"Fly like an eagle" - Spitfire Mk. IIa, No. 71 (Eagle) Squadron, RAF

[TonyOD]

With a nod in the direction of the great Steve Miller…

 

So with the Mk I on the shelf and the Mk V well on its way, I’m about to get busy with another early-marque Spitfire, a Mk IIa flown in 1941 by P/O William R. “Poppy” Dunn of No. 71 “Eagle” Squadron, RAF. Minneapolis-born Dunn was the first American “ace” of World War II, racking up five confirmed kills between May and August 1941. I’ll be building this from the Eduard Spitfire Ia “late” Overtrees boxing, with a few modifications (the one I’m aware of are the bulge on starboard side nose for the Coffman starter, and the motorised landing gear control on the starboard sidewall of the cockpit, though I’m sure I’ll turn up others.) Decals will be from the 3D-kits “Rotol Spitfires” sheet.

 

 

 

The decal sheet gives two options for this airframe, the early green/brown/sky day fighter scheme as at the beginning of August 1941 (supposedly, but see below), and the late green/grey/grey day fighter scheme as on the 27th of that month when Dunn force-landed due to “enemy action”, getting badly injured (three months in hospital, three months recuperative leave) in the process.

 

 

The later scheme would throw up some interesting questions regarding the condition of the aircraft. The “new” day fighter scheme was specified with an order issued on 15th August 1941. Naturally the RAF didn’t repaint all its existing fighters on that same day, it took some time for them all to get done, but if P7308 was repainted it would have been at some point between 15th and 27th August, a period of only 12 days, according to the callouts. I’ve always assumed that the repaints involved simply painting over the dark earth with ocean grey, the sky with light grey, and leaving the dark green as is. This aircraft had been in front line service since 10th September 1940, serving in the later stages of the Battle of Britain with No. 54 Squadron, before spending a few weeks with No. 308 Squadron prior to its being transferred to No. 71 Squadron on 20th August, which means that if indeed it was repainted with No. 71 Squadron codes and then the new day fighter scheme both would have taken place in the course of a week. Actually it would kind of make more sense if both were done at the same time on arrival with its new unit, given this was already almost a week after the order for the new scheme had been issued? And in terms of weathering, after the repaint would the green bits of the aircraft show a year’s worth of wear and the tear (except for the bits around the squadron codes?), and the freshly painted grey bits and underside look shiny and new? Did it get a complete repaint? Did P7308 ever actually carry No. 71 Squadron codes on the early scheme? So many questions. Anyway, it’s academic, because the early scheme is the one I’ve decided to go with, so if I have a go at weathering it will be uniformly applied. If I really want to go to town on it I could include the battle damage illustrated in the photograph (it’s possible that this photo was taken after Dunn’s force-landing, immediately afterwards the airframe was patched up, given a Merlin 45 engine to convert it to a Va and sent off to No. 133 Squadron, another one of the “Eagle” squadrons, where it spent all of a fortnight before finding its way to an OTU in July 1943 via no less than three other units. In which case it would’ve been green/grey 😁)

 

I’m doing this build as part of a very loose #1941groupbuild on Instagram, it’s not a proper BM-style GB of course, let's say it's a warm up for the Salty Sea Dog GB kicking off in January.

Edited November 28, 2022 by TonyOD

[2996 Victor]

Great start, Tony, looking forward to seeing this one progressing. I think the TLS is a good call as well.

 

Cheers,

Mark

[TonyOD]

36 minutes ago, 2996 Victor said:

I think the TLS is a good call as well.

 

Temperate Land Scheme! I thought it had a name... 

[bigbadbadge]

Nice choice Tony, will be keen to see this one progress.

Chris

[Biggles87]

Blimey! You’ve got a production line going, I’m in.

 

John

[mark.au]

Should be good.  You've fired up my imagination in one day doing a Spit with new grey and weathered green!

[TonyOD]

16 minutes ago, mark.au said:

Should be good.  You've fired up my imagination in one day doing a Spit with new grey and weathered green!

It would require some thought and planning I feel!

