That Spitty looks real nice man!
What's on The Workbench (27 Viewers)
- Thread starter Heinz
- Start date
Thanks Wayne! Yesterday evening I went on with finishing up the camo. Hope to start doing a few smaller bits and pieces today (wheelbays, yellow ID bands etc.) so hopefully by the end of today or tomorrow I can put another few pics of the latest progress. I'll turn this into an 80 Sqn MK.24 VN317 W2-P with different style fuselage letters (light blue with white shadows) and different style of fuselage roundels (compared to what was used mostly in those days)
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Sweet! 
Airframes
Benevolens Magister
Sounds interesting. I haven't seen any 80 Sqn aircraft (the only RAF Sqn to use the Mk24) with that style of markings.
That's what I thought. I've tried looking it up in the references mentioned on the eagles strike decal sheet, but sofar have failed to locate a pic/discription of that aircraft. Though it is being mentioned here and there as being the mount Sqn S/Ldr R.A.Newberry CO, RAF Lubeck 1948. No word on the different markings though. Will try to look up the other references mentioned, but I'm not sure I'll be able to find them.
In addition to this Eaglestrike sheet 'Spitfire end of the line' pt IV decals for the same aircraft can be found on an xtradecal sheet, although it is named a Mk.22 on that sheet and seemingly doesn't have the white drop shadow effect, it does carry the blue fuselage letters.
Perhaps I yet again managed to pick an a/c that brings about a sh*tstorm among modellers/aftermarket folks in regard to god-known-how-many different interpretations of the markings.
EDIT:
Upon closer inspection the xtradecal sheet does hold markings for W2-P in light blue WITH drop shadow (two part decal) one white and one blue)
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Airframes
Benevolens Magister
Hmm. Looking forward to seeing these. The Mk22 only served with RAuxAF squadrons AFAIK, and 80 Sqns Mk24s were deployed to Hong Hong, on anti-terrorist ops, I think from late 1949. At that time, they had standard 'Sky' codes and roundels etc.
I've look into it as well, and since the MK.24 only served with 80Sqn I've found one or two other sheets that hold decals for 80Sqn MK.24 (either as part of the German Occupation Force or in Hongkong) and they all have sky codes, this kite being the exception apparently (which is honestly why I bought it)
Also, I've looked through the Mark.I Guide Spit Mk.22/Mk.24 book and did another profile drawing of a MK.24, VN312 W2-Y. The description of that profile also mentions the fuselage codes as being light blue (with no white drop shadow) and the type C1 fuselage roundel. W2-P seems to have type D fuselage roundels though.
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Airframes
Benevolens Magister
OK. I'm guessing the decal producers must have got the info from somewhere - unless there's been some mis-interpretation of B&W photos of course. All the pics i have of 80 Sqn, both in Germany post war, and in Hong Kong, show standard codes, the 'campaign' stripes, and a blue-tipped, 'Sky' spinner. I'll have a dig around and see if I can come up with anything.
One decals producer can make a mistake, but I think it unlikely two different decal producers end up making the same mistake and end up with roughly the same colors for the fuselage code.
The spinner is something else, the profile of W2-P mentions it as being entirely white (even though I kinda like the blue tipped one a lot as a matter of fact) Oh well, since this kit it build in 'sandbox mode' and not to make every rivet count I might just go with the instructions on the decal sheet 'cause it looks nice, without doing extensive research into the matter.
The spinner is something else, the profile of W2-P mentions it as being entirely white (even though I kinda like the blue tipped one a lot as a matter of fact) Oh well, since this kit it build in 'sandbox mode' and not to make every rivet count I might just go with the instructions on the decal sheet 'cause it looks nice, without doing extensive research into the matter.
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Airframes
Benevolens Magister
Spinner would not have been white - standard Day Fighter Scheme was still in force, therefore basic coolur would have been 'Sky'.
As for one or two decal producers - it just needs one source to 'confirm' things, and all other authors/artists etc will often follow suit! As is well known in books, where secondary research is based on previous research !
As for one or two decal producers - it just needs one source to 'confirm' things, and all other authors/artists etc will often follow suit! As is well known in books, where secondary research is based on previous research !
