Early Messerschmitt Bf109 B, C and D in progress.

Now it gets even more confusing, I didn't recognise the Victoria Bitter beer can as I though most beer cans have a bare aluminium top.But what does Australian beer in aluminium has to do with a pre-war German aircraft? I always though the aluminium drink can was invented in the late 50-ties or early 60-ties.

As Germany was depending on import for rubber, by 1940 more than half of all German tires were already made of BuNa kautschuk! As far as I know these tires were black with a slight purple glow over them. I have seen quite some pictures from WWII German aircraft in my life, but I can not recall I ever saw one with white wall tires.

Below a BuNa tire from a Bf110.

Cheers,
Huub

index.php
 
Ha ha Taff, I knew someone would find something.

That's on an E Trop model, so not an early B/C model, but still proves ww tyres were about and used operationally!

Cheers

Shessi
 
rgatkinson said:
What about this, fake?

https://images.app.goo.gl/yQ5JuHNUaVxhHWSk8

Taff
Click to expand...

Hi Taff,

The answer is already given in the britmodellers thread. The tires were either whitewashed, or covered with dust or dried mud. That is not exactly what I call a white wall tire.

When you think about the problems the Germans already had to face as they didn't have any natural rubber, why would they put any effort in a purely cosmetic thing as a white wall?

Shessi said:
That's on an E Trop model, so not an early B/C model, but still proves ww tyres were about and used operationally!
Click to expand...

Yep proof has been delivered that high contrast black & white picture are tricky things :a1310:

Common guys you really need to do better than this :biggrin-new:
(Now don't come up with a snow covered tire)

Cheers,
Huub
 
How about this then Huub...:a1310::a1310:

Closer I think, certainly a Bf109, operational, no mud or snow, AND in colour...


I don't know, tyres were made out of more rubber than today's 'hoops', and rubber oxidises in high UV and heat, changing colour and sheen. Taff's b&w 109E looks too uniform to be wear or colour/shade different to me, this colour pic could be ww tyres and this b&w pic well hmmmm???......look you've got me at it now!!! :banghead:

Are we this sad, us going on about ww tyres, I'm laughing just typing this..lol

I'll tell you what, I'll put both tyre texs in the release and you can choose.

Cheers

Shessi
 
Personally I think the weather is ideal to discuss a light topic as white wall tires (yesterday we did hit 40 Celsius/140 Fahrenheit). It at least keeps my mind occupied, so I don't think about the heat.

Your colour picture is from the same thread at britmodeller, so what I said in my previous post applies here as well. :a1310:

During WWII nearly all German tires were synthetic. The aircraft tires were made from BuNa-S compound (Styrol-Butadien-Kautschuk). Where Bu stands for Butadiene (the polumer) and the Na stand for Natrium (Sodium) (the Catalysis). In 1940 already 70 percent of all tires were made of synthetic rubber, this increased already to 94% in 1943 and by 1944 Germany was fully depending on synthetic rubber.
From what I have understood these tires discoloured when exposed to UV and turned into a sort of purpelish shade of grey.

Cheers,
Huub

Did you know the British had white rims on the rear wheels and light grey tires on their Jeeps as well? :biggrin-new: :biggrin-new:

1942Jeep.jpg


File:1942Jeep.jpg
 
Perhaps the answer is that tires exposed to sunlight constantly deteriorate, called "dry rot". This may be more pronounced in synthetic rubber lacking additive to protect from sun damage found in modern tires. This would tend occur more quickly in desert environments and with aircraft parked outdoors. Dry rot results in fading from black to gray and lighter. By painting the tires with more a reflective white paint, the damage would be reduced.

Hence, not true "white walls", but the white paint still appearing in old photos to be "white walls".

Just thinking ...
 
llanning08 said:
Perhaps the answer is that tires exposed to sunlight constantly deteriorate, called "dry rot". This may be more pronounced in synthetic rubber lacking additive to protect from sun damage found in modern tires. This would tend occur more quickly in desert environments and with aircraft parked outdoors. Dry rot results in fading from black to gray and lighter. By painting the tires with more a reflective white paint, the damage would be reduced.

Hence, not true "white walls", but the white paint still appearing in old photos to be "white walls".

Just thinking ...
Click to expand...

You might be onto something there.
 
The North African sand is very different from the sand we "Northerners" know. It is very, very fine. It gets onto and into everything. That 109 looks like very dusty sides only. The bottoms look darker due to the "scuffing" effect while taking off and landing. The sun angle also enters the fray. I would say it is a synthetic tire used if a very dusty environment plain and simple. The WW effect is imagination only. :biggrin-new:
 
Well perhaps a tiny bit back to the original subject.... There are many pictures from Condor Legion Bf109s with covered wheels. Sun/heat might have been a problem for these relatively small and narrow tires.

Cheers,
Huub

i63cjKk.jpg
 
Nope, I think the covers were put there to stop the ground crew realising that the WW finish had faded and needed reapplying. The pilot, Otto von Dunlop, obviously had a dislike of WW tyres! :mixed-smiley-010:
 
Sorry Taff,
Although I'm not allowed to go into politics, but in this case you force me to. The Germans were strictly "Continental (AG)" when it came to tires :a1310:.
And the pilot of this aircraft was not Otto van Dunlop, But Unteroffizier Johannes Schwarzreif :wavey:

Below a preview of the VC of this model, Shessi already mailed me. Its of course still "work in progress", so the strange labels will most likely disappear.

Cheers,
Huub

HvUlqVC.jpg
 
Ooooh, that VC looks very nice. Plenty of room for a small can of white paint and brush to be stored.:jump: Seriously though, very very nice work!
 
It's close...can you smell it?

(And Taff that's a 109 cockpit photo not a VC, I don't want you to think that's what you're getting!!)

With the testers as we speak.


Shessi
 
rgatkinson said:
Ooooh, that VC looks very nice. Plenty of room for a small can of white paint and brush to be stored.:jump: Seriously though, very very nice work!
Click to expand...

Sorry Taff,

Perhaps I should have given a warning, but its better not to believe everything said in this thread :biggrin-new:. The Picture in my previous post is actually a picture from the Flying Heritage Collection Bf109 E-3. Which is pretty original, but which has obviously been upgraded to Bf109 E-4 standard :encouragement:.

Cheers,
Huub
 
Lol

True Huub... you can't believe everything in this thread.... but these early bf109's "DID" come with airbags!!! :playful:


Cheers mav
 
Dohhh....I was just saying for you not to expect THAT quality of VC in the picture, of course there will be a VC, I'm not a complete heathen you know! :playful:

And coz I like em as well, there's one of the textures I'm including with ww tyres on!...:encouragement:, but sssshhh don't tell Huub...;)

Cheers

Shessi
 
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