BR128 was a VcTrop Spitfire and was likely part of the Operation Bowery delivery of May 9, 1942. The ferry codes 3-W were retained (once on Malta, normal practice was to remove the number, with the lone letter remaining). During those hectic days, many aircraft were placed in a pool from which a scrambling squadron would pick their mounts from those that were still flyable. Canadian ace George Beurling was flying this Spitfire on July 8th 1942, scoring one Bf109 plus one damaged along with a Ju88 damaged. Of further interest, on July 22nd, friend and fellow French-Canadian Jean Paradis would be flying this same mount. He was bounced and shot down while intercepting a morning raid.
On to the model:
kit: Tamiya 1/48 Spitfire VbTrop
AM: Airwaves resin c-wing
Ultracast prop and exhausts
Master machined brass cannon
Finish: acrylic paints, weathering powders
Looks great Jack[Y], don’t see many trop Spits and wheels up to boot. Is the dark topside usual for a trop Spit? I kind of figured they would have a more sandy color, also didn’t realize how much the beefed up filter bulked up the nose. Did a real nice job on weathering, especially like the underside, nice build!
Malta colours have many possibilities; in 1936/7, they devised their own colours, for certain areas, comprising an off-white, which matched Malta’s stone, a red-brown to match the earth, and a dark blue to match the surrounding sea. Samples were sent to the U.K., and are still available, to view, in the National Archives.
On the first Wasp delivery, consensus is that they used a carrier colour (Wasp would have had a blue-grey Stain 21, for the wooden decks, but more likely is the blue - Deck Blue 20-B - used for the superstructure.)
Before Wasp’s second delivery, Malta asked for any further deliveries to be in “Sea camouflage,” which should be Dark Slate Grey/Extra Dark Sea Grey, probably over Azure Blue, rather than Sky, since Malta had preferred not to use it; orders, for the aircraft to be painted like that were issued before Wasp left on her second trip.
Reasoned and Bish - thank you for your comments.
The link provided by satch and Edgar’s reply are very informative, and indicative of the variety of Spitfire schemes found on Malta.
249 Sqn was well known for having it’s aircraft finished in some sort of blue grey colour. I used EDSG (extra dark sea grey). I was also told this colour tended to fade quickly in the sun, becoming more noticeably blue so I also added some white and prussian blue. The spine and wing roots (along with any other brown discolouring seen on the top surfaces) represents the EDSG worn away, revealing the original desert scheme.
I can’t remember if I read this somewhere, but the darker scheme was more useful for flying over water, which is where one would want to intercept incoming axis aircraft (particularly those loaded with bombs) from Sicily.
Nice model Jgeratic!
I really need one of those Tamiya Spitfire Trop kits in my stash!
Love the Malta sheme! It’s something you don’t really see alot!
I have a Malta Gladiator in my stash I really wanted, would be nice if I could make a Malta Spitfire one day to!
Anyway, love your model, and I love the weathering!
With regards, Ninetalis.
The kit went together very well, typical of Tamiya. I have seen accuracy issues mentioned, but are quite minor (fuselage a bit fat and short by about 3/32" at the tail end) but still looks like a Spitfire.
Only problem I had was the pilot which may be a bit too chubby or off in scale. When I inserted the cockpit assembly from underneath I really had to apply force. This may have spread the fuselage apart, particularly at the wing root area which set up a problem with the individual resin wings. As can be seen, some nasty open seams where the two different mediums meet.
Very very nice Jack. Seriously, you can do it all. Your figure painting is superb, and now this guy… looks as close to the real thing as I’ve ever seen - the painting, weathering, just awesome!
