**** DONE: 1/48 Spitfire MkVIII - Home Country Modern Aircraft/Spitfire Marks GB

[Crimea_River]

As I continue the fill and sand the various gaps, I came to notice something of interest. Recall that I had added some filler on the top of the cowl, thinking that this area should have been flat. Now take a close look at the below details of some pretty accurate profile drawings that I have of several Spit marks. Trace the line of the top of the cowl from the windscreen to the spinner in both details and you'll see that the top one is quite flat whereas the bottom one makes a pronounces upward step at the cowl seam and then curves back down to the spinner. Checking various other profiles, I see similar differences and it appears the Mk VIII has this.

Comments?

 

[A4K]

You could be right Andy, but I'm not an expert, so can't comment confirm or deny sorry.

 

[Wayne Little]

Now that's interesting....

 

[Wayne Little]

been and looked over the cowl from every angle Andy, it resembles the TOP profile, there is no high and low as shown in the second profile.

 

[Airframes]

Not sure if the second drawing is 100% accurate Andy, but it's in the right zone, as it were. The later upper cowling had a bulged top surface, with the 'bulge' also slightly on the sides, which progressively sloped towards the spinner. There was a good reason for this but, off hand, I can't remember what it was!
It was possible to see MkIXs fitted with either cowl, the 'flat' topped one being the earlier version and, far as I know without digging into my references, the bulged cowl was standard on MkVIIIs.

 

[ccheese]

I'll play dumb.... I just don't know !!

Charles

 

[Crimea_River]

Thanks for the input guys. Think I'll take it easy on the sanding and let the cowl bulge a tad. I'll dig into my references a bit more and see if something turns up.

While I'm at it, I'm assuming that the camo scheme of the 155 Sqdn spits in SEAC operations was RAF Dark Green and Dark Earth with Medium Sea Gray undersides, correct? The profile colours on page 1 of this thread look hokey but suggest Foliage Green, which I don't think applies.

 

[Airframes]

You're right Andy - they were delivered in Dark Green/Ocean Grey/Medium Sea Grey, but re-painted at the MU in India with Dark Earth replacing the Ocean Grey. Near war's end, the re-painting was missed out, but that was mainly on MkXIVs.

 

[Crimea_River]

Thanks Terry. So a soft edge on the Dark Earth would seem appropriate?

 

[Crimea_River]

Found this interesting analysis here:The Supermarine Spitfire MkIX

"The upper contour of the cowling of Mk VII/VIII and early Mk IXs is a fairly straight continuation of the line of the upper fuel tank panel in front of the windscreen, falling smoothly toward the nose. Looking closely, one will observe a very slight rise from the fuel tank towards the position of the intercooler (just aft of the exhaust stacks). On later examples, and on the MkXVI, this swelling in the upper engine panel contour is significantly exaggerated. I have not seen "official" explanations for this change, but there must have been some good reason, as the view from the cockpit was limited enough as it was. The modified contour is typically seen on MkXVI's and many MkIXe's. It may have been introduced to make room for the modified intercooler of the MkXVI's Packard-built Merlin 266, which had an integral header tank. The Merlin 61,63, 66, and 70 had a flat-topped intercooler and a separate, firewall-mounted header tank. The Mk.XVI was built in parallel with the late Mk.IX's, more or less on the same Castle Bromwich assembly line. The difference in header tank configuration between the Mk.IXe and Mk.XVI is also reflected in different positioning of the filler cap access panel. As far as I'm aware, this might be the only external difference between the two marks.

 

[Airframes]

That reasoning rings a bell.
Regarding the 'soft edge' camouflage, from those pics I've seen of newly-painted Spits, in other words not covered in dust and dirt (!), the demarcation is softer than the hard- edged factory finish, but not a 'true' soft edge. When I did the Bob Cross MkVIII, I closely checked a DVD of film footage of the Squadron, from the IWM, and although the paint was diffused by dust, it was possible to determine that the demarcation was, for want of a better description, 'an in between' edge, neither truly hard-edged or soft.

 

[Crimea_River]

Thanks Terry. My assumption is that the paint, being field applied as you've pointed out, would have likely been sprayed without masking. However, a closer look at some SEAC photos shows that the edge was pretty tight.

 

[Airframes]

Yes, that's clearly visible in close-ups in the footage mentioned. It's not as hard as a tightly masked or brush-painted demarcation, only just very lightly feathered. Spraying freehand, with the airbrush close in, on 'fine' trigger and at medium pressure, you should be able to replicate this quite well. Of course, if you're going to give the model typical SEAC weathering, then that will certainly help!

 

[Crimea_River]

I tried a tight freehand camo on my Spit IX AE-B. At the model show, the judges felt that it was a bit too coarse and I agree. So I'll likely need to look at using blue tack or raised tape although I've not had much success with the latter and never tried the former.

 

[Vic Balshaw]

Some very interesting information here, will have to make mental notes to remember this. Well spotted Andy.

 

[Wayne Little]

Learning all the time!

 

[brucejscott]

Good stuff guys.

 

[ccheese]

Lookin' good, Andy...

Charles

 

[Crimea_River]

Just to show I'm making a bit of progress, here a few shots.

Pic 1 Showing the overall plane as it sits today. Initial filling and sanding has been done and primer applied to reveal remaining defects.
Pic 2 A remaining defect. The wing fillet came out a bit odd and I was not able to get a nice sharp transition between the upper fillet and the underside. I've therefore filed the area down a bit more and installed a length of stretched sprue along the edge. This will be trimmed and sanded down to a fine edge.
Pic 3 A bit of detail added behind the seat so I can get on with attaching the glazing here. The Sutton harness got the cables that extended to the rear fuselage interior and the upper brace was added from plastic card. Happily, I successfully cut the rear canopy section off the fixed assembly without breaking it and it, along with the other two clear parts, has been dipped in Future and is curing as we speak.

Question - What gunsight would this Mk VIII likely have had? It was built in January '44 and struck off charge in September of the same year.

 

[brucejscott]

Looking very nice Andy.