Graham Boak

That should work well for Hurricanes and Typhoons with straight leading edges, but Spitfires have curved leading edges, so you are trying to get the transfer to wrap around above, below and along the wing.

I don't believe that the German standard late-war vehicle colour (Dunkelgelb) was particularly close to either variety of RLM 79. The earlier 79 is yellow rather than the ochre colour of the Army, the later one hazelnut. Excuse imprecise colour terminology, but I think the point is made about the key differences. Apparently the Germans did have a number of other yellowish shades, notably for use by the Afrika Korps, and these may be nearer to the RLM shades, but I can't say. Asking Jamie to address the Colourcoats German military catalogue may be a bit pushy at the moment, but perhaps he could add a little something here? PS: going by the colour reproduction on my monitor, and considering the difference between fresh paint on a chip and the appearance on an aircraft in b&w photos, I prefer the combination of CC70 and Humbrol 116 - I have seen it said that 71 was close (eyeball close, I presume) to RAF Dark Green - with a combination of CC70/71 for a more weathered appearance. But that's obviously including a fair amount of subjective interpretation, not a claim to ideal matching of paint samples.

Aluminium. They weren't painted any kind of grey, and Sky wasn't introduced on fighters until June. I would say that the red in the finflash was narrow, yes. There were early examples of aircraft where the whole fin was painted, but then the other two colours were much wider.

It's true that the BP factory can be expected to have Sky Grey paint in stock for they built ROCs to keep the factory employed as the Defiant production was delayed. That doesn't mean they would decide off their own bat to use it in the face of AM instructions otherwise.

Sky Grey was used by the FAA up until September. 1940, but not by the RAF. That's Aluminium paint.

No early war light grey. Prewar undersides were Aluminium. The half and half Night/ White scheme was initially wings only and the scheme was often misinterpreted to leave the rest of the underside Aluminium. I don't know offhand when all the Defiants went to Night overall.

I think that you are referring to the Night port wing with Sky band and spinner, which belongs to very late 1940 not to May. There was no trim before this. The Night/white split to the underside, with Night or Black spinner, belonged to the first half of 1940, with the underside changing to Sky from June 6th. The other change from May 1st was to add the fin flash and the Yellow ring to the fuselage roundels. So the Defiants in the photos that you mention were in the correct scheme for the time, and if you look for later photos you should be able to find examples with the Night port wing and the Sky (or possibly Sky Blue) trim, but these will be later.

The answer to that (post is just turn up once and find out. Or even ask first? Judging from the attendance at Scale Model World, and the number of local shows, I'd say that model clubs are thriving. There will always be the problem that few if any clubs can possibly cope with every modelling interest, and it's quite possible that, despite the best of motives from organisers and other attendees, some attendee may well find themselves uninspired. That's part of life. If your life doesn't fit in with conventional mid-week evening meetings, I'm afraid that's going to be a problem because the majority of people do find that best, and only a minority would be able to fit in any other approach. Those who do would be appropriately grateful, I'm sure! Otherwise there's the internet - perhaps use Facebook with similar modellers to form a Group with specific "meeting" dates and times? Or is there a way to use Skype for conference calls?

It would be more damaging to walk into the trailing edge, but there are no yellow markings there or on the tailplane or rudder for that matter. All equally vulnerable to inattentive ground crew. The point about the propeller tips being yellow is that this makes them more visible when the propeller is rotating and thus effectively invisible - not a problem with wings.

Nor do I, but I am over 70 (if not quite in perfect working order) and I didn't start cutting resin at a much younger age. I did however grow up in the Durham coal field, and am well aware of the results of "Dust". No-one is going to die immediately from breathing resin dust, or coal dust, or quarrying dust, or asbestos. But long term health is quite another matter, and you might like to look up the medical history of such industrial diseases. It isn't pretty reading. The amount of resin (or indeed polystyrene) dust in the air in a modelling room is likely to be much less than the dust on those active environments, and you are likely to be in it for a shorter time, both of which reduces the risk. That doesn't make it foolish for younger modellers to take precautions, if they want a comfortable later life.

Any aircraft that has a sliding hood will have trouble sliding it back after the track has been damaged in battle. That includes the Spitfire and Hurricane. Because of this Malcolm designed the quick-release toggle that hung down from the canopy. I don't know exactly where it was, nor when it was introduced.

As always, everyone is free to paint their model however they like. Deep Sea Green and PRU Mauve over PRU Pink would look pretty good, and I've thought that a Spitfire would look great in RLM 61/62/63 over 65. However, there are a lot of modellers who do like to paint at least some of their models in the colours actually used on the originals, and for a long time the Malta Spitfire blue (or should that be blues?) has been one of the most intriguing mysteries. The colours used on all Malta-based Spits may not have been totally deciphered, but now we do know the colours that the participants were calling for, and receiving, for at least some of the deliveries. That's a big step forward.

If it was a Mk.I then it had the Watts. In RAF service anyway.

No. Slate grey is lighter and green.

I entirely agree that theories about the camouflage of Malta Spits were "very various", having contributed to a few of them myself over the years. Brian's book was certainly excellent given the published knowledge at the time, and indeed is still outstanding and well worth buying (for those who haven't already), but he had no access to more than a fragment of official documentation. His book covers the whole story of Spitfires on Malta in 1942, but where it comes to the Calendar and Bowery missions Paul has gone delving into the archives and discovered still-existing correspondence from the active participants, at the time, about the colours to be used - including those used incorrectly at first and their replacements. That still leaves many Spitfires on Malta, both before and after this time, where the schemes remains unrecorded, uncertain, and indeed "nobody knows" for sure, but light has been shone into this particular corner. The articles are to be found in SAM December 2015 and January 2016 for Calendar, August and September 2017 for Bowery. Last time I checked these were still all available, but that may not be recent.