Paul this is fascinating stuff ! And it's exactly what I was looking for. I watched the video several times, and paused it when the FW's were in the back ground. I was able to make some very interesting finds... some of which "may" have been missed by others.
Check these out. These are stills I took using my phone as I was watching the video. I also zoomed into a few to show more details that may have otherwise been missed.
To begin with, The very first thing that caught my eye was the white stripe on TOP of the wing ! This plane in the fore ground, (of which part of the wing and a portion of the cross is visible) also appears to be a light shade of a monotone color, possibly even RLM 79 Sandgelb.
Every other FW in this video appears to be RLM 74 /75 76 just as I anticipated. This agrees with what I have read.
This picture shows Werk Number "2287" which has what look like several victory bars on the rudder. This plane also looks like it has the earlier style of camouflage consisting of RLM /74/75/76, with the 76 extending up the sides as most early Wurgers did.
This next picture is from the same plane if I am not mistaken. It looks like a "Black 1" or possibly "Red 1". If I was a betting man I would go with "Black One"...
The fuselage side number has been re painted over a previously painted number, (or the Focke Wulf factory applied radio codes). You can see the difference in colors behind the numeral "1"
This is an interesting shot showing the undersides of the nose on a FW... The yellow is visible on the access panel beneath the engine. It doesn't appear to cover the oil cooler ring.
Here's a VERY interesting photo. I learned something here that many have missed. It looks like the rudders that were previously painted yellow, were later repainted in a darker color. At this time, the fuselage crosses were also toned down. This is a feature I found on numerous planes throughout the video. This is another view of a plane wearing the number "1". The white fuselage band covers part of the Gruppe marking which is a horizontal bar.
In this picture, the FW looks as if most of the sides have been toned down as well. Another possibility is the sides of the fuselage are just dirty with exhaust staining. German aircraft were known for the black exhaust soot. I have read this was caused by Germans frequently using coal to make a synthetic fuel and Oil. Coal is black, so is the exhaust residue. Plus they may not have used Tetra Ethyl Lead as the US did. The Lead caused a light Tan almost a Grayish shade of exhaust soot in US planes.
This close up shows the same plane from a different section of the film. Here again you can see just how dark the sides of the fuselage is, and how the rudder has been painted over...
Here is a color photo that was a part of various color films in the video. Here again you can see the toned down markings and rudder, along with the white fuselage stripe and front portion of the spinner. This plane also has a white stripe UNDER the wing...and no yellow on the outer wing tips as often depicted. This plane clearly has yellow visible under the engine.
Here's where I zoomed in on the same photo. We are lucky as this was part of the color film.
Here is another color photo. Here you can clearly see how the yellow rudder has been over painted. This may be the same A3 variant as shown in the picture above.
As has the rudder on this plane in the back ground of this picture. If you look really close, you will see a white stripe under the wing, and no yellow outer wing tip.
and this one may have the same markings too... It's sitting under what looks like a camouflage net. But it really hard to tell for sure on this plane.
In this picture, you can see how much the fuselage cross has been over painted... when it was toned down. If they spent this much time and effort to tone the brighter markings down, I would venture to say that at this point in time, they painted over the white stripes on TOP of the wings as well. It would not make sense if they did not and left the stripes visible on the top side of the wings. That is a guess on my part, and possibly confirmed with picture number #12.
If you look very close, this also may be a picture of "Black One". There is a partial number visible in the center left of this photo. It is showing just above the shoulder of the person in the foreground. The color of the number is clearly black... And it looks like the top of a number "One" to me...
Here's a better photo of "Black 1". Notice on this plane, there is no upper wing stripe in white. The rudder has been darkened in the other pictures, as have the side fuselage crosses. This looks like the same plane found in picture #5... Here again you can see just how much of the fuselage cross has been covered. There is a mark on top of the wing that "could" be where the upper wing white stripe was pained over. It could also be where the RLM 74 and 75 meet... a demarcation line between colors if you will. Another possibility could be this is where the upper wing insignia is located.
Now to really get down to details, I would venture to say this is "Black One". My reasons are this... Look at the pattern demonstrated in the fuselage mottling. Just to the right of the number "Black One" you will see a small spot that is darker than the rest of the surrounding mottles. It is present in the other photo of Black one as well. To me this pretty much confirms this is actually "Black One" shown in the photo above...
You can see this same little dark spot in this photo of "Black One" shown below:
This photo is another view from the other side. Here again, the rudder is dark and not yellow... This plane also has white stripes UNDER the wing.
This last picture shows a Wurger with a "Spiral" on the spinner. It also has no under wing stripes. This plane closer resembles a FW as you would expect to find in Europe.
To sum it up, most of the planes look like they are painted in RLM 74 /75 /76. Most of them have a single under wing white stripe. The all appear to have yellow under the engine cowl. Most (if not all) appear to have the rudder painted in a darker color other than yellow. Many have the fuselage crosses toned down too. All appear to have white on the front tip of the spinner, except for the last, which had a spiral. This last plane also lacks the white under wing stripe, and has a vertical Gruppe bar..
I was able to take a bunch more photos, but these show some of my findings.
Thank you VERY much for providing this link. It's exactly what the doctor ordered !
Now I have a much better understanding of how I am going to paint Rudorffer's plane.
As usual, comments are encouraged.
