Sword 1/72 Spitfire Vc 615 County of Surrey Squadron – Burma 1944 My next go - Now Thankfully Finished

[Olmec Head]

Buoyed by completing my 19 Squadron Spitfire for this Group Build, I have cast around for another go.  I have mostly 1/48 Spitfires in the 'stash' (which always sounds disreputable), but they involve a lot of work and expertise that I don’t think I am ready to commit to on Britmodeller and not with a month of the completion date.

I do have 3 Freightdog kits of XIV and 18 (nee AZ Models) Spitfires with correction parts, but looking at them and having built one a few years ago, that does seem too challenging for a second build on this Forum.

I have two Sword Vc kits and build a Fighter Command one again a few years ago.  So leaving one kit to compare with the new Airfix Vc coming out this year, I think this will be a goer.

So Box (the Sword illustrations are always excellent):

 

Sprues:

 

 

 

Some extra bits from the extra bits box:

 

 

 

The aircraft will be:

 

 

 

I did not like the Malta Spitfire option from the kit as it is blue and controversial.  It is based on a possible picture of the original aircraft obscured by personnel, so the provenance is not great.  The other Kit options were USAAF and RAAF and they have been well represented in the Group Build so far.  So it is Fg Off Weggery’s aircraft from the Burma campaign in early 1944.  If the Vokes filter is a nightmare (as can happen) it will revert to a fighter Command A/C.

Some questions for the team please.  I am not terribly au fait with RAF Far East aircraft.  The camouflage is DG and DE with Medium Sea Grey undersides.  The kit squadron codes are white, but the Osprey profile shows Sky and other Burma Spitfires are  MSG.  any ideas on which way to go please.  I am also assuming that the gun patching covers were standard red, or were there other colours used?

And I assume the Prop and spinner are Rotol as the kit says-  unless they were not!

Would Burma Campaign aircraft been fitted with IFF wires, or would they have been the underwing pole by that date, again if fitted?

[TEMPESTMK5]

Good afternoon Olmec Head

Very good choice

I am not a specialist of the operations Over Burma during the WWII but I found this photo

https://search.aol.com/aol/image;_ylt=AwrE19b0UeteDNYA2K1pCWVH;_ylu=X3oDMTByMDgyYjJiBGNvbG8DYmYxBHBvcwMyBHZ0aWQDBHNlYwNzYw--?q=Spitfire+Vc+615+County+of+Surrey+Squadron&v_t=webmail-searchbox#id=4&iurl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.asisbiz.com%2Fil2%2FSpitfire%2FRAF-615Sqn-KW%2Fimages%2FSpitfire-MkVcTrop-RAF-615Sqn-KWD-Lawrence-Weggery-MA292-Bengal-India-1943-02.jpg&action=click

 

Have fun with your build

Best Regards

Patrice

 

[Graham Boak]

Light blue (Sky Blue?) codes were also seen on SEAC Spitfires, possibly just Mk.VIIIs(?)   The kit plans certainly show DH spinners. but I agree that the photo shows Rotol.

 

The Malta example is certainly curious.  BR301 arrived on the island from the USS Wasp in Operation Bowery, which implies Temperate Sea Scheme, and initially operated with 185 Sq.   The cannon in the outer housing is evidence of this, as the aircraft delivered from the Wasp had four cannon, two of which were removed on the island.  The UF codes show that it became a 601 Sq aircraft, and so carried the desert camouflage as this unit was transferred to North Africa at a time when things were quiet on the island.  However BR301 did not go for some reason, possibly temporary unserviceability, and so ended up in the hands of 249 Sq.  As such the uppersurfaces will have been painted in a dark blue-grey to match the rest of the unit, probably Mediterranean Light Blue although 249 Sq aircraft do seem exceptionally dark.  It seems exceedingly unlikely that the UF codes would have been retained during or restored after this repainting.  The Sky Blue underside is almost certainly a mistranslation of Azure Blue.  Possibly this is also true for the SEAC option, and may be right.

