A Spitfire from Down Under

Spitfire Mk Vc Trop, BS219/ZP-X, 457 Squadron, RAAF, 1943, F/O Frank "Bush" Hamilton, Camden NSW



Until the Sword Vc arrived the only real option was to use the Airfix kit. Since the Revell Vb wing is poor on a good day, I decided to graft a spare Vc wing from an Airfix kit (using the kit to make a Vb) and the fuselage of the Revell kit. I could have done a much better job with it, and I hope to replace this particular subject someday. This was built back in 2010.

The Subject

BS219 was part of the first group of Spitfires sent to Australia. Bush Hamilton enlisted in the RAF in 1940, earned his wings in July 1941 and was posted back to Australia in May 1942. He and BS219 were joined together in November 1942 and remained together until June 1943 when he was listed as missing in action whilst flying another aircraft. He had 3 kills to his credit when he was lost. BS219 remained with 457 Squadron until November 1943.

The aircraft was probably delivered in Dark Earth, Middle Stone over Azure Blue as it was originally intended for operations in the Middle East. The desert scheme was not appropriate to Australia so the Middle Stone was overpainted with Foliage Green. Additionally, the red centers to the national markings were removed as well as the red from the fin flash. The fuselage band and spinner were probably RAAF Sky Blue, which is slightly different than RAF Sky Blue.

The Model

My first attempt at making a Vc turned out pretty good. With that one I married a spare CMR Seafire wing to a Revell Vb fuselage and I liked the result. This time around I chose to use a spare Airfix wing from a Vc kit. I don't think it came out very well, but that's because I chose not to thin the Airfix wing. To be fair, it fit well at the leading edge of the wing root and in my haste to do this subject I had glued the wing halves together before I realized the trailing edge was so thick.

Construction was very straight forward, really not any different than any other Spitfire kit. I did have to fiddle with the Vokes filter to make it all fit, but that came out pretty well.



For paint I used Humbrol 29 for Dark Earth, Aeromaster Medium Green (the USAAF color) for Foliage Green and an early recipe of Testors Azure Blue with 6 drops of Testors Red to make it just a bit more purple. The Sky Blue trim is the only acrylic, it was Pollyscale RAF Sky Blue.

It was sealed with Future (Kleer) before decals. The decals are from Aeromaster sheet 72-141 and went on perfectly using the Microscale system of Set first, then Sol. I sealed with a coat of Future with a drop of Testors clear Flat in the paint cup; this tones down the glossiness of the Future but leaves a smooth finish.

I was a bit heavy handed on the weathering, too much wash and "up close" it looks like I missed some areas. I also realized, too late, that the wing walk way stripe should be under the national marking, not over it.

Summary

This was an easy conversion, but as mentioned above, I could do better. I've got a Sword Vc in the works and it is much much nicer, both as a basic kit for building and the finesse of the details. I like the subject, but don't have those markings anymore; I've got similar markings so will probably use those on a future Vc from "down under".




Thanks for looking...