The aircrafts of the German LW (Luftwaffe) in WWII were
painted with standardized paints. The colors of this paints were registered
as RLM# (Reichs Luftfahrt Ministerium). In certain regulations it was exactly
determined where and when the colors had to be used. The sources as a whole
are very poor and if you would like to know more about it, you'll find some
books in the appendix. We have to make a distinction between paint and color
in the following paragraphs.
Basically I can say that there is a difference between pre-war splinter
camouflage until approx. 1938, splinter camouflage in RLM65/RLM70/RLM71
(just to read 65/70/71), attack camouflage of fighters until approx. 1944
and camouflage in the last months of battle. The aircrafts from production
line were delivered in standardized camouflage which was modified at front
line.
Examples for the camouflages of the German Luftwaffe in
WW2:
pre-war camouflage until approx.
1938
61/62/63
early biplane-fighters, prototypes
02
splinter camouflage (green) - aircrafts
except sea-aircrafts until the
end of 1939, later bomber, transport aircrafts and battle-aircrafts
65/70/71
3- color desert camouflage (Africa)
78/79/80
nightfighter (firstly black only)
75/76
fighters approx. since the end of 1939
65/70/71
fighters France and Battle of Britain
often 02/65/71
attack camouflage of fighters from 1941
until 1944
74/75/76
fighters 1944-45
76(84)/81/82(83)
The paints were produced by different paint producers
in German occupied territory; the situation became more complicated because
of the war. This was the reason why only low-grade and domestically produced
pigments were used for the paint's production. Therefore it was already
impossible to produce a precise coloring in the early stage of war. Paints
reacted to differently weather and high altitude radiation. On the basis
of black and white photography it is nearly impossible to identify for variant
shade of grey with certainty (i.e. RLM 65 and RLM 65 A). The color photos
from WWII are not proper for an exact identification of colors, since after
that long time a variation of colors occurred. And with today's color films
you will get different results by constant ratio of light. To make this
confusion perfect, you have to know that in the last months of war every
bottle of old and new color was used and had been mixed in a ratio of 1:1
according to the regulation (Luftwaffendienstvorschrift) of the Luftwaffe.
So, for the today's modeller, there is no standard RLM#. For the later colors
like RLM81 / 82 / 83 no RLM color sample card existed. Original aircraft
parts and sections had to be used for the present creation of color sample
cards. Personally I put the main focus on a harmonic camouflage. Many RLM#
colors have a cross reference to a RAL# (Reichs Ausschuss Lieferbedingungen).
Today there are some paint producers, like GUNZE, TESTORS, JPS-COLOR, LIFE-COLOR
etc., which have the RLM colors in their production program. These colors
are labelled with these RLM#. This colors have to be used with attention,
but they are much closer to the original color than products from HUMBROL,
REVELL, etc. The colors from GUNZE were produced on the basis of the RAL
color sample card. For the aircraft as well as the vehicle colors. At least
this applies to number 4## and higher. In my opinion these colors are quite
accurate and they are good to handle with an airbrush.
Comment
for the RLM-color chart:
This chart includes all known RLM colors, the color RLM 84 is not given,
since this color did not officially exist. Also not given is RLM 99 where
99 means shade irrelevant. RLM 00 means clear vanish. All RLM colors were
labelled with numbers and not with the term. For some colors the versions
are known. If this is the case I mentioned the number of known versions
in the column versions. Most of the versions were brighter or darker, with
just one exception. RLM 81 ; the mentioned FS number is a brown violet shade,
like it can be seen on color profiles. It is supposed that this shade was
brought directly to the units and was applied there. The other variants
of RLM 81 are more olive green. I abstained from color specification in
FS numbers, for the variants of RLM 81, since they vary too much according
to the sources.
how
did i get the color references?
