Black 13 – That was to be expected! | Part Two

Camouflage and markings

Black 13 wore field-applied white winter camouflage over a supposedly factory standard day fighter camouflage of RLM 74 graugrün (gray-green), RLM 75 grauviolett (gray-violet) and RLM 76 lichtblau (light blue). The spinner was RLM 04 gelb (yellow) with a freehand painted dark gray spiral. The Ostfront (eastern front) recognition markings consisted of RLM 04 colored fuselage band, rudder, lower wingtips and lower engine cowling.

The Balkenkreuze (national insignias) were masked off rather crudely prior to the application of the white camouflage, partially cutting off the black outline of the Balkenkreuze on the fuselage leaving only very thin outlines visible. The Hakenkreuz (swastika) on both sides of the vertical fin seems to be a solid black with no outlines. Both fuel filling ports display a yellow triangle stencil; all other stencils seem to have been erased by the field-applied white camouflage or mud stains. The tactical code »black 13« was applied over the white camouflage and interestingly used two different fonts on each side.

06 The first step in the weathering process was to apply an oil wash of
ivory black and raw umber heavily diluted with white spirit. I applied a
heavier wash on the engine cowling and the wing roots where more grime
would have accumulated and a successively lighter wash towards the
wingtips and rear fuselage.

07 The dark exhaust stains are a prominent feature of the finish
of black 13. I airbrushed a first layer of exhaust stains using acrylic
flat black and red brown (both Tamiya) heavily diluted with
denatured alcohol. Using my Iwata Custom Micron SB airbrush at
a low air pressure setting, I successively built up the exhaust stains in
vertical streaks followed by a light mottling of stains towards the
rear end where the exhaust stains vanished on the fuselage sides.
A few strokes in the direction of the air flow completed the
first layer of exhaust stains.

08 I partially removed the stains by polishing the wing root area
with a brush and tooth paste. I then added some scratches and
scuff markings to the stains with a scalpel and a wooden
toothpick. This was followed by a second layer of exhaust stains,
scratches and scuff markings.

09 All 3 canopy parts were masked on both the inner and
outer sides using Kabuki tape. The framework was then
airbrushed RLM 66 schwarzgrau (black grey) and finally
white on the outer sides. Weathering was done using
an oil wash of raw umber.

10 The hatch of the storage compartment as well as the
detail on the rear deck was scratch built using copper wire,
styrene sheet and profiles. The piano hinge was recreated
by twisting two thin copper wires to form a spiral.

11 The inside of the hatch was finish in RLM 02,
the outside in RLM 66 black grey.
Chipping was done with a fine brush
and aluminum paint followed by
an oil wash of raw umber and ivory black.

12 The Eduard fabric seat belts were built according 

to the instructions. A light wash finished their construction.