Mk1 Spitfire underside colour

[Mikey58]

I'm about to start the Airfix MK1 Spitfire (1/48th) and the instructions show the underneath as aluminium.Is this a NMF or a painted finish?

Thanks,

Mike

[Andrew Jones]

The early Spitfire Mk1's had a painted Aluminium finish on first entry into service, this included those in that famous photo of 19 squadron with 19 on the tails.

[Edgar]

Definitely painted (over a grey undercoat); no Spitfires ever left the factories unpainted.

Edgar

[Mikey58]

Thanks,just the answer I was looking for!

Mike

[hacker]

OK at what point during the Battle of Britain did the underside color change from the black and white ID marking to the early overall Sky color?

[Edgar]

The order went out on the 7th. June, to be followed, three days later, by another signal, saying that, due to shortage of paint, the original scheme might still be seen.

Edgar

[dylan the rabbit]

The order went out on the 7th. June, to be followed, three days later, by another signal, saying that, due to shortage of paint, the original scheme might still be seen.

Edgar

If you had a Pound for every time you've been asked that........

[FalkeEins]

..and just what colour is 'eau de nil' ...? please....

no ..seriously .. the search function doesn't give me anything

[Edgar]

BS216 Eau-de-Nil is a light green, not far from the Spitfire cockpit green, which started life as 6-071, in B.S.2660, which was first printed in 1955. The title, for B.S.2660, was "Colours for building and decorative paints," and it was superseded by B.S. 4800 in 1972. So far, I've found no evidence that Eau-de-Nil ever existed prior to those dates; it certainly has no relationship to wartime colours, according to the present issue of B.S.381C.

Edgar

If you had a Pound for every time you've been asked that........

I'd only have to pay 20% tax on it.

[Test Graham]

Seriously - BS 381C (1930) no 10, if I'm reading it right, might be 19. It is a pale green, slightly more vivid than Sky. It was a very common colour, certainly from Victorian times well into the 1950s. Possibly you are too young to remember its days as interior decoration. It was also quoted by Heller for the interiors of French aircraft, and may be the pale green quoted for the interiors of early Spitfires (and other contemporary British types?).

Frankly, I'm astonished that you could not find it, and suggest you try looking up a few colour charts instead of Google.

[avro683]

BS216 Eau-de-Nil is a light green, not far from the Spitfire cockpit green, which started life as 6-071, in B.S.2660, which was first printed in 1955. The title, for B.S.2660, was "Colours for building and decorative paints," and it was superseded by B.S. 4800 in 1972. So far, I've found no evidence that Eau-de-Nil ever existed prior to those dates; it certainly has no relationship to wartime colours, according to the present issue of B.S.381C.

Edgar

I'd only have to pay 20% tax on it.

But only from January.

Tony

[John]

BS216 Eau-de-Nil is a light green, not far from the Spitfire cockpit green, which started life as 6-071, in B.S.2660, which was first printed in 1955. The title, for B.S.2660, was "Colours for building and decorative paints," and it was superseded by B.S. 4800 in 1972. So far, I've found no evidence that Eau-de-Nil ever existed prior to those dates; it certainly has no relationship to wartime colours, according to the present issue of B.S.381C.

Edgar

I'd only have to pay 20% tax on it.

Eau de Nil was Colour 16 in the original BS381, which was released in 1930. Here's a photo of that very sample:

(sorry about the quality of the photo, it was taken with a low tech digital camera.)

The shade, or one similar to it, may well have been included in BS2660 when it came out 25 years later, given that BS2660 was aimed at the construction and architectural sectors and EdN was at that time a common interior colour.

BS381 was rearranged post-war giving the existing shades numerical prefixes to group them into colour families. Greens were prefixed with a 2 so colour 16 became, and remains, colour 216.

As Colour 16, though, EdN is one of the pioneer BS381 shades that have survived in the standard for 70 years.

John

[Steven Eisenman]

Ugh! Can see why it was the "Water of the Nile".

Looks like an algae bloom..

[davidelvy]

It was a very common colour, certainly from Victorian times well into the 1950s. Possibly you are too young to remember its days as interior decoration.

A couple of years ago the wife bought some paint of this colour to repaint our bathroom. When I told her it may have been used on spitfires she handed me my anorak.

[ben_m]

..and just what colour is 'eau de nil' ...? please....

no ..seriously .. the search function doesn't give me anything

Neil, you'll have to make it even more obvious next time.