Ready for battle: Airfix 1/48 Hurricane, refueller, truck and ground crew.

[patmaquette]

Thanks for your kind messages and "likes" everyone. I have started painting, by airbrushing a 50:50 mix of Humbrol 56 aluminium and 201 metallic black into the cockpit, gun bays and wheel wells.......

 

 

 

The parts were then dry fitted and taped together and Humbrol 191 chrome silver directed into the cavities from the direction of light to highlight the central features.....

 

 

 

 

Overspray was removed with white spirit.....

 

 

The model was then stripped down and the highlights reinforced by paint brush....

 

 

A couple of coats of Vallejo 71-306 grey-green was brushed onto the cockpit upper side walls, rear bulkhead and the triangular panel on the port frame. Vallejo 70-862 black-grey was brushed onto the instrument panel and here & there......

 

 

 

 

 

A gloss coat has now been applied in readiness for washes to be applied tomorrow. I'll then apply a matt coat before picking out the various detail items with paint.

Many thanks for looking!

Cheers,

Pat

Edited July 30, 2020 by patmaquette
Forgot to include photo of painted side wall.

[Ozzy]

Nice job Pat.

[patmaquette]

On 30/07/2020 at 20:03, Ozzy said:

Nice job Pat.

Thank you, Ozzy, I'm certainly enjoying making this kit.

I have given the aluminium areas a pin wash with Citadel Gloss Nuln Oil and the grey green areas with Vallejo wash for green vehicles. The surfaces had been prepared by gloss coating and the washes were diluted the same again with water.

Once done, matt varnish was airbrushed onto the grey-green areas. I reckoned the aluminium lacquer used on the real aircraft would have a sheen, so decided to leave it in its gloss coat. However, on the basis that shadows don't reflect light, I did matt down those aluminium areas that would be in shadow.

I then had some fun splashing paint colours onto details here and there to help bring the subject to life......

 

 

 

 

I didn't get on too well with the Vallejo wash. Maybe because I diluted it? It seemed to leave a tide mark rather than collect into the crevices of the details and needed several applications to make it look any good. Here is the rear bulkhead....

 

 

I like how the seat came out. The leather layer on the seat to prevent the parachute cord from fretting was brushed in with Vallejo grey black. A square to represent the sunken part in the middle of the seat pan was silver plus grey black...

 

 

I realize having taken the photos of the frames that there are some items I forgot to do, so will deal with tomorrow. The main one being to paint the lagging around the large pipe I added at the starboard foot of the frame.....

 

 

 

 

I decided to try punching out the dials from the instrument panel decal and apply them individually. This wasn't too bad to do once I had figured out how. Here is what I discovered in my first attempt, those of you who have already done this may have some pointers to offer to improve things.

To figure out which size of punch to use, it was far easier to place the punch against the selected gauge in the instrument panel moulding until you found the size that was a snug fit. Far easier than taking measurements!

Put the punched decal onto a tiny puddle of water on the work mat. It didn't take long for the decal to release. Pop a spot of Johnson's Klear (insert preferred name here.....) into the dimple in the moulding and then place the decal in position using some good quality pointy tipped tweezers.

I added more Klear on top of each decal once it had set in position to seal it and give a glassy finish.

Here is the instrument panel. It needs a matt or satin varnish coat on the panel itself.....

 

 

Sorry the photo looks a bit poor, but I think you can see the result with the kit decals doesn't look bad.

 

Thanks for reading and any comments or pointers much appreciated!

Pat

 

 

[Kallisti]

I prefer to use Airscale decals for individual instrument panels as it saves the faffing with punches  There is also a huge variety of them of different sizes. Sadly I forgot to take a pic of my instrument panel before closing the fuselage up so this is the best I've got

 

 

 

[patmaquette]

On 02/08/2020 at 10:35, Kallisti said:

I prefer to use Airscale decals for individual instrument panels as it saves the faffing with punches  

Thank you for that tip, @Kallisti. They certainly look better than the ones I punched from the Airfix instrument decal.

 

A little amount of progress to report.

I made the lower straps of the seat harness from lead foil, using a photetched seat belt as a template. I decided to use lead rather than the photoetched belt as it will be easier to form them to shape (especially the shoulder straps that I will drape over the cockpit sides). I added some detail using paint.....