[TonyOD]

Showtime! Let's have a look at the striking and evocative box art:

 

 

The sprues are familiar ground from the Early Mk I Profipack, in fact they appear to be exactly the same except for just the one pair of fuselage halves. There's an embarrassment of riches for the spares box, with all kinds of bits and pieces to cover just about every conceivable configuration of the Mk I - different pilot's seats, rudders, antennae, pitot tubes, gunsights, you name it. There are two bladed and three bladed props, in fact three of the latter, one de Havilland and what I assume is two Rotols with the blades set at different pitches. The transparencies include the early flat canopy and armoured/unarmoured windscreens. Unfortunately I'm lacking a couple of bits to turn it into a Mk II, but I'll find a way around that. Of course the quality of the moulding is just exquisite.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And that's it. No etch, no decals, not even instructions. But as a cost effective platform for a great Eduard build Overtrees can't be beat. I have aftermarket decals already, a stencil sheet inbound, and even if I didn't have the instructions from my early Mk I build I could download them from Scalemates or Eduard's own site. I think if these things were readily available in the UK, I'd have a heap of them!

 

Thanks for looking in.

Edited November 28, 2022 by TonyOD

[2996 Victor]

11 hours ago, TonyOD said:

Showtime! Let's have a look at the striking and evocative box art

Love it!

 

Seriously, though, this looks like a basis for a superb build.

 

Cheers,

Mark

[Dunny]

Tony,

 

Will watch with interest - I have an Eduard Mk.IIa very near the top of the pile,

 

Cheers,

 

Roger

[TonyOD]

51 minutes ago, Dunny said:

Will watch with interest - I have an Eduard Mk.IIa very near the top of the pile,

Seriously, Eduard are going to see me bankrupt.

 

I have the new Tamiya Mk Ia kit inbound which includes the landing gear gizmo I need so I can nick that, just need to sort a Coffman bump out now.

[TonyOD]

There is stuff going on with this one in and among the carnage of my workspace and Salty Sea Dog GB hosting duties, I’m side-by-siding it with the Seafire IIc that I’m doing for that GB. 

[2996 Victor]

Nice work, Tony, they're progressing nicely - I'm looking forward to seeing them come together.

 

Cheers,

Mark

[Winded Penguin]

Nice history and research to ponder there, behind the images that bring the topic to life. And some un-answered questions hanging too. I like it 👍

Edited January 10, 2023 by Winded Penguin

[Troy Smith]

On 28/11/2022 at 13:19, TonyOD said:

I’ve always assumed that the repaints involved simply painting over the dark earth with ocean grey, the sky with light grey, and leaving the dark green as is.

Medium Sea Grey was an exiting colour, Ocean Grey was new, and like when Sky was introduced, not always available.  The specified replacement if not available was a mix of 7 parts MSG to 1 part Night. 

Remember, Night is not  plain black, it is has ultramarine pigments, being a very darkblack-blue.

 

This leads to all sorts of variations.

https://boxartden.com/reference/gallery/index.php/Camouflage-Markings/Supermarine-Spitfire

the relevant page

 

 

 

re

note the look to be a grey overpaint over the top of the roundel.  FWIW, I'd suggest this was Medium Sea Grey/Night mix  but on the lighter end of mix.

Note that the camo line behind the exhausts is 'soft', and there is fuel tank staining on the Dark Green bit, the camo line through the XR is hard, as is the lines round the D, the camo on the rudder looks soft.

The Dark Green does look a bit tatty in the photos,   ]

 

I have seen an American modeller/author claim the undersides were not initially repainted.    I can dig this out if you wish, but I recall reading it and thinking 'cobblers' 

 

 

 

 

On 28/11/2022 at 22:46, TonyOD said:

and what I assume is two Rotols with the blades set at different pitches.

look closer, I think they have subtly different blade shapes.

I'd study photos carefully.  I suspect you find one for a Mk.II/early V, and one for most V's.   Eduard do preovide all the bits, but don't always annotate them correctly.  

 Spitfire The History will talk about different props, and in the case of Hurricanes, there are different number for different blade shapes,  but I've not as yet seen a match up between types and number.

On 28/11/2022 at 22:46, TonyOD said:

Unfortunately I'm lacking a couple of bits to turn it into a Mk II, but I'll find a way around that.

 

On 29/11/2022 at 11:20, TonyOD said:

just need to sort a Coffman bump out now.

It is likely there on one of the trees, unless it was on the "Mk.II" tree with the later style cockpit, motordrive UC unit and side walls?

Likely a spare in the Airfix kit Mk.I/II though.  

If not, It's not exactly a difficult shape to make.

 

HTH

 

[TonyOD]

4 hours ago, 2996 Victor said:

Nice work, Tony, they're progressing nicely - I'm looking forward to seeing them come together.

