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Spitfire Primer question


Stonar

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Here's a detail of a piccy of Johnson's EN398. Note repair behind cockpit. I've seen this interpreted as a fresh bit of Ocean Grey or a primer attributed various colour,grey green etc.

I was unaware that the exterior of the Spitfire airframe was primed prior to the application of the camouflage. If they weren't then Ocean Grey has got to be favourite. All and any opinions welcomed with thanks.

jejen398crop.jpg

Cheers

Steve

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All parts of a Spitfire, whether inside or out, were primed, in grey, before the finishing coats were applied. The reference for the primer(s) was just U.P.1, or U.P.2, and, so far, I've found neither colour chip (unsurprisingly,) or formula, for either, just the enigmatic "grey." The area, in that photo, following the usual pattern, should have been green, so, if the area had needed repair, it's possible that it had some grey primer, before the green was retouched, but it has to be one of those :shrug: not one of these :boxing: .

Around that time, the Mark II I.F.F. was being replaced by the Mk.III, with the starboard wing-mounted aerial, which involved a lot of work, and that area covers the radio position, so that's one possibility for a repair. I would discount green, entirely; why paint an area with a non-primer, which was advocated for interior use, only?

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Thank you gentlemen. Edgar your information now finds me favouring a grey primer of unknown hue. Why would you paint an area to be finished in green in the other camouflage colour? My assumption is that if they had one of the camouflage colours to hand they would have had the other and could have finished the job properly.

Assumption,as we all know,is the mother of all.....

Cheers

Steve

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Here's a detail of a piccy of Johnson's EN398. Note repair behind cockpit. I've seen this interpreted as a fresh bit of Ocean Grey or a primer attributed various colour,grey green etc.

I was unaware that the exterior of the Spitfire airframe was primed prior to the application of the camouflage. If they weren't then Ocean Grey has got to be favourite. All and any opinions welcomed with thanks.

jejen398crop.jpg

Cheers

Steve

Hello playmates.

Painting aluminium is a very difficult art. Aluminium oxidises very quickly and the paint just flakes off if you get it wrong. For this reason all aluminium parts will be etch primed with an acid based, zinc oxide primer.

ZO primer is prepared shortly before it is used (as it goes off fairly quickly) and varies widley in colour density from a pale pea green, through yellow to mostly aluminium with a thin veneer of Lime-ade ( who can forget that tasty pop treat from the 70s).

Once the etching primer is cured it can be overcoated with any colour of undercoat.

Hope this was useful.

square-peg

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Here's a detail of a piccy of Johnson's EN398. Note repair behind cockpit. I've seen this interpreted as a fresh bit of Ocean Grey or a primer attributed various colour,grey green etc.

I was unaware that the exterior of the Spitfire airframe was primed prior to the application of the camouflage. If they weren't then Ocean Grey has got to be favourite. All and any opinions welcomed with thanks.

jejen398crop.jpg

Cheers

Steve

mr brooks could be on the right track as j johnson was only hit once during the war and that was in the wing root.

regards

greycap

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All parts of a Spitfire, whether inside or out, were primed, in grey, before the finishing coats were applied. The reference for the primer(s) was just U.P.1, or U.P.2, and, so far, I've found neither colour chip (unsurprisingly,) or formula, for either, just the enigmatic "grey." The area, in that photo, following the usual pattern, should have been green, so, if the area had needed repair, it's possible that it had some grey primer, before the green was retouched, but it has to be one of those :shrug: not one of these :boxing: .

Around that time, the Mark II I.F.F. was being replaced by the Mk.III, with the starboard wing-mounted aerial, which involved a lot of work, and that area covers the radio position, so that's one possibility for a repair. I would discount green, entirely; why paint an area with a non-primer, which was advocated for interior use, only?

Edgar you talking the silver grey primer that is almost a steel colour as used in the wings? I can get hold of that mixed to the wartime recipe.

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Edgar you talking the silver grey primer that is almost a steel colour as used in the wings? I can get hold of that mixed to the wartime recipe.

This is a bit awkward; according to the relevant drawing, the internals were painted silver, over the grey primer, not a silver/grey mix. I haven't had an opportunity to stick my head inside a preserved, rather than rebuilt, Spitfire, so I've never been able to take any samples (museums tend to get a little protective.)

Edgar

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Makes one wonder (well, me, anyway) if the grey undercoat dulled the appearance of the silver.

A couple of interesting asides, regarding the cockpit green; I had a chance to talk to the man who made the James May Spitfire, and he told me that former riggers had told him how, if they were short of the correct paint, they mixed their own from Sky + camouflage green, and, according to a friend of mine, Revell are advocating a mix of (their version of) 75% Sky + 25% Green.

Edgar

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regarding the cockpit green; I had a chance to talk to the man who made the James May Spitfire, and he told me that former riggers had told him how, if they were short of the correct paint, they mixed their own from Sky + camouflage green, and, according to a friend of mine, Revell are advocating a mix of (their version of) 75% Sky + 25% Green.

Edgar

Well,well,well as a bit of a Luftnutter I have a lot of RLM equivqlents but am a bit light on allied stuff. I brewed up my interior green from Xtracrylix by making a (roughly) 60/40 mix of their interior green and RLM65. Maybe not as daft as it sounds!

Edgar I'm going to assume that the new IFF was indeed fitted and fit the rod antenna under the wing. It's another guess as I have no image that shows under the wing.

Thanks everyone for the interesting info.

Cheers

Steve

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