 on the engine nacelle, top right wing and top right stabilizer. Remainder of upper surfaces in RLM 81. Undersides in RLM 76. There were several variations, so best to check references on the specific bird you’re representing, if possible.
Thanks for that, guys. Surprised to find RLM 71 being used in fighter camo schemes that late in the war. Might it have just been that the Heinkel factory had spare stocks of RLM71 left over from making bombers, but had difficulty getting reliable supplies of RLM82/83?
Late in the war, just about anything was possible due to shortages of materials. Some of the late German Armor was painted in very non-standard schemes, for example.
The He 162 was produced at a time when the Germans had to make do with what was at hand, RLM 71 or RLM 70 could have been, and probably was used on some of the He 162 jets.
On page 14 of the Monogram Close-Up #11 there is a good photo of a He 162 ‘‘white 23’’ in color taken in 1945, the color looks like RLM 71 over RLM 76, while the landing gear doors are clearly RLM 65.
But with these older photos it is hard to be 100% certain about colors, a lot depends on how well reproduced the photo was, I have books where well known color pictures of the same aircraft are in different books with slightly different looking appearences as far as the colors are concerned.
Thanks again, guys. I’m clearly going to have to start interpreting 1940s colour photographs again, never easy at the best of times. At least the He.162 wasn’t around long enough for weathering to be a significant factor!
It seems that they did away with painting the usual Luftwaffe splinter camo on the 162 by simpley painting major components different colors - also probably a result of the decentralized production system, different parts being made in different caves :). Hence one whole wing was a different color that the other, one side of the tailplane, etc. I imagine this speeded up production by a few hours per plane.