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1/48 Spitfire MK.IX, Polish Fighting Team, North Africa, 1943. Finished 09/06.


DaveJL

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Hello all,

 

Might be tempting fate with the deadline for this GB in a month, but this kit has been sitting looking at me for a while and I think it will look well sitting alongside the Hurricane I've completed, so here it is - Eduard's 1/48 Spitfire MK.IXc 'early' marked as EN315 of the Polish Fighting/Combat Team in North Africa, early 1943.

 

Nicknamed 'Skalski's Circus' after the Commanding officer Stanisław Skalski, DSO, DFC & two bars, the team comprised 15 pilots and 8 MK.IX Spitfires, claiming 25 destroyed, 3 probable and 9 damaged Axis aircraft during March - May 1943. After the German surrender in North Africa, the pilots joined various other squadrons, with Skalski being appointed CO of 601 Squadron. He ended the war with 18 confirmed victories, making him the highest scoring Polish Ace of the war. Wing Commander Skalski passed away in 2004.

 

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The only aftermarket I'll be using will be an AML camouflage mask:

 

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I love these Eduard Spitfire kits and they are a joy to build. I might slow down work on the Canberra to ensure I get this one completed in time.

 

Cheers and stay safe

 

Dave

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Best of good luck getting this one done within the time limit Dave, a worthy subject and one that will indeed look great beside your Hurricane, every faith in your abilities to produce a stunning model from this kit.

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11 hours ago, Col. said:

Best of good luck getting this one done within the time limit Dave, a worthy subject and one that will indeed look great beside your Hurricane, every faith in your abilities to produce a stunning model from this kit.

Cheers mate, hope it lives up to your expectations :lol:

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I have a couple of these Polish desert Mk IX in 1/72 by Airfix but I have used one for spares and the other may get done in another scheme - I will be interested to see how yours turns out.

 

Cheers

 

Pete

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On 5/14/2021 at 12:49 AM, PeterB said:

I have a couple of these Polish desert Mk IX in 1/72 by Airfix but I have used one for spares and the other may get done in another scheme - I will be interested to see how yours turns out.

 

Cheers

 

Pete

Thanks Pete.

 

Cracked on with this over the past two days. Cockpit first of course; the usual Eduard affair, plenty of detail, great fit.

 

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Fuselage was closed up this afternoon:

 

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And the wings built up:

 

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Great little kits these.

 

More soon and stay safe

 

Dave

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  • DaveJL changed the title to 1/48 Spitfire MK.IX, Polish Fighting Team, North Africa, 1943. Update 16/05.

Hi Dave,

 

Which wing layout are you doing - I know the "C" wing could have 2 cannon but most of the usual single cannon ones I have seen have the stub on the outside?

 

Cheers

 

Pete

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3 minutes ago, PeterB said:

Hi Dave,

 

Which wing layout are you doing - I know the "C" wing could have 2 cannon but most of the usual single cannon ones I have seen have the stub on the outside?

 

Cheers

 

Pete

Good spot Peter! A boo boo on my part, misread the instructions! Will get that corrected now.

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1 minute ago, dnl42 said:

Excellent choice of subject! :popcorn:

 

I have those markings from Techmod.

Cheers, it's an interesting subject and I do like the desert scheme on the Spits. Patiently waiting for Eduard's MK V to arrive!

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Kit has fallen together over the last couple of days:

 

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Just about ready for primer and paint. These kits are up there with Tamiya's F-14 on my list of favourites!

 

More soon and stay safe

 

Dave

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This one certainly looks to be coming together well Dave and while clearly a nice kit I also suspect a good measure of skill is ensuring such a clean build ;) 

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5 hours ago, Col. said:

This one certainly looks to be coming together well Dave and while clearly a nice kit I also suspect a good measure of skill is ensuring such a clean build ;) 

Cheers mate!

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Managed to get the camouflage done over the last couple of days. The model was primed and pre-shaded at the tail end of last week. As usual I went for MRP colours and an AML mask to assist with the upper surfaces. I noticed that the pattern on EN315 was slightly different than the others options in the box do I adjusted the masking accordingly.

 

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Two light coats of each was all that was required:

 

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A few detail jobs to do next - exhausts, the yellow strip on the leading edge of the wing and so on. Meanwhile, the prop and landing gear were finished off and given a flat coat:

 

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I've also noticed in the painting instructions that this desert camouflaged Spit seems to be lacking the stencils, walkways etc. Is this an oversight on Eduard's part or were they indeed omitted from these colour schemes? The USAAF marking option also does not depict them but for the other schemes in the grey/green, they are clearly shown in the painting instructions.

 

More soon and stay safe

 

Dave 

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  • DaveJL changed the title to 1/48 Spitfire MK.IX, Polish Fighting Team, North Africa, 1943. Update 01/06.

I would venture it would be dependent on whether the paint scheme was manufacturer applied, or if it was done in the field.  I suspect most field applications just painted over most of the stenciling, then leaving (or re-applying) the major identification markings.  Someone will probably be along in a bit with a more definitive answer (I know diddly-squat about Spitfires).

 

Coming along nicely though.