 

 

 

I added some photoetch to each landing light to vaguely represent the three swirly legs that support the bulb holder. Not perfect, but I think it is better than not adding any detail at all. I have seen others on Britmodeller do a far better and more competent job of these, but at least my approach was quick and simple....

 

 

 

The lamps have been fitted in place into the wing leading edge and the bulb holder (a disc punched from plastic card) glued to the centre (the prop hub) of the photoetch and given a coat of dark grey paint.

 

The eight Browning machine gun mouldings were cleaned up on the sprue before airbrushing gunmetal. Aluminum areas (blast tubes, cartridge chutes, breech mountings) were brush painted with Citadel Leadbelcher acrylic before everything was given a wash of Citadel Nuln oil diluted in equal measure with water....

 

 

Here they are glued in place and other details will be added next....

 

 

 

Many thanks for your interest in reading,

Cheers,

Pat

 

 

 

[patmaquette]

Hi everyone & thanks for your "likes". The kit is now assembled and here are some jottings made along the way...

 

 

The wing machine gun bays look quite effective. I added some cables to the guns, but that was about all that was needed. Ideally, I would have liked to had the top plate on the gun breach swung up for feeding in the ammunition. That would be a lot of work. However, I think my diorama will show the ground crew closing up just as the pilot arrives to board the aircraft. The ammunition cases were painted a dark aluminium colour overall and then Humbrol 191 as a highlight from above. It came out a lot shinier than intended, but I can knock that back later. The rounds were depicted with Darkstar metallic acrylics and everything given a wash with Citadel Nuln Oil to add depth. The pair of frames running diagonally across the bay were a tight fit to get into place. I left them unglued until the wing halves had been joined together, and then eased them into position so their top edges were flush with the wing skin before gluing with CA..

 

The top and bottom wing pieces had to be pulled down along the leading and trailing edges to get them to close up, possibly because of the material I had removed when thinning the trailing edges. I positioned the parts then glued the trailing edges first and left them to set before doing the leading edges. The reason for doing this was so only light clamping pressure would be applied to the thinned trailing edges. When I have done this in the past and used heavier clamping, I have found the thinned trailing edges to go soft and out of shape under the pressure of the clamps.

 

The trailing edge had a step between the upper and lower pieces. I decided to fill the step with 0.5mm plastic rod....

 

 

This was curved around the wing root....

 

 

And some Mr Surfacer 500 smeared along to fill any gaps....

 

 

And then filed, sanded and scraped to restore the sharp trailing edge....

 

 

The fuselage halves were joined together without fuss. I added some plastic strip along the underside of the nose to reinforce the join, as I have had the join crack when sanding the seams.....

 

 

As expected when offering up the fuselage to the wings, there was a step at the root fillet because of the work done on thinning the wing trailing edges...

 

 

A new line was marked onto the fillet with a needle. Material was then scraped away using a round ended blade (this being a Swann-Morton one)...

 

 

I then found the wing was fouling on something and sitting too far forward - projecting below the nose at the front and leaving a gap at the rear. The problem was solved by trimming back a step in the fuselage halves.....

 

 

 

That then just left a gap in the wing root which was closed up by gluing a spacer between the fuselage halves....

 

 

Airfix's heavily moulded Dzus fasteners for the cowling and other panels was bothering me, so I tried seeing if I could do a better job. This, along with adding a large quantity of rivet detail, is something Peter had done for his lovely build of this kit...

I had a selection of needles in my resin casting box. I measured these up, selected what would be about right for a Dzus fastener and then ground the blunt needle to a sharp edge....

 

 

I then pressed this into the plastic. It barely made an impression. So after some thought I decided to leave the kit detail as it was and press on.

 

With this all done, the wings were glued to the fuselage, firstly at the front edge and, after this had set, at the back, using clamps to hold everything in place.

 

The covers for the wing lights were glued on using odorless superglue. I used it in a very clumsy way for filling gaps in the joints and unfortunately had a run of glue down the inside of one of the covers......

 

 

The tip navigation lights had been painted Humbrol 191 chrome silver on the two inner faces and then had holes drilled for the coloured lamps.

The attached covers were sanded and polished into the curves of the wing....

 

 

The gun sight comes as a transparent moulding. I found satin black to work well for the body and angled side plates for the glass. I did not apply paint to the top of the gun sight body....

