Hello Tom, @tcinla
Thanks for the invitation. I'm sure I can bring a project or two in the future. First I have to finish up some previous commitments.
Here's a little food for thought. We often hear about the logic behind how the Germans "supposedly" used captured Soviet stocks of paint. This doesn't sound exactly correct, as Stalin had a scorched earth policy. Now I'm not saying the Luftwaffe didn't do this, it just doesn't seem as likely as some would have us believe.
My rational for this: A political Commissar would have likely put a bullet into the back of someone's head that was responsible for the falling of useful supplies into the hands of the enemy, (if this had been allowed to happen). I don't have any proof on this, but I have read stories about how Stalin was going to have his Generals executed if they allowed the Germans to take the oil rich Russian city of Baku. Add in how the "purges" took place several months / years earlier and you can see my logic behind this statement.
The one thing we never see mentioned about field applied colors is this, and it breaks down into simple rules of art, the color wheel, and the three basic colors of red, yellow and blue. Toss in the neutral colors of black and white, and all of a sudden we have a TON of various colors that could be available. I was going to make a statement about this on your recent Malta Spitfire posting, but unfortunately family affairs have recently limited my available modeling time.
I like your thoughts on the use of RLM 02 as a camouflage color. In fact, it was reportedly used on the earliest FW-190A's, and the Bf-109E series during this same era.
Once an aircraft is placed into service, all bets are off as to what colors could have been used.
For example: Say I have a Spitfire on the USS Wasp headed for the Mediterranean. It's supposed to be painted "down and dirty" as you mentioned while enroute. I have available to me some USN "Blue Gray", some black and some white, which were used for markings. It literally could be any possible color that one could make using these three colors I mentioned.
Also, when we mix red, blue and yellow together we end up with brown... Toss in some white and you have a shade of tan. Add some black and it's a darker brown. This is one of (if not THE) favorite color picture of mine from WW2 on German aircraft. If it looks familiar it's also used on our Luftwaffe group build. Going from memory, I believe this is a bird from JG-52. Notice the brown colors.
If we mix blue and yellow, we end up with green...Toss in a little black and it's dark green, white and it's a lighter green. You see what I'm trying to explain.
The Luftwaffe definitely had some of these colors available to them. Anything is possible in my mind, once the plane was in service.
This is a very interesting subject, and I am learning new things every day.
