Graham Boak

South Africa received a number of these postwar: they are fairly well covered in different sources. Other than that I'm afraid you are probably up to searching through various reference books - I'm pretty sure there's at least one photo in Spitfire The History.

£62 is a normal price for a resin ship kit of that size.

It is very similar is size and general shape to the wartime T2 tankers: of which Revell did the J.L. Hanna many years ago and have since re-issued it a number of time with different names. The similarities are enough so to make a conversion possible as far as the superstructure is concerned but I'm not sure about the deck furniture. Nor, for that matter, the shape of the underwater lines, as Revell had a habit of producing flat bottoms.

Unfortunately I don't think the true reflectance is a good indication here - the aircraft appears to be white or a very light grey. It is reminiscent of the appearance of Extra Dark Sea Grey in the much-discussed Ark Royal Skua photo, or the abandoned Sea Gladiator on Malta (the last wartime picture). The aircraft appears to be a lot lighter than the Blue in the roundel, if that's any help.

The code letter is aft of the roundel. The picture appears to be taken on ortho film, for the red of the roundel and the fin flash is darker than the blue. The code letter appears to have the same tone as the blue, certainly lighter than the red. The aircraft appears very light overall, which is common for some blue paints on ortho film (presumably when taken with a certain filter) but I don't think I've seen a PRU Blue aircraft looking so light. The link to the High Altitude Flight makes me wonder about the description of the colour - could it be the similar Deep Sky?. Just a thought. I kick myself for not looking at the photos in Flights of the Forgotten! Combat Codes has BJ477 as MA.R

I don't recall seeing photos of any, only Beaufighters and Mosquitos which suggest that it was specifically a Strike camouflage scheme. Late war Sunderlands would have been in EDSG over White and Catalinas the same, which was specifically a Maritime Patrol scheme.

Kudos to you as well as MMP for continuing these additions.

Also you'd have to exchange the oil cooler, possibly the prop and canopy. Both are available as aftermarket bits, of course. The awkward bit is that the wings do not cross-kit readily. Despite their close origins in date the Mk.Vb wing is a bit of a bodge at the root (and elsewhere). The Mk.I is much better. It can be done, I've done it years back. But it isn't as simple as it sounds.

The most comprehensive book I know of dealing with SOE operations is Flights of the Forgotten, by Ken Merrick. In a quick look I couldn't find a reference to the Bostons, but believe they were to act as radio links to receive and re-transmit messages from the French Resistance, or SIS operatives in France. I have found a reference to 226 Sq including a special flight of 8 Mitchells in much this role immediately pre D-Day. Looking again I found a reference to a Havoc Flight in April 1943, including BJ477. Also an earlier reference in October 1943, referring to AW399/W and BJ477/V, at this time specifically detached to St. Eval to make contact with Breton fishing boats. The Flight had been formed as part of 161 Sq with AW399 and BJ466, the latter quickly replaced by BJ477. These are described as ex-French or Belgian contract aircraft (French, I suspect).

For most of the war the bomb loads dropped by the RAF were smaller, and by no means all were dropped on Germany. The normal bomb load even later wasn't 3x that of a B-17, let alone a B-24. The individual aircraft may have had a maximum bomb load larger, but you also have to remember that the US types had longer ranges, where the British types had to cut back on their bomb load to reach more distant targets i.e. most of Germany. The US also did significant bombing of Germany out of Italy. However I suspect the most important answer will turn out to be the number of bombers to hand in the last year. Like a lot of these things however, just where does that statistic come from originally?

In this case, not so much an error as an omission. There clearly were lots of holes in the listings, quite apart from the questions left at the end of each section. Plus of course those introduced because of pilots' transpositions in their log books. But in such a huge undertaking there was bound to be faults.

That's a good point about the number on the cowling, which Is visible in the carrier deck photo. Good enough for me.

Give it a coat of matt varnish and it will lighten again.

Fun. Are you going to add extra flappery to get the landing speed down? Think Firefly perhaps, with some extra trailing edge fairings covering flap extension tracks? In an alternative universe, the Roc was built at Boulton Paul's Wolverhampton factory because the Defiant was not ready for production.

Post 6 shows EF, but was this JV132? Could be, but a link would be good. Post 1: JV128 is not linked with 800 Sq at all, let alone as ET. ET is quoted as JV188 but later.

You cannot avoid politics when dealing with major defence buys. It is ALL political. Not only party politics, but industrial politics and international politics and service politics...

