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Pink Spitfire


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Hi everyone,

 let me present to you my 1/72-Spitfire Pr. 1G as operated by the PRU in Spring 1941 in St. Eval. Some photos of the construction and photos of the real thing as well as some very helpful discussions can be found in the WIP-thread ( http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/235011939-spitfire-pr-1g-172/#comment-2540126 

 

Historical background:

The German battleships Scharnhorst and Gneisenau had arrived in the French port of Brest in March 1941 after an Atlantic Operation against convoys. The two ships represented a major threat to British shipping if they would leave port for the Atlantic again, so naturally the British tried to keep a constant eye on them. This was the task of the PRU Spitfires at St. Eval. When the sky was clear, blue Spitfires PR IFs would overfly Brest at high altitude, when the sky was overcast, the pale pink Spitfire Pr IGs would try to sneak in flying just below the clouds where their unusual camouflage would hopefully conceal them. During their stay at Brest, Scharnhorst and Gneisenau were harassed by British air attacks and as another Atlantic operation was considered too dangerous, they finally returned to Germany via the famous Channel Dash in February 1943.

 

Autobiographical background:

When I started university in the late 1990s, I immediately began to search the university library for anything related to military aviation. This was in no way related to the courses I took, actually, military history was rather frowned upon among the teaching staff and the students. So I kept secret what treasures I hauled from the library, it was a bit like lending out porn or other secreta. However, following a personal passion turned out to be good way to learn how the catalogues and the library worked, something that definitely paid off during my studies. Among the first things I had found was Alfred Price’s “Spitfire at War” which includes both pink Spitfires: the Pr. IG and the FR.IX. These unusual subjects and the stories about the “dicer-missions” of the PRU immediately fascinated me. Nevertheless, I never built a model of a pink Spitfire in these days, because at least the Pr. IG would have been difficult to model without a dedicated kit or a conversion set and decals. Additionally, there were, as always, so many other interesting subjects to build.

Much more recently, my interest switched back to WWII aircraft and I discovered that AZ had produced kits for the Pr. IG and the FR. IX. I bought both and finally, decided to do the earlier pink aircraft while the FR. IX will become a standard IX .

 

The model:

Ingredients:

- kit: AZ Spitfire Pr. IG

- additional parts: Airfix Spitfire Mk. I  (oil cooler, cockpit door, airscrew and spinner (IIRC)

- vac-formed canopy: Falcon

-paints: Tamiya (black base and home-mix PRU Pink made from a lot of white and very little hull red)

 

The kit is one of AZ’s earlier short-run Spitfires and the same sprues are used for the whole Mk. I-family, therefore there are some inaccuracies. The only things, that distinguish the Pr. IG-kit from the other Mk. I-kits seems to be the inclusion of a vac-formed canopy with the armored windscreen and the PR-bulges as well as the specific decals. The kit is a short-run product, the cockpit assembly was somewhat unclear and fit is not perfect. On the positive side, however, it looks very much like an accurate Spitfire to me, and it has fine surface detail.

R7059 by all likelihood had a Merlin 45 and a circular oil cooler, but the AZ kit only includes the semi-circular cooler of the Mk I. The Airfix Mk. I, however, does include it (or at least the “Mk. I/Mk. IIa”-kit and, I guess, the Mk. Va). The vac-formed canopy by AZ is a bit softly moulded and I did not succeeded in making it fit right. The Falcon canopy looks better, but I couldn’t make it fit either (I am not very experienced with vac-formed canopies and obviously the canopy was designed with a another kit in mind). That is when I decided to build the Spit with an open cockpit although this meant cutting the cockpit door open (another option would have been to insert a pilot figure to show the aircraft taxiing with the canopy open and the door shut). The Airfix kit donated the open cockpit door because it has nice (if a little heavy) detail on the interior side. The airscrew and spinner are also Airfix parts, if I remember correctly. Both kits come with different airscrews and spinners and I tried out several combinations.

The cameras:

AZ’s instructions indicate a split pair of ventral cameras with both cameras slightly offset from the vertical (e.g. like on the Pr. XI). According to the literature, it seems, however, that the G had two perfectly downwards facing cameras, not to take overlapping high altitude photos like on the Pr. IX, but one camera each for different altitudes plus the oblique camera for very low altitudes. The idea behind this camera outfit was apparently that the Pr. IG always operated just below the cloud base and therefore had to be flexible to adjust to cloud levels at different altitudes. On the model I drilled three holes in the fuselage (two ventral, one on the port side) where I had previously beefed up the fuselage with putty and plastic sheet on the interior. After the model was painted, the holes were painted black and a lens (or glass cover) punched out from thin clear plastic closed the hole and was fixed with Future. On the starboard side, I scribed a small circle to indicate a covered oblique camera window.

