1/72 bomber lozenge decal recommendations?

Tom L. · 16 February 2006, 01:59 PM

I've had Roden's Gotha G.V stashed away for a couple years now in a partially built condition while I've been on a 1/700 scale pre-dreadnought battleship building/collecting spree; but now, with the imminent availability of their Zeppelin-Staaken R.VI, the itch to complete the thing is becoming imppossible to ignore.

I'm not overly pleased with the lozenge decals provided in the kit, however. They're very difficult to work with, and the colors seem too bright.

Does anyone have recommendations on replacements?

LedZepplane · 16 February 2006, 04:18 PM

Howdy, Tom:
I sagest that you toss aside any aftermarket lozenge decals and airbrush your own. It's not as difficult as it sounds. Years ago I applied four color lozenge to 1/72 Fokker D.VII and five color Lozenge to a Albatros D.V, and both came out quite well. Why not give it a try...and Applying lozenge to a Zeppelin-Staaken R.VI will be a modeling cake-walk! All the best.

Danny

StephenLawson · 16 February 2006, 05:14 PM

I used six sheets of ‘Americal/Gryphon’ sheet No.3 - Nachtbombengeschwader Camouflage 1917-1918 (II) to entirely cover the Staaken and mixed my own touch up paints to match. For my build of the Contrail Zep Staaken I was working on, the splinter camouflage profile I chose, this is the best way to go. Its alright if a polygon colour is a little out of tune with the rest. Remember that these patterns were painted on, not dye printed in the fabric on rollers at textile mills.

Tom L. · 17 February 2006, 05:44 AM

Thanks for the replys, guys:

LedZepp, that's an interesting sounding technique that I'm sure works well, but those air doohickey-mabobs scare me...ain't got one.
I do it the old fashioned way, and sand out those brush marks.

Mr. Lawson, found a site with ordering info for Americal/Gryphon, it looks like they would be the ones with the goods.

Thanks again.

jamo · 17 February 2006, 11:36 AM

Hi Tom

According to the Datafile most Gotha GVs had lozenge pattern painted by hand all over the aircraft, then the GVa had pre-printed lozenge fabric on the wings and hand-painted lozenge on the fuselage.

I bought the Americal sheets of night lozenge fabric and the hand-painted lozenge finish for use on the Roden Gotha GVa. Looking at the hand-painted lozenge sheet it seems to me from looking at photos of that the size of the lozenges is much too big for Gothas. It would be right for Staakens but not so good for Gothas. For your GV I would not recommend using the Americal hand painted lozenge decals.

Elsewhere here at The 'Drome I remember seeing someone (Shane Weier?) using the decals that came with the kit then airbrushing a thin coat of dark blue to tone down the bright Roden colours. It seemed to work very well. Do let us know how you get on with your build!

Happy modelling