PRU pink spitfires

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rochie

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do any of you guy's have any info on PRU pink spifire's
i've got the alfred price book with a colour profile but was wondering if there was any more info out there ?

i'm planning on doing an FR IX with my daughter doing the same so any help will be appreciated enormously, here's the kit we are doing
 

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Karl, there should be some pics on the rear cover, and in the book. Although I think yours is a later edition than mine. If I'd thought, I couild have copied some shots from 'Spitfire in Blue', which i had from the library when you were down!
If the pics aren't in your copy, I'll scan and send them mate. Externally, apart from the camera port, the FRIX was the same as the normal MkIX. In the cockpit, the Type 35 control unit, for the camera(s), was located above and forward of the throttle quadrant (see 'Tony Hill's' posts re-the flight sim he's building.)
 
Rob, the Spits were part of the RAF's Photogtaphic Reconaissance Unit, used for taking aerial photographs of enemy installations etc. Those Spits and Mosquitos used for high-altitude work were painted in 'PRU' Blue, a mid blue -grey colour, (which I think you've got in your paints) which blended-in nicely with the high-altitude sky colour.
The pink Spits were used for medium level recce work, where the pale pink colour helped to 'hide' them against haze or cloud background. These Spits were fully armed, as they were more likely to encounter enemy fighters, whereas the PRU Blue aircraft were un-armed, relying on altitude and speed to get out of trouble. Earlier in WW2, some recce Spits were finished in a pale, off-white colour, for operations below cloud.
A similar pink colour, known as 'Desert Pink', was used on RAF Tornado, Buccaneer and Jaguar aircraft, in the medium to low-level strike role, during the first Gulf War, where the aircraft blended in with the desert sky, and the terrain. This shade was slightly different to the wartime Spits, being a pinkish sand colour, and was developed as a result of the SAS using a pink finish on Land Rovers used in the desert, where it was found this colour really blended in, with the surroundings, and the pinkish effect of the UV rays in the haze.
 
I made some swatches based on Spit5's info, and I see the CMYK is just a bit off of the RGB color (shifts to the red - "warmer")...when the CMYK color is compared in RGB, it returns as 242 212 199.

The first swatch is the RGB and the second is the CMYK.
 

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I'd say either of them are about as close as you'd get on a screen. Nice work Dave.
Karl, I'll still send you the pics of the 'current' Spit in this colour, but to be honest, I think what Dave has posted will be closer to the actual WW2 colour, allowing for weathering and dirt etc.
 
Hey, I built that Spitfire ! Well, not exactly that one, as I made the RCAF "CE-J" version rather the pink recon version. It's a nice kit of great quality. However, be careful with that tail wheel... It's a bitch to successfully glue on.
 

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