Painting and weathering:

As described in the WIP-thread I tried out a black-basing technique to achieve a slightly patchy, irregular paint scheme. It was fun trying out, but I believe a simple pre-shading with some random patches would have done the same job more quickly. Anyway, the idea was not to create a super-weathered, abandoned wreck, but even if the PRU aircraft were well-cared-of aircraft, they would still be exposed to the elements. The photos also clearly show some fuel, oil and dirt accumulated in the panel lines on the forward fuselage. Oil spills on the bottom of the fuselage seem to have been near inevitable on Spitfires. My interpretation of PRU Pink is an only slightly reddish off-white, which I mixed from white with only very little Tamiya Hull Red. After applying a coat of Future, the kit’s decals were used and they worked fine. Nevertheless, I almost ruined the model at this stage by applying too much Mr. Mark Softer. This turned out fairly aggressive and permanently wrinkled the decals at some points and attacked the paint coat. You can still see some of this effect on the wing roundels.

You will see no wing guns on my model. Based on the literature one would expect guns on the Pr. IG, this was one of the features telling it apart from the other PR-Spitfires. However, I could not see any traces of them on the available photos. The gun muzzles were certainly not covered with the red canvas patches familiar on the Spitfire fighters. Maybe the PRU used more permanent covers painted in PRU Pink that do not show on the photos. I just don’t know.

So without any further ado, here are the photos. Any comments are welcome.

 

P1280649_zpscbvifcyw.jpg

P1280698_zpsewdzdbaw.jpg

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P1280668_zpstgqudqrf.jpg

P1280664_zpsqpr6muxf.jpg

P1280644a_zpstk9tzhmg.jpg

P1280639a_zpsx7ntipxs.jpg

P1280690a_zpsctardr9y.jpg

P1280695_zpspao32pa0.jpg

P1280667_zpsqsvklbfp.jpg

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Hello Doc,

Very nice job on your recce Spit

I like it, I really like the color you've done.

That seem realistic.

Sincerely.

Corsaircorp

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Great skills although my daughter, 7, was a little dissapointed after reading the title over my shoulder. I think she was expecting more of a Barbi pink!?! lol maybe next time!

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I can only mirror everyone's comments. This is a brilliant rendition of one the most important but under represented roles carried out by Spitfires during the war. You've certainly captured the shade of pink. 

Cheers

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10 hours ago, Simon382 said:

Great skills although my daughter, 7, was a little dissapointed after reading the title over my shoulder. I think she was expecting more of a Barbi pink!?! lol maybe next time!

My sincere apologies for ruining your efforts to draw your daughter into the hobby :smile:

 

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Really nice, given the unique colour scheme I imagine it posed a unique challenge to weather, but I think you've done a great job on it.

 

Rich

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A superb rendition of this aircraft.  I think the PR side of the Spitfire's career is fascinating.  I too have recently completed this kit (not nearly to his standard though) and had similar issues with the canopy.  I ended up using the hood section combined with bits from the spares box.  Not very accurate but at least it fitted.  I also really like your home brew PRU Pink.  I used Xtracolor's version but on reflection I think it is too pink. 

 

In case you don't already have it, this month's Aeroplane monthly has an article about 140 sqns Spitfire PR.1Gs.  There are numerous photos, including a pink one, that clearly show the gun patches.  Different unit but logic would suggest it would have been a universal practice.

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18 hours ago, Meatbox8 said:

 

In case you don't already have it, this month's Aeroplane monthly has an article about 140 sqns Spitfire PR.1Gs.  There are numerous photos, including a pink one, that clearly show the gun patches.  Different unit but logic would suggest it would have been a universal practice.

Thanks for the hint to Aeroplane Monthly! I haven't seen it yet, but I will look it up.

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  • 4 months later...

Just experimenting with Imgur:

(I don't want to spam the forum with my old photos, but at least for me it is annoying that so many of our posts have got lost due to Photobucket's new policy)

7vHdNdl.jpg

 

XXJnuzl.jpg

 

uha4cCi.jpg

 

uROhuzy.jpg

 

Edited by Doc72
Technical incompetence on my side
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