 

I'm certainly hoping the new Airfix kit will improve on the Sword in a number of details, but the Sword is still a very nice kit of the subject and the best in 1/72 by a considerable margin.

[MikeR]

It's a nice kit - I also finished the one I built as MA292: LINK. I also posted a question about what colour the undersides were: LINK. I just used the kit decals and went with Dark Earth, Dark Green over Medium Sea Grey, Humbrol 29,116 and 165 respectively.

 

Mike.

[Steve 1602]

9 hours ago, Olmec Head said:

Would Burma Campaign aircraft been fitted with IFF wires, or would they have been the underwing pole by that date, again if fitted?

I’ve just been looking into IFF fits for my Vb build.  IFF Mark 2(the wires) didn’t last beyond 1943. 
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/IFF_Mark_II

 

One thing I’m not certain about is whether IFF  was carried in all theatres - I’ve read some articles that have referred exclusively to UK based aircraft (linked to chain home radar)

 

Steve

[Olmec Head]

Thanks Mike, Graham and Steve

 

Having looked at the photo of MA292, it is a Rotol prop which I should have clocked.  I won't put IFF wires on, the two photos in the Osprey book don't show the wire or the fuselage connector, although the images aren't super clear. A better rendition might have clearer detail.

 

And having read Graham's above on UF-S  in Malta, I think it highlights that that aircraft is a bit on the contentious side even for a Malta Spitfire; any Malta Spitfire finish is open to interpretation and getting it wrong!

 

Back to the little plastic plane.  I remembered from building this kit before, is that it looks great on the frames with excellent detail and precision: but for me this precision doesn't carry through to the actual building.  It does need more care than you originally think and the fit is not as good as the individual parts look.  I have also noticed that the fuel tank cover isn't really there (but not that an issue in 1/72) and the cockpit canopy rear section is too deep and looks like a Mark VII (but that can be painted).

 

I put a couple of bits of old Airwaves etch on the throttle, u/c bit and side walls, but nothing worthy of a photo.  That said, the etch does improve the cockpit and, as I have it, I will use it again.  The Quickboost seat does look quite good with molded in straps:

 

 

I struggled to get the cockpit assembly to fit and it seemed to force the fuselage nose seam apart on dry fitting, probably because the instrument panel part is not properly aligned.  I de-stuck the assembly from the sidewall and stopped cursing as it came away without too much damage (beyond abandoning all hope of doing an open cockpit, it will be firmly closed).  I then glued together the fuselage sides which don't have locating lugs.  The top seam at the nose was still not brilliant with a slight gap when put to the light and I used a temporary spacer to force the bottom apart  try to get the top joint to weld. (if that sort of makes sense).

 

 

Now no light showing through seam!

 

I then put in a reinforcing strip to hopefully stop the nose from popping open and strips behind the exhaust holes:

 

 

The top got a final 'over the board' strip where the seam was still a bit dodgy near the cockpit.  This should allow me to sand it down and fill the slight gap.  

 

 

The top seam is at least positive!  Hopefully it will sand down with losing too much detail.  And my new beading tool set can redo the fasteners, which is nice.

 

Next will be to fit in the cockpit and the wings on; a dry fit suggested the cockpit interfered with the lower wing, so I have sanded the lower cockpit off a bit and it now just fits.  The same dry fit indicates that the upper wing to fuselage fit is not going to be a simple job (unlike the Airfix Spitfire 1 which surprised me by being nearly seamless).   You will also notice my use of cocktail sticks  an indispensable modelling tool.

 

 

 

 

[Cookenbacher]

Looks like you have the Sword kit well in hand.

[Graham Boak]

I'm a little way behind you with mine.  I had trouble getting the cockpit to fit in, but a little bit of scraping put that right.  Holding the fuselage together gives the impression of no problems to come - I did a dry fit of the assembled wing (I prefer making the wing and fuselage separately and then bringing them together - I cannot imagine what to do if there was any problem using the other way) and it looks as though it'll need only a small trim to the rear of the port upper join.  Doing all this with only two hands may imply problems have been missed.

