Elabourately Painted IL-2

[barneybolac]

Hi Rodney,
the wings are a big question mark. Bot observing the photos from the sides, I see that they are painted gloss, while the supposed grey on the fuselage is very matt. Besides I see a tiny dark line on the undersurface of the photo from the left-rear that suggests that all the uppersurface is painted with a darker gloss color that extends a bit under the leading edge.
 The white-bordered rectangles are surely of another bright color.
The photo from the right-rear seems to show a light walking band on the wingroot.
I wonder if the wing uppersurface could be painted glossy dark blue with red wingroot and rectangles (or vice versa).
Regards
Massimo

I think we are on the same page here on the wings.

My thoughts are that the leading edge of the wings are tied together with the wing root & the wheel nacelles with some pattern that can't be seen in any of these photos so far. Then the rest of the wing is a single colour maybe the same as the fuselage.


For example with the photo below granted not a very good one.
It is clearly the aircraft in question as can be seen with the dark wing root with the white line border.



It looks like the top of the wing has a very washed out appearance & very light in colour.

Where the front edge in this photo is very dark & at least to me an entirely different colour & some sort of stylized wing top.



I took the liberty of using the decal sheet that was on this thread as an example of a possible pattern. The red colour I chose just to
match the profile. I hope I am not breaking any rules with doing this.





I can't draw with a mouse so I just dotted the areas instead of filling them in.

That's my thoughts on it.
With out a top view of this aircraft it will always be a best guess.

[Massimo Tessitori]

Hi,
I see it this way:

As said, I think that the wing uppersurface looks light because it's gloss, while the fuselage is matt.
Being the most visible color, red could be less used: thin blue stripes on the wing leading edge would have passed unobserves on a red background.
Regards
Massimo

[barneybolac]

That pattern would be a very good estimation based with what is in hand. Do you think the white pin stripes run around the nacelles & maybe up towards the nose of the underside of the engine cowling? I can see the white line in some places but not on others.

[KL]

I can't see dark blue wings....





It can't be a reflection or glare that covers entire wing, on both photos.  IMHO, wing upper surface are light blue (same as undersides).  Maybe dark blue trimmings on leading edges?
Horizontal stabilizers are different colour than wings, probably painted in same style as tailfin.

KL
  

[Massimo Tessitori]

Hi,
I have to agree that the wings aren't similar to the tail.
I don't think they are painted with the same light blue than undersurfaces, it should be more matt, but it could be another glossy light blue as A-10, utilized for oxygen systems.

I'm still thinking about the nose. I've drawn it as red over blue sides, but I think it should be of the same color. Viewed from the front, it resembles the upper part of a star, and this would suggest the use of red for the nose. But, why not to paint the lower braces under the nose?
Regards
Massimo

[KL]

Thanks to new better rez photos, IMHO a few conclusions can be made:

1. Wing root fairing under the white trim line is darker than fuselage side above white trim line
2. Canopy railing is darker than canopy frame and side armor
3. Wing root fairing is probably same color as canopy frame and side armor

By looking at Massimo's last drawing, I think now that blue wing top doesn't work... it doesn't look right. Wing top has to be extremely reflective: glossy very light blue, bright yellow, white or silver.  From those four only silver makes sense.  There are other parts that could be silver:  propeller blades, spinner, maybe even the trim line...
Silver would also explain that long metal panel that can be faintly seen on one of the photos.

I am pretty sure in following colours graded from lightest to darkest:
- silver (for wing upper surface)
- light blue (for undersides)
- medium blue-gray for fuselage sides and tail conus
- medium blue for wing root fairings and cockpit canopy

Only questionable color is the darkest color (engine cowling, wing leading edges, necelles, canopy railings and tail).  It's either dark blue or dark red.

Two options based on the analysis above





Sorry, I can't do better   I hope Misos will help with coloring...

Regards,
KL

[Massimo Tessitori]

Hi,
I'm not convinced of the use of blue A-10 on the canopy, because its frames appear matt on the image, and A-10 is glossy.
I don't agree on the use of silver too: the surface should appear much less uniform, in particular, a darker part should be visible where the wing reflects the fuselage side, and along the upper contour of the wing, because the reflectivity of a metallic surface is low for a nearly tangential direction; to be credible as silver, the wing should appear as contoured with a pencil.
Regards
Massimo

[KL]

Hi,
so what color do you see behind Stepanyan's right arm?



