yeehah1 Posted July 11, 2008 Share Posted July 11, 2008 11-07-2008 Hi guys...I need advise. I have bought the recent Airfix 1/48 Spitfire mk1/IIa kit. I know that there are at least 3 variants you can build from it and I haven't built a BoB Spitfire before but always wanted to.... Now, the subject I decided to go with is on the Aeromaster sheet I recently bought from Gary C ( thanks mate!). The sheet is 48-078 Battle of Britain Spitfires. I would liek to make the first option, Pilot Officer J.E.Johnson. According to the decal instruction sheet it's a mk1 Spitfire, code X4330, 616 Sqd, Sept 1940. Type A pattern ( which looks different ot the scheme on hte Airfix example) and a black spinner. And thats it....no reference to the spinner type, the blade type windscreen etc....can anyone help? As far as I can see, it has the regular bubble canopy ( not the flat one) but I can't tell which windscreen it has. Can anyone advise which of the following I need to use.... i:is it the narrow three-blade prop or the fatter 3 blade prop? ii: which windscreen...part 28 or 29 or 21? iii: which exhausts...50/51 or 48/47? (I am thinking 50/51) iv: which spinner...the pointy one ( 23) or the rounded, blunt one (25)? Again, looking at the pics, it seems to be the blunt one. v: The rest seems ok...except...for clear piece 105, the long, teardrop Mustang like canopy..what would I use that on? Thanks in advance for your assistance Liam Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JosephLalor Posted July 11, 2008 Share Posted July 11, 2008 11-07-2008i:is it the narrow three-blade prop or the fatter 3 blade prop? ii: which windscreen...part 28 or 29 or 21? iii: which exhausts...50/51 or 48/47? (I am thinking 50/51) iv: which spinner...the pointy one ( 23) or the rounded, blunt one (25)? Again, looking at the pics, it seems to be the blunt one. v: Hi Liam, I haven't seen this kit so I can only surmise. What follows is a guess. i) The fatter three-blade prop sounds like the one on the Mark 5, so I think I would use a prop with narrower, more leaf-shaped blades. This would be the metal DeHavilland prop. Not sure if the Rotol prop was used on the MkII. Of course I'll look a complete idiot if it turns out that the Rotol was used on the Mk1 after all. ii) I would imagine that the windscreen would have external armour glass so use one where the front stands proud of the rest of the windscreen. iii) Three-stack fish-tail exhausts I would guess. iv) Spinner - now there you've got me. I'd have thought it would be the pointed one, with the rounded one being used on the Mk II. Graham, Edgar - help! The teardrop shaped canopy sounds like one for a Spiitfire 16, 22 or 24, or for Seafire 46 or 47. Over to you lads. Joseph Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnonymousA667 Posted July 11, 2008 Share Posted July 11, 2008 The Airfix camo scheme is very similar to the pattern illustrated in the old 'Camouflage and Markings, Supermarine Spitfire' Number 1. I would go with this unless you have a photo of the aircraft that you want to model that shows it to be different. Same with the prop, a photo reference is the only way to be sure, although the skinny DH prop with pointy spinner is most common in my references. I think you need to use windscreen part 29 with the bulged hood. Exhausts 50/51 should be OK. Part 105? Jack up hood and insert new aeroplane! peebeep Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnonymousA667 Posted July 11, 2008 Share Posted July 11, 2008 Of course I'll look a complete idiot if it turns out that the Rotol was used on the Mk1 after all. Er, it was actually. Spinners could be pointy or blunt accordingly. Sorry... peebeep Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JosephLalor Posted July 11, 2008 Share Posted July 11, 2008 Er, it was actually. Spinners could be pointy or blunt accordingly. Sorry...peebeep There you go. Thanks mate! Joseph Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yeehah1 Posted July 12, 2008 Author Share Posted July 12, 2008 (edited) doh"! Any ideas where I might get some references? Liam ( head scratching) Edited July 12, 2008 by yeehah1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LDSModeller Posted July 12, 2008 Share Posted July 12, 2008 Hi Liam Check out this site has photos of preserved examples of a MkI http://www.ipmsstockholm.org/magazine/1997...l_spitfire1.htm One thing I have noted on Tamiya builds is the .303 barrels protruding from the outer gun ports. All the pictures I have of Mk I/Ia's only the odd aircraft showed this so you might want to check any photos of your specific aircraft Easy way to tell type a or type b camo on an RAF aircraft (as I understand it) is if the serial number is even then type A if odd type B Oh, no crowbar on cockpit door (as Edgar would say) Hope that helps Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Edgar Posted July 12, 2008 Share Posted July 12, 2008 There are two photos, of 616 Spitfires, in Aircam no.4, and the spinners are pointed, so I'd say the D.H. prop (both types are possible; the Rotol constant-speed arrived in August, 1940, with the D.H. constant-speed a little earlier, in July.) Windscreen should have external armour, and the canopy would be flat-sided (bulged hood didn't arrive until April, 1941.) Exhausts are round, not fishtails. Protruding guns were deleted very early on, and they have the doped linen covers, over the muzzles, anyway, which dates the photos as September 1940, as does the lack, on certain a/c, of a r/v mirror (they weren't standard before 24-9-40.) The rule, about the "A" & "B" schemes' serial nos., was often broken, so a photo is the only sure method. Edgar Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LDSModeller Posted July 12, 2008 Share Posted July 12, 2008 Liam Sorry not trying to hijack your thread, but Edgar made an interesting comment The rule, about the "A" & "B" schemes' serial nos., was often broken, so a photo is the only sure method. Edgar, what you say really makes perfect sense, when you think about it. During wartime conditions I guess any command person either Non-Com or Commissioned isn't going to be too fussed about schemes, as long as they do the job at the end of the day. In further thought (so it occurred to me) it seems that most if not all paint schemes on RAF scale model types (WWII) appear to be the A scheme Thanks for the heads up Alan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Edgar Posted July 12, 2008 Share Posted July 12, 2008 True, but a/c were built, totally, by civilian labour, at least in the factories, so it would have been down to managers, foremen, and chargehands. Two former painters, of Hurricanes, told us how they sprayed the brown, then used their mats, for the green. All they did, for the mirror scheme, was flip the mats over, and use the other side. If ever there was a potential, for a mistake, that has to be a favourite. The "mirror" scheme was discontinued from April, 1941, too. Edgar Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JosephLalor Posted July 13, 2008 Share Posted July 13, 2008 Exhausts are round, not fishtails. Thanks, Edgar! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yeehah1 Posted July 13, 2008 Author Share Posted July 13, 2008 13-07-2008 Thanks for the info lads. I did a quick Google to see what I could drag up. Found a book J.E.Johnson wrote after the war and ordered it. I am hoping that there'll be some verbal discriptions fo the initial Spitfire her flew once he got to 616 Squadron. Maybe evena pic or two. Liam Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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