Albatros D series

[gamary]

Niiiice!

[elephant]

Most interesting Dave!

I found you two more pics of the plane...
The line between the upper and lower camo at the nose section is showing a little better, also the tyres seem to have been twin colored.

[BLOWHARD]

Thanks Elephant, I have those photos...and the wheels are 4 color. You'll notice the film plays tricks here. Compare the the two right side photos -


Squashed Ink? You'd think so, and where I made them up I made have gotten them wrong but where you can make them out they aren't squashed.
Look at the front 3/4 view and how those colors under the nose go almost to the center line.

If, and that's a BIG if, I can get a better copy of the photo I posted above I can get those shapes more accurately but right now it's mostly guess work.
I do see I missed the strut mounted airspeed indicator in the profile photo but it's not in the front 3/4 view.

[inkworm]

Squashed Ink? You'd think so, and where I made them up I made have gotten them wrong but where you can make them out they aren't squashed.

Must be the photo that is wrong! Would love to see a good underside photo of the original aircraft as you're right it really doesn't look squashed but like you say it should be, wonder how that works?

[elephant]

OK then, but I was not talking about the wheel covers actually...
The rubber on tyres seems to be "whitened" to the sides in my pics and kind of weathered, chipped off, in yours from the In Action book.
Or it is mud, because the ground looks to be rather dump and muddy...
Looking again at the pic, I'm more convinced that it's mud built up and if you are aware of that, you can even notice the demarkation line between the "whitened", side part and the natural rubber of the tyre.

[BLOWHARD]

Would love to see a good underside photo of the original aircraft

Same here! I got really obsessed with this one trying to see those shapes in that partially dark scan from the In Action book with the large offset print pattern! The really hard part is the light, or film, or both show some of the shapes different in the 3/4 and profile photo. And then the glare and the propeller...it was driving me nuts! But again, it almost seems like a waste of energy without a good quality reproduction of that profile photo.

wonder how that works?

Since they're painted I'd say the guys doing the painting were lazy and just didn't do it right. The night bombers with hand painted hex or lozenge camouflage had some wacky looking shapes painted on too.

I see what you mean Elephant. Either of your guesses could be right. The part that gets me is that rubber, natural rubber, is white or off white. The black color is added in. Fully black tires weren't common until late in the war and white walls, on cars at least, didn't become wide spread until the 1920s. But still, the photos show something interesting. I think the chipping on the profile photo is mud like you say. The other soft looking 2 tone might be dust with the tread area being damp or wet? Or maybe those tires were dark and the white walls were painted on for some reason? It's interesting for sure.

[Rufe]

Really nice set of D.V's Dave,

Just a dumb idea, but maybe, the losenges are not squashed because of the painter's perspective? It is harder to paint reaching under the fuselage, so longer losenges would make for less frustration, (less work). And would be harder to judge because of the angle to the surface.

Oops, looks like you posted just before me, same idea.

[Baron]

BH, your work is outstanding.

[javo]

Very good illustration! Dave!!
Congratulations, are a source of inspiration.

[BLOWHARD]

Another Udet plane

It might still get some work and revision yet.