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SAAF Kittyhawk Marking Question


Steve N

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Greetings! 

 

I recently purchased Xtradecal sheet #72321 "SAAF Fighters Pt. 1."  I want to build Major Hauptfleisch's Kittyhawk 1A, and these are the only decals I've found that got the colors of the "Springbok" squadron emblem correct.  It's almost always shown with Africa in red with a white border.  But I'm curious about the pose of the springok.  All illustrations, kits, and decals I've seen featuring these markings show the animal leaping towards the nose of the aircraft.  That is, a mirror image on each side.  But on the Xtradecal sheet (shown below) it's jumping to the right on both sides, meaning it's facing aft on the left side of the aircraft.  And naturally, the few actual photos I've found only show the right side.  Any idea which is correct?

 

LXPxkZF.jpeg

 

Thanks,

 

Steve

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How about this one? They look fine and the quality of these decals is also top notch.

 

https://www.mojehobby.pl/products/SAAF-Kittyhawks.html

 

 

Samo/P.k

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Since Stefaan did not comment on the colours of the badge - green-gold (yellow) would be the "national" colour for the springboks so likely correct!

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Thanks for the info, fellas!  That's what I was afraid of.  Looks like I'll need to "spring" for the DK sheet. 😉

 

Steve

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The Green/Yellow colours were identified when one of the SAAF researchers (I think it was Stefaan) found an original menu for a dinner during the war (likely Christmas) which had the wing badge on it in Green/Yellow colour. There was info about it on one of the Forums several years ago (but I cannot remember which one).

 

Stefaan was the main supplier of info for the schemes used on the DK sheet.

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Thanks Super Aereo

 

OK that was the post that gave the info. To give credit where due it was apparently Piet van Schalkwyk who identified the correct colour info from a drawing on the front of a logbook and a description in the wing records. So my memory was slightly faulty (all I had as I did not know the location of the post).

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No. It was a pilot who was with the pilot in the squadron that had the logbook with the badge as cover who told me the colours already in the 1980's.

Mav decals changed the colours to the green/yellow before Piet found the War Diary entry that described the colours.

Stefaan

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On 5/22/2024 at 6:19 AM, Super Aereo said:

I had forgotten I started that thread with a similar question years ago!  I never finished the kit, and just pulled it out the other day with the thought of wrapping it up.  I had ordered the Xtradecal sheet, but didn't notice the issue with the squadron emblem until I received it. 

 

SN

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