Thanks a lot Gene, Monty and Frank!
Frank, yes it is true that postshading can be a modelling „style“, like you said. It is better explained with the phenomenon that many (including me) try to break up monotone surfaces on models, because they easily look toy like. Darkening and lightening up is one of the methodes often used here.
But that’s not the point here. Thanks for posting the photo of a today’s Bf-109, but this has nothing to do with what they looked like in WW2.
We are talking about warbirds. They were dirty most of their wartime career. Not a little, just messy. There was no time to keep them clean. The evidence is there, have a look at these low quality but
contemporary photos. Even there panel lines are visible on these pictures and heavy staining all around:
Never ever try to disprove weathering on old airplanes with the help of today’s photos of museum machines. These are the babies of their owners. They are perfectly maintained, kept clean and polished. And they are flown using modern oils and lubricants, not wartime replacements. It’s like owning a vintage car. It is kept dry and clean all the time, it gets all the love and care of the owner. When it is driven on sunny Sundays these vintage cars look as neat as a pin. That has simply nothing to do with the reality in which these cars were kept in their days. And here we are talking about warmachines that were handled in the most extreme circumstances imaginable!
It’s interesting as I know many people who criticize modellers for their “overdone“ weathering. For instance I was talking almost an hour with an elder modeller who tried to explain me that carrier aircraft of WW2 would have had never ever any signs of dirt, discoloration or paint chipping. The yellow primer would never ever have been visible in reality after the plane had left the factory. These would be legends, invented by modellers who want to go wild with weathering; in reality the crews always kept their airplanes as clean as a baby bottom. Then I showed him the famous color pictures of heavily messed up SBD Dauntlesses after Midway from LIFE magazine which were unknown to him til that day. And everything was there on these pictures. He wasn’t so convinced of his point any more then.
Let’s use contemporary sources when it comes to assess circumstances in the past, not anachronistic material.
Best regards
Andreas
