Peter Roberts

But much better than the alternative, IMHO. 😉

As I understand it, Spitfires were initially delivered with aluminium lower surfaces. When the change came to make these White/Black, the instruction was a bit ambiguous so on some squadrons only the wings and lower centre section (and tail plane?) were painted White/Black, but in production/MUs the White/Black was down the centre line of the lower surfaces. There is some suggestion that ailerons were treated differently in some instances - perhaps in squadron refinishing - but I haven’t looked at this. If this aircraft was built when the official lower surface scheme was White/Black, I would suggest lower surface as per the scheme shown above by Kotare. As for lower wing roundels, a photo of 92 Squadron practice at the time would be helpful. Otherwise, I would suggest your call.

Both 71/02 and 70/02 upper surfaces are being quoted here. Was it one or the other, or could it have been either? In the colour photo posted above, I’m struggling to see any clear 02 segments - ? And I think I can say the same for the b/w photos too.

That’s a nice eclectic mix - good job!

Can we have a Mk I please?

I have stored my CA in the fridge, NOT in an air tight container, for years and had no issue.

I put my CA in the fridge - seems to help it keep longer.

Have you checked out the ORB for May 1940? UK National Archives, AIR27 series, will have details for pilots, usually by Flight. Edit: Ayre was with A Flight. He flew four operational flights in May, all in L1086. Serial number confirmed, codes a bit more problematic

Might be a reasonable assumption IF they were the first batch of Spitfires received by the Squadron and assuming the aircraft were allocated to Flights in some sort of orderly fashion. Otherwise, Graham’s point stands. May be worth working through the first few Spitfires in the production listing, or checking out when 609 started to receive Spitfires, then the production list. Also as suggested by Graham, worth checking the Flight Ayre flew with.

Curious one - the online Spitfire production listing has Ayre in L1086, but notes his casualty file has him in L1085. Assuming the movement cards are correct, it is L1086, and may explain why there is no code letter attributed to the plane in the listing above. Much of that work relates to BoB era from my understanding, as also posted above.

Does the Vb kit have the later oil cooler? A dedicated conversion would be nice, and not that hard unless you are including a full engine.

One of my future projects too. I had the good fortune to examine this plane up close and personal many years ago at Pt Cook, before Museum policy on such visits changed. I recall mention made about the stripes. I think the story was they are supposed to be at 45 degrees, but this didn’t work for the fuselage, so the wings and fuselage are different, at 60 degrees from memory. I think I have that right, wish I’d made more of a note of it! In the photo Ed has posted above you can see the disparity in stripe angles between the tail plane and wings/fuselage, though it looks a bit the other way around there. 🤔

New schemes, but no details yet of those new schemes from the link.

Model Monkey do a 3D print replacement set - sorry, my iPad wont let me copy and paste the address but you’ll find it in a search of their 1/24 scale range

Thank you but not really what I’m looking for. What does each Type look like, what is their difference and when were they used, etc. In previous posts here Edgar seems to have found good info around the main Types and approximate periods of use, but it would be nice to have firm information and source. May be I am asking for hen’s teeth here.

Is there a good reference for the different types of Sutton harness, and when each type became available?

Is it just me, or do those circles above the victory marks look like emojis? 😕

Any recommendations for a blackening solution?

Not familiar with the Otaki kit these days but did own one many, many years ago, long gone. As well as the issues mentioned above, I don’t recall it having the wing root fuel tanks nor the lower wing signalling lights near the wing tips. Is the light in the fuselage belly moved further back too? And scissors on the u/c legs? I suppose it depends on how realistic you want the finished product to be.

Mk IIs are all over the place with their camouflage from what I’ve found. Note the two photos Troy has posted above, P7420 and P7422 which should share the same camouflage scheme given their supposed place in their construction but are opposites - ! 🤔

Yes please!

And vice-versa.

I did wonder why there was sometimes an aluminium coat(s) - thx Graham!

Scale?

Which kit are you using?