 

Thanks Mark. Normally I try to have an absolute maximum of two builds going on at any one time, and I had hoped to get my Airfix Mk Vb and my Eduard IIa out of the way before the SSDGB started, but the former has stalled while I wait for new decals to turn up and the latter suffered for lack of time around Christmas, but I now find myself with the Mk IIa and my Special Hobby Seafire Mk IIc at the same stage of building, so it kind of makes sense to build the two in tandem from here on in, in between hosting duties that is!

 

We really are spoiled nowadays with the array of 1/48 Spitfires/Seafires in various marques available to us, the five brands I'm interested in are Airfix, Eduard, Special Hobby, Tamiya and ICM. It's really interesting working with kits from different manufacturers and seeing how they approach replicating what is essentially the same source material in 1/48 scale.  Airfix, Eduard and (so far) Special Hobby all come up with fine kits in their different ways. The diverse delights of Tamiya and ICM are for further down the line!

 

2 hours ago, Troy Smith said:

The specified replacement if not available was a mix of 7 parts MSG to 1 part Night. 

Remember, Night is not  plain black, it is has ultramarine pigments, being a very darkblack-blue.

 

It's kind of academic because notwithstanding my small niggle about the timing of it all I've decided to paint it in Temperate Land Scheme and will just use my usual Humbrol and Revell enamels. To be honest I don't think the hint of blue in what would be an eighth share of an indeterminate grey would keep me awake at night in any case 😉.

 

2 hours ago, Troy Smith said:

Note that the camo line behind the exhausts is 'soft', and there is fuel tank staining on the Dark Green bit, the camo line through the XR is hard, as is the lines round the D, the camo on the rudder looks soft.

 

All my lines are hard, being a brush painter 🙂

 

2 hours ago, Troy Smith said:

look closer, I think they have subtly different blade shapes.

 

I looked very closely and couldn't see anything to separate them in terms of blade shape. I think there's an unused Rotol prop in my Airfix Vb kit, maybe I'll do a comparison when I get home.

 

2 hours ago, Troy Smith said:

It is likely there on one of the trees, unless it was on the "Mk.II" tree with the later style cockpit, motordrive UC unit and side walls?

Likely a spare in the Airfix kit Mk.I/II though.  

 

No it's the "early" tree. I've swiped a motordrive UC unti from one of my Tamiya kits as on that particular build I'll be using a "Spitfire knuckle" manual lever for the UC. I don't have the Airfix Mk I/II kit.

 

2 hours ago, Troy Smith said:

If not, It's not exactly a difficult shape to make.

 

You're right, of course, but my first resort will probably be the "wanted" page on this here forum.

 

Thanks as always for the feedback.

[TonyOD]

Little bit of progress, apart from addition of oxygen/air bottles the side walls are done. Just an enamel wash and a matt  finish to give them a bit of life.

 

 

 

[bigbadbadge]

Nice, hey are looking good , good luck juggling everything.   

Chris

[TonyOD]

On 1/10/2023 at 2:05 PM, Troy Smith said:

It is likely there on one of the trees, unless it was on the "Mk.II" tree with the later style cockpit, motordrive UC unit and side walls?

Likely a spare in the Airfix kit Mk.I/II though.  

If not, It's not exactly a difficult shape to make

 

Turns out the solution was under my nose - the Coffman bump is on Eduard's Mk V sprue, but not used for that marque. I have three of them in the stash so am well covered. 

 

Slow progress but chipping away, I should be able to assemble the wings tonight. 

[Mark V]

I'll be following along.  I have the Overtrees IIa with aftermarket stencils and decals.  I have decals for both camo flavors of "XR O D".  I also have read Dunn's book, which doesn't help with determining paint history of this airframe.  It is a very interesting autobiography.  

My kit is further down the build pile so I'll keep watch and make notes.  

[TonyOD]

Not that this build is even getting the slightest look-in at the moment what with some proverbial spinning plates and ongoing GB hosting duties, that issue of whether this airframe can ever have been in Temperate Land Scheme has been niggling me so much that I've decided to go with post-August 1941 Day Fighter Scheme, as seen in the photo further up (note contrast between sky identification band and grey underside). I'm also going to do a cannoned-up IIb with TLS and early-type roundels, with a scheme pinned down to July 1941, i.e. comfortably before the "repaint all the planes, chaps" order of the following month.

 

Don't hold your breath on either of these! 😁

Edited February 21, 2023 by TonyOD