Intro:Whilst the situation around the colouring of the airplanes flying in the WW2 till this day is thanks to the FS code and German RLM standarts considerably mapped and offering the exact tutorials how to mix shades for the colour industry, there are still plenty of questions around the exact shading of the planes from The Great War. This comes from the limited informations of the colouring settings and the inability to compare them to the photographs from the original period (since they were only in black-white edition).
Another problem during the determination of the exact shades, that might be possible to deduce according to the preserved airplanes of at least their parts, is their age, which causes the colouring to fade and by that creates colour degradation for the needs of the modellers. Hardly anybody from the colour producers/producing industry is able or willing to pay for the exact chemical analysis of the colour composition from the preserved samples, offering the ability to get the authentic shade.
The new colour producer focusing entirely on the planes flying in the period of The Great War chose a different way of facing this problem. Behind these colours stands the brain and knowledge of a person educated in painting/art, the academic painter Sergej Mertens.
He used his knowledge and created the colour shades from the exact pigments used at that time and place the original producers chose to work at. This not only guarantees the authenticity but also “real” reactions of the colours on the model (transparency of certain shades etc.).
The colours are stored in dark-brown bottles with a retro-styled label consisting of the original name of the colour and its numeric marking. Each bottle contains 20ml of colour and a glass bead, that presents an excellent solution for mixing the colour which other more commercial producers should consider providing in their products.
Colour Test
I have received six colours in total for testing – kraplak (Rose Madder ), Prussian blue, Chromoxide, Kadmium-chromoxide, white and black.
Then I have tested the colours on different surfaces – Gunze-Mr. Surfacer, white, the colour of wood, silver and the colour of canvas. It was necessary to do so, because in the case of the actual planes, the colours were also applied differently.
Kraplak (Rose Madder )
The extract from the roots of Rubia tinctorium. The history of using this extract is dated back to 1500 BC, cloths coloured in this shade have been found in the tomb of the pharaon Tutanchamon as well as in the ruins of Pompeii. Kraplak was also being used in the 17th. century for colouring the English soldiers’ uniforms (that is why they are called redcoats till this day).
The German chemists Carl Graebe and Carl Lieberman have managed to produce alizarin synthetically from antracen in 1868 and this technology was then patented by the BASF firm, that has made even more for the needs of the German army.
The colour was also used as the clean/clear pigment in varnish (Manfred von Richthofen’s or Ernst Udet’s crimson planes, the red insignia of JASTA`s), or eventually could be also mixed with white colour for example or with white and blue to create a shade of crimson.
For the test the colour has been used in its basic transparent shade.
Prussian Blue
This is a chemical compound ferrous ferrocyanide.. It creates dark blue pigment called Prussian blue, Berlin blue or Paris/royal blue and it is also one of the first colours that was ever produced industrially.
Prussian blue was either used as a simple pigment in varnish, but mostly thanks to its transparency (thanks to which it changed to black on darker surfaces) it was mixed with white and other shades.
I have used this colour as a transparent at first and then mixed it with the zinc white, which resulted into a strongly opaque colour. In the first case, the propotions were 10% of the white colour mixed with the blue and vice versa.
Chromoxid green:
Known as Chromium(III) oxide. Green pigment that was being used as the basic top coat of the German’s green camouflage colour.
As the pigment only, it was used for it’s dark green colour, but after mixing it with the zinc white the final result was a light green shade. These pigments were then used among the others for the top camouflage colouring for the Albatros planes.
Kadmium-chromoxid:
Mixing yellow cadmium and chomoxide results in bright green shade, used for example as a distinctive colour on Jasta 5 planes. I have added a stripe of red to the picture, which was being used for piping the green spaces/areas.
Zinc White
Also known as zinc oxide, the oldest zinc ore known to the humanity. Being produced industrially from 1834. Lightfast, bright white colour with one little disadvantage – its drying is rather slow.
It was being used as a base colour for national insignia, or as a component of mixed shades. On the tested sample, the colour to me looked like a much brighter one and definitely better-covering then Gunze MrC 1.
Furnace Black
Coloured pigment also known as acetylen soot or furnace black. It is possible to produce this pigment by incomplete combustion of oil/petrol products and used to improve the properties of rubber.
For the art pigments it is still used in the form of soots obtained thanks to the combustion of oil lamps.
The mechanical properties of the colours
. The colours perfectly stick to its surface, after the drying process (which might be a bit longer when using the white colour) they become very resistant, so tearing them down with a masking tape should not happen so easily.
Decal Setter/Softer surface colors do not interfere the surface and the prints stict to it without a problem. Also their mechanical resistance seems to be adequate (it is simillar to the Gunze C surface).
During the sanding process with the abrasive paper the colours do not tear from their surface, but are being sharpened equally.
The dilution and saturation of colours
Even though the producer has their own thinners in their store (slow-drying and standart), the colours are also compatible with the Gunze C. thinners.
My colleague Ondřej Mokrý tried the final dilution of colours and their subsequent usability. The most adequate solution for the work with the airbrushes showed up to be the 1:2 dilution in favour of the thinner. The colour’s drying process is much quicker on the surface of the model and with the number of layers it is possible to control the final colour saturation.
The end
New colours bring new challenges of authentic realisation of the planes’ surfaces with them to the modellers interested in the planes from The Great War. The colours behave simillarly as their originals (used on the actual planes), which on one side makes the whole surface of the model more authentic, but on the other side makes the mixing and preparation for the modeller much more difficult (the distinction of wooden, metal and canvas base under the top layer of paint).
Considering the constantly expanding offer of shades, including camouflages there is a big chance new surprising results will emerge such as the final look of the models. Unfortunately not everyone is ready for such a change.
You may expect further information and the new shades in the Drolling Bulldog store.