Tamiya 1/48 Spitfire V

[mharviala]

Thanks, Lee.  I'll try to stoke up the airbrush tomorrow and lay some color on this bird.

- Mika

[Lee_K]

Hi Mika,

The standard RAF camouflage from 1941 on is RAF Dark Green and Ocean Gray over Medium Sea Grey.  All of those colors are available from various paint manufacturers in one guise or another.   I use the IPMS Stockholm site to find rough equivalents in the Testors Acryl line (my preferred paint).  RAF Dark Green is close to FS34079, which is US TAC Dark Green.  Ocean Gray is FS36152 (no direct match with Testors but Tamiya XF-56 is spot on, as is Humbrol 106), and Medium Sea Grey is matched to FS36270, which Testors calls Neutral Gray.

The camouflage pattern is either A or B depending on the serial number of the aircraft, A = ending with an odd number B= ending with an even number.  By the time of the Mark V, most of the B patterns were dropped.  There are tons of exceptions, so you need to check out a photo if you can.  Otherwise go with what Eagle Strike says.

Wheel wells and landing struts are the same color as the underside, ie Medium Sea Grey.

Lee K

[mharviala]

Hi All,

Sorry - no pic yet.  I'm about to subject a Spitfire to the attentions of my airbrush, which I'll do in 4th FG markings (decals by Bird Strike ... I mean Eagle Strike).  The decal set shows a nice pic of the Spit in two grays and a green, and yet they leave me clueless about the shades to use.  So, to all the Spitfire experts in our group, I pose the following questions:

  * Which shades of green + grey on top?
  * Is the pattern the standard A / B?
  * Which shade of grey on underside?
  * Are the wheelwells in the same shade of grey, or something else?

Help appreciated,
Mika