31st FG Squadron Hack

[fubar57]

Found this pic and thought it would be right up my alley....

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Eduard provide the markings in their Mk.VIII kit...

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as do AZ models...

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Notice that they both call for Medium Sea Grey as the top colour which to me seems kind of dark though Eduard's profile pic seems closer.

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I'm not saying FS 36440 is the correct colour but it does seem closer to the photo than MSG. Thoughts......?

 

[Crimea_River]

No idea really. MSG is the standard underside colour for the day fighter scheme so it's not as dark as you might think.The profile says PRU Blue on bottom and MSG on top and call it a "high altitude" scheme. Wasn't aware there was such a thing but I know schemes where the whole plane was PRU Blue. The photo even suggests to me that it could be bare metal but I really have no idea what's right.

 

[fubar57]

Found the same photo as the top one I posted in "American Spitfire Camouflage and Markings Part 1" by Ventura Publications. The caption reads, in part, ".....Note its clipped wings with red and yellow striped tips. Its colour scheme appears to be light grey upper surfaces and the original Azure Blue lower surfaces..."

 

[Airframes]

It looks like it could be MSG, which was very possibly readily available. But if I was pushed, I'd say the wing tips were red/white/blue, with the red being the outer colour.
However, if the photo was taken using orthochromatic film, then the 'yellow' would appear darker. The only evidence I can see for this is that the yellow prop tips aren't visible, which could, of course, just be the lighting.

 

[fubar57]

The grey could just be faded MSG. The inner colour seems to be closer in shade to the red spinner

 

[Crimea_River]

Squadron/Signal's book on the 31st FG put the wing tip colours at yellow and red, with red OUTBOARD, contrary to the profiles shown above. There are just the two colours, with no border in between. Not sure what the light band in the picture might be.

Azure Blue makes some sense for the underside being a potential carryover from the desert scheme that might have adorned this aircraft in its earlier life in North Africa and Sicily. It's conceivable that MSG was sprayed over the Dark Earth and Middle Stone colours that might have been there.

 

[Wurger]

The profile suggests the white strip between the red and yellow ones. However it is very likely the white might have been omitted and there was the colour of the top surface and of the undersides.

 

[fubar57]

Would the film type transverse the colours in B&W? In the original photo, I'm seeing the lighter colour on the outer tip, the inner colour looking to me to be closer to the colour of the spinner which is known to be red. Andy is correct about the Squadron book showing the red on the outer wing, yellow as the inner colour and no white stripe but I've only seen this on their P-51s so far

 

[woody_s]

It's the standard RAF high altitude scheme as seen on quite a few VII's and Vii's as well as some IX's. Medium Sea Grey over PRU Blue.
Cheers,
Woody

 

[chuter]

Found a pic of two spitfire scale models in a standard 31st desert scheme and this (MS grey) scheme side by side. Converting the pic to greyscale simulating both ortho and pan film shows a remarkably close similarity (kinda identical, actually) between middlestone and grey. Could the aircraft then just be a faded middlestone upper and azure?

As for red and yellow relative lightness, either one can be darker (maybe even black) or lighter depending on whether the film is orthochromatic or panchromatic and what filter is used. Without a filter red should be the darker of the two in either case.