 

 

The top edge of the sight glass was picked out in Tamiya transparent green. The head cushion was painted a leather colour. Some of the setting wheels were picked out in mid-grey. I elected to paint the instrument binnacle grey-black, but it could equally be in RAF dark green....

 

 

The cooler was attached beneath the wing. This was given a stiffener from 0.25mm plastic rod in the front, plus a couple of actuator links for the rear shutter from 0.5mm plastic rod. I also added an oil pipe to the central matrix of the cooler that I was pleased with until I realised I had fitted it upside down (doh!).

 

 

 

 

The identity light was painted Humbrol 191 chrome silver and a drop of Citadel Nuln Oil wash placed around the light bulb. The lens needed some trimming before it would fit into the hole, but once in place was secured with Klear.

 

 

The kit is now ready for masking up and painting....

 

 

 

Thanks for trawling through this lot. Sorry if it is a bit boring,

Cheers,

Pat

 

 

 

[SimonT]

Great update and I shall shamelessly pilfer some of your ideas. 😜

[PlaStix]

Hi Pat. Absolutely superb work on improving the base kit and faults. This is going to be a real stunner!
Kind regards,

Stix

[patmaquette]

Thank you for your kind comments @SimonT & @PlaStix.

Stix - I have just viewed your video on brushing acrylics with flat brushes. Very informative and it is good to see the process in action. I was surprised by how well the first coat covered the plastic (even though it had been given a clean with washing-up water) and I thought it would just puddle and not cover at the edges. Also by the amount of time the paint stayed workable on the model without it wanting to tug on the brush bristles.

Cheers,

Pat

[patmaquette]

Hi all. Thanks for your comments and "likes".

The Hurricane, along with its smaller Spitfire "paint mule" were masked up for painting. I use foam quite a lot for filling in cavities to be masked.....

 

 

It is a fairly quick method. Doing curved surfaces,such as the leading edge lights, can be tricky as tape tends to lift on tight or compound curves. Although I don't have a lot success with liquid masks, I do find them well suited to this situation. As you can see, I have used tape to mask around the outsides of the lights....

 

 

I used Tamiya stretchy tape for the navigation lights. Laying the tape this way avoids the tape sliding out of position on the plastic.

 

 

My preferred liquid mask is the blue stuff from Micro Industries. I apply a generous amount using a micro brush and make sure all the surface is covered within the masking tape boundary.....

 

 

Wait half a minute for it to gel and then whip off the tape to leave a neat edge to the masking fluid....

 

 

If any fluid tracks under the masking tape then leave it to set before cutting away with a scalpel.

 

With the masking done, a coat of Humbrol 90 beige green enamel was airbrushed directly all over the model. I can't recall how old this paint was, but it sprayed nicely with a little Gunze Self-Levelling thinner added...

 

 

 

Pre-shade was applied by paint brush using a mix of acrylic paints:

 

 

The Polly Scale paint is Sky Type S. The colour looks remarkably close to the old Humbrol paint. This mixed with Vallejo 71.305 Interior Grey Green was used for shadows. Here is the first shadow painted onto the Spitfire gull wing underside....

 

 

Apart from shadows, the paint was run along panel lines. My method is to apply paint to one side of the line only as I think it gives greater impact. Highlights were added to the edges of the cooler and anywhere else that may catch the light using the Sky paint lightened with white (in fact the Xtracolor white is actually off-white).

 

 

 

 

 

 

So far, so good. I'll next apply a blending coat to this by airbrush. I'll post an update when done.

Many thanks for looking!

Cheers,

Pat

 

[PeterB]

Hi Pat,

 

Brilliant job, and thanks for confirming that I was not imagining it - the Xtracrylic white looked a bit odd to me too - an attempt at scale colour perhaps!

 

Pete

Edited August 12, 2020 by PeterB

[patmaquette]

I've blended in the preshading now and am quite happy how it turned out even with my clumsy efforts with an airbrush. The job was made easier to do by adding a clear medium to the paint mix, making it akin to Ronseal coloured varnish that can be built up in layers without having to be too precise. Mistakes don't show so much. I also find I get less needle tip drying and the finished paint film is more robust than using thinned paint alone.

