4th FS/52nd FG Spitfire Mk.IX

[Larry]

Spitfire IX EN447 / WD-L of Lt. V. N. Cabas, 4th FS/52ns FG, Le Sers, Tunisia, 19 April 1943.

Having claimed his first victory over Dieppe with the RCAF, Vic Cabas then transferred to the USAAF and joined the 52ndFG's 4th FS. He moved to North Aferica, where, over Tunisia in the spring of 1943, he achieved considerable success. When the squaddron was issued with a small number of Spitfire IXs, Cabas was allocaded one as 'his' aircraft, which he named "KAYIII" and decorated with his score. He is believed to have been flying it on 19 April when, during a combat to the north of Tunis, he and 1Lt Blythe shared in the destruction of a Bf 109. This proved to be Cabas' final claim, as his tour ended soon afterwards. Interestingly, his aircraft retained RAF wing and tail markings. [/i]

[StokesAk]

Looks very nice

[FTJR]

Larry, may i suggest that the worn area on the wing roots is a bit over done. Other than that Nice job.

[Greebo]

Looks good Larry, nicely dirty.

A couple of nitpicks: I'd suggest making the wingroot wear a greyer shade, less blue. The panel lines on things like the undercarriage doors, cockpit door, gun hatches and engine covers could be doubled up too, as they ought to stand out a bit more than the panel seams.

[MotleyCH]

Looks nice 

[Mr.Defiance]

will try this one out 

[Larry]

Looks good Larry, nicely dirty.

A couple of nitpicks: I'd suggest making the wingroot wear a greyer shade, less blue. The panel lines on things like the undercarriage doors, cockpit door, gun hatches and engine covers could be doubled up too, as they ought to stand out a bit more than the panel seams.

I was using 'Azure Blue' like I did on the bottom. I didn't know if they painted the whole plane in the underside color then the topside camo or not. Maybe you can fill me in on this. If they did then maybe I can make it look like its is worn through all layers of the paint to the bare metal on the wing roots and leave the rest the 'azure blue' if they didn't then I would chance the color up a bit and redo it chiping some.

As for the panel lines, will do. Just one thing, by 'undercarriage doors' what do you mean exactly?

[jocko-]

Looks good Larry, I like those 'overpainted' schemes where the markings have been replaced.  Greebo probably means the doors attached to the main landing gear oleos that partially cover the wheel wells when the gear is retracted.  Painting the whole aircraft in one colour and then repainting the upper surfaces in other colours wasn't done.  Would add extra weight and take too much time.

[Larry]

Okay thanks.

[Greebo]

Most WW2 aircraft were painted in some sort of zinc chromate primer before the camouflage was applied. This protected the aluminium from corrosion and made the paint stick better. The colour of the primer varied from green to yellow or even blue in some cases. In the case of the Spitfire it was a pale green primer the colour of which you can see on interior cockpit shots.

For worn areas of paint such as on the wingroot I usually paint them a very slightly bluish light grey to represent the aluminium but with the less worn edges done in the primer colour.

Here's a link to picture of a "naked" Spit being restored which shows the primer. I think the actual WW2 stuff was a slightly different shade though.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v712/crun9/SpitPV270-1.jpg

[Larry]

Okay hows this?

Edit: just noticed the 'mud/dirt/grease" layer on the wheel well doesn't match up. That's being fixed as we speak.