**** DONE: 1/48 Supermarine Spitfire 1 - Defense of Britain/Atlantic.

Thanks Terry

It was a very interesting time in the development of radio and radar within the backdrop of the battle. It's difficult to pin it down, but I'll go through what I've found.

I've had a bit of a snoop at the collective internet wisdom on the matter and source documents weren't popping out at me, but there is a good summary on the variations on "The Spitfire Site".

http://spitfiresite.com/2010/04/spitfire-masts-and-aerials.html/2

There are four possible combinations for Battle of Britain Spitfires.

1. Early rod mast, HF TR 9 radio with wire to the rudder.
2. Tapered mast with triangular prong, TR 9 radio with wire from fuselage to mast and from mast to rudder.
3. Tapered mast without triangular prong, VHF TR 1133 radio, no wire although the rudder post may still be fitted.
4. Ditto 3; IFF fitted wires running from fuselage roundel to leading edge of tailplane tips. An insulator in the form off a small dot is visible just forward of upper part of the red centre spot.

X4009 appears had the triangular prong, indicating that it was fitted with the HF TR.9D radio. N3277 AZ-H a.k.a. Dirty Dick also had the TR.9D radio (that's confirmed in the photos I've previously posted and it also did not have IFF Mk.1). This aircraft was captured four days before the arrival of X4009 at 234 Squadron, so it makes sense that they would deliver the spitfire X4009 from the MU with the radio fitment that the squadron was using at the time.

It appears from what I've read, having the TR.9D meant that the IFF Mk.1 was not fitted and confirmed by the photo. Nothing concrete on this but anecdotal evidence that the IFF Mk.1 interfered with the HF sets when installed in bomber aircraft, and besides it's noted that is was not one of the options as per the list above.

So what I get from this is that fitting IFF Mk.1 was done either in conjunction with fitting VHF sets or after wards.

Another interesting point was that the TR.9D radios were teamed with the remote contactor code named "Pip Squeak" that broadcast 15 seconds in every sixty on a set channel so that the position of the aircraft could be established by ground station triangulation (radio direction finding). It's through this system that fighter aircraft locations were tracked during the Battle of Britain and that the use of IFF Mk.1 was mostly after the battle, with the sets being incorporated into production Spitfires in December 1940 (but installed by MU's prior starting in late September/ October 1940).

For X4009 to be fitted with VHF and IFF meant that it would have needed to return to a MU, and my assumption is that this probably did not occur in the three short weeks that X4009 was with 234S, and IFF Mk.1 was not available generally until late September, after the loss of X4009.

So my decision on this is HF radios, no IFF Mk.1 as a consequence.

Well now, onto under wing roundels. 8)

Cheers

Peter

Nice info Peter and Terry. Always learning here.




Geo

Good stuff, and all makes sense Peter.

Thanks Geo and Terry!

More progress over the past few days so time to report. Here we go.

Pic 1
There are several different variations of under wing roundels is use during the BoB. I do know that X4009 was completed on the production line before orders were made to add the roundels on the 11th August 1940. The factory size should have been 50in as per the diagram, but others were definitely seen in sizes 40in and 25in. I've done a search, but photos for this squadron at this time are rare, so to be honest, I'm none the wiser for the time spent!

That just leaves me a decision to make, so I'm going with the 25in roundels. Truth is, I just happen to have the right size masks for this. There are a couple of great pics of this size on Spitfire X4474, so also I had some good references also.

Pic 2 3
One little niggle with the Airfix Spit is a mismatch panel line on the upper front engine cowling. I just had to sand this down and re-scribe. Very little effort required in other areas. A little surfacer here and there and it was good to go for the first coat of paint.

Pic 4
First coat of primer laid down, and time to check all the seams. No problems. Onwards!

Pic 5
This is the pre-shading work done in a dark green.

Pic 6 - 9
In this series of photos, I show the application of the under wing roundels in stages using the masks. Care needed to make sure that you don't add too much paint and create ridges. I hope I didn't! White, blue and finally the red centre.

Pic 10
Job done on both sides. I cover the masks with Kabuki tape so when I spray the Sky, it won;t go through the gaps between the circles.

Pic 11
This is after the first coat of sky with the pre-shading still show through darkly.

Pic 12
Second coat applied and the pre-shading is becoming more subtle. I'll leave this for the moment. Once the gloss coat is added the colours tend to merge, so it may be just right as is. I'll check it under bright sunlight tomorrow to be sure.

Well that's is for this evening, thanks for dropping by! 8)

Cheers

Peter

Nice

Nice progress! I like the seam fix... nice and neat! A little question on the roundel masks... why are they painted before the sky bottom? It seems like an added step (one more mask to cover the completed roundel) versus painting the roundels after the camo.

Good stuff Peter.

Luvin' it.

Thanks for the comments guys!

JKim said:

Nice progress! I like the seam fix... nice and neat! A little question on the roundel masks... why are they painted before the sky bottom? It seems like an added step (one more mask to cover the completed roundel) versus painting the roundels after the camo.

Click to expand...

Hi John,

There's a couple of reasons for me: to allow the pre-shading to show through consistently, to use less paint (especially white - that's more important over the DE/DG areas) and it does reduce the masking, because it's easier to mask off the roundels at the end of the process than mask off the rest of the model when apply the markings. This gets more of problem later when I'm doing the codes as well.

It can be done the other way round, this is just my preference. This is the first time of I've used the Montex Masks, but I've cut and used my own masks before.

Cheers

Peter

That makes perfect sense Peter! Thanks for explaining!

Nicely done Peter!

Nicely done so far!

Very nice progress Peter.

Real nice work Peter

G'day

A small update today.

I've been on a break for a couple of weeks, so not much progress to report, but here goes.

Pic 1 2
I've finished off the roundels and this is the result. I did put on one more dilute coat of sky to subdue the pre-shading just a little bit more.

Pic 3-6
Made a start on the clear parts, which are very good from Airfix. The first issue to take care of is the rear-view mirror. There was not an external mirror on X4009, but it was popular during the Battle of Britain to add a car mirror inside the front screen, and this seems to be what has happened looking at the photograph of X4009. There also looks to be an additional mirror (a shaving mirror?) taped (with white tape) to one side for additional viewing area.

Airfix have molded an indent at the top of the front screen to locate and external mirror, so I have filled this by gluing in some plastic card and then trimmed to size. I've followed this up with gluing the provided mirror upside down inside the front screen. I'll paint and add the additional mirror next.

Thank all.

Cheers

Peter

Nice work Peter.

Great little detail on the mirror! I like the non-typical placement/size of the wing roundels too.

Nicely done all round Peter, and I like the adaptation of the kit mirror - I'd wondered which way you'd solve that little problem.