Naval Hex.....

[ChrisRoyston]

I'm sure this subject has probably been covered before on this forum, but once again:

How many types of Naval hex fabric were there, I've seen on this forum that only one type (often referred to as the "brown" pattern) existed, but also have seen evidence to support a second ("blue") variety.

Many decal manufacturer's have and still do offer two types and Windsock Datafile No 55 makes reference to both.

Can so many rersearchers really be wrong?

Again, sorry for asking, but I'm not convinced either way.

Chris

PS - For info, my references were: Article in Scale Models February 1983, Windsock Datafile No 55 and this forum.

[Dan_San_Abbott]

Chrisroyston:
I am glad you asked tis question about the three color Naval hexagon fabric.
The German Naval Office, Reich Marine Amt (RMA) through it subordinate off SeeFlugzeug Versuchs-Kommando, (SVK) Seaplane Testing Command, had established a document titled Allgemeine Baubestimmungen für Seeflugzeug der Kaiserlichen Marine (AAB General requirements for of the Imperial Navy.) around the beginning of the war. It was the responsibility of the the Naval Aircraft Inspectors in place at each factory watch and inspect the aircraft while built and to perform the parts inspection during the process of construction and on completion to perform the acceptance inspection and flight test.
On 3 April 1917, the SVK amended the AAB Document which gave the specific colors that all naval aircraft were to be painted. It required that :
1. The Black cross was to be standarized in form and location and was to be surrounded with 5 cm white border.
2. The Marine Nummer to be painted black and to painted on every part of the aircraft.
3. All surfaces when viewed from above, top of both wings, fuselage, tailplane and floats shall be painted in hexagons 15 cm on the side,30cm in diameter in grey-blue, grey-violet and grey-brown.
4. All surfaces viewed from the side, fuselage, rudder, and all struts willed painted in grey-blue.
5. All surface viewed from below will be painted light grey.
6. The under surfaces of the wings and tailplane will remain trhe natural color.
The words , shall and will are mandatory, is must be done.
in April 1918 the SVK issued an amendment to the AAB that introduced the three color printed fabric in grey-blue, grey-violet and grey-brown. The amendment required al the top surfaces of both wings, tailplane, top of fuselage and floats to be covered with the printed fabric. The sides of the fuselage, rudder floats anf all struts were to be painted grey-blue. The bottoms of the both wings, fuselage tailplane and floats will be painted light grey. As an option the undersides of both wings and tailplane could remain natural.
That is a summary of the AAB, and it doe not list any orther colors for the printed fabric. The light grey, blue and violet was a guess at what Peter Gray thought the colors were about 1960. The printed fabric came in only grey-blue, grey-violet and grey-brown. It is very specific, any other colors are wrong.
Blue skies,
Dan-San

[ChrisRoyston]

Dan,

Do you have good Methuen references for the three colours?
I've a feeling that the datafile colours are too dark. Interestingly, Ray Rimmell's illustration that accompanied the Scale Models article has totally different, lighter (closer to the actual, I suspect) colours, but without Methuen references.

Also, something that bothers me slightly is the shade everyone cites as the "grey blue" used on fuselages (of W.29 and W.12 aircraft), I believe this is referenced too light and would offer an ineffective over-water camouflage. Most photos I've seen (even when I take into account the fact they've been reproduced in print) show a tone which is very similar to, I believe, RAF Dark Sea Grey or Extra Dark Sea Grey (Second World War and later colours). Is the quoted colour (I recall it being somewhere around 19C2) from observation of a surviving relic or is it an approximation based on contemporary documentation?

I'm sorry if this has been covered before,

Thanks,
Chris

[Dan_San_Abbott]

ChrisRoyston:
I was most pleased when Peter M.Grosz sent a piece of 3 color German Naval printede fabric. First of all I was surprised with the three colors, Grey-blue
(20D3); Grey-Violet (15D3) and Grey-brown (6E4). The colors are quite dark with little contrast between the grey-blue and grey-violet, the grey-brown is dominant.
With the side and bottom colors, I was aided by a British Intelligence report in Bulgaria after the war. The side color was defined as "slate-grey" which is quite dark, which is 3F2 as well as 20F2, however 3F2 is an olive-grey. So I selected 20F2 this is much too dark and the RMA serial number would not be visible against this color, I then selected 20E3. Since then, even 20E3 is still too dark and the black serial number would not contrast with this color. finally I believe Greyish blue 20D3 would be more acturate and provides a contrast with black.
The under surface color is subjective as is the side color and is pale bluish-grey, 21B3. The under surfaces of the clear doped wings would approximates greyish-yellow, 4B3.
From photographs, I was able to determine the width of the fabric between seams, it was 1300 mm, the full width of the fabric is therefore, 1320mm plus or minus 10mm. The hexagons are not regular hexagons, but were 150mm wide by 200 mm long polygons and positioned in the width direction of the fabric. The polgons sloped 5 degrees across the width of the fabric.
For more details, see "Over the Front, Vol.9,No.2 Summer 1994." It contains an article I wrote titled "The Hansa Brandenburg W 29 and German Naval Camouflage."
Blue skies,
Dan-San