LHoffman's Painted Sculpts For Your Consideration

LHoffman

Next: HBG Fw-190 - designation F+1 (for Fighter)

LHoffman

Last: OOB He-111 - designation M+3 (for Medium Bomber)

Still needs some detail work

LHoffman

@toblerone77:

Nice work Hoff!

Thank you sir!

LHoffman

Paul,

There are a few things to consider here:

Decal colors for the numbering are subject to your approval. As you can see I had to make a few minor modifications to what we discussed. Mainly for visibility purposes. But if you would prefer white as opposed to black, you is da boss
Secondly, there arose an issue I had not yet foreseen… When viewing the aircraft from the left side (as they are pictured here) everything is fine. However, when viewed from the right, the decal line will be reversed. This will pose a problem with the colored aircraft because of the stripe. See picture for reference. This creates issues with the colored letters used as they may end up in the stripe and again be invisible. As you can see in the below picture, if the ‘1’ were yellow, it would be visible on the left side, but it would be in the stripe on the right side. A similar situation occurs for us.

If we want to keep the numbering scheme as is with and Alpha + #, I can simply change the color of the letter on the other side to be black on yellow stripes or black/white on red stripes.

If we want to keep the same color letter on both sides, we only have to add another number in front of the Alpha such that: #A+#. This will allow me to put either the first number or the last number in the stripe and not the letter, thereby keeping the same color letter on both sides.

However, the fighters will not take any more numbers and must remain A+#. There is simply no room for more decals. FYI, the decals I have applied for the colored letters are the smallest ones, even though they seem oversized.

Because of all these issues. I have not decaled the right side of the planes yet. Only the left sides have decals, until i know how you want me to proceed.

Tall Paul

Lucas,

––I want to let you know that all of your work up to this point on these German aircraft is very evident and excellent!

––Since there are several questions to be answered I’ll do it in separate responses. First, the “Alpha” designator for the different types of aircraft are listed below:

A…attack…none yet
E…early fighter…ME-109
F…fighter…FW-190
L…long-range fighter…ME-110
J…jet fighter…ME-262
D…bomber, dive…JU-87
M…bomber, medium…HE-111, JU-88
H…bomber, heavy…JU-488
R…reconnaissance…DO-17
T…transport…JU-52

----Note,…the DO-17 is to be lettered “R” as a recon bird as previously discussed.

“Tall Paul”

LHoffman

@Tall:

––Note,…the DO-17 is to be lettered “R” as a recon bird as previously discussed.

Looks good. I remember the ‘R’ for Reconnaissance, but for some reason I don’t think I noted the Do-17 next to it. No problem though.

Witt

Superb work. I especially love the all grey Stuka and your Iron Annie.
Tall Paul you are a lucky man.

Tall Paul

Lucas,

––These ‘prototypes’ have uncovered many good and some bad things I’ll discuss in general and then in specific terms.

----The BLACK numbers/letters in the YELLOW and/or WHITE stripes look GREAT! :-D
----The YELLOW and WHITE “Alpha” letters look GREAT! :-D

----The RED “alpha” letters and numbers do NOT seem to show up well, even when much magnified. :-(
To me they are hard to read and not obvious. I think we should drop the RED “alpha” letters and/or numbers on all of the RED colored a/c.

----As far as specifics of letters/numbers goes I understand what you’re saying concerning when the opposite side of the a/c is decalled. Use this as your pattern:

YELLOW colored a/c will have:
–YELLOW letters or numbers when they are NOT located in the stripe.
–BLACK letters or numbers when they ARE located in the stripe.

WHITE colored a/c will have:
–WHITE letters or numbers when they are NOT located in the stripe.
–BLACK letters or numbers when they ARE located in the stripe.

RED colored a/c will have:
–WHITE letters or numbers when they are NOT located in the stripe.
–WHITE letters or numbers when they ARE located in the stripe.

NON colored a/c will have:
–YELLOW letters and numbers. Since there are no stripes, no allowances have to be made.

----Also, a general note on engine coloring would have the SLOWER bomber units having only a “spare tire” ring of color around their engine nacelles whereas the FASTER fighter units would have an enlarged coloring of their noses.
----Some specifics:
The ME-110 long-range fighter would have an enlarged engine coloring (like you did),
whereas the HE-111 should only have a “spare tire” ring of color on their engines (too much color here).

----Please understand that these are NOT criticisms of your painting abilities. Only observations on what we’ve talked about and what the ‘prototypes’ have uncovered. I have ABSOLUTELY NO DOUBT that I will be totally pleased with these a/c whenever they are completed. Please, if you have any questions/suggestions/problems just let me know as we both want these a/c to be as fantastic looking as your paint jobs deserve.

“Tall Paul”

LHoffman

@Tall:

––Also, a general note on engine coloring would have the SLOWER bomber units having only a “spare tire” ring of color around their engine nacelles whereas the FASTER fighter units would have an enlarged coloring of their noses.
----Some specifics:
The ME-110 long-range fighter would have an enlarged engine coloring (like you did),
whereas the HE-111 should only have a “spare tire” ring of color on their engines (too much color here).

Good… everything is clear and we are all set. And I am not above criticism of my work, so you do not need to apologize… after all you are the boss! Either way, your preferences will be acted upon.

