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The WW1 modelers' reference library => Markings and Camouflage => Topic started by: AndrewS on July 11, 2013, 05:46:32 PM

Title: Roland DVIa jasta 23 fuselage band - My theory
Post by: AndrewS on July 11, 2013, 05:46:32 PM
Hi ! my next model wil be the Wingnut Roland DVIa, the one with half wooden fuselgae
and half painted in black (?).

I saw different discussion, also on this forum (or maybe another forum), about the color  the
fuselage band.

There's a picture in which the front band looks different from the rear black fuselage.
I came up with a personal theory and I would like to know what do you think.

let's start from the wings  ::) :

On page 16 of the instructions there's a picture where is clear that the older
Eisernes kreuz was painted over with grey (?) paint to convert to the baknekruz
(by the way is this correct? I've never any scale model of this plane with these detail,
some other references of this practice would be useful).

(http://i1240.photobucket.com/albums/gg486/Andrew_Stef/Roland/Wingkreuz_zps3475a33f.jpg) (http://s1240.photobucket.com/user/Andrew_Stef/media/Roland/Wingkreuz_zps3475a33f.jpg.html)

And now my fuselage theory:

there's a picture where the fuselage band looks lighter than the rear fuselage color.
Somebody says that maybe there were 2 different colours, but what if they were only
2 different shades of black? One newer and more black and one more worn and more grey?

In the image below what could be happened. At the start there was only the front
band, painted black, with an Eisernes kreuz on the wooden fuselage, then,
when the  cross where converted to the Balken kruz, also the rear of the fuselage was painted black,
but at this point the front band had already worn and so the different shades visible in the picture...
Could this be or there's some weak point in my theory ?   :D

(http://i1240.photobucket.com/albums/gg486/Andrew_Stef/Roland/Evolution_zpsba899b76.jpg) (http://s1240.photobucket.com/user/Andrew_Stef/media/Roland/Evolution_zpsba899b76.jpg.html)

Thanks!

Andrew
Title: Re: Roland DVIa jasta 23 fuselage band - My theory
Post by: AndrewS on July 11, 2013, 07:11:49 PM
Interesting! I think there may be one problem though - if the lighter colour is a result of fading it would probably be more faded on top, but still black underneath. To me it looks even and in good condition. Whatever colour it is, it isn't solid black. I'd be interested to read the other discussion though - where is it?

Maybe was faded or maybe was  a different black paint, maybe more flat so in pictures looks lighter ... The nice thing about WWI colors is that there are a lot possibilities  ;D

About the other discussion: maybe the  discussion was on another forum  ::) , I'll make a search, there was a debate about the "red or not red" band.

Andrew
Title: Re: Roland DVIa jasta 23 fuselage band - My theory
Post by: uncletony on July 11, 2013, 07:40:19 PM
Hmm, I'm not buying the dark grey overpaint on the wings-- I think they would have used something close to one of the lozenge colors.
Title: Re: Roland DVIa jasta 23 fuselage band - My theory
Post by: AndrewS on July 11, 2013, 07:50:15 PM
Hmm, I'm not buying the dark grey overpaint on the wings-- I think they would have used something close to one of the lozenge colors.

Yes, I think that would be more correct and less visible... When I'll have some time I'll try with different colors in photoshop (dark green could the right choice). From the pictures is quite clear that there is an overpaint that covers the lozenges and the rib tapes


P.s
here's one of the discussion that I've read
http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/66033-wingnut-wings-roland-dvia/   In post 18 there's an answer from Rowan Broadbent of Pheon models and in 31 speaks about flat and semi-gloss black.
Title: Re: Roland DVIa jasta 23 fuselage band - My theory
Post by: Russell on July 11, 2013, 11:28:06 PM
Likewise light blue can look very dark on ortho film, so it cannot be discounted.

Only a small point - orthochromatic (ortho) film (as used in the late 1800's & early 1900's) causes blue objects to look lighter not darker.

Typically, landscape photos taken using such film show a very washed out (almost white) 'blue sky'. It's sensitive to blue light far more than red; the film could even be developed using a red safe light.

Panchromatic film is sensitive to all visible colours of the spectrum (although not always perfectly equally) & is the film that's now regarded as ‘normal’ black & white film. This film has to be developed in the dark.

At the time of the Great War both types of film were available but ‘pan’ film (or glass plates) was a more recent development & more expensive. Ortho film was easier to both load in film/plate holders & process (if required) in basic conditions so it held an attraction for landscape photographers to remote areas & no doubt wartime photographers as well.

WW1 photos could have been taken using either film so it’s important to know which type was used when assessing colours. As there’s unlikely to be any record of the type of film a rough guide is looking at the appearance of colours known (or very likely) to be blue or red. For example would be that anything bright red would look unusually dark if ortho film had been used but blues would be very pale or even white. Even that has to be taken with caution as for example a white sky (typical of ortho film recording a blue sky) could just have been light grey sky that’s been a bit over exposed on ‘pan’ film.

To add to the confusion, different makes of early ‘pan’ films varied slightly in their sensitivity to the same colours thus altering the shade of ‘grey’ an identical colour would be recorded as.

This colour thing is not easy  :-\