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The WW1 modelers' reference library => Markings and Camouflage => Topic started by: Rick_H on November 09, 2022, 11:53:09 AM

Title: Albatros wing colors
Post by: Rick_H on November 09, 2022, 11:53:09 AM
It's been years since I was really active at building WWI aircraft.  When I checked out, the standard wisdom was that Albatros wings were either dark-ish green and brown or dark-ish green and mauve, although sometimes it was referred to as lilac.

Now I am trying to take this area of my hobby seriously again, and I see a good number of Albatri, built by respected modelers, with two shades of green, with the port wing usually showing the kind of muddy light green.

What changed?  What is the approved reference material that shows these three-tone wings?

Thanks,
Rick in Seattle
Title: Re: Albatros wing colors
Post by: torbiorn on November 09, 2022, 05:22:35 PM
I don’t think I’ve see. any two-tone dark and light green on the scouts. The only examples of that have been two-seaters from 1917. I’m not authority though - I only read up on the subject of markings for the specific model I’m building.


I relied on this for the D.II:
https://www.scribd.com/doc/3806146/The-Camouflage-and-Markings-of-the-Albatros-D-II-Aircraft?secret_password=167cwln24efbek8mfw5b
Title: Re: Albatros wing colors
Post by: macsporran on November 09, 2022, 06:53:27 PM
I don't think anything has changed, Rick, just our understanding has improved markedly.

Back in the first couple of decades of styrene plastic kits a lot of the accepted wisdom on colouring was based on hazy recollections of ageing combatants and assumptions that the markings some fanciful artist put on a colour plate was holy script. I remember faithfully painting the original Eduard 1/48 Fokker D.VI in the two-tone green/mauve scheme illustrated in the Blandford Fighters book, only to discover later that D.VIs were pretty well always covered in lozenge fabric.
Thanks to the comprehensive research by Ray Rimmell, GvW, DSA et al, we now have a much better grasp of things.

Of course, we are often relying on blurry old orthochromatic photos as references - where any exist at all - so the modeller still has a lot of leeway in deciding what he thinks his subject would look like. I'm a great believer in personal interpretation - like my plain wooden winged D.VIII or blue D.II - and challenge any critics to prove me wrong.

Paint your Voss cowling green - or yellow - whichever you feel inclined!
Sandy
Title: Re: Albatros wing colors
Post by: Big Sky Modeler on December 02, 2022, 05:26:42 AM
I thought some of the early fighters like Fokker D series, and Albatros D.I and D.II had three color camouflage on top consisting of a light green, dark green, and brown.  Is that correct?
Title: Re: Albatros wing colors
Post by: rcboaterbill on January 07, 2023, 12:48:08 AM
When I was building my collection of 1/72 Albatros D.V in 2021,  I dove into into the whole “Mauve or Lilac?” thing  and came away more confused than ever.

Here is a link to a thread I started over on Hyperscale-  I got some good input and links to references:

https://www.tapatalk.com/groups/hyperscale/ww1-german-mauve-purple-on-albatros-d-v-t524965.html

Hope this helps…..
Title: Re: Albatros wing colors
Post by: RAGIII on January 08, 2023, 12:29:22 PM
Just catching up here so hope this isn't too late:
1. Early Albatros DI types probably just Dark Green and Reddish Brown'
2. Albatros DII and  Most Albatros DIII , Three colors, Dark Green, Light "Brunswick" green, and reddish brown.
3. OAW Albatros DIII: Mauve/ Lilac and Dark green.
4. According to DSA there was a period when the reddish brown was painted over using the Dark Green or Light green in a two tone pattern.
5. Lozenge on DV and DVa types supplemented by Mauve and Green during their production.

I think that on the Aerodrome Forum one can still find a good article by DSA.
RAGIII
Title: Re: Albatros wing colors
Post by: rcboaterbill on January 09, 2023, 11:33:50 AM
RAGIII,

My thread I linked to in post #4 has a link to (and an excerpt from) a DSA post on the Aerodrome - is that the one you were thinking of? (or is there another to hunt down?)

-Bill
Title: Re: Albatros wing colors
Post by: Rick_H on January 14, 2023, 10:12:09 AM
Everything I see in that Aerodrome thread seems to be a dissection of the mauve/lilac shades.  That's interesting stuff too, but I was asking about the period described by RAGIII as #2, where there are two shades of green being seen.

That seems to be a recent revelation, as there was no mention of it in my earlier reference booklets - Windsock datafile #1 Alb D III and the datafile special on Albatros fighters.  They both indicate a single shade of green, whatever it may be.
Thanks again,
Rick in Seattle