Quote:
Originally Posted by Don Boose
Pericles - I was interested in your comment that Wellesley's did not appear in desert camouflage. You certainly know more about WWII aircraft markings than I do, but I have found one source that support's Karol's artistic decision.
Michael JF Bowyer, in his Bombing Colours: RAF bombers, their markings and operations 1937-1973, says that, while the 47 and 223 Squadron Wellesleys at Khartoum in the summer of 1939 were wearing "the usual Dark Green-Dark Earth-Night finish," he also says, "Shortly after the outbreak of the war an interesting change took place at Khartoum when the Dark Green areas in the camouflage were over-painted in a light tan shade of dope locally devised. Squadron letters were positioned as before, and the Type B roundels were retained, as on KU-N and AO-W."[p. 101]
KU was the squadron code for Wellesley-equipped No. 47 Squadron and AO was the code for Wellesley-equipped No. 223 Squadron.
Bowyer may be wrong, and I certainly do not want to start a dispute, but I love to learn and discuss camouflage and markings, and so wanted to say that (1) Bowyer provides some support for Karol's colour scheme and (2) whether or not the colour scheme ever appeared on a Wellesley in "real life," doesn't Karol's Wellesley look beautiful in those desert colors regardless?
Best wishes my friends,
Don
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Hi Don!
On the contrary! I think you even corroborated what I said. In reality, the colors of the desert when produced by British factories were more vivid than those observed in the P-40 and other planes of North American origin, so in fact it is a mistake that plastic modellers make in relation to the "sand" which is not alive. The fact is that no Wellesley was factory painted with a desert scheme, the reasons are simple: production was completed before the war and unlike its illustrious relative the Wellington.
These discussions about colors are always dangerous, because there is no such thing as absolutism or accuracy. I think that in model making paper things get worse due to the nature of the media used and in the case of domestic prints, scale, print quality and type of hardware.
Best regards my friend!