I used acrylics for this coat, a mix of the Polly Scale Sky Type S paint and Vallejo interior grey-green. The medium was Vallejo Glaze Medium (but their Thinner Medium would work equally well, as would clear varnish). Vallejo airbrush thinner was used.

If using an enamel mix, I would use enamel varnish as the medium before thinning as usual for airbrushing.

Here are the results.....

 

 

 

 

I made a start on the upper camouflage, finding my way as I have not tried this method before. Vallejo 70921 English Uniform was diluted with water and used to outline the Dark Earth pattern before filling in.....

 

 

A second coat of the same thinned paint started to build up the colour....

 

 

I think my next move will be to apply one more thinned layer of paint, add some pre-shade and then blend it in with an airbrush as done for the Sky undersurfaces. If that goes well, I'll follow the same process on the Hurricane.

 

Thanks for looking & any tips or ideas would be appreciated!

Cheers,

Pat

 

[patmaquette]

Just a quick update. A third thin coat of Vallejo English Uniform has been brushed onto the Dark Earth areas and pre-shading added......

 

 

A top coat of English Uniform + Vallejo Glaze Medium  thinned with Vallejo Airbrush thinner was airbrushed on top to blend the pre-shade....

 

 

Although I quite like the result, it maybe looks too faded. I added a drop of Vallejo 70871 Leather Brown to the mix and went over the model again......

 

 

Not a good photo unfortunately. It was taken later in the day in poor light and the brown looks a lot darker than it really is. It actually doesn't look that bad so I'll now move onto doing the Dark Green. If that works out okay I'll be ready to do the 1/48 Hurricane.

 

Thanks for looking,

Cheers,

Pat

 

 

[Stew Dapple]

Nice work Pat  

 

Cheers,

 

Stew

[Basilisk]

Nice progress Pat and a great cockpit you made.

 

Your painting steps look like a lot of extra work. What is the reason you don't paint the whole upper surfaces brown first and then add the green camouflage?

 

Why didn't you use metal tubes on the rear of the radiator like you did on the intake side?

Just looks a bit too clunky.

 

I used Albion tubes on my build as they stay straight.

Cheers, Peter

[patmaquette]

On 16/08/2020 at 03:21, Basilisk said:

Your painting steps look like a lot of extra work. What is the reason you don't paint the whole upper surfaces brown first and then add the green camouflage?

Thanks for your comments, Peter 🙂.

I am messing around trying ideas at the moment to, ironically enough, see if I can find a quicker way than my old methods of getting a camouflage finish. There are a couple of reasons behind what I am trying here. First off is that I like to paint from light to dark. I have found that if I do the dark earth first then I can't get a light enough highlight for the green. So I thought I would treat the brown and green areas separately. I can't call it a success for the Spitfire though (although I have not given up on it yet!), so for the Hurricane I have gone over the entire area with brown.

 

 

The second reason is this is my first time of brush painting & airbrushing Vallejo acrylics so am playing with them to see what works and what doesn't. Even to the point of seeing if I could do the camo without masking.

 

On 16/08/2020 at 03:21, Basilisk said:

Just looks a bit too clunky.

I agree completely. I used this photo from the Haynes manual as my guide.....

 

(I trust that this is fair use - I will delete it if there are any concerns).

You can see that the arms for the radiator shutter are quite thick (thicker than the cowling support stays) and have a dogs leg. I therefore made them a smidgen thicker than the Airfix ones. The dogs leg ended up a bit out of position on mine, though. However, clearly the Airfix support stays are way too thick. I should have glued them at the cowl end and then snipped off the rod part once the glue had set and replaced it with something better sized. But all in all, mine certainly looks too clunky in an area of the plane that needs good air flow. Estimating from the photo, I should have used 0.25mm for the support stays and 0.35mm for the shutter arms. I'll bear this in mind for the next one I build 😁

 

Thanks once again for your comments,

Pat

 

[patmaquette]

Pressing on with the 1/72 Spitfire "paint mule", the dark green areas were brush painted with Vallejo Russian Uniform + black grey + glaze medium. The pattern was already in place from the dark earth phase.

A darker mix was applied to pre-shade the fuselage lower halves, beneath the tailplane & exhausts and along panel lines as mentioned previously for the dark earth areas.....

 

 

A liquid mask was applied over the dark earth areas using a microbrush. ....

