Mr. Color - RLM81 hnědo fialová

RLM 81 brown-violet from the last year of the war

The Luftwaffe introduced this peculiar tone on the border of brown, olive and violet in 1944, when camouflage was reoriented toward the view from above over wooded and bombed-out countryside. Together with a light green and a second, darker green it forms the trio of late camouflage colors. Few colors of the period are rendered so inconsistently: drums from different plants differed so much that arguments continue to this day over whether a brown or a violet undertone predominated in them.

What machines it belongs on

You will see it on the mottled backs of late long-nose fighters, on jet aircraft, on trainers and liaison machines repainted at the last moment and on aircraft parked under camouflage nets. Typical is either a coat with soft transitions or, conversely, patches laid on coarsely with a brush at the unit itself, because in 1945 there was neither time nor material left for careful work. It is precisely that carelessness that makes late camouflage so rewarding to model, as every machine looks different.

Recommended procedure

Apply it with a gun at low pressure, so that smooth transitions form without hard edges. The coat dries within about a quarter of an hour and gains durability quickly, so masking tape can be lifted after only a short while. The shade responds well to brightening the centers of areas and to oil filters, with which the final tone can be shifted toward brown or, conversely, cooled toward violet according to the particular subject and the surviving photographs.