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At this stage the painting was done by the manufacturer, knowing to where the tropicalised aircraft were going to go.  At some stage (not much later, I suspect) Supermarine requested a simplification to the colour schemes to speed production.  As did De havilland, likely at much the same time.  This was agreed.  Painting was vary rarely done "in the field" in the RAF, if carried out by the individual squadrons is what is meant, and I suspect this is also true for other air forces, at least most of the time.  Any repainting would be done either at the Maintenance Unit converting the two standard production schemes to whatever the requirements were of the receiving Command, or if overseas at an MU at the destination.

 

For this particular case, I would have expected the stencils to have been applied on top of the Desert scheme.  They would disappear at any repaint, probably even if done at a UK MU.

 

PS  For Mosquitos the two standard production schemes were PRU Blue and night-fighter Medium Sea Grey overall with Dark Green disruptive areas on the upper and side surfaces only.  For Spitfires this would be the Day Fighter scheme Dark Green and Ocean Grey with Medium Sea Grey underneath, and the Temperate Land Scheme of Dark Green and Dark Earth, but with Azure Blue underneath.  Possibly this may have been Desert Scheme initially, but although this was seen well into Mk.VIII production it became of little interest to the users.

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Thanks @helios16v and @Graham Boak for the information.

 

The Eduard instructions are usually very well researched so that led me to my query. I've found a website with images of a restored MK.IX in Malta, and certainly looks like there are few, if any stencils. The Walkways are definitely absent.

 

http://aircraftwalkaround.hobbyvista.com/spitfire_ix/spitfire_ix.htm

 

Cheers

 

Dave

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PFT Spitfires were DFS painted and oversprayed with Desert Scheme before they were delivered to the unit. A good freehand spray job with not much overspray. There are some wild theories what was sprayed instead of DS, but let's skip that.

The spare cannon tubes were closed with flat covers (like the bottom of a peanut can), and there was  fuel cooler air intake in the root of the starboard wing.

 

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8 hours ago, Col. said:

Tidy paintwork Dave B) 

Thanks mate.

 

6 hours ago, greatgonzo said:

PFT Spitfires were DFS painted and oversprayed with Desert Scheme before they were delivered to the unit. A good freehand spray job with not much overspray. There are some wild theories what was sprayed instead of DS, but let's skip that.

The spare cannon tubes were closed with flat covers (like the bottom of a peanut can), and there was  fuel cooler air intake in the root of the starboard wing.

 

Thanks for the info! Based on that, would the instructions be correct in that they have no, or few stencils?

 

Bugger I only noticed the cannon tubes. The instructions do mention to leave off the domes but I'll just have to live with them fitted. Don't really want to try and chop them off as, knowing me, I'll make a mess of it :lol:

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I would say no stencils, but you can't be 100% sure with them little fellows, and the pics won't help you enough. What was left actually, was the part of the white writing on the radio compartment door. The part that was placed on the roundel, with the rest having been oversprayed. The edges of the roundels were oversprayed too, by the way. It is quite possible the s/n was repeated on the rudder tub. By hand. It surely was the case for ZX-1.

 

Graham,  that's how we know the  coolers were there, as the pics are quite shy on the subject :). I'd love to learn the reason for flat  tube covers. Never met the answer, unfortunately.

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9 hours ago, greatgonzo said:

I would say no stencils, but you can't be 100% sure with them little fellows, and the pics won't help you enough. What was left actually, was the part of the white writing on the radio compartment door. The part that was placed on the roundel, with the rest having been oversprayed. The edges of the roundels were oversprayed too, by the way. It is quite possible the s/n was repeated on the rudder tub. By hand. It surely was the case for ZX-1.

 

Graham,  that's how we know the  coolers were there, as the pics are quite shy on the subject :). I'd love to learn the reason for flat  tube covers. Never met the answer, unfortunately.

Thanks mate. I'll maybe go with no stencils then as per the instructions and your information. Like you say, it's hard to make out if there are/aren't any in the few pictures I can find.

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To be more precise: the stencils were oversprayed and not repainted. This is confirmed by period picture. Yet it goes only for a couple of them, and the rest we can't see one way or another. Still, it means one can produce hypothesis that some of them were left and why, but nothing more. The only confirmed stencils left on the plane is the mentioned above piece of radio compartment door white  writing. Cockpit door stencils survived too, of course :).

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1 hour ago, greatgonzo said:

To be more precise: the stencils were oversprayed and not repainted. This is confirmed by period picture. Yet it goes only for a couple of them, and the rest we can't see one way or another. Still, it means one can produce hypothesis that some of them were left and why, but nothing more. The only confirmed stencils left on the plane is the mentioned above piece of radio compartment door white  writing. Cockpit door stencils survived too, of course :).

Thanks mate, I'll leave the stencils off and only add the small white one on the radio door. Sorry for another question, but would the black walkway marking on the starboard wing, below the cockpit have survived?

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Walkaway lines would have been symmetrical on MkIX wings. But I see no reason for them to be repainted with other stencils gone. Please throw no tomatoes at me, if somebody proved  me wrong. Although I feel not much fear here... .

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