However, I would respectfully disagree regarding the He-111s - of the colored examples, I have only seen pictures with the entire engine cowling covered. I have never seen He-111s with only the ‘spare-tire’ configuration. See below:

This link shows a number of different He-111 camo schemes, none of which have the ‘spare-tire’ paint scheme.http://heinkel111.narod.ru/camouflage.htm

Of course, if you prefer the ‘spare tire’ look, I can do that, with only minor trouble, but if you want them historically accurate, then I believe this scheme is more proper. Again, your call.

Tall Paul

Lucas,

––OK, let’s do the HE-111s with the larger coloring. My main reasoning behind the “size” of the colors was NOT for historical accuracy,….but another way we could easily (and from a distance) tell exactly the TYPE of a/c it is. IMHO the SIZE of the a/c itself is clue enough as to it’s type and to differentiate it from a long-range fighter,… the ME-210.

----I encourage YOU to make any/all comments just like the one above, especially if they concern a painting/decalling problem.

“Tall Paul”

Tall Paul

Lucas,

––I also wanted to say I think the JU-52 transports look GREAT! These came out even nicer than I hoped. I realize these pics are only of the ‘prototypes’ but I thought I’d mention that it needs another coat of the White paint. I realize it’s almost impossible to cover a dark color with White paint. Wow,…looks great, though! It might only be the lighting that makes the paint look other than bright white.

----Later we will come back and do some Desert and Winter paint schemes on these JU-52s. I will be very happy to have a tiny copy of the JU-52 that was in one of my favorite WW2 movies, “Where Eagles Dare”. It even included my man “Clint” in it.
––We’ll add it to the Tiger tank from “Kelly’s Heroes” and the HE-111 from “Patton”.

“Tall Paul”

LHoffman

@Tall:

Lucas,

––OK, let’s do the HE-111s with the larger coloring. My main reasoning behind the “size” of the colors was NOT for historical accuracy,….but another way we could easily (and from a distance) tell exactly the TYPE of a/c it is. IMHO the SIZE of the a/c itself is clue enough as to it’s type and to differentiate it from a long-range fighter,… the ME-210.

----I encourage YOU to make any/all comments just like the one above, especially if they concern a painting/decalling problem.

“Tall Paul”

Very good Paul. As I said, final decisions are yours and for the reasons you desire, but I thought i would throw in my two cents. I do agree that the shape of the piece should be enough to distinguish it from other aircraft. It is one of the most unique aircraft in the game.

Glad you like the Transports so much. They do look nice. My fiance wanted to help me a bit and I said she could paint the wingtips and cowlings. (She has an art degree from the University of Toledo and does very fine work). It helped me along anyway, and it looks good besides.

We will need to go over the first coat with another, as I have done with the red and yellow on the other pieces. The transport example only has one coat currently.

LHoffman

@wittmann:

Superb work. I especially love the all grey Stuka and your Iron Annie.
Tall Paul you are a lucky man.

Thanks Wittmann. Though the second sentence makes it seem like we are in some sort of relationship. :roll:

As far as Axis and Allies goes, it is a good relationship for us to have. :wink:

Tall Paul

Guys,

@LHoffman:

@wittmann:

Superb work. I especially love the all grey Stuka and your Iron Annie.
Tall Paul you are a lucky man.

Thanks Wittmann. Though the second sentence makes it seem like we are in some sort of relationship. :roll:
As far as Axis and Allies goes, it is a good relationship for us to have. :wink:

––I was in quite a hurry when I first read the original comments,…but after Lucas pointed them out I couldn’t stop laughing! You gotta have FUN in life,…or it just isn’t worth the trouble.

“Tall Paul”

p.s.-Lucas,…just don’t ever ask me if you look fat in pants you are wearing! :-D

sgtwiltan

Great stuff Lucas. Love the paint. How are your Eyes?
As far as Paul’s comments about the pants, I always get asked if I want a diet coke when I specifically asked for just a Coke.
I always ask the waiter if I look fat in my jeans.
I am 35 pounds heavier than when I got out of the Marines and slowly fashioning a well rounded gut to emulate the first trimester.

LHoffman

@sgtwiltan:

Great stuff Lucas. Love the paint. How are your Eyes?
As far as Paul’s comments about the pants, I always get asked if I want a diet coke when I specifically asked for just a Coke.
I always ask the waiter if I look fat in my jeans.
I am 35 pounds heavier than when I got out of the Marines and slowly fashioning a well rounded gut to emulate the first trimester.

My eyes? As in everything is so small…?

And does this mean your profile picture is not quite representative of your current state?

sgtwiltan

Yeah.
I use reading glasses now when I work on the models. and sometimes that magnification isn’t enough.
That pic was from 29 palms in 96

Tall Paul

Wil,

@sgtwiltan:

Yeah.
I use reading glasses now when I work on the models. and sometimes that magnification isn’t enough.
That pic was from 29 palms in 96

––I know a little about what your talking about. I’ve been 6’-3" or 4" and 185 lbs. since I was about 14. I’ve only gained about 15 lbs. up to 200, but at my height it’s hardly noticeable. Although you may not be in Marine fighting trim, I’m sure you don’t have anything to be concerned about and can take care of any business that you need to. The only thing that’s really changed for me (so far) is that my hair is silver instead of black. At least it isn’t gray. I’m now 54 BTW.
----The pic below was on my 1st daylight train as a marked-up conductor on 11-11-2001.

“Tall Paul”

LHoffman

Good news. Aircraft are 99% done. All I need to do are a couple paint touchups on misc. planes and coat them with the sealant.

Once I do that, I will post a large number of pictures… none yet I am afraid. I expect them to be at your residence sometime next week.

LHoffman

Pictures will be up this afternoon. FYI

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