Tamiya includes markings for a 485 (NZ) Squadron Mk.XVIe machine within the box, which was piloted by Warrant Officer Murray J. C. Lind, at Fassberg, Germany, 1945. The aircraft carries his personal marking of “Rongotea”, which is a small farming district outside of Palmerston North on the North Island of New Zealand where Murray came from, and a black and white shield containing the letters "NZ" and the Silver Fern. This emblem was used on several No. 485 (NZ) Squadron Spitfires, which was copied from the logo of a tin of Silver Fern tobacco, a popular kiwi brand with the New Zealand pilots during the war. This was my choice for this model.
Before I start any build, I always look into the history of the aircraft and the pilot. I found a couple items that didn’t seem to match up to the profile art in the Tamiya kit and couple of other profiles that have been published. During my research, I was lucky and was able to contact Murray Lind’s son, Alan, who was happy to pass on information on his father’s Spitfire to me. The first thing that came to my attention was the serial number of TB625. The only known photo of “Rongotea” showing a serial is from the port side, which is partly painted over and is not fully visible. All profiles that have been published to date have used this serial number. I was able to ascertain that this Mk.XVI was transferred from 74 Squadron during May 1945 along with another Mk.XVI with serial number TB675. Looking
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at a very high resolution scan of the photo, the serial could have been TB675 or TB625. At this stage I had not made contact with Alan Lind, Murray’s son. When I did, he confirmed my findings, as his father’s logbook states that it was in fact TB675 that he flew!
The other item that I found that didn’t seem right was the spinner. In From D-Day to Victory! Fighters in Europe 1944-45 – by Malcolm Laird, Ventura Publications, the profile art depicts the spinner painted red with a white band. Lifelike decal sheet #32-011, Supermarine Spitfire Mk.XVIe Part 2, shows the spinner is again Red, but this time a Sky band. I believe both are incorrect, as Fighter Command issued orders in early January 1945 to paint spinners black instead of Sky. I found more evