Luftwaffe „Legion Condor” paint set

Six Shades of the Legion Condor

The Legion Condor was a volunteer formation of the Luftwaffe that fought in the Spanish Civil War from the autumn of 1936. This was where the Bf 109 saw combat for the first time and where the Ju 52, the He 51 and the He 111 were first tested on a large scale. The colors of the machines of the legion are therefore a chapter of their own for modelers: they begin with the prewar grays and end with the scheme that the Luftwaffe carried over into the whole of the Second World War.

The package brings together six bottles that cover this period:

• RLM 02 Grey for the early Ju 52, He 59 and He 111, the upper surfaces of the experimental He 112 V9 and the overall finish of the first Bf 109B-1 machines.
• RLM 63 Light Grey for the early He 51 and, according to some sources, for the upper surfaces of the Bf 109B to E as well.
• RLM 61 Dark Brown and RLM 62 Green for the upper surfaces from the middle of 1937 in the standard 61+62+63/65 pattern.
• RLM 65 Light Blue for the lower surfaces of the same pattern, on the Bf 109B to E from the end of 1937.
• RLM 66 Black-Grey for the instrument panels and the cockpit interior showing through from outside.

What Blue Line means

A code beginning with the letters HTK-BS belongs to the Blue Line branch, that is a water-thinnable acrylic mixed for brush work. It covers even in a thin coat and dries matte, so before the decals it pays to overcoat the area under them with a gloss varnish and to unify the finished model with a matte one at the end.