rossm

I think you are correct, it's extremely unlikely a naval aircraft would be in natural metal and more likely the caption is an error and should be Aluminium paint. I've found a photo of the second protoype which appears to be overall grey (Cerrux?) apart from possibly the control surfaces which look paler, maybe aluminium. I've not found any more photos in natural metal though. Annoyingly a contemporary feature in Aeroplane gives a thorough description of everything but the finish. The Putnam on Blackburn aircraft states the protoype "appeared in public in battleship grey" at the 1937 Hendon display and "At least up to L3006 the aircraft were delivered in an all silver colour scheme".

A quick look from me suggests p44 is the only one to mention Cerrux grey with a ref to SAM v13no10 which gives a few more clues but nothing definitive - and it concentrates on the Swordfish. If you can give me the issue no of the 85 SAM I'll look that up for a cross check. I've seen reference to Alu dope for fabric and Cerrux Grey for metal in both places I've looked and one of the SAM also says metal was originally anodised but the anodisation was quickly replaced by the Cerrux grey paint. I imagine it would be complex and expensive to anodise a whole airframe, hence Alu doped Skuas and Rocs. What the full story is I'm afreaid I haven't discovered. The overall grey seems to have been a scheme issued in a document but I didn't see that it made it onto an aircraft - but I'm not an FAA expert and don't have much in the way of references other than the Lang book.

This book will know the answer if anything does. It's the result of extensive research into the official documents in the National Archives and elsewhere. https://www.amazon.co.uk/Fleet-Air-Camouflage-Markings-Mediterranean/dp/1905414080/ref=sr_1_1?crid=29J5JELJYCMBW&dchild=1&keywords=fleet+air+arm+camouflage+and+markings&qid=1616489121&sprefix=fleet+air+arm+camo%2Caps%2C155&sr=8-1 I'll see if I can get to mine in the next few days.

I've had another look and I'm now leaning towards white although not 100% sure. I'm still wondering if the lettering is blue as it's quite pale in that pic and early films were more sensitive to blue hence it renders paler than red. However red lettering opn a white airframe seems to have been fairly common in those days.

Although it doesn't have an answer to your question another interesting book on PR ops is "Above All Unseen" by Edward Leaf. There is one photo but the rear window is obscured by the wing. It wouldn't surprise me if there were aircraft with standard windows per the photo in "Eyes of the RAF" and aircraft with enlarged ones as above - pretty much everything seems to have been a prototype in the early days of the PRU. If I were building a PRU Blue one I'd go with your choice of a standard window as the photo shows there must have been one and we know it's not N7334 - but that's just my feeling and I can't back it up. In opposition to that is the drawing in the instructions to Almark sheet A36 which shows it, like the profile drawings you have seen, with an enlarged window and a note that research was by Les Whitehouse who I think was well regarded back in the day - but who knows what information he had and how much interpretation he had to apply?

It did happen, possibly a misinterpretation of the wording. Modeldecal even provided large red centres on one of their sheets but, I think, only for smaller sizes - I used some on my all black Spitfire V "JU.H" IIRC. I'm afraid I can't point you to a source and I can't immediately find the date when the brighter pre-war colours changed to the darker red and blue - something that would kill the use of post war roundels.

That's the one I have and I initially thought white but after looking hard I thought there was a hint of off-whiteness, hence my guess of aluminium. Registration letters could be red, I'm hoping someone reading this will know the colours Cobham used on his aircraft as I think it unlikely it would have been repainted. I'll have another look bearing your thoughts in mind, thanks.

I think Sunderlands started with Aluminium - photos of the protoype look that way - then went to a medium grey. Have a look at https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205188242 and

Built as a 504K and since converted back to a 504K and now resident at Shuttleworth G-ADEV was a 504N when it was part of Cobham's Air Circus and subsequently with Air Publicity Limited. What I would like to know, even if only as a best guess, is what colour it was when it won the 1937 Devon Air Race. I have one photo of it in the hands of Air Publicity and would hazard a guess at silver dope with black nose and cockpit decking. The colour of the registration letters is a pure guess favouring blue. The report on the race in Flight for 29th July 1937 only shows the nose of the aircraft and I haven't tracked down The Aeroplane for that period to see if there is a report, possibly @John Aero has a copy? Does anyone have any more information please?

Paul Lucas does quote an Air Diagram (1164 for twin engine monoplane flying boats) which gives this a basis in reality. The colours in the profile drawing would go some way towards explaining the second photo. I don't think shadow shading of the Temperate Sea scheme was discontinued until the end of August 1940. So it might be true.

IIRC it's plated steel, I think the post where I first saw the drawing said what exactly and I'll try to find it when I get home

I use Tamiya Flat Aluminium from a bottle - XF-16 - with either their varnish or Kleer to get a gloss for decals and then your choice of flat or satin to seal in the decals.

It's a hobby so you can do what you like. I'm just as happy getting an imperfect result from improving an old kit as I am getting an imperfect result from applying my usual level of finishing skills to a Tamigawa Again. I have some Typhoon bits and pieces around if you need anything, and quite a few scans of my references as I needed them to be portable in the days when I spent part of a month in Norfolk and part in Cornwall.

DTD360 - the document specifying colours and finishes to manufacturers - in Feb 43 gives day fighters for overseas commands except desert areas to be the same as Fighter Command, i.e Dark Green, Ocean Grey and Medium Sea Grey. I think this document was also used by RAF units but how long it would take to get actioned in India I don't know.

10ft 9in according to the Gloster Putnam volume, the same as the Gladiator. Whether it was the same propeller or the profile was changed to handle the extra power I don't know.

Have a look at my web page http://hrmtech.com/SIG/coastal_cam.asp where the chronology of roundels and fin flashes is listed as best as I can with the information I have - e.g. 19th July 1940 is the probable date for the order to change from Type A to Type B upperwing roundels - of course I doubt if every aircraft was repainted the next day!

I like that idea - I've always drilled the fuselage and then tried to hold the wing in place to mark through the hole with the drill. It usually works but your method sounds better.

The best source I know is the Mushroom pubs book on the Walrus & Stranraer but nearly all the photos are of the preserved example so probably not representative. PM me your email address for scans.

But I want to build a TT35

Google usually does better than the forum search engine try putting in K5083 britmodeller I got this as one of the ealry results but might have done better if I'd included 1/72 in my search term

The link takes me to my "Home" dropbox - you'll need to share via a link or to specific email addresses, again under the ...

+1 @John Aero is almost certain to have useful information Also you could ask @dogsbody to scan his drawings at a higher resolution (1200 or 2400 dpi) and/or supply them in an uncompressed format (TIF not JPG) or at worst use the highest quality of JPG. Both of these together would greatly reduce the pixellation.

Filled and sanded, engraving started. Looks like the prop needs recentering. The wings have also had the aerofoil section put back where the leading edges were removed. I also tried to make a wing to fuselage fillet but only succeeded in sanding most of it away - annoying as if I'd known in advance how the contours would change I might have got close to what I wanted. I'm still not sure if the idea of making an add-on fillet will work or whether to make up a centre section plan view template and cut and shut the wings and fuselage to that then add fillets from filler. It's annoying to have the wings and fuselage the right shape and be stuck on how to join them. There will now be a short intermission for a house move which will hopefully include time for a ponder.

Looking at Scalemates the Revell kit is based on the MPM one - hence all the spare bits for different versions. https://www.scalemates.com/kits/revell-04903-vickers-wellington-mkii--629429