Yak-9D White "22" - 3rd Squadron 6th Air GvIAP Black Sea Fleet

[66misos]

Hi,
the blue gradient on the ground to the horizon added as well as a bit blue-grey hue to shadows of the clouds on the ground. Plus overall change of the color to give background a bit darker blue-grey look, more similar to the Google Earth photo.

Regards,
   66misos

EDIT: 27-Aug-2014

[learstang]

You both should do a book of colourised VVS photographs!

Regards,

Jason

[Massimo Tessitori]

Hi Misos, very good. Now you can work on the trasparent parts, one should see somewhat of the back color, somewhat of the color that reflects and, if it is not perfectly trasparent, somewhat of the color of the glazing itself.
Hi Jason,
it's not a bad idea.
Regards
Massimo

[Spitfire]

This is fantastic stuff, I don't understand how you are doing it but it's great.

Cheers

Dennis

[66misos]

Hi,
thank you all for comments

Massimo, I reworked cockpit of "22" and a bit improved blending two far planes with background, see picture above (Reply #15).
Hope it could be considered as finished.

Jason, such book could be quite interesting, I already had that idea. However, I am not sure about copyright of the source bw photos. Here everything is just hobby, free of charge, but the book is for business.

Regards,
   66misos

[learstang]

66misos, copyrights are certainly an issue with a book, but some of these photographs may be public domain if they're older than 70 years. At least that's my reading of Russian copyright law - no doubt there are others on this site (Konstantin?) who could shed more light on that.

Regards,

Jason

[66misos]

Hi,
there was interesting and long discussion about Copyrights on images at ARC forum http://www.arcforums.com/forums/air/index.php?showtopic=132676
Regards,
   66misos

[xan]

Fantastic work!
congratulations Misos!
Xan

[learstang]

Yes; very nice work indeed!

Regards,

Jason

[66misos]

Thanks all for comments  
(EDIT 16-Sep-2014)


KL wrote at http://sovietwarplanes.com/board/index.php?topic=1864.msg15328#msg15328

Hi Misos,
very good!  The only thing that I don't understand is the meaning of the phrase "modified NKAP scheme" - what is modified there?  It looks standard to me...  what would be in your opinion, more standard scheme?  consider that NKAP instruction included poorly printed, post stamp size, simplified sketch...

It's about the basic question:  were there standards or not?  Pilawskii and many others say that there were no standards (NKAP supposedly issued "recommendations" only, planes were painted with whatever was available, etc.).  I am one of those who believe that there were standards, orders, that planes were painted with aviation paints only etc.  So, I see that word "modified" as indication that the plane wasn't painted according to the NKAP directive.

BTW, plural of aircraft is aircraft - not aircrafts (no "s" at the end)...  

KL

This is NKAP 1943 Template:


and its application:


But Grib's no. 22 looks different in following areas:
- left wing looks similar to template, but with sharp edges, while rest of the camo has soft edges,
- right wing looks different, although it could be matter of reflections, shadows and weathered areas,
- AMT-11 area on the left fuselage between cockpit and engine does not continue to the left wing like on template, but it ends on the left wing root and whole wing root is  AMT-12, like the 3rd Yak from the bottom in the right row on the photo above and also on this photo:


Probably "modified NKAP" is not right word, may be "not fully in line with NKAP template".
Plus thanks for "-s", I will correct it.

Best regards,
     66misos

[66misos]

Hi,
I posted this picture also at airforce.ru http://vif2ne.ru/nvi/forum/0/0.htm with interesting comments from their member "St". Here I summarized them.
- In this serie Yak-9DD had "warm" grey colors (a bit of brown need to be added),
- Which greay, AMT-11 and/or AMT-12? This codes were used only in instructions. On the stock they had ...what they had. Show me color chart and I will show, what Mr. Grib, HSS showed to me,

I sent him link to VVS paint chart at mig3 pages and additional general color chart (see bellow) with following result:
- "Выкладки" is someone's "research" but it is not rule.

- for overall camouflage use 8765D/8775D (AMT-11?):


- for blotches use ironM.2134-30 (AMT-12?):


- Bottom: juicy dark blue - blue 550B-5. (AMT-7):


On b/w photos such colors look bright.

Are these "warm" grey colors applicable only for Grib's Yak-9D "22"? You need to find serial numbers. 60 aircraft from the Yak-9DD serie had such coloring.
Regards,
   66misos

[Massimo Tessitori]

Hi Misos, interesting indeed, thank you for sharing.
The replacement seems to be limited to AMT-11, replaced with a brownish shade.
Regards
Massimo

[KL]

Hi Misos,
forum member "St" is A. Stankov, author of "Поршневые истребители ?Як? периода 1941-1945 гг. в полках ВВС" book:



This book and Stankov's post at VIF are somewhat controversial.  Book contains many previously unpublished photos from private collections, unique information collected from veterans and interesting information from memoirs.  But, Stankov's book and his postings at VIF also reveal that he gives priority to this kind of information over the information that can be found in official documents.  Or, that he doesn't care what is in archives and what other researchers say...  Result of this is that Stankov isn't respected by other VIF members (for a good reason!).

His book and postings are also full of biased and unfunded conclusions (like "Soviet pilots and planes were the best in the world", "VVS pilots were better trained that LW pilots" etc.).  Many profiles in his books can be considered as wrong or misinterpreted - there are dozens of planes in fictional "Green-Dark Green" camouflage scheme, dozens of planes in one tone colouring that were supposedly operative during GPW (one tone colouring was typical for prewar and postwar periods only!) etc.  IMHO, Pilawskii heavily relied on Stankov's book!

Regardless, Stankov is an expert and should be praised for information he had collected from the veterans.  One should know where are the limits of this type of information.

The replacement seems to be limited to AMT-11, replaced with a brownish shade.

IMHO (or according to my monitor), all 3 colours are within the standards...

HTH,
KL

[KL]

Hi Misos,

But Grib's no. 22 looks different in following areas:
- left wing looks similar to template, but with sharp edges, while rest of the camo has soft edges,
- right wing looks different, although it could be matter of reflections, shadows and weathered areas,
- AMT-11 area on the left fuselage between cockpit and engine does not continue to the left wing like on template, but it ends on the left wing root and whole wing root is  AMT-12
Probably "modified NKAP" is not right word, may be "not fully in line with NKAP template".

When I compare NKAP template and the photo - I see similarities and I conclude that the plane has been camouflaged in compliance with NKAP scheme.

When you compare NKAP template and the photo - you see differences.  You are looking for deviations from NKAP scheme...


-edges of camouflage fields (sharp or soft) were not defined in 1943 NKAP scheme.  On sketches they look sharp, but in factories planes were sprayed.  Also, consider that the wings may have been painted before the final assembly.
-left wing root is poorly visible on the photo - AMT-11 area may actually look like the one on NKAP template (depends how you see the photo)

Anyway, I don't see any need for comments on NKAP scheme (modified, not fully in line etc.)

Cheers,
KL 

[66misos]

Hi KL,
I agree with you that camo scheme on "22" is very similar to NKAP 1934 template. Even if I agree regarding wings, there is significant difference - AMT-11 area on the left fuselage between cockpit and engine does not continue to the left wing like on template, but it ends on the left wing root and whole wing root is  AMT-12. This part is completely different from NKAP template.

I will be without computer next cca 2 weeks, only smartphone. I will update picture ("warm" grey) then.

Btw, is that "St" from AIF former "Alex"?

Regards,
    66misos