Along the same line of thought, the RAF Jaguar was considerably darker than the French one - as seen side-by-side at Farnborough - but I don't know whether the French were then using NATO Green or something national. It was similar to NATO Green in memory, for what that's worth. I don't think that the Jaguar Dark Green appeared significantly different from the Hunters etc that were passing through Warton at the same time, but I never did any direct match between these types. I do recall finding it very dark when I came to actually match it by placing model colour patches on the skin. The closest I could find was the old Humbrol RFC Green, but I didn't have a Gloy or an original Authentics Dark Green then, and it was too long ago for the more recent paints. I find it a little difficult to believe that the Jaguar had a unique Dark Green. Memory also suggests that the first camouflaged MRCA (P03) also had the darker colour - but doesn't say anything about the wraparound P06. I used to think it relevant that the 1950/60s aircraft fading away in museums (re the era of repainting) were all fading to a chocolate brown, whereas the more recent aircraft (or repaints such as the Usworth Vulcan) were fading to a brighter green. More generally, there have been a number of posters suggesting that the postwar Sky and PRU Blue were different from the wartime shades, but this has always been discounted.

Nick: When was the BS381C 241 Dark Green introduced? There was a noticeable change between Jaguar and Tornado production, but my assumption was that the latter was NATO Dark Green.

No, this was when high level missions were thought necessary. The Valiant suffered from its metallurgy, the choice of a poor alloy which wasn't used on the Vulcan or Victor. However, with its long wing the Victor would use up its fatigue life quickly at low level. Having been caught out by the Lancaster, Sir Fred was determined that his bomber would carry more than Avro's, this time around. I suspect that the RAF/MoD had no particular requirement for more, but weren't going to object if it came as a free option.

WW2 Olive Drab was highly variable in practice, even though there were a number of different standards for it at different times, but FS34087 is a postwar definition of the colour. I believe it was much more standardised in use postwar, but whether that's right or wrong the paints are referring to one specific standard which didn't change, whatever happened on the vehicles. The model paints should all be the same, unless specifically labelled as something else. They clearly don't: which for modellers does mean that we are free to choose a colour that represents what we are looking to model: fresh or faded, for example. Or bulled up for a parade.

Sturtivant (FAA Aircraft 1939 to 1945) credits this success to Ritchie in JV132, but does not give the code.

Yes, there are a lot of variation, but the standard colours were the same. There's no such thing as WW2 RAF Dark Green and Postwar RAF Dark Green, but variations around a single colour. Mixed Grey should have been long gone before the appearance of the Griffon Spitfire shown in the first posting. I don't know that it was ever used by the production lines. Here we do miss the ill Edgar Brooks, who has had much to say on this subject before now, and his postings on the subject are well worth chasing up.

If that's what works for you, that's good. Here's a few qualifications answering your specific questions, particularly expanding your Step 8.. "Official" advice is always to wash the plastic to remove tool release agent before attempting to paint. I don't generally do this, and neither do at least some others. This almost always works fine anyway, and when I have had trouble I cannot specifically blame not washing the parts, but it could have been that. Prepaint the pieces on the sprue where you can (major airframe parts excepted). You can always remove the paint from meeting surfaces. I find priming is not necessary, but some people like it. Some kind of undercoat is generally a good idea to highlight problem areas - you might consider this as primer. Recent Humbrol paints have suffered from poor pigmentation. This aside, shaking is rarely enough unless you have a powered shaking machine. Stir stir stir and stir again. I have seen 15 minutes recommended - but again I don't follow that. Poor coverage does seem to have become a common problem nowadays, particularly with satin and gloss paints. It always was with some colours (white, yellow and red). I tend to apply an undercoat of "good old Humbrol" approximate colours which is then followed by a rub down, wash and then adding the more accurate hues , often from other companies. As a general principle, several thin coats are better than one thick one. Do not use the paints straight from the tin, always remove to a mixing palette and thin. Even if you aren't intending to do multiple coats. OK, you can get away without this on small parts. Humbrol Filler isn't necessarily the best around - I would turn to MIlliput for major reshaping and Mr. Dissolved Putty for filling poor joins, excessive panel lines, and the like. There is a wide choice and different modellers have different approaches. More generally, the same applies to the other proprietary products that you mention. Don't be afraid to experiment. I have to add one qualification: I don't model to competition standards and some of my approach may seem inadequate to those who set higher standards for themselves. Pick their brains by all means.

Generally agreed, but the post war colour standard does not differ from the wartime one. If they produce different tins for these then one of them is wrong - defined as not matching the standard.

B? I thought that was Z - the central one at the rear. My understanding is that this photo was taken in the Indian Ocean but I was thinking rather further East. I hadn't spotted the yellow inboard - yes, that is what I meant. I don't see any outboard however, which agrees with the other photo I've seen. Plus a banner (or a tatzelwurm?) on the nose of the outriggered SH. Very interesting.