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Spitfire IXc


Gary Murphy 1
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Not sure if this is the right section to try but any help would be great.

I have been building 1/48th kits over the winter and enjoying that. My wife has bought me a great Spitfire kit in 1/32nd with graet detail. The thing is the kit can depict 2 aircraft from Tunisa and Indochina I would love to show it from Europe IF the mk IXc was ever used here. I know aftermarket decal kits are availsble if you know want you need. Any Spitfire guru/junkies out there who can halp please?

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Hi Andrew,the kit I have is the Tamiya 1/32nd mk IXc. The decals are very good but only cover 2 varients, Indochina and Tunisia. Wanted something used in the UK really or with invasion strips. I really know little about this era of aircraft. Had a quick look at Hannants and there is only one set of decals for a mk IXc . This will proberly be ok ,cant really read much of the on screen picture but it says stationed at north weald.

I know have to find out about the late or early model because this effects the wheels. I will use britmodeller for help,new site to me,thanks all

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Andrew, the kit looks great. would love to get all the 1/32 in the range. I know there are a few other tam Spits,later mks I think? I don't know if the IXc I have got changed at all but JE-J can not be seen in my kit, polish and French pilots after a cursory look. Wanted to do dark earth and green with sky?

I will also need to find out if the one I pick is a early OR late IXc. I only found this out while trying to find wheel and tyre in resin to replace the kits rubber ones,4 slot early,5 slot late. also seat belts differ for late and early

I have picked up a few books for reference but there were out my price range. Pointers here have helped so far,so thanks.

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Hi Gary

Fabulous kit to build, if you don't mind here's a couple of quick pics of mine.

Ignore the markings as I think I got them mixed up.

Enjoy building yours it's superbly engineered, if you wanted a further taste have a go at the 1/32 Corsair non Birdcage version as it's a truly sublime kit and the best I've ever encountered. Can't help with the markings as I'm far from expert in that arena.

img_20170424_202508.jpg

img_20170424_202715.jpg

img_20170424_202803.jpg

Good luck with the build

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Yes, the change from Dark Earth and green to grey and green was ordered by the Air Ministry to be gradually introduced as and when it was convenient after 15 August, 1941.

As always with colour and camouflage the story is a lot more complicated than my simplistic statement.

HTH

maurice

Edited By maurice northcott on 25/04/2017 10:48:46

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The story was quite simple really: after the Battle of Britain, which was fought mainly over land, the switch to offensive sweeps meant flying over water - so the brown was replaced by grey as a better camouflage over the Channel.

One thing that even the memorial flight gets wrong though - the gunports weren't painted in neat squares of pillarbox red - they were simple patches of 4 x 2 slapped on with red primer and normally not very neatly either

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The easiest way to to identify early or later MkIX's is by the fin. Early ones had the rounded MKV fin, later versions had the enlarged pointed fin. The "c" suffix refers to the wing type, the various verions only differing in the armanant that it could carry.

MKIX's as with some other marks also had other designations, most commonly HF or LF (high flying or low flying), this relating to the engine and the supercharger stages.

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Thank you all for taking the time to help out, glad I posted now.

Danny , great link, for this and builds to come.

Ian, I now know more about the "C" variant from your post.

Devcon1, great build there mate. if mine came out half as good I would be chuffed. the entire build is first rate,could ask loads about it. would it be ok to PM a couple of times?

Never knew about the camo colour change,so me wanting to depict a dark green + dark earth flown in the uk is a no no for my IXc. no probs, the Grey and green will be good. Will do a earlier MK if I do this kit justice.

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It's accepted nowadays that the maple leaf on JE-J was green. He based it on the funnel markings of Canadian ships.

This from the HMCS Sackville website:

" In 1939, at the time of World War II, many Canadian troops used the maple leaf as a distinctive sign, displaying it on regimental badges and Canadian army and naval equipment. Later in the Second World War someone painted a green maple leaf on a funnel to signify that his ship belonged to Canada. The practice spread and was at last authorized by Naval Headquarters and adopted by the whole fleet. Naval Headquarters files only disclose the date on which the maple leaf symbol as formally introduced into the Royal Canadian Navy. This was in a Naval order in September 1944, which followed a recommendation dated June 15, 1944, by the Canadian Naval Mission Overseas. The practice of painting a maple leaf on the funnel had, however, already been put into practice unofficially by Canadian warships. After the war, for the sake of contrast, the colour of the maple leaf was changed from green to red and this it remains to this day. "

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