Author Topic: Spitfire Mk1, #P9386, Brian Lane, 19 Squadron RAF May 1940 (Read 1451 times)

United · « **on:** July 30, 2004, 05:35:05 PM »

Spitfire Mk1, #P9386, Brian Lane, 19 Squadron RAF Sptember 1940

This Spit fought in the Battle of Britain and Sqn Ldr Brian Lane was flying this aircraft on 7th September 1940 when he shot down a Messerschmitt Bf 110 near North Weald.

Guppy35 · « **Reply #1 on:** July 30, 2004, 06:48:55 PM »

Not trying to be a stickler for detail too much, but the font you used for the 19 Squadron codes is way off.

I'd suggest going here:

http://hans.presto.tripod.com/fonts/stencil5.html

This is a good option too:

http://www.1java.org/sh/fonts.html

Download the RAF fonts and see if you can get it closer to the squared off look that RAF codes had.

Dan/Slack
Looks good otherwise

United · « **Reply #2 on:** July 30, 2004, 10:15:04 PM »

Thank ya very much! I knew it was off, but there wasnt anything I had that even came close to what was on the plane. ill get those downloaded and hopefully have it up and working by tomorrow.

~~and thankya again!~~

United · « **Reply #3 on:** July 31, 2004, 05:42:02 PM »

Guppy, how are these fonts?

P.S. I dont mind a stickler for detail. In fact, i encourage people to make suggestions. So thank ya.

Cobra412 · « **Reply #4 on:** July 31, 2004, 09:24:51 PM »

One thing I've noticed from my Warbird Tech book is how the spitfires riveting work affects the paint scheme. Thought it's not as noticeable as lets say a Hurricane the Spitfire did have some shadowing due to how the panels were riveted to the mainframes.

One very noticeable line was on the fuselage datum line.This line ran right below the pilot access door starting at the Upper Fuel tank location back to the Accumulator Access door. There is also another line that is noticeable just below the canopy slide rail running all the way aft to the general location where the tail plane spar is located. For reference it's right were the 6 is in your tail number. Also the forward panel access areas were typically very noticeable on some birds, especially on over worked birds. Anyway I've got a photo in here of all the mainframes for the fuselage and all the wing spar positions. Not sure how much that'll help you but I've got them. Also it's hard to tell in your pic but if you wanted to the rudder surface itself also had very noticeable ribs protruding out of it.

I'll see if I can get my scanner working again

United · « **Reply #5 on:** July 31, 2004, 09:37:05 PM »

Excellent, thank you very much for the info.

I didnt do any riveting on this bird, but would both of those mentioned lines happen to be the rivets shown in the below picture?

Also, the ribs on the rudder:
I did some searches and cant find many pictures of the protruding ribs, and this is the best picture I could find. Looking at it, I could only tell they were protruding because I was looking for it. I probably would have overlooked it otherwise.

But again, thank you very much. Ill get started on it immediately and hope to have it done tomorrow morning.

Cobra412 · « **Reply #6 on:** July 31, 2004, 10:08:35 PM »

Okay well I'll start by reference the black and white original you've posted.

The Forward Tank is directly in front of the canopy. In the photo you should be able to see this fairly well. Follow that first panel line straight down just forward of the canopy. You'll see some fairly strong weathering about half way down the fuselage. Thats where the datum line/ main rib goes back. It also goes forward past the forward fuel tank to the engine bulkhead. It's actually a split rib that trails back to approximately the inner side of the outer band on the country markings. If you look it will partially come down through the second band on the traling portion of the insignia. Right there it actually comes together and becomes one solid rib and ends into a point. It will then continue back as a single rib till you get to approximately the large white band at the tail. Thats where the tail plane spar begins.

If you look at the new color photo you can see how this main rib is split to an extent. Just below the pilots access door and aft you can see to rivet lines that are running parallel to each other and going aft. This is the main spar prior to it combining into one smaller rib farther back.

The skin looks just fine the way it is. It really depends on how much time and details you want to do. You'll find in some photos the fuselage seems kinda blocky similiar to the Hurricane. It's not nearly as noticeable but it is there. Weathering seems to bring that detail out even more. You can even show the actual lines for the skin plating that was mounted over the ribs and spars. After looking how the plating is mated you'll understand why your getting the ribbed look down the side of the bird. They used fairly large pieces of sheet metal and wrapped them over atleast a few set of ribs before riveting them on. On average you can have about 3 to 4 ribs visible due to the riveting. Thats what your seeing a slightly ribbed affect.

Here's the name of the book I'm using for reference also if you wanna look it up. It's Warbird Tech Series; Merlin-Powered Spitfires, Volume 35 by Kev Darling.

United · « **Reply #7 on:** July 31, 2004, 10:24:47 PM »

Thank you very much for your time and information, but as of now Im not a good enough skinner to capture this effectively.

Quote

You can even show the actual lines for the skin plating that was mounted over the ribs and spars

If you mean by panel lines, theyre in there, but the conversion to jpeg made them nearly unoticeable.

Again thanks, and im going to be posting up my new project in a few minutes that I tried the rudder-protruding ribs on.