Spitfire colours...

[BarryW]

I have just taken delivery of my next build, the Tamiya 1:48 Spitfire 1.

Having a quick look at the box raises a query because I am sure Tamiya has got this wrong.

I was under the impression that the undersides of RAF fighter aircraft had a single wing painted black pre-war and early war. The full Sky underside being the norm in time for the Battle of Britain with that being followed by a light grey underside colour and a green/grey top camo.

Accordingly to the Tamiya kit box and instructions the black wing was 1940/41 after the BoB...... surely they are wrong?

[stona]

This is very time dependent.

1) The black/white undersides were approved on 17-1-39. The order was passed down ten days later on 27-1-39. A little later someone realised that the roundel under the black wing was hard to see and on 4-6-40 an order was issued to add a yellow surround to the roundel under the port wing

This scheme was supposed to be half black and half white,including the fuselage and tailplane. All sorts of variations occurred.

The scheme was for recognition of friendly fighters by ground units.It was found,unsurprisingly,to give very poor camouflage in air to air operations

2) Black/white was officially replaced by Sky "type S" on 7-6-40, though the changeover was protracted,due to a shortage of paint. An order was quickly issued (10-6-40) allowing the continued use of the black/white scheme until sufficient supplies of the new Sky colour became available.

3) 28-11-40 the port wing only was supposed to revert to black, but this was delayed until 12-12-40. Underside roundels returned with yellow round the port roundel. This sounds like the scheme that Tamiya are quoting.

4) 8-4-41 order given to revert to Sky,but,again,due to yet another shortage of paint, it was delayed until 22-4-41.

The port wing black scheme was short lived.

4) 12-8-41 order issued to paint undersides Medium Sea Grey, with topside Dark Earth being replaced by a mix 7:1 Medium Sea Grey to black. This mixed grey was given the official name Ocean Grey later (21-8-41). This is the Day Fighter Scheme which remained until after the end of the war.

I hope this helps. It can be very confusing! This is a very basic run down but gives an idea of when which scheme was in force.There were other tactical markings like fuselage bands and yellow leading edges as well.

Cheers

Steve

[Guest]

Just been looking for my next build & browsing the Airfix site.

Very inclusive stuff. History pictures etc. But also paint lists attached to each model they produce. For instance they produce a lot of Spitfire models & they list for each model, some times four or five, different paint schemes for differing spheres they were used in the world. Also for different squadrons. Supermarine Spitfire MkI / MkkIIa (A02010) Model Kit and Accessories by Airfix

In Humbrol they have an extensive paint list. So you can use these lists (cheating in some ways, most really) & for instance if using Vallejo Air use the extensive Vallejo conversion colour charts to find your colours. With Humbrol you rarely have to mix different colours together so you do get an easy conversion number.

Note of caution I have found is that sometimes the conversions are not always as accurate as hoped.

Laurie

[Guest]

Really glad this thread has come about as I've also purchased the Tamiya Mk1 Spitfire and too was unsure of the correct colour scheme.

Thanks Steve for the info. What's your source? Any decent books that can be bought of the BoB with good photo's and colour schemes of the era.

I managed to purchase a pot of Humbrol Dark Earth at the weekend for the Mk1 camo scheme, and after some testing of similar colours and mixes I've settled on Humbrol as being a good match for me.

It's a shame the model manufacturers don't give a bit more info. on the relevant kits.

Atb, Colin.

[stona]

Hi Colin,my post was from notes I've made from all sorts of sources over time. As far as references go if you want a good overview of camouflage and markings in that period (for both sides) I would suggest.

"The Battle of Britain - Camouflage and Markings 1940" by Peter Scott and Gary Madgwick. It's published by The Aviation Workshop Publications Ltd. The author's have drawn heavily on the works of the likes of Paul Lucas and Jochen Prien. It is up to date and has plenty of good colour profiles and illustrations. It isn't cheap but is money well spent. I wish I could tell you where my copy came from but I can't remember!

there is a website:

The Aviation Workshop

Cheers

Steve

Edit,I've just flicked through my copy and all the information,signals etc in my post (apart from the later adoption of the DFS) are in there. There's plenty of good stuff on the Luftwaffe and the schemes they used too. I'm much more familiar with the German stuff!

[BarryW]

Many thanks for this info..

[Guest]

Hi Colin,my post was from notes I've made from all sorts of sources over time. As far as references go if you want a good overview of camouflage and markings in that period (for both sides) I would suggest."The Battle of Britain - Camouflage and Markings 1940" by Peter Scott and Gary Madgwick. It's published by The Aviation Workshop Publications Ltd. The author's have drawn heavily on the works of the likes of Paul Lucas and Jochen Prien. It is up to date and has plenty of good colour profiles and illustrations. It isn't cheap but is money well spent. I wish I could tell you where my copy came from but I can't remember!

there is a website:

The Aviation Workshop

Cheers

Steve

Edit,I've just flicked through my copy and all the information,signals etc in my post (apart from the later adoption of the DFS) are in there. There's plenty of good stuff on the Luftwaffe and the schemes they used too. I'm much more familiar with the German stuff!

Thanks for the info Steve,

Atb, Colin.