Help me paint my No.14 sqn Blenheim

[SoftScience]

There is a photo of a formation of No.14 Blenheims floating about the internet.

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Aircraft_of_the_Royal_Air_Force_1939-1945-_Bristol_Type_Type_149_Blenheim_Iv._CM3108.jpg

I recently received an Xtradecals sheet that instructs one to paint the underside sky with a badly peeling azure blue overcoat. Makes sense so far.

But the topside painting is suggested as dark earth/dark green. Is there any possibility that these colors should be mid stone and dark earth, or maybe even light earth and dark earth?

[JimHead23]

It would make sense if the aircraft arrived from the UK in the European scheme and was hastily repainted underneath in Azure but the topsides were left untouched.

[Graham Boak]

The formation appears to be in a mix of schemes, the ones further away are dark enough to be DG/DE but the nearest one looks more like the Desert scheme. There are a number of unusual features such as the dark patch above the dash, at least three variations in appearance of the different aircraft, and what may be a dark patch behind the serial on one. This is certainly strong evidence for local repainting. I suspect Light Earth is unlikely on Mk.IVs, but a specific date might be more helpful.

The underside colour is possibly not Azure Blue but the locally-supplied "Iraqi Blue". The two colours should be similar but the local shade seems to have been more of a pure blue.

[SoftScience]

Thanks Graham. I think we're on the same page. I actually wonder at which point the repaint would have occurred; prior to, or after the application of the W dash squadron codes? I would really like to build this plane as it looked while it took part in raids against Italian targets in the Horn of Africa, shortly after No, 14 squadron was deployed to the Middle East. If wonder if the aircraft carried the temperate scheme then?

[Graham Boak]

The W is the individual aircraft code. The previous squadron codes were LY, carried until mid 1941. 14 Sq is reported in combat in the Western Desert in May 1941, which gives a "not before" date to the IWM photo above. There is a photo in Dust Clouds in the Middle East showing an aircraft with these codes, and apparently TLS, when the unit was in the Sudan. The serial and individual code is not completely clear in the photo, but Combat Codes has T1941 as LY-O. I suspect this is the one in the photo, in which case the O is carried over the top of the wing, about halfway between the radio mast and the end of the trailing edge fairing.

Don't forget the additional tropical intake above the cowling missing from models, but discussed elsewhere on this forum. It is available from Freightdog models (no personal connection).