Antti_K

Lovely work Jon! Excellent paintwork and the decals look great. Cheers, Antti

You are most welcome Jon And thank you for the compliment. I've studied those five Spitfires for over 20 years and every once and awhile something new comes into light. There are still "mysteries" like PS852 and PS854 painted in purple, was the repaint of those five just adding MSG or was it a complete repaint or why the Seletar Spitfires had different sized roundels? My earlier thread "Spy Spitfires over China" (you've seen it) here on BM was a humble effort to create a timeline of 81 Squadron Spitfires. Hopefully new photos and details pop up. Cheers, Antti

Hello Jon, so far the little "evidence" we have say that the spinners were originally PRU Blue and later white. This theory is based on known dates for certain photographs. The photos of PS890, PS852 and PS854 were taken between 22 February and 4 March 1953 and were all published in "Flight" in 29 May 1953. These photos show either PRU Blue spinner (PS890) or Medium Sea Grey spinner (PS852 and PS854). Flight Lieutenant Peter Giddens served at RAF Seletar between December 1951 and 4 June 1954, so he saw (and photographed) all the paint schemes 81 squadron's Spitfires wore. On the other hand we know that PS836, PS888 and PS890 all had white spinners on 1 April 1954. So this gives us a time frame of roughly one year during which the colour was changed. I remember reading that white was applied close 1 April 1954. Flt Lt Powles had already left Hong Kong for good (although only days earlier) when PS852 and PS854 were photographed still with Medium Sea Grey spinners. PS890 was photographed by the same photographer (Norman MacMillan) at RAF Seletar only days earlier with a PRU Blue spinner. And yet Powles personally told Jim Kiker that PS852 had white spinner (and PRU BLue / MSG camouflage) during his high speed almost a year earlier (5 February 1952). On the other hand Powels wrote that the two Spitfires were painted with two colour camouflage sometime autumn 1952; at least six months later. I guess we all know that memory can make tricks to us all... One thing is for sure: Powels never flew PS852 in High Speed Silver paint scheme although Airfix gives this in their painting instructions. I'm still trying to find a note I made, which says that 81 Squadron painted the spinners with white on all of their Spitfires (PR.19s). I haven't found anything on the reason though; why the spinners were painted white. A "theatre" or "Campaign" marking perhaps? It is of course possible that the spinners were painted with white twice (although it sounds odd). And no, I don't think you are "banging" on the subject, as it is a fascinating one Cheers, Antti

Hello all, I had these hooks in mind: I've seen them in various Spitfires. Where there also another kind of system? Cheers, Antti

Hello Jon and Mike, at least those RAF examples that carried drop tanks had the hooks. I remember seeing them also in some Mk.XIIs (well known MB882 as an example). The information about white spinners wasn't in "High Drama" nor was it in "Spy Spitfires over China". It also looks like that Flt Lt Powels got the colours wrong when he said that PS852 he flew in "High drama" carried PRU Blue/MSG paint scheme. If his recollections about the time of the repaint of those two Spitfires is correct, the plane was still in overall PRU Blue during that record setting flight. To Jim Kiker (Jim is here on BM) Powels told that the spinner was white during his high speed dive. Both PS852 and PS854 remained in PRU Blue overall until the new paint scheme was applied. There is a well known photo of PS854 in PRU Blue/MSG paint scheme and with a white spinner. Unfortunately there is no details about the date. When PS890 was handed over to RTAF it had a white spinner. "Flight's" photographer first visited RAF Seletar where he photographed PS890 with PRU Blue spinner. He then moved to RAF Kai Tak where he photographed both PS852 and PS854 with PRU Blue spinners. It is possible that everything was shot in colour, as at least the photos taken at Kai Tak were originally shot in colour. I have the dates for these "photo sessions" somewhere... I think it was in February 1953 (I have a couple of binders full of notes about these five Spitfires). The last flight (PS888) took place in April 1st, 1954 and the spinners were white. Let me dig my archives... Cheers, Antti