Soviet silver is actually best described as "metallic white" and that is, IMHO, what we see on the photo above...
Regards,
KL

[barneybolac]

Glad you guys are hashing this out. What ever is the finished product it's going to be good.

I asked this before about the white pin striping. In the picture I drew some arrows at what I think looks like a white line around a nacelle & a possible white line under the leading edge of the wing. The only problem it is not visible on the other nacelle. Plus a possible intersection where the line is possibly hidden by the propeller blade & it might run the length of the engine cowling.

Thoughts?



 

[Massimo Tessitori]

Hi Konstantin,

so what color do you see behind Stepanyan's right arm?

Not silver. The shade should change by much with the inclination. Besides the wing should reflect the fuselage and couldn't be lighter than it.
For what I know, the only pigment in Soviet aluminium pain is aluminium powder, not white.
Strange about the lack of continuation of the dark part of the wing fillet close to the right arm.

Hi Rodney,
I don't think that there is a white line there. It could be an artifact of jpg compression. In my idea, the white line ceases on the undersurface. What is shown by your arrows looks a piece of light blue undersurface to my eyes.
Regards
Massimo

[KL]

Not silver. The shade should change by much with the inclination. Besides the wing should reflect the fuselage and couldn't be lighter than it.
For what I know, the only pigment in Soviet aluminium pain is aluminium powder, not white.

Shades and reflections on objects painted in silver depend on lighting (where is the Sun, and how intense is the sunlight).  On b/w photos, silver painted objects sometimes look white or gray.

Wing upper surface and propeller blades are the brightest objects on these photos, most likely painted in same color.  What color do you propose for propeller blades?  Lemon yellow, light blue, white or silver?



 

Strange about the lack of continuation of the dark part of the wing fillet close to the right arm.

Darker wing root fairing does continue to the left, take a closer look...

Regards,
KL

[Massimo Tessitori]

Hi,
I think that the front of the blades was white. Their look is very uniform, besides they have curved lines likely painted by brush, and the most part of silver enamels (ex.Humbrol) are a pain to be overpainted with brush because they mix with the new paint.
Perhaps gloss white could be an option for the wings too? Blue, white and red should have an emotional value for Russians, they were the colors used on the planes of Aeroflot after the war.
White would justify the lighter band close to the fuselage: it was worn because of steps, and it was retouched (but why to mask a retouch of he same color?)
Regards
Massimo

[barneybolac]

Hi,
I think that the front of the blades was white. Their look is very uniform, besides they have curved lines likely painted by brush, and the most part of silver enamels (ex.Humbrol) are a pain to be overpainted with brush because they mix with the new paint.
Perhaps gloss white could be an option for the wings too? Blue, white and red should have an emotional value for Russians, they were the colors used on the planes of Aeroflot after the war.
White would justify the lighter band close to the fuselage: it was worn because of steps, and it was retouched (but why to mask a retouch of he same color?)
Regards
Massimo

Would Nelson be flying those colours as an Armenian?

Then again he would not have much of a say in that I suppose during that time.

Thanks also on the answer with the pin stripes nice to know why things appear the way that they do at times on the internet.

[KL]

I think that the front of the blades was white. Their look is very uniform, besides they have curved lines likely painted by brush, and the most part of silver enamels (ex.Humbrol) are a pain to be overpainted with brush because they mix with the new paint.
Perhaps gloss white could be an option for the wings too?

Hi Massimo,
I agree with white for propeller blades, wing upper surfaces and main LG tires...

Blue, white and red should have an emotional value for Russians...

Tsarist blue-red-white flag was forgotten in 1917.  New flag of the socialist Russian republic was plain red.  Blue red and white combination didn't have any "emotional" value to Russians till 1990es...

Flag of the socialist Armenia was plain red too...

Massimo, any thoughts about the colour of wing roots and cockpit canopy?

regards,
KL

[Massimo Tessitori]

Hi Konstantin,
I suppose that the canopy frames could be painted grey: AMT-11, 12 or a mix of them. They are the only matt colours that seem nice on a supposed grey/red/blue/white livery, and minimize the visibility of frames. Olive green (original) look possible, but less nice.
The stripe on the fillet... hard to say, I think red, it looks lighter than the nose but this could be due to the different inclination. The main question is if the nose is red, dark red or blue.
Seems that the front of the landing gear legs was painted white. The front only. I'm not sure about the wheel disk, could be green or maybe repainted black.
Regards
Massimo