 

 

It was my first time using this particular fluid and I am really pleased with it. Dipping the microbrush into water and wiping off residues before reloading kept the brush clean throughout the process. A much better experience than with other liquid masks I have used 🙂

 

Tamiya RAF Dark Green was airbrushed on, but I didn't like the result - it seemed too black for my liking. I therefore used a suitable dark green (a really old tin of Compucolor) mixed in equal measure with gloss varnish to produce a translucent paint and thinned with Gunze self levelling thinner.

The mask was removed by teasing up a corner by rubbing with a pencil eraser and then lifting it clear with tweezers or my fingers. It came away easily without lifting the dark earth paint. Probably my best experience with using a liquid mask.

 

 

 

 

 

I am reasonably encouraged by this trial and will now apply it, with some lessons learnt, to the Hurricane. I'll do a separate post for that.

 

Thanks for looking,

Cheers,

Pat

 

 

 

 

[patmaquette]

Moving on to the Hurricane, which has already had the top sides airbrushed with Vallejo English Uniform (see an earlier post), pre-shading was applied by brush.....

 

 

You can see the paints and medium used in the photo above. The dropper bottle contains distilled water with a drop of washing liquid and another of Winsor & Newton Flow Improver.

 

 

 

The green areas of camouflage were brushed in with a wash of Vallejo Russian Uniform. The blending coat of Humbrol 29 enamel with gloss varnish and thinned for airbrushing with Gunze self-levelling thinners was applied to the dark earth areas only......

 

 

 

 

I'll leave this to dry thoroughly before applying the liquid mask for the dark green areas.

 

Thanks for looking,

Cheers,

Pat

 

[patmaquette]

Hi everyone.

Although the masking fluid worked well over the acrylic paint used on the Spitfire model, it was not such a happy experience with the Hurricane which had been finished with enamels.

The masking fluid did not want to wet the surface and would pool. It took some coaxing to get it in place. The culprit was probably adding the gloss varnish to the dark earth paint for the blending coat. Whilst I have done this many times before, I do not usually put masking fluid over it (normally I use white sticky putty sausages with masking tape infill, which takes a lot longer to do).

Another problem I had was with smudging the dark earth when removing the mask. Although the dark green had been left overnight to dry, rubbing my finger over the mask so that it rolled off the surface left marks from the dried green paint on the dark earth. 

Tidying up after these mistakes took some time and the model came really close to going in the bin.

Anyway, here is the result before gloss coating for decalling......

 

 

 

 

I used Humbrol 163 dark green enamel with a spot of Revell 65 added.

Thanks for looking,

Cheers,

Pat

 

[patmaquette]

Hi again everyone.

The build has progressed now to getting the decals on. Gloss coat was Tamiya X-22. I first used Mr Hobby Self Leveling Thinners at a ratio of 2:1 thinners to X-22 on the undersides of the Spitfire as a trial and this went very well, although I found it a little too easy to overdo the wet coat and risk getting runs.

Being short of this thinner, I switched to using X-20A acrylic thinner and the results were almost as good, so continued with this to complete the job. For the Hurricane, I airbrushed on the first coat but for the second and third final coat applied the X-22 diluted with X-20A at the same ratio as for airbrushing using a wide brush. I found this easier to control getting a wet coat without runs and the nuisance of overspray.

Applying the decals to the Spitfire was straightforward enough, although I did separate the fuselage roundel from the codes and put this on first. The codes followed after the roundel had set in place. Here is the model after a further gloss coat had been airbrushed on to seal the decals in place....

 

 

Despite the numerous coats of clear, I found problems getting the small stencil decals to settle and resorted to using a spot of Klear to solve the problem...

 

 

The Klear reacted badly with the X-22/X-20A/ Micro Set when I used it on the top surface and destroyed a couple of decals as a result, so carried on without it.

 

Additional work was needed on the Hurricane fuselage codes to correct the error in the decal sheet mentioned on page 1 by @Troy Smith (thanks again for highlighting this error, Troy).......

"weirdly they messed up,  by weirdly, they had the GZ-B as an option in the old tool 1/48th kit for years.

the mess up is that the starboard codes should read GZ-B (as per the old kit) and the kit has the a B-GZ.

