Two things first off- I'm a recent dabbler in WWI subjects (WWII being my era of choice), and my post count proves it. However, every now and then I get a hankering to build a biplane, and it's struck again. I'm attempting a scratchbuild of a 1/72 SSW R.VIII. This of course brings up the subject of markings.
Which leads my to my second issue- I've seen discussions on lozenge camo get way over my head really quickly. For a newbie's sake, try to keep this simple, if you could?
Finally, for all questions it would be best to refer to these photos:
Anyhoo, on to my questions. I DO own the book "The German Giants", so let's get this out of the way. Due to this, I know that the overall color is night bomber lozenge fabric. This was used on the tail section and most likely the tops of the wings. This isn't a problem. The problems are as follows:
- The metal sections painted to "match" the fabric on the forward fuselage. The colors are obviously different, and so is the pattern. Are they the same colors, only lighter? I'm assuming so, but I'm not sure.
- Underside colors. Night bombers to the best of my knowledge were overall nigh-bomber lozenge. However, "The German Giants" states the undersides of the SSW R.VIII were "a light color": wonderfully vaigue. Is the book correct, or in error? If this is correct, what would this color be?
- In the first photo, the undersides show some unique shiny areas. Are these areas clear Cellon, ala bombardier panels, or shiny metal? Or something completely different?
Ideally would I would like to get from this are some visual examples of three areas- night bomber lozenge fabric, night bomber lozenge paint, and this mythical, "light color" used (or not) for wing undersides.
Thank you everyone beforehand for your help and formulations.