Vol 2 All the Spitfire questions here

[MIkeMaben]

 

Did the ID light on the spine go away sometime during the MkIX production ?

Some are there but painted over. Earlier Mks are the same, started out clear

then eventually painted over. Were spine ID lights discontinued for a specific

reason ?

 

 

[Biggles87]

Can someone tell me please if all FR 18s were built with the underside camera ports? I can only find photos of restored Fr 18s showing the undersides and they don't appear the have them. Planning to convert a PCM Mk XIV  to a "desert camouflage ' FR 18 as used in the Middle East,  in the not too distant future.

 

John

Edited September 22, 2017 by Biggles87

[Troy Smith]

HI John

not sure about the camera ports,  but the wing panelling is different

see

the pics are on Photobcket,   but I just  added a extension to Chrome and they show up fine.  (but I will repost on Flickr when I get chance)

The drawing  at the top does show camera ports though.

@Mark12  aka Peter Arnold would most likely know, and hopefully this will alert him.

 

HTH

T

[Biggles87]

Thanks Troy, that's useful.

 

John

[gingerbob]

Yes, all FR 18s would have had the ports (until someone demonstrates otherwise), but there were also some F 18s built.

[shatters]

Hi all

Can someone please clarify the differences between Spitfire II, IIa and Va please.

I have all the 1/72 airfix boxing of the spits, but after reading the comments regarding the Va boxing  in the rumourmonger section on here I am confused as to which oil coolers are fitted to Spitfire II and IIa, whether the Va had the supplied  canopy and fabric covered flaps ?

 

I plan on building all the kit supplied marking options using extra starter kits from Aldi if I can get some tomorrow.

 

Many thanks 

 

Phil

 

 

[PhantomBigStu]

The starter sets don't have the parts for the II/V

[shatters]

3 minutes ago, PhantomBigStu said:

The starter sets don't have the parts for the II/V

I realise that, I'm  hoping to have enough leftovers from the I/IIa Va/II kits to add to the basic kits supplied in the starter sets.

 

Phil

[PhantomBigStu]

4 minutes ago, shatters said:

I realise that, I'm  hoping to have enough leftovers from the I/IIa Va/II kits to add to the basic kits supplied in the starter sets.

 

Phil

Fair. Enough but unless your building the mkii/v kits as mk1s you won't 

[shatters]

4 minutes ago, PhantomBigStu said:

Fair. Enough but unless your building the mkii/v kits as mk1s you won't 

If I build an early mk1 with early canopy and 2 blades prop I will have a full set of IIa  spares to use on one of the starter kits.

 

Phil

[Graham Boak]

The semi-flush oil cooler was standard for the Mk.I and Mk.II.  The round  intake oil cooler was standard for the Mk.V.  Some late Mk.IIs had the Mk.V cooler, but I don't think I've ever seen a listing of which..

 

Mk.II and Mk.IIA is saying the same thing - the suffix system was only adopted after the Mk.II entered service and the cannon wing became a standard fit.

 

Mk.IIs were built with fabric covered ailerons - not flaps - and so were early Mk.Vs.  There is no easy way of telling which had the metal ailerons first fitted in production, and in-service aircraft were re-fitted with the metal ones as they became available.  I suspect this will have been covered in more detail elsewhere in this thread.

 

As for spares: that rather depends upon just what you are making.  As above, you can do a Mk.II and still have the spare oil cooler.  Mk.Vs do not have the bulge for the Coffman starter, only Mk.IIs.  The DH prop was seen on Mk.I, II and V, although the Rotol was distinctive to  the Mk.II (and many Hurricanes) and it may have even been seen on a few (very few?) Mk.Is.

[Max Headroom]

Idly surfing interwebby to research a whif I came across this French Spitfire Vc 

 

http://spitfiresite.com/2009/02/with-the-mediterranean-allied-coastal-air-force.html

 

Any thoughts? My only reaction is that it has USAAF style wing markings and has a late war Mk.V ‘bitsa’ field mods.

 

Trevor

[shatters]

Another airfix spitfire question. In the starter kit spitfire the lower colour scheme calls for sky under surfaces  with one black wing. Is this accurate or a way for airfix to get away with using the 4 supplied pots of paint ?

 

Phil

[gingerbob]

Nope, that's correct for Nov (or Dec) '40 to April '41, at least for some.

 

bob

[shatters]

10 minutes ago, gingerbob said:

Nope, that's correct for Nov (or Dec) '40 to April '41, at least for some.

 

bob

Thanks bob

[Troy Smith]

2 hours ago, shatters said:

Another airfix spitfire question. In the starter kit spitfire the lower colour scheme calls for sky under surfaces  with one black wing. Is this accurate

 

as bob says....

this is, as captioned at the bottom "the basic combination of colours"  for NW Europe up to 1945.  

The devil is in the details though...

 

from http://www.boxartden.com/gallery/index.php/Profiles/Camoflage-Markings/01-Supermarine-Spitfire

 

well worth a read and saving,  while old I don't know of a better primer on the subject.

Note the site linked has lots of very useful references scanned.

 

 

[shatters]

Sorry folks, another stupid spitfire question, I've got 3 airfix spitfire kits in front of me, all 3 call for a different colour inside the wheel wells, 56,90 or 106. Can anyone confirm which if any is correct ?

 

Phil

[Bonhoff]

Presumably they are Spitfires in different time periods? In which case I believe they are painted whatever the underside colour of the time was...

 

That's how I do mine anyway.

 

(Lights blue touch paper and stands back )

Edited November 27, 2017 by Bonhoff

[Troy Smith]

1 hour ago, shatters said:

Sorry folks, another stupid spitfire question, I've got 3 airfix spitfire kits in front of me, all 3 call for a different colour inside the wheel wells, 56,90 or 106. Can anyone confirm which if any is correct ?

 

Phil

much debated.

 

I know I have put together posts on this,

eg http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/234974004-question-for-wwii-aircraft-manufacturing-experts/&do=findComment&comment=1851442

 

and in every photo I could find where you could see part of the wheel well,  it was the underside colour, as seen the link.

 

that's only the circular wheel bit,  the part where the leg goes is most likely aluminium paint until 43 or 44, and then grey- green.

read the entire linked thread for more on this.  

 

the exception is the very late Griffon Spitfire, Mk21, 22, 24, which have outer doors, and they have grey-green wells.

 

HTH

[At Sea]

Apologies if this has been asked before but can you make a Spitfire IXb from the Eduard 1/48 boxing.

 

I see only IXc & IXe as kitted options.

 

Thanks.

 

 

 

[gingerbob]

The "IXB" is an unofficial designation for the LF.IX, as opposed to the F.IX.  So yes, an Eduard "IXc" would make an LF.IX.  In most cases you probably want "IXc late" rather than early.

 

bob

[At Sea]

Thanks.

[Graham Boak]

I think that all the kit versions are LF Mk.IXs.  None of them give the specific features of the F Mk.IX.

[shatters]

4 hours ago, Troy Smith said:

 

 

every photo I could find where you could see part of the wheel well,  it was the underside colour, as seen the link.

 

that's only the circular wheel bit,  the part where the leg goes is most likely aluminium paint until 43 or 44, and then grey- green.

read the entire linked thread for more on this.  

 

 

So one black and one white for an early war spit ?

 

Phil

[Work In Progress]

Yep