I have Hasegawa’s spit VB “Malta” and it has both the regular nose configuration and the Vokes sand filter. Can a “malta” VB be modeled with the regular nose and Azure undersides? Where all the Med VB’s sent with the Vokes or where they added later?
Thanks all
Jeff[:I]
There were several examples of desert Spits without the air filter, at least at some stage in their service lives. Best check references for the bird you want to portray.
Regards, Rick
So far i havent been able to find any reference to the undrside color if anything other then azure was used.
Pretty sure they were mostly, if not all, in the Dark Earth/Midstone/Azure scheme. Like everything else in WW2, there may have been exceptions. However. if the uppers are shown in the desert scheme it’s almost a sure thing that the undersides would be also.
Regards, Rick
I’ve only seen one photo, as well as an illustrated colour plate of the same aircraft, fitted with no air filter. BR498/PPH flown by Wing Commander Peter Prosser Hanks, W-C-F. Apparently this particular spitfire was also waxed to a high finish affording the pilot to “squeeze” out an extra 15mph - from the magazine SCALE AVIATION MODELLER vol.8 #4 (published in the UK). The article also states right from the beginning that it is safe to assume all spitfires were tropicalized before delivery and all had the desert scheme with azure undersides. I will add though that some aircraft did fly from Gibralter to Malta and these would not be fitted with filters for that long flight.
I think it best to say spitfires did not fly without filters - they were required under the harsh conditions otherwise the running life of the engine was greatly reduced. But there always is an exception, for instance say an aircraft was under repairs and had to take off in a hurry - without it’s filter?
JG and Jeff, I’m looking at the same profile you describe, but it’s not in SAM, and though you got the volume and issue right, JG, it’s in the April 2002 SAMI (Scale Aviation Modeller International, which has a suspiciously similar name and acronym to its older and larger competitor, but then, I’m not objective about this matter for obvious reasons).
But, to the point, JG is right. Of all these Defender of Malta profiles including the Spit Vb’s, only one of these Vb’s has no trop filter on it. It is indeed a color profile of the mount of Wing Commander Peter Prosser Hanks, and the code on the port side has his initials thus: PPH in large white letters representative of the time and type. The serial no. is BR498 and the spinner is red with the rear third of it painted white all the way around.
It’s an attractive aircraft, but my favorite of all these Malta birds is the profile of the Spitfire Vc (what’s the difference between this and a Vb?) which has the azure underside, but during the time it was being ferried by the US carrier Wasp, for some reason they decided to paint it, probably temporarily, because it is hasty, in what is suggested as Non-specular Sea Blue over the azure underside. It, too, has the Vokes filter and the code U2 in very large white letters. I have the Iliad Publishing color chips for desert British a/c, and they have a couple of nice versions of Mediterranian blue, which is usually depicted as darker than azure, and is a nice color, though it apparently varied a lot from batch to batch and base to base.
Jeff, I forgot to answer your earlier question in the email about the Vb PE stuff. In my PE stash, I only have an Eduard flap set for a 1/48 Tamiya Vb. If you think they’ll fit, you are welcome to them.
TOM
I built a version of a Malta Spitfire Vb as flown by George “Buzz” Beurling,one of the leading Allied aces with 32 kills to his credit, and a Canadian to boot! (not that it matters to you, but I am a proud Canuk[:D]) I’m including the following link;
http://www.constable.ca/beurling.htm
If you scroll down far enough, you’ll see a painting which depicts Beurlings Spitfire complete with vokes filter, but the cool thing is the custom paint job. As you can see, it’s a combination of blues and when I built it, I used Polly Scale’s Azure blue, Light Mediterranean blue and Dark Mediterranean Blue. The painting is completely accurate, right down to the patches of Dark Earth and Midstone left over from when Beurling had it repainted. The serial number on this aircraft was BR 301 with the code letters being “UF S”.This aircraft was flown exclusively over Malta in July of 1942, by Beurling, which was where he scored the lion’s share of his victories. There is a decal sheet available, but I can’t find which company put it out! The sheet is entitled " Canadian Spitfires 1944-45" if that’s any help at all.
Yes Tom I’ll take those Flaps plz.
I think the Vokes is dead ugly thats why I was asking. I am gonna make a fictional plane if I can find some appropiete decals in my spares and make it filterless. If I can’t find the decals I’ll go ahead with the Vokes.
I believe that the vast majority of Spit Vs sent to Malta were VCs, but the first 31 aircraft, delivered in March 1942, were VB’s. Of these 31, who knows how many may not have had filters… but the majority of all Malta Spit Vs that I’ve seen had the Vokes filter.
However, I’ve come across at least three shots of filterless Malta Spit Vs. One of these shots can be found here, second down on the right:
http://www.killifish.f9.co.uk/Malta%20WWII/Spitfire.htm
FYI: The right-hand image up top is not a Spitfire, it’s a Hurricane.
The other two images I have are in printed references; I’ll scan ‘em for you and post over on ETO, including a photo of Wing Commander Hanks’ kite.
Philp has asked for pictures of Malta anything a couple times in the past, so I suppose this will be a kick in the butt for me to put something together, starting with Spits. I’ll post a reference thread on ETO when I’ve got something respectable together.
As to colors of Malta Spits… that’s a fun subject… [;)]
I’m thinking that most, if not all of them were originally in the Dark Earth/Middle Stone scheme, with some aircraft having the middle stone oversprayed with a gray-blue color after arrival on the island. One account specifically mentions a thinned application of Extra Dark Sea Grey over the Middle Stone.
As mentioned above, some also seem to have been repainted while enroute on the carriers, specifically aircraft onboard the USS Wasp, and the stories of overall blue Spitfires is closely connected with these in-transit repaints. No truly definitive information has come to light on this, that I know of.
Victory Productions sheet 48006 has markings for two overall blue Spits, if I recall correctly.
Also, you specifically mentioned underside colors… you may be able to get away with Sky Blue undersurfaces, as some desert-scheme aircraft were painted with this color underneath. But I’m only going by what’s been posted in the past by Spit Nuts on other forums…
Anyhoo, until I get something up over on ETO I’ll leave you with this, the only color shot of a Malta Spit that I have… (I think…)
'Tis a Spitfire VC from 185 Sqn, bellied in on a Sicilian beach after a combat with 352a Squadriglia MC.202s. The pilot, Sgt. Claude Weaver (an American who joined the RCAF in 1941), had downed one of the Macchis before being downed himself.
Fade to Black…
Thanks wolf but I have been unclear on the undersides thing, but I have gotten great info for it[;)]. All I have avialable to me is Azure at the moment. If I had sky I wuold have np making a european bird, I have ,arking galor for that.
I am trying to finish this #$%* Hasegawa Hurricane IId for the longest, and someone is waiting for it, and after I finally felt squared away with the incredible crumbling kit, having a replacement kit, and saving the PE cockpit from the old, unfinished kit, I obtained AM decals for a IId (quite rare) for the oft photographed “Our John” in desert camo.
But then, I notice the color profile in Squadron’s Hurricane In Action shows this plane without a Vokes filter. However, the Sky Decals sheet I’m using shows it in profile with the filter, and I found a B&W photo in the SAM Hurricane reference book that shows it from an angle that hides that portion of the plane. So, does anyone know of a photo of Our John (BN795, no squadron code) that settles whether or not it was fitted with this filter while it carried that nose art? If it did not carry the Vokes filter, it’s the only Hurricane IId I’ve seen (and they didn’t make many of these tank busting models) that did not have that ugly, bulbous desert filter under the chin.
Any Hurricane experts out there who can set me straight so I can continue building? It is a rather sizeable detail on this model.
TOM
Well I decided to go ahead with the Vokes so I can be a little more accurate. I also got the true details cockpit for it. That resin is no where the right size LOL. All I am using are the side panels and the instrument panel, Which had to be sanded almost to the dials and the inside of the fuselage in it location notched, to make it fit. All the references you all have helped me with has pointed me in some good directions so I am gonna scratch the cockpit (about 80%) for this thing…
Like this for example.
I’ll post after this one some links I have now… youll get a kick outta em.
Jeff
http://www.aircraftmilitaria.com/Useful_Links_RAF.htm
http://www.simhq.com/simhq3/sims/boards/bbs/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=40;t=007401;p=1
the second one I am using exclusivily for the seat, which is the only resin piece back there, the bulkhead and framing will be from evergreen and stretched sprue.
Sharkskin… the difference between a VB and a VC is in armament only.