Even though Terry did (rightfully so) raise a few questions in regard to the non-standard markings from the EaglesStrike sheet I want to put onto this a/c there was no need to step on the brakes as far as the paintjob is concerned.
So, I continued working on the camo. The initial colors were Tamiya, but as I've found Gunze colors to work much better (especially with the small 0.15mm tip/needle in the airbrush and freehand airbrushing) I switsched to those to work it into the final pattern/colors. I also sprayed on the yellow ID bands, and in the end got rid of all the masking material used in the process) Next up are the wheel bays.
In retrospect the Sky fuselage band may be a tad too small (as far as width is concerned) and the yellow ID bands on the other hand might be a tad too big, but overall I'm pretty happy with how this turned out sofar. I'm still considering the possibility of going back in with heavily thinned lighter shades of the basic camo colors and postshade a few panels, but I fear I might overdo it on the shading (giving it an all too weathered and worn look for a post-war a/c) I made a few other small mistakes as well, most notably the wingtip lights (these are to be colored red and green?) Still need to look into the possibilities to fix this at this stage, but if it too much work with too muck risk to mess up the rest of the paint job I'll leave it as is. It was a pain in the r*ar end to get them properly installed and neatly blend them in with the rest of the wingstips, so I'm happy to have succeeded in that for now.
BTW, I'm still looking around to figure out what might be the deal with the markings on this a/c so if any1 happens to have any information on it, I'd be very glad to hear about it. I've tried to look up the references mentioned on the decal sheet, but haven't found 'em all
So, I continued working on the camo. The initial colors were Tamiya, but as I've found Gunze colors to work much better (especially with the small 0.15mm tip/needle in the airbrush and freehand airbrushing) I switsched to those to work it into the final pattern/colors. I also sprayed on the yellow ID bands, and in the end got rid of all the masking material used in the process) Next up are the wheel bays.
In retrospect the Sky fuselage band may be a tad too small (as far as width is concerned) and the yellow ID bands on the other hand might be a tad too big, but overall I'm pretty happy with how this turned out sofar. I'm still considering the possibility of going back in with heavily thinned lighter shades of the basic camo colors and postshade a few panels, but I fear I might overdo it on the shading (giving it an all too weathered and worn look for a post-war a/c) I made a few other small mistakes as well, most notably the wingtip lights (these are to be colored red and green?) Still need to look into the possibilities to fix this at this stage, but if it too much work with too muck risk to mess up the rest of the paint job I'll leave it as is. It was a pain in the r*ar end to get them properly installed and neatly blend them in with the rest of the wingstips, so I'm happy to have succeeded in that for now.
BTW, I'm still looking around to figure out what might be the deal with the markings on this a/c so if any1 happens to have any information on it, I'd be very glad to hear about it. I've tried to look up the references mentioned on the decal sheet, but haven't found 'em all
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Airframes
Benevolens Magister
That's looking neat Jelmer, and you're right about the weathering - they were in fairly good condition, with minimal wear and tear at this stage.
Thanks Terry, as far as further weathering goes, I'm mostly thinking along the lines of dirt/oil stains related to the Griffon engine (as these weren't particulary clean burning engines I believe) I'm reasoning a clearly visible sun-bleached effect (visible as lots of subtle color differences on the panels) was more likely to have happened when 80Sqn was transferred to the perhaps trying tropical conditions of Hongkong. Plus maybe some minor chipped off paint on the access panels of say the gunbays and the engine and such
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Airframes
Benevolens Magister
I'll have a look at the pics of 80 Sqns aircraft in HK, and see if there is any visible staining or chipping etc.
EDIT: Just had a quick look, and the aircraft appear to be relatively clean, with minimal exhaust staining, and no visible paint fading or major chipping.
EDIT: Just had a quick look, and the aircraft appear to be relatively clean, with minimal exhaust staining, and no visible paint fading or major chipping.
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vikingBerserker
Lieutenant General
Nice!
A4K
Brigadier General
Coming along sweet Jelmer!
Fine work Jelmer!
Crimea_River
Marshal
Looks good so far. I'm no help with those codes unfortunately but would have expected white.
