Halberstadt Lozenge Colours

[Olham 164]

In the web I found a picture of a Halberstadt wing, that's getting restored in Brussels.

The photograph was very professional; when I tried to adjust the colours by Photoshop presets

"auto tone" or "auto contrast", nothing changed. So the lighting was set very well.

 

Now I zoomed in very close into the picture, searching for colour spots, where the colour was most

intensive, but not darkened by shadows.

I sampled several of such pixels which showed a well saturised colour, and realised, that the

CMYK values where similar in their relationship of percentage.

That way, I came to the 5 colours you see in the upper right corner. I believe, that these where

the colours more or less, seen from close-on of course- in their most intensity.

As they where printed on fabric, you would have a lot of reflecting light from the laquer-sealed

cloth's surface. So the colours would appear brighter, the further you walked away from the wing.

Also, in field service, the fabric might have worn of, the colours bleached out a bit after time.

 

In the 80s I had made tests with German RLM colours. I had them painted on 3 cardboard pieces.

The first I had near me, the second I put 10 meters away, the third was 20 meters away.

The colour RLM 65 is a greyish-blue sky blue. From 20 meters away, it appeared like a very bright

sky blue only; the intensity was less than 50 % of the close colour.

 

So, if anyone wants to use these colours for skinning, I would suggest to brighten them up by at

least 15 - 20 %, if not more.

 

 

Edited September 27, 2009 by Olham

[carrick58 23]

Olham: Kudos, Fanstic amount of work and information thanks.

[itifonhom 6]

Hey Olham, thanks mate, nice info! I'm thinking of starting modelling again, just because of OFF!! Already made almost all the Revell 1/72 kits but now I'm after really BIG! So your info will eventually come handy.

 

itifonhom

[Olham 164]

If you want models in a scale of 1:32, not too expensive, but very good, I recommend

the RODEN Models.

Here's their website: www.rodenplant.com

 

And two models:

 

 

[itifonhom 6]

Hey Olham, thanks for the link. At first I was thinking about the 1/48 Albatros D.III of Eduard but while searching the net about Albatri I saw something that took my breath! And it's not 1/32 but 1/16!!! You can see it at http://www.scaleautoworks.com/albatross.htm although I found the same model in Germany under another company name. With 57cmx45cm isn't really easy to have at home but I think I'm going to make a vitrine on the wall.

 

BTW, are those models yours Sir? Are you a modeler?

 

itifonhom

[Olham 164]

No, they are from the RODEN Website, built by modellers who sent o photo to RODEN.

You can see many pictures there, but not from all the craft.

 

I used to build some models, but not recently. The Albatros could really get me doing it again.

[Mr. Lucky 0]

I always wondered how they got that pattern. It wasn't hand painted surely.

[Olham 164]

No, it was printed. Maybe they had big rolls with the pattern on them; one for each colour.

[OvS 8]

No, it was printed. Maybe they had big rolls with the pattern on them; one for each colour.

 

 

Ohlam,

 

Nice work! The hardest part of skinning is really getting the colors right... or at least close. The only color I would check again is the light green. It should be a shade lighter. Other than that, the rest look spot on. Unfortunately this fabric looks to be the underside, or the inside, whereas the dye penetrates through it. Maybe email them and see if the other side can be photographed?

 

As for the Roden models... I have a bunch of 1/72 and they rock. The decals suck, but the model, detail and quality are very good.

 

OvS

[Olham 164]

Do you know a good decal company for WW1 models?

[Baldric 42]

I'm wondering how colourfast the printed fabric is/was, and how much doping may (or may not) affect what was eventually the final result? If dope did have an affect, it could suggest minor variations in light/dark/bright/dull and easily allow for playing about with the colour pallet. Nicely found, Olham. I think I may have to get back into skinning...now to find the time :D

[carrick58 23]

I am just getting back into modeling. I used to do 1/72 but I seriously think that 1/48 scale would be best due to costs and ease of access from the web. Check modelmadness.com for kit reviews and the ads listed or amazon.com to price and buy. Hope to learn enough to built R/C in scale.