'Threads'
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'Threads' |
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A Discussion on Tamiya Mk.I Spitfires
source: Hyperscale
(thanks to Brett Green for permission)
(Bold Italics are added by the Webmaster to clarify the text or correct known errors. Some comments have been edited for clarity)
1.Armour plate was installed
2.Sliding canopy with the clear vision "knock-out" panel on the port side. Remember that this is just an oval of perspex over an oval opening in the hood and held on with six perspex rivets, so don't paint the frame at all around it as there was no frame there. It was intended for clear vision if the canopy frosted up. Pilots did knock it out to release pressure in a screaming dive trying to get out but that was not the intent of the panel.
3.The double "oxygen" bottle isn't an oxygen bottle. It is compressed air bottles and they were steel coloured.
4.Paint the underside "Sky Type S". Black & White were long gone by the BoB. The wheel wells, oleo legs and fairings, and even the wheels were the same colour, same for the tailwheel.
5.The Tamiya Mk I comes with the muzzle flash eliminators extending past the leading edge of the wing. These were for night fighting which was not one of the Spitfires strong points. They were removed early in the war. They must be removed from the Tamiya wing too. The m/g blast tubes were covered with a dull red tape best depicted in scale by dull red decal cut into squares and put over the blast tubes.
6.Very early Spits had an aluminum seat but BoB Spits had Bakelite seats with a black leather back pad. Bakelite is a reddish brown. I use model Railroad Boxcar red for mine.
Jim Penhale; Model Citizen
A few attempts at answers!
Wed Jul 30 11:55:32 2003
First off, by the time the Battle of Britain rolled around
d most aircraft were fitted with armour plate, so that should probably be
added.
You'll have to pick the canopy yourself based on photos. The one with the
panel on the side could be in use during the BoB. The clear panel was designed
to be punched out by the pilot to equalize the pressure inside and outside the
canopy if he had to bail out. It was felt that this pressure differential (due
to airflow at high speeds) might prevent the pilot from getting out. It was
found not to be an issue so was discontinued.
Oxygen bottles were probably silver or white.
Undersides could be, at various times of the BoB; aluminum lacquer, black and
white, sky, or another colour called "duck egg blue". You'll need
pictures to figure out which you want to do. If you're doing the black and
white it could be either the entire aircraft or just the wing. Also, some
planes apparently had the ailerons black on the white side and white on the
black side!
I'm not sure what you mean by machine gun covers? One thing to note is that by
the time things really were heating up the barrels did NOT protrude from the
leading edge of the wing as shown in the kit. You'll need to go to the photos
again, and maybe trim those back.
Seat should be bakelite, although I seem to recall somewhere that very early
Spitfires had a green painted aluminum skin on the seat. I've not been able to
really confirm that to my satisfaction, though.
Have fun!
Jim
Brad
I seem to recall chatting with Bob Swaddling
Wed Jul 30 13:00:19 2003
Hi Jim,
He felt that some units in the field were making the armour plating to some of
the planes that didn't have it, both head and seat armour. Also, he did stress
big time to me that the punch out portion of the glass in the hood/canopy,
shouldn't be painted, i.e.: there was not framing there to paint.
Cheers
Brad
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