1/48 Spitfire Mk-11question [Revell]

[Maglar]

Well thank you Woj / everybody, i'm glad I asked a knowledgeable question. Probably would have ended up using sky gray or my sky blue if I hadn't.

 

[Wurger]

You'r welcome.

 

[antoni]

The specification for Sky is white pigment with 4% Yellow Oxide plus a small amount of Prussian Blue. Which white pigment to use is not specified. Different white pigments will give different versions of Sky as will small errors in the amount of Yellow Oxide or, especially, Prussian Blue.

 

[Airframes]

You're spot on Antoni, and this can actually be seen, unless there have been some changes, at the Science Museum, London. As I mentioned, things might have changed, as it's about
forty years since I was last there, but the Spitfire MkI and Hurricane MkI, both genuine Battle of Britain veterans, used to hang (more or less) side by side. At that time, the paint was the original, and I presume still is. There was a visible difference in the shades of 'Sky' between the two aircraft, a fact that I have remembered ever since, which helps me to not be too concerned if the shade I mix isn't exactly to spec!

 

[antoni]

In simplified terms, on the Spitfire MkII (Mark Two), for this parerticular scheme, the spinner and the rear fuselage 'FighterID' band should be finished in Sky, more than likely supplied by most model paint companies as 'Sky Type S', or the equivalent. This, as both Antoni and Wojtek have indicated, is the shade that leans towards a green hue, and actually looks like a whitish cream colour. Since the demise of Humbrol as we knew them I have normally mixed my own shade, using matt white, a spot of yellow, and a spot of blue, until it looks more or less right!!
For some strange reason, very few kit manufacturers are able to supply decal code letters in the correct shade, as I've seen bright green, an almost buff colour, cream, greyish green -all sorts!

A couple of Spitfire Mk IIs with Sky undersurfaces and AM Sky Blue spinners and fuselage band. Note the band does not circle the fuselage, i.e., it does not cross the Sky on the underneath.

 

[Airframes]

Interesting. I must have seen dozens of copies, some at slightly different angles, of EB-Z, (some in colour IIRC) and I've never noticed the difference in the tail band until you pointed it out!
Not that it's particularly important, but I wonder if this is the different shade, as you say, or just new paint contrasting with the older 'Sky'? In the first pic, the colour on the inside of the undercart door appears lighter, which it would, being 'sheltered' as it were, compared to the rest of the underside. The insides of the doors were (normally) painted the same colour as the underside finish. As the spinner and tail bands were applied quite some time after the airframe would have been first painted, it is possible I suppose.

 

[Wurger]

Oh... two nice and interesting pics. I agree with Terry but there can be another explanation - the equipment rotation.Being used by another unit, painting of these could be refreshed partially due to many reasons and because of the lack of the correct paint the maintenance crew could use what they had or could be obtained by mixing.