In the web you find a lot of color charts with cross references to different
paint producers. After comparison I found out a lot of differences in the
charts. Since most of the producers are not from DIN and RAL compound areas,
I decided to work on the FS (Federal Standard) basis. I got the up-to-date
color sample cards FS-595b from the States. Many color charts, like the
IPMS Color Cross Reference Guide or the FS # on the Aeromaster decal sheets
are compound on the FS-595a. Therefore I also wrote these numbers down.
(source: IPMS Color Cross Reference Guide). Unfortunately a lot of numbers
of colors were deleted when there was the change from FS-595a to FS-595b.
These colors are mentioned extra and shown in blue.
I took as a reliable source the book The Official Monogram Painting Guide
for German Aircraft 1935-1945 to specify the colors based on FS-595b. In
this book are some color sample cards (painted, but not printed), which
are made on specification from the German RAL-institute. I compared these
color sample cards with such one from FS-595b and wrote down the corresponding
color number. Non of these FS numbers corresponds to 100%; all FS numbers
with greater differences are specially mentioned in yellow.
I took the RAL numbers from the book Surface Protection Treatment (Oberflächenschutzverfahren),
which is quite a reliable source. Whenever an RAL # did exist the colors
from Revell and Humbrol are referenced by this RAL #. These colors are specially
mentioned in green. I used the Humbrol Authentic colors as a conversion
chart (the colors didn't fit well) and by means of the Humbrol # I made
a reference to the corresponding Revell #. These colors are specially mentioned
in red. Unmarked Humbrol and Revell colors are referenced by FS 595b.
RLM
Var
Term
Application
FS-595b
FS-595a
RAL
Revell
Humbrol
00
water pale
protection coat
01
silver
undercarriage, coats
17178
17178
9006
02
RLM-grey
interior, camo, prototypes
34159
36165
7003
45
86
03
silver gray
early paint
37200
37200
04
yellow
markings
33538
33538
1004
154
05
ivory
early paint for gliders
33798
37880
11
grey
21
white
markings
27780
37886
9001
5
34
22
black
markings
37038
37038
9004
8
33
23
red
markings
31302
31140
3020
24
dark blue
markings
25053
25053
5000
56
25
25
pale green
markings
34090
34115
6000
365
26
brown
early camouflage, markings
30109
30109
8004
27
yellow
markings
33637
33637
1021
28
claret red
markings
30045
30032
41
grey
interior
36463
36440
7011
71
92
42
grey
7012
77
79
61
dark brown
camouflage until approx. 1938
30040
30040
8019
81
10
62
green
camouflage until approx. 1938
34159
34128
6003
361
117
63
2
pale blue
camouflage until approx. 1938
36375
36373
7033
115
64
light blue
s.c. export color
35526
35414
65
2
pale blue
undersurfaces
35352
35352
55
65
66
black grey
interior (cockpit visible)
37030
36081
7021
9
184
67
dark olive
s.c. export color
34098
34098
68
pale olive
s.c. export color
34258
34097
69
lichtloh
s.c. export color
33695
33596
70
black green
camouflage, props
34052
34050
91
71
dark green
camouflage
34083
34079
363
30
72
green
camouflage - seaplanes
37030
36081
73
green
camouflage - seaplanes
36081
34092
32
74
2
dark grey
camouflage
36081
34086
32
75
medium grey
camouflage
26132
36122
140
76
3
light blue
camouflage, undersurfaces
36473
36473
175
77
pale gray
markings
26420
36493
7035
371
196
78
pale grey
undersurfaces - Africa
35352
35352
122
79
sand yellow
camouflage - Africa
30219
30215
382
118
79
sand brown
camouflage - Africa
33448
33434
382
118
80
olive green
camouflage - Africa
34079
34052
116
81
3
brown violet
camouflage since approx. 1944
30045
34087
66
155
82
2
pale green
camouflage since approx. 1944
34096
34128
6003
361
117
83
2
dark green
camouflage since approx. 1944
34138
34138
6006
108
91
dural grey
Lufthansa - color
= just approx. right
shade
= does not exist anymore
in FS595b
= referenced by RAL#
= referenced by Humbrol
Authentic Colors
Comments to RLM-79: At the beginning of the war in
Africa RLM-79 sand - brown was used. This paint was propably
in Italian stocks. Later on RLM-79 sand - yellow was used,
which was paler then sand - brown.