AFAIK there is only one photo of a 32 Sq Hurricane from this era showing the starboard side,  GZ-Z

and plenty of profiles make the error, as did Hasegawa".

 

I separated the code letters from the roundels, starting by punching out the inner curve of the "G".......

 

 

 

Replacement 49" diameter Type A1 roundel decals were purchased and placed onto the fuselage and left to set....

 

 

 

Here is the decaling completed.....

 

 

 

 

 

 

Many thanks for looking,

Cheers,

Pat

[Merlin]

Hi, when you get to do the bowser, dont make the mistake of not looking at any photos of it, as all but 1 or 2 modellers have done, study  a few pics, loads on the internet, get rid of the BIG MISTAKE Airfix made and give it trumpet ends to the booms with hoses coming out from within, and make those areas where the hoses rub a shiny steel, this is its classic feature so why Airfix got rid of it with some carbunkle stuck in there god knows,  (my employer used to say we dont pay you to make mistakes), also the rear compartment IS WHITE. with dark olive green zwicky pump and brass handles, also the refuelling nozzles are brass. The hose is NOT BLACK, but a canvas so a concrete sort of colour. it also comes into the pump compartment in the roof. the refuelling the bowser hose in an arc behind the cab is steel wire bound dark grey rubber.  Cab interior is eau de nil, camo is same paint as aircraft dk earth and dk green. Radiator can remain stainless steel with red rising sun emblem of Albion. Groundcrew will be in patch pocket (lowers were just flaps) or shirt sleeves, brass buttons, and belt support lugs, (google them) BUT no battledress !  Google re-enactors RAF to see the colour of the uniforms, though a lot use post war which are more blue, wartime had a hint of green, a darkish blue-grey hint of green look, I see too many cyan ones and wonder what pics were referred to ! steel helmets would be in RAF vehicle blue grey, more of a grey again than the uniforms and with a sheen of satin at most.

 

Merlin

[Kallisti]

I don't wish to be critical but the Spitfire has too much paint chipping. This particular air frame went into service with 610 Sqn on 2nd June 1940 and crashed on 12th August, that is a grand total of 9 weeks in the field - it would not have aged that much in that time as aircraft were being properly maintained and paint chips would not have been allowed by the ground crew supervisors. I don't want to be mean as the rest of the built is excellent but this is a major bugbear of mine, my Dad was Spitfire and Hurricane ground crew (an Electrician by trade) and he told me that he spent as much time with a paintbrush in his hand as he did a screwdriver!

At least you haven't taken paint stripper to the wing root where the pilot climbs - that always REALLY annoys me

[Troy Smith]

21 hours ago, Merlin said:

also the rear compartment IS WHITE.

85 Squadron 49 by Сергей Кривицкий, on Flickr

The rear maybe in shade, but it still looks too dark for white.  (note the white on P3166) and the similarity of tone on the shaded areas of the wing underside "sky" 

EDIT - Also, note the dial faces, which I presume are white, are lighter than the inside of the compartment.

I write "sky" as this is the era of post change to Sky on 6th June 1940, and other 85 Sq Hurricane in the link show non standard applications of a new underside colour,  with wrapping around the leading edges and up the nose, as do some of the 17 Sq Hurricanes sharing the same base.

See here for more of P3166

https://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/234981865-hurricane-p3166-vy-q-85-squadron-july-1940-refuelling/

As you suggest the cab is Eau de Nil, I'd suggest that applies to the rear compartment as well, which would also make sense as consistent interior paint finish.

there are several more shots of the re fueller here, along with lots of useful images of ground crew at work

https://www.flickr.com/photos/144949377@N05/albums/72157704898371932/with/46968274594/

 

 

21 hours ago, Merlin said:

camo is same paint as aircraft dk earth and dk green.

Not according to the research 

https://www.mafva.org/british-vehicle-camouflage-1939-45/

 

RAF vehicles were camouflaged, later with Army paint,  this is from @Mike Starmer

  

On 28/06/2019 at 11:16, Mike Starmer said:

The answer to your colour question depends on how early you wish to be.  From 1940 the basic colour became Khaki Green 3.  There would be no need for any disruptive colour over that but would be on refuellers.  From mid 1941 SCC.2 (brown) replaced the KG3 shade but only on new and repainted equipments.  Thus the older colours prevailed for long periods since wastage was not heavy.  I have 1943 coloured images of a Seafire with the tractor still RAF Blue-grey.  Might I suggest a Blue-Grey tractor with KG3 trollies and Light Buff bombs

 

https://www.mafva.org/british-vehicle-camouflage-1939-45/

see 

R.A.F. GROUND VEHICLE COLOURS.