[Olmec Head]

A bit of a hiatus in sticking little plastic planes together due to the rather hot weather here in Nottinghamshire.  I am relegated to a workbench for modelling in the garage and this becomes somewhat tedious in the heat.  I have also found through posting about the actual MA292 in the WW2 forum that the aircraft is probably not that simple a prospect as I first thought and that its camouflage finish is open to interpretation and debate.  More of that anon.

 

Thanks Graham for the last reply, I plug fitted the cockpit in after gluing the cockpit together.  I think that this is the probable standard way for 1/72 Spitfires, almost whatever the make!  It did take some small fiddling but it is now in place.  I must remember the gunsite, I left it off as it usually gets snapped off at some point.  That said putting it on finally before fitting the cockpit canopy usually means some difficulties, mainly in getting it straight and not lost in the cockpit 'pit'.  Probably I should have drilled a small location hole.

 

I have used a Tamiya Vokes filter as the kit filter intake was a bit hit and miss without a defined lip, the lack of locating pins was not idea in lining the filter sides up when i tried the kit parts.  The Tamiya slotted together easily (as you would expect). The Tamiya fitted in well after some adjustment and sanding:

 

 

It actually fitted better than the kit version with a nice transition to the main nose and not to me anyway much of a step or gap.  I did put a sliver of plastic card in nose ring at the bottom to widen the nose to match the Vokes filter ( a picture would have been better than all that description).

 

I put on a new tail, as the kit all one piece did not look right.  It might be AZ and I am not sure if it adds anything.

 

I redid the antennae 'shoe' from plastic card as the detail had been sanded off too much.  I then put in the resin kit supplied cannons and stubs.  One side was not too bad , but one blanking stub would not fit and I had to resort to a bit of plastic rod with the cap CAed back on.  It looks a bit odd and disturbingly phallic!  The wing cannon holes were slightly askew which did not help matters and the end result was a bit lumpen:

 

I have sanded back the worst and now have fitted the narrow cannon blisters and drilled in a camera port on the port wing root.  Next is some Halfords plastic primer and then to think more about the MA292 camouflage scheme and pattern possibilities.

 

 

[Olmec Head]

With the return to more normal grey and not too hot weather, I have started to paint the Spitfire.  My finish will be a possibly artistic interpretation of the original aircraft!  I started a discussion on MA292 in the WW2 section with some very useful discussion, interpretation and ideas on the actual aircraft from Magpie (AKA Peter) and Graham Boak  (my part alas was merely starting the discussion off as I have not much knowledge on SEAC markings). 

 

The below is based on Charles' and Graham's ideas and information with an interpretative 'top off' by me.

 

First the easier bit, the underneath.  The instructions call for MSG   (not the food additive) for the underneath.  This was apparently not SEAC standard until April 1944 and the aircraft may well have kept its Azure blue or possibly Sky Blue as it would have been finished in the Desert Scheme as built at Castle Bromwich  (Kipper Tie).  I used Vallejo Azure Blue (as I had it) which sprayed well -unlike my experience of the Vallejo Aluminium on my early Spitfire build.

 

 

So far so good, I am not sure how accurate the paint is for Azure Blue, but it seems OK.

 

The topside is more contentious.

 

The pictures of MA292 show why B/W wartime photos can be difficult:

 

 

 

Both Photos from Magpie.

 

I think that there was general agreement that the topside was fully repainted in theatre rather than the Desert Mid Stone just being resprayed with green.

 

The photos show that the lighter colour (which should Dark Earth) is where the Dark Green should be.  The reasons could be:

 

The camouflage pattern could be transposed (as some desert scheme were) thus the aircraft was repainted in 'mirror' colours . 

 

Alternatively, the aircraft could have a non standard pattern as suggested by Magpie.  This finish has been built by Tonyot.

 

 

Or it could be that ortho film could have been used which has affected the colour balance.

 

The difficulty with the transposed pattern (green and earth reversed) is that Grahams look at at 607 Squadron Vcs in SEAC showed that they were finished in standard A pattern i.e dark green around the cockpit.  So if the aircraft came as transposed desert scheme, they were more probably still resprayed in theatre to standard A pattern.