Comment to FS-Number System: 1xxxx = gloss, 2xxxx
= semi - gloss, 3xxxx = flat. Corresponding to the flat
color shade 34138, no semi - gloss or gloss shade must exist.
the
scale-effect:
An additional aspect of determination of shades of colors is the scale effect.
Every model reflects because of its smaller size less light then the original.
Therefore a model painted with original colors looks always too dark. To
avoid this effect we can mix to every color a higher amount of white. At
this topic there are many different opinions.
The amount of white can be calculated by the following formula:
Scale : 2 = % of white has to be added to the basic color
Example:1:72 > 72:2 = 36% white to be added, 1:32 > 32:2 = 16% white
to be added
This formula can not be adopted for big (1:24) and small scales (from 1:144
and higher). At the scale of 1:24 you can abstain from adding white. The
formulas mentioned above are often published. They are also published in
The Official Monogram Painting Guide to German Aircraft. This book
is in Europe and in the States quite common.
British modellers prefer it a little bit darker, formulas from Ian Huntley:
"The scale effect is one of the most controversy
fields in modelling. The discussion is very old and until now there is no
satisfactory solution for every modeller. We use 3 different color sample
cards, all of them should have original color samples from RLM-colors. The
different shades of this cards differ quite often very much. If we think
to use for every scale a different card so it would be too much to find
the right shade. The thing would not match. We should consider that the
colors of the camouflage should fit and the painting should look good. There
is nothing more to add."
(this is the comment of Revell-Germany about Luftwaffe
colors)
This schedule is not considered as the absolute truth of colors. I am always
open for hints and information concerning this matter.
you will need
Acrobat Reader 4.x for reading or printing
Sources/ References:
The Official Monogram Painting Guide to German Aircraft 1935
- 1945
by Kenneth A. Merrick, Thomas H. Hitchcock
Monogram Aviation Publications, 1980, ISBN 0-914144-29-4
IPMS Color Cross-Reference Guide, by David H. Klaus
Meteor Productions Inc., 1992
Oberflächenschutzverfahren und Anstrichstoffe der dt. Luftfahrtindustrie
und Luftwaffe 1935 - 1945
by Michael Ullmann
Bernard & Graefe Verlag, 2000, ISBN 3-7637-6201-9
Federal Standard 595b Colors - Fan Deck (July 1994), 7690-01-162-2210
Color conversion table HUMBROL, Version 11-06-2000, by Steffen
Jachnow
Download (only german): www.plastmodell.de
many thanks to Steffen Jachnow for his assistance
Markierungen und Tarnanstriche der Luftwaffe im 2. Weltkrieg
(1-4), by Karl Ries jr.
Verlag Dieter Hoffmann, 1967 - 1972
Camouflage & Markings Luftwaffe 1935 - 1945 (1-5)
by Jaroslaw Wrobel, Janusz Chielewski, Robert Michulec
AJ-Press, 1994 - 1998 - english edition: Books International
different charts from paint producers
meet the author
Wolfram Bradac
I was born in 1962 in Vienna.
During my school time I started modelling with Airfix kits.
After a long break I restarted modelling. My main subjects are
aircrafts of the German Luftwaffe of WWII, also military vehicles.
Like most other modellers I stored a lot of kits, more than
I built. Beside modelling photographing is my main subject.
This page: ARCHIVE: RLM - Colors of the German
Luftwaffe
was last modified on: Dec 18, 2000
The URL of the page is: http://www.rlm.at/cont/archiv01_e.htm
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Comment
for the RLM-color chart:
www.plastmodell.de