"

 Nevertheless instructions had been issued in Britain during 1939 to disruptively paint transport.  Photographs of some R.A.F. vehicles in France during early 1940 and on some airfields in the South of England from June 1940 onwards show that disruptive painting on ground vehicles deployed on airfields within reach of enemy aircraft or observation.  No accurate colours are known for these vehicles but in France, British army colours may have been used but the possibility of French colours must be taken into account.  A TNA file has a note dated 19 November 1940; ‘…camouflage paint has not hitherto been included in R.D.M.T. Specifications for M.T. vehicles for the R.A.F. and units have, we understand, obtained their own supplies by local purchase’.  Followed by ‘The canvas tilts of those vehicle leave the manufacturers dyed khaki and unpainted…’.  So there was authority to camouflage vehicles prior to the next known AMO.  In England, army colours is possible by local arrangement or a range of green, brown, black or grey building paints may have been used in random striped type designs similar to army applications.  In June 1941 a signal N629/41 calls for camouflage of impressed vehicles.  No further documents have yet been found to clarify this signal regarding colours. 

From now on AMOs mirror War Office policy.  AMO A618/41 of 7 August orders R.A.F. vehicles to be a basic colour of Khaki Green No.3 with Nobels Dark Tarmac Green No.4 or alternatively Light Green No.5 as disrupters patterned as M.T.P.20 of 1939.  August 1942, AMO A820/42; colours will now be Camouflage Green No.3 and paint PFU Dark Tarmac No.4.    Do not be baffled by the different colour names as will be explained later.  The camouflage style now is as M.T.P. 46/4A by then in general use by the War Office.  Since R.A.F. vehicle wastage is far less than the army then earlier colours and schemes tended to be in use for far longer before repainting to current standards took place, keep this in mind.  There is a coloured photograph of a F.A.A. David Brown tractor in Khaki Green No.3 towing a Blue Grey fuel trailer in 1943. "

 

So, the refuller above maybe a variety of colours.  Note no mention of Aircraft paint.

the basic Army paint in this era was Khaki Green G.3,  and a disruptive pattern 

 

"1939-41 – Bold horizontal/diagonal patterns of two greens following M.T.P.20 diagrams of June 1939.  The usual basic colour was Khaki Green G3 with a disrupter of Dark Green No.4 or rarely Light Green No.5.  Plain G3 is an alternative.

May 1940:  Dark Tarmac No.4 begins to replace both Dark Green No.4 and Light Green No.5.  This seems to be the first measure to conserve chromium oxide stocks."

 

the link has Humbrol and Revell mixes

There are Tamiya and Vallejo mixes as well

eg vallejo

https://alliedarmour1940.wordpress.com/2016/10/01/vallejo-paint-mixes/

 

Khaki Green G3

2 pts 70921 English Uniform [141] + 1 pt 70888 Khaki [115] + 1 pt 70822 German Camo Black Brown [150]  (Mike Starmer, 2016)

Dark green G4

70986 German Dark Green [99] (Mike Starmer, 2016)

 

Hopefully Mike may see this an pitch in.

 

Finally, regarding 32 and 610 Sqs, Fundekals say that there is documentary proof (but not giving it) of the undersides not being Sky initially but the Biggin Hill sqs using Sky Blue.

 

see here

http://www.fundekals.com/images/Spitfires/SpitfireProject2016.pdf

 

I'd be interested to know what the documentation is.

 

HTH

 

HTH

 

[patmaquette]

@Merlin, @Kallisti, @Troy Smith many thanks for your comments and guidance - I really appreciate that you have taken the time and trouble to reply.

I'll take all of what you say on board as I progress with the build.

 

Cheers,

Pat

[Peter Roberts]

Mate, liking your builds here. Great work. Personally I don't see a problem with your Spitfire - some mild wear around the gun panels and across the wings as you'd expect.

 

Looking forward to the refueller; I have just pulled mine out too and came across your build while Googling for info. 

Edited September 5, 2020 by Peter Roberts