DominikS Posted March 30, 2020 Share Posted March 30, 2020 Hello How are you Fellow Modellers? I hope you are fine. I've got two quick qustions. Currently I'm bulding a Spitfire VIII from No 32 squadron and I have a problem with the camouflage. Was High Altitude factory painted or at MUs or in squadrons? If in MUs/units were stencils painted again or there was no sense/time to do it? And yes, I've tried to find this information on the Net and Forum, but uncle goolge hasn't been very helpful. Cheers and take care Dominik Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alt-92 Posted March 30, 2020 Share Posted March 30, 2020 Do you have a specific aircraft (serial) in mind? That might help narrowing down the possibilities. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DominikS Posted March 30, 2020 Author Share Posted March 30, 2020 Most probably GZ-M, although I have decals for GZ-N. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alt-92 Posted March 30, 2020 Share Posted March 30, 2020 That's a squadron code, not a serial. Serials are better as you can match these at http://www.airhistory.org.uk/spitfire/home.html with production facilities and maybe even MU & deployments. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DominikS Posted March 30, 2020 Author Share Posted March 30, 2020 JF404 or JF364. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Graham Boak Posted March 30, 2020 Share Posted March 30, 2020 Overall camouflage was rarely painted in squadrons, which were not fitted with adequate facilities, equipment, or trained personnel. This is from around the time when aircraft companies were complaining about the proliferation of colour schemes slowing production, so the factories was restricted to a limited number: in the case of Supermarine this was Day Fighter and Desert, but the latter was later dropped, I believe. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DominikS Posted March 30, 2020 Author Share Posted March 30, 2020 Graham, so should I understand that the HA Scheme was painted in MUs? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alt-92 Posted March 30, 2020 Share Posted March 30, 2020 So a repaint to MSG / PRU would have been done at the MU level, and I'd expect the basic walkway & stenciling instead of the full factory loadout. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stever219 Posted March 30, 2020 Share Posted March 30, 2020 I’ve found a very few number of images of 32 Squadron’s high-altitude Spitfire VIIs and none show any stencilling, not even walkways or W/T bonding panels which might be expected to show up clearly on Medium Sea Grey. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Graham Boak Posted March 30, 2020 Share Posted March 30, 2020 (edited) It is a bit of a moot point as to when the ruling came in: translation, I don't know. Photographs of Mk.VIIs show the first batch in Day Fighter and the second batch in High Altitude, so these were possibly done in the factory. However examples of Mk.VIIIs in the Mediterranean imply strongly (to me) that these will have been done in theatre MUs. These aircraft, particularly the early ones with Merlin 61s, were regarded as high altitude optimised and widely used as top cover above formations of low-altitude rated fighters such as Mk.Vs or P-40s. Therefore use of the HA scheme could have been regarded as more suitable. However there don't seem to have been very many such examples, and spread among the squadrons. Also implying an MU source. It might be interesting to collect the serials of known examples to see if they were a single batch of Supermarine production, but stever219's comment above makes it seem unlikely. Edited March 30, 2020 by Graham Boak Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alt-92 Posted March 30, 2020 Share Posted March 30, 2020 Both serials mentioned used either M63 or 63A variants - so medium/high-altitude 2 stage engines. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Graham Boak Posted March 30, 2020 Share Posted March 30, 2020 So F Mk.VIIIs rather than LFs. (Not that the Merlin 66 was that low-altitude rated anyway.) Do these examples all have the extended wingtips? I still wonder whether all the Merlin 61/63 examples had these, and all the LFs not. It seems a little too obvious... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alt-92 Posted March 30, 2020 Share Posted March 30, 2020 You'd expect some pictures showing those as the two serials mentioned are provided in the Eduard 1:48 HF Mk.VIII boxing... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Troy Smith Posted March 30, 2020 Share Posted March 30, 2020 10 hours ago, DominikS said: Most probably GZ-M, although I have decals for GZ-N. 10 hours ago, DominikS said: JF404 or JF364. HTH 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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