You have a keen eye for details Mike I couldn't be sure about the museum example; does it have this antenna in the right spot. This Spitfire was in very poor condition (and a lots of parts were missing) when they started the restoration work at Lindkoping. My photo also "show" two hooks just in front of the flaps (those dark streaks located slightly inwards of the radiators). Better pictures can be found online. The rear end of the drop tank was attached into these hooks. Hyvää Joulua Mike, Merry Christmas my friend Cheers, Antti

Hello Jon, that's a detail still confusing me. At one point I began to think that possibly the squadron badge was painted only on the port side. As you may know PS888 had the squadron crest painted under the windshield and possibly PS836 never carried any. Cheers, Antti

Hello James & Co., Similar clear window was (at least some) on Finnish Vampires. One of the Vampire pilots told me that an ADF antenna was housed behind the window. Whether it's true or not, I can't tell. Cheers, Antti

And more... here is a photo showing a Swedish PR.XIX (or S31 as they were called in Sweden) after a landing mishap. Note that the boat antenna is slightly off to port side; not on fuselage center line. Cheers, Antti

Hello Jon and Mike, that's the photo I was talking about. Taken by "Flight's" photographer (Norman McMillar?). I have a copy of the original article showing the date. I can try to find out that copy. Main point being that white was applied on the spinners only a couple of days (give or take) earlier than the last flight was made. Cheers, Antti

Hello Jon, you are right; the spinner is white in your photo of PS890. If I remember correctly, this particular picture was taken at RAAF Butterworth or at Kuala Lumpur. It certainly isn't from RAF Seletar but it could be from RAF Tengah (the hills look something like that when you are standing on the main ramp facing towards the ATC Tower). An earlier photo taken at Seletar (a high speed flyby with distorted hangars in the background) shows PRU Blue spinner. The last two digits are an interesting detail, as they appear in many PR.19s in the original paint. Peter Gidden's photos also clearly show the correct size roundels for the three different airplanes. Flt Lt Edward C. Powles took two Spitfires to RAF Kai Tak and they were in their original war time paint with "small" roundels. That small hatch then: it is for ground power and possibly it was clearly marked, especially if there were other marks (like those Mk. 24s at Kai Tak) around as they had a 24 Volt system when PR.19 was the last one with 12 Volts. Cheers, Antti

Hello Jon, No 81 Squadron had the spinners painted with white just before Spitfire PR.19 retired from service. According to photos and diaries of a service pilot, the spinners remained white for only a couple of days. Flight -magazine's photographer took those well known shots of PS890 at RAF Seletar showing the spinner still painted with PRU Blue. The pilot was Flying Officer P. Giddens. Note also the serial: the last two digits sit higher on the fuselage than the rest. PS890 also carried larger roundels than PR.19s usually did. For example PS888 carried smaller ones. Peter Gidden's photos can be seen here: http://www.rafseletar.info/Personal Pages/Peter Gidden/Photos 1/The Late Peter Giddens - Photo Gallery page 1.html Cheers, Antti

Hello Simon, at least I can see the "Contact us" link at the top of the Alleycat page (on the turquoise banner). Click that and you will be able to enter your own contact information and your message. HPH Cheers, Antti

David, that refueling probe once played "a Key Role" in 60 Squadron's Christmas card... Cheers, Antti

I'm planning exactly the same. Comparing those two kits it is clear that one wants to use more and more of the Tamiya kit. My revised plan is to mate the engines and nose section of the Airfix FR.9 with the rest of the Tamiya F.1. I can't help it, but to my eye the Tamiya kit looks so much better. Cheers, Antti

Hello Einar, If I remember correctly it all happened in 1989 when this Airbus was on final approach for runway 15 at EFHK in strong crosswind and the captain executed a go-around starting roughly at 1000 feet. He pressed the TOGA -buttons on thrust levers and flying an A300 this meant a rather steep (and unpleasant to the passengers) climb. In his attempt to make the ride smoother the captain pushed the control yoke forward. This was something that made the autopilot to trim nose up even more. With full thrust and full nose up trim the captain had his controls pushed against the instrument panel and they were approaching stall pretty fast. Control was regained when captain ordered his first officer to manually set a nose down trim. The plane made a visual circuit and landed safely. Cheers, Antti

This is really inspiring Anthony Excellent work as always. I noted that "flat nose" also and fixed it with Milliput. I wasn't too worried about loosing all surface details as the rectangular panel on the underside has the dimensions wrong. Cheers, Antti

Lovely work Einar! For a former Kar-Air air crew member it is nice to see "True Colors". I remember this Airbus well. I also remember the time when the pilots almost lost it flying this plane. They got something wrong with the autopilot and couldn't find out why the airplane kept trimming nose up. It was a very close call... Cheers, Antti

Thank you Larry Airacobra with cameras; that is really interesting. This is the very first time I hear about such an airplane. Looking forward to see more. Cheers, Antti

Cheers, Antti

Paljon kiitoksia Mike And I will do my best to keep safe (luckily I got my second jab a couple of weeks ago). I've already mixed paints for the camouflage (Olive Drab and Neutral Grey). This will be "Galanin's Cobra" (white 26 in Soviet markings once finished). Next item I need is Foxbot's stencil (it looks very accurate) sheet as the Eduard sheet lacks too many stencils. I will post RFI photos and some historical details once I get there. Cheers, Antti

Hello Larry and all, I'm at the painting stage of my Eduard P-39Q. It's been a long road up until this point as the kit isn't especially accurate. There are two major problems: the cockpit glazing is some 1,5 millimeters too high ruining the look and some three millimeters are missing from the wing chord causing all detailing on the rear fuselage to be on wrong positions. Here are some WIP photos of my Cobra; all corrections made are based on the real thing: And finally: the interior colour. A special mix of Humbrol enamels. Note also, that all those round lightening holes in cockpit structures show ZCY through the holes. Same applies to the nose gear bay doors. The seat is made out of some composite material and its colour is best described as leather brown. Seat belts are light tan coloured and to my eye Eduard's decal is a good match for the original colour. Originally the seat has been painted with the same green as the rest of the cockpit but almost all of the paint has been chipped away. However that metal frame behind and below the seat is painted with lighter and more greyish green. Hope these help you guys. Cheers, Antti

Ooh, brake chutes... They are always "armed" with some temper. Flying a Learjet I always volunteered to pack the brake chute rather than check the engine oil levels. Inserting a spring loaded chute into a container sized only slightly larger than a family size pea soup tin is always interesting to say the least. I've read that it wasn't completely without some heavy breathing with Phantoms either. Cheers, Antti

Hello bar side & Co., I built one of these a couple of years ago and there was one major problem with my kit: the belly "rises" towards the main landing gear bay making it look more like "Star Destroyer" of some Scifi film. I used styrene strips and lots of Milliput the straighten the area. This is a "must" fix. The astro tracker is an excellent piece of advice. At the same time check the cockpit area from the side. Italeri's kit looks more like an A-12 with second seat when viewed from the side and with the canopies closed. An SR-71 has "straight" canopy top all the way down to the astro tracker window. Panel lines are far from accurate and for example those four camera windows are in the wrong positions because the measurements of the equipment bay doors are wrong. If you wish to build a plane from the -80s, it most likely carried a Synthetic Aperture Radar in the nose (like those SR-71s on detachment at Mildenhall). Milliput is needed to create an accurate SAR nose as it was deeper and had small bulges on both sides. Photos show that SR-71s carried two Optical Bar Cameras in fuselage bays when they were based in UK. Cheers, Antti

What James says: I was studying a Folland Gnat a couple of years ago here in Finland. These planes were painted with standard RAF colours (Dark Sea Grey, Dark Green and High Speed Silver). Using a NCS colour chart it was interesting to see that "aged" Dark Green gave exactly the same shade as did USAAF Olive Drab in an Airacobra! Cheers, Antti