1/48 Eduard Supermarine Spitfire Vc Trop - No 243 Sqn RAF

 

Depicted as aircraft JK715 flown by Squadron Leader Evan "Rosie" Mackie,  RNZAF when flown from RAF Hal Far Malta in June to July 1943.

Evan Dall "Rosie" Mackie, DSO, DFC & Bar  was the highest scoring flying ace to serve with the Royal New Zealand Air Force (RNZAF) with a total of 21.5 victories.  Wikipedia has a good article on his life if you're interested in reading more (click here).

One of the interesting things with Mackie's JK715 was that he fitted a set of exhausts from Spitfire Mk.IX.  Mackie was originally a mechanic so he was always interested in the maintenance of his machines. He first fitted these exhausts to his another Spitfire. After it crash landed, he removed the them and installed them on his new JK715.

After the war he ended being instrumental in the local power board although I never knew that at the time.  A few years ago I found he'd been buried locally, so I paid him a visit.  He is buried beside his wife who also served in the RNZAF.  Having a home town connection gives me a good reason to build some of his aircraft.  

The Mark V and in particular the Trop's are my favourite version of the Spitfire so I was happy to see Eduard release them. Malta Spitfires are particularly interesting with a great range of colour schemes.

The Kit

• 1/48 Eduard Supermarine Spitfire Mk Vc Trop from the Spitfire Story: Malta boxing. Kit No ED11172 

Aftermarket

• Eduard Six Stack Exhausts (kit ones are a bit naff)
• Eduard Exhausts  

The Build

The kit cockpit is extremely well detailed from the box and as the opening is pretty small I didn't feel the need to add any extra details or cabling in there.  Once the fuselage halves are together there is not much to be seen in there.

Assembly was pretty straight forward and generally trouble free.  The one exception I encountered was the fitment of the tropical filter.  I've not seen this reported elsewhere so I assume I've done or fitted something wrong.

When I went to fit the filter the tang on the wing piece forced the filter high resulting in a huge gap.

I ended up cutting off the tang and then sanding the corresponding part on the wing down to fit.  I expect I've ruined the shape doing this but I couldn't think of a better solution.  I will be interested to see if anyone else has encountered this or can tell me where I went wrong -  leave me comment if you have any ideas. 

Paint

• Interior Green - SMS Interior Green
• Olive Green  - 50:50 Mix of Mr Color Olive Drab C38 and SMS German Grey
• Grey -  Mr Color C333 lightened with some white
• Azure Blue - Mr Color C370 and some splatters of AK RC201
• Silver - SMS Silver
• Black - Gaianotes Black Grey
• Red -  Mr Color C68 Red Madder
• Clear Gloss (prior to decals) -  Gaianotes Clear Gloss
• Semi Gloss (prior to weathering)  50:50 mix of SMS Gloss / Flat
• Flat Coat - Mr Color GX114

There are couple of images of this aircraft in Malta.  

According to Mackie's autobiography when they moved from Tunisia to Malta in 1943 the aircraft were overpainted from the Desert scheme (Dark Earth / Mid Stone / Azure Blue) in an Olive Green / Grey scheme. 

Eduard acknowledges the autobiography reference in their instructions but their profile shows the aircraft in all over olive green (something lost in translation perhaps).

Victory Productions , on their Aces of Empire Sheet, depict the aircraft in an all over blue.  Being that Mackie and 243 Sqn moved to Malta in 1943 I think the all over blue depiction is incorrect.  From what I've read Spitfires being over painted in blue ended sometime mid 1942. 

DK decals, on a 1/72 decal sheet, depict the aircraft in the Fleet Air Arm Scheme of Dark Slate Grey / Extra Dark Sea Grey over Sky.   Dark Slate Grey is pretty close to Olive Green and Extra Dark Sea Grey is, well, Dark Grey.

I decided on Olive Green / lightened Extra Dark Sea Grey over Azure Blue. I stuck with Azure Blue on the underside as I couldn't see why they'd bother painting the underside. 

I mixed a Olive Green as per Eduard's instructions, 50%Mr Color Olive Green 50% Field Grey, although I used SMS rather than Mr Color for the Field Grey. 

 The Grey was Mr Color Extra Dark Sea Grey lightened with a bit of white.

Splatter masks were used to add some tonal variation to the colours.

The underside Azure Blue was Mr Color C370 with some splatters of AK RC201 and a a dirty brown I've mixed from SMS Dark earth and some other browns.

Decals

• Victory Productions Aces of the Empire -  Roundels, fin flash and codes 
•  Kit Decals - Underside stencils and serial

I decided to use the Victory Productions decals in lieu of the Eduard decals as they were printed by 

Cartograph, and that I was still wary of Eduard's newer decals.  Unfortunately I had a number of issues with the Cartograph decals , most likely due to my impatience. The large upper wing roundels wouldn't settle into the detail and I wrecked two of them trying to force it.  I also think the yellow is far to vibrant.

In hindsight I wish I'd used the Eduard decals for everything.  I did use them for the serial and underside stencils. I even peeled them without any issues.  I also prefer the yellow they used.  Whilst the first sheets weren't great the I think their decals have improved since.

Weathering

I was going for a a bit of dirty and dusty look noting the aircraft had been operating from Malta's dusty airstrips.

Prior to weathering I sealed the model with a semi gloss layer using a 50:50 mix of SMS Gloss / Flat. 

Washes were just thinned oil paints, Sepia being my favourite colour at the moment. A black pencil was also used to touch up some panel lines. 

For the general grime and dirt oils were the main product used with Sepia, Dark brown Buff, Faded white, Olive Green and various greys being the colours of choice here.  There were first dried out on a piece of card before being applied to the model and worked in with a series of brushes.

I had intended to do some hairspray chipping but this is a technique I have yet to get to work on aircraft to a standard I like. The attempts on this model looked rubbish so I touched up the areas and resorted to the sponge. 

Exhaust staining was done with oils. I was happy when I'd finished but it seems to have faded over time.

Final Steps

All that remained were the usual final details.  And as usual these took way longer than I'd expected. Antenna wires were added with Mig Ammo Rigging thread.

Conclusion

Bar the issue with the tropical filter, which I wish I could figure out what I did, this was an enjoyable project. The detail on this kit is outstanding and fit is pretty good as well.  I have 3 more in the stash and look forward to building them. 

During the painting phase I was worried the model would be a bit of a dark blob but in the end I am happy with the final finish.

Photos

The Base

I felt like having a go at a simple scenic base for this model and other Malta based fighters I intend to build in the future. 

After looking at some reference photos I decided on a revetment style made from from large sandstone blocks.  This was made from insulation foam and wall filler.

I am not that happy with he final result however.  A small group of modelling mates provided some useful architectural advice much of which I  had already concluded myself.  

The blocks are to large for the scale, probably to regular in size and alignment. Plus a lot the colours/shades  I had originally were wiped away when I was cleaning up the mortar.   

I think the idea was sound but it's been poorly executed.  I will have another go in the future but for now this will do.

If you got this far, thanks for reading.  Leave me a comment if you like, ask a question or tell me it's rubbish (or not).