Austro-Hungarian hand-painted sworl

fcm · 13 April 2003, 12:35 PM

Would someone have some indication of which it would be the more adapted tone for those hand-painted sworls in some Austro-Hungarian fighters? *I already saw somewhere that it would be mustard yellow, but which would be the correct tone (FS pattern)? *???

Mark_Miller · 13 April 2003, 12:57 PM

fcm
Not sure about paint colors.
But here is a link to some photos of a model done by Karen Rychlewski that shows the sworl pattern pretty well
HTH
Mark

http://www.wwi-models.org/Images/Rychlewsk...lish/index.html

edmondthieffry · 13 April 2003, 01:18 PM

FWIW, a nearest match is Methuen 3B6 or FS 13618.

Regards

Philippe

StephenLawson · 13 April 2003, 01:52 PM

Sworls were not hand painted. They were a printed fabric from a company that manufactured oriental rugs before the war. Many people *believe that the pattern had 4 colours instead of 3. *

StephenLawson · 13 April 2003, 02:01 PM

Heres the same *piece from the rear.

fcm · 13 April 2003, 07:25 PM

Quote:

Sworls were not hand painted...

Thank you edmondthieffry...

Hello Stephen, so, if sworls were never hand-painted, what can you tell me about the *Albatros D.III (oef) 153.52 flown by

Godwin Brumowski in Flik 41J, entirely red with mustard yellow "sworls"? *In Windsock Datafile 19 there is another case: *Albatros D.III(oef) 53.56 from Flik 63J - mustard yellow "sworls" applied over dark green... *In several sources I found indications about this tipe of hand-painted "sworls", made by using a sponge... *It was called "Brumowski" pattern. *I found endeed the indication of the size of those "sworls": 1.5 / 2 inches...
The 1/72 Albatros D.III(Oef) from Hit-Kit offers some versions using this pattern, and also offers a decal sheet for this type of "sworls"... I am trying to stop this exclusiveness...

edmondthieffry · 13 April 2003, 08:56 PM

HitKit have not the exclusivity.

If I remember correctly, Toko offer a poor version in its KD strutter.

Regards

Philippe

PeterL · 13 April 2003, 09:36 PM

Most of the sworls you will see are printed fabric. There are exceptions as you have noted. There are also examples of Alb DIII where an attempt is made to reproduce the printed pattern on some wooden parts of the airframe which are not fabric covered, notably the fin and fuselage spine. These vary in quality according to the ability of the painter and range from a close match to the cruder "sponging" already described. As most of these are field applications any "standard" is most unlikely IMO, and the sand or mustard yellow often quoted is as good an option as any assuming the availability of yellow pigment.

<SPECULATION ALERT> *A pale green or a pale chestnut brown seem possible as they are easily mixed from the colours most likely to hand , this time assuming the non-availability of yellow , and both are present in the printed fabric. Just this modeller's speculation and not supported by evidence of any kind </S>

StephenLawson · 14 April 2003, 05:34 AM

The term sworl could be applied to the handpainted attempts but the lack of uniformity or consistant pattern would in my humble opinion not qualify for sworls. Thats why they called it the Brumowski pattern. Someone obviously tried to hand paint the sworls and they might have been attempting to recreate the printed fabric pattern free style. But would be like using splotches of paint to imitate the hexegons of the Lozenge 4-5 color. Just my opinion.

edmondthieffry · 14 April 2003, 09:49 AM

Most of the sworls you will see are printed fabric.

I can't agree with this assertion. *The printed camouflage fabric was not used prior to the spring of 1918. *It was used only on Albatros D.III *of the later series 153 and series 253 and only in small batches averaging five to ten aircrafts.

There are exceptions as you have noted.

Many exceptions of well know aircrafts : Alb. D.III 53.27 flown by Fransz Gräser (Flik 42J) in october 1917, Alb. D.III 53.60 flown by Kurt Gruber (Flik 41J) in summer 1917, Alb. D.III 153.06 flown by

Godwin Brumowski (Flik 41J in august 1917, Alb. D.III 153.46 flown by Eugen Bönsch (Flik 51J in february 1918 and many others.

There are also examples of Alb DIII where an attempt is made to reproduce the printed pattern on some wooden parts of the airframe which are not fabric covered, notably the fin and fuselage spine. These vary in quality according to the ability of the painter and range from a close match to the cruder "sponging" already described. As most of these are field applications any "standard" is most unlikely IMO, and the sand or mustard yellow often quoted is as good an option as any assuming the availability of yellow pigment.

These references was given by Gotfried Banfield himself during an interview with Peter M. Grosz or Dr. Martin O' Connor (I can't find the reference now but I'm sure of this).

My main references on this subject are :

Austro-Hungarian Army Aircraft of WWI - Peter M. Grosz, George Haddow & Pieter Schiemer - Flying Machine Press, 1993. *ISBN 0-9637110-0-8

Air Aces of the Austro-Hungarian Empire 1914-1918 - Dr Martin O' Connor - Flying Machine Press, 1986. *ISBN0-9637110-1-6

and the parts 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 & 12 of "Markings and camouflage of Austro-Hungarian aircraft in WWI published by Dr Martin O' Connor in C&C international - Vol 17, 18 & 19.

Regards

Philippe