> 2) Navel four color hex lozenge camo.; From "Americal/Gryphon" decals
> out of Houston, TX. See their ad in FSM mag. Lay in meter (scale) wide
> strips (decals come this width) side by side to get them to line up
> properly across the wing.
>
The camouflage patter of this decal represents the actual fabric bolt
widths the Germans originally produced. A rather large piece of this
original, printed fabric is part of the Peter Grosz collection and was
described in detail in an issue of World War One Aeroplanes by Dan
San-Abbot. I would disagree with some of the interpretations Dan makes in
that article regarding how this fabric was produced, but he does give some
good Methuen readings of the colors and the dimensions of the hexes in the
pattern. It takes careful examination of photographs of original aircraft
to see that the hex patern is not uniform, but was instead a series of
fabric pieces sewn together prior to covering the wing. The patterns don't
always match.
There has been some suggestion that there were two different sets of
colors used in the Naval hex camouflage fabric, hence the two sets of
three-color patterns seen in the A/G decal. At present the fabric in the
Grosz collection is the only example anyone has seen or studied.
Charles Hart
hartc@spot.colorado.edu