 

Another possible idea is that the DE was a local SEAC paint and darker than the Dark Green although this is not that likely, I have gone with that idea (I did say it was artistic).  Sometime ago I made a BoB Spitfire with Vallejo 029 Dark Earth and some Tamiya Dark Green.  The result was unbalanced but did have a darker Earth and lighter Green effect.  This is why I though I could use the same for this aircraft.

So I have painted the top in Vallejo MA29 Dark Earth rather than their later and more accurate MA323. It does look darker and more 'chocolately'.

 

 

Next is the Tamiya Dark Green.

[tonyot]

Oh crikey,.... just realised you are using my build as a reference!! No pressure eh,..... don`t know whether you`ve read the little tete a tete over colours on that thread? Like I say in it,.... I don`t profess to be an expert,..... nuff said.

Cheers

           Tony

[Olmec Head]

Just to say after having some decal drama I might be doing a different 615 Squadron aircraft.  Basically whilst fiddling with the Sword decal (or transfer) sheet, I b**gered up the Verna June II markings and they are far too small to try to reproduce.  Therefore I will now be doing MH300 KW-S which is also in the Osprey Spitfire Aces of Burma and the Pacific.  The good thing is that aircraft seems to have only one photo in the book which is small and blurry, so no one can argue with the finish that I do! 

 

My attempt to do a darker Earth and a lighter Green did not go as planned, again pointing to changing the model final appearance.  As the Sword SEAC decals have white rather than SEAC blue, I have painted on the fin flash which came out OK as long as you don't compare either side.  It should probably be taller and thinner, but so should I.

 

 

The tape is to stop me wearing the paint (Vallejo paint seems to rub off easily) and from snapping the resin cannons (which came with the kit).  

 

Conscious that the GB end date looms, I have glued on the canopy:

 

 

Unlike when I dry fitted it, it sat uncomfortably, so I have put some grip onto it whilst the canopy glue dries.  

 

Next are canopy painted, wheels on, and decals....

Edited July 4, 2020 by Olmec Head
more input.

[Olmec Head]

Finally Finished !!

This kit building thing did not go very well for me!  The cockpit canopy was not brilliantly fitting, and slightly skewed.  It did fit originally on the dry fit, so I don't know what went wrong, although the cockpit seat frame was very slightly out of true, it did not interfere with the cockpit canopy.  I took the carefully glued canopy off and fiddled for a long while.  I eventually had to use the back portion of a vacform canopy (so at least I had practice at cutting one of those out).  I then used the front 2/3 portion of the original canopy to fit up to it.  It wasn't perfect, but it looked somewhat better.   In all the fixing and bodging I had to retouch particularly the Vallejo paint colours as these rub off easily.  The cockpit got slightly blemished as well, but I pressed on.

 

 As at the previous post, I had already messed up the marking sheet for the original KW - D, so I finished it as KW -S again from the  Osprey profile and a very grainy photo reproduced in that book.

 

The decals were Xtradecal Sky 18 letters as I did not have white or SEAC blue or light grey or whatever they might have been and they could have been Sky as was officially ordered for SEAC squadron codes from April '44.  I used the Ventura RAF code numbers to make the serial number which went more easily than I thought.  I used some old SEAC roundels from a Revell Hurricane that I had as the original Sword decals were not light blue.  The Revell decals might be slightly small, but they were similar to the Osprey profile.  

 

The final annoyance was the Rotol prop, I painted it a light blue and put the blades on the backplate as the instructions detailed.  The nose cone would not fit over the blades even after sanding and filing.  I then took the blades off the backplate and stuck the backplate to the nose cone.  I then painted it MSG grey out of anger!  The blades were then manhandled back in and eventually worked.  It was all finished off and sprayed Vallejo Matt which works well.

 

So the end result was:

 

 

 

 

I have another Sword Spitfire Vc, but will leave that for a bit and see how the new Airfix Spitfire Vc compares.

 

Next GB will be the BoB GB and my old trusty favourite an Airfix 1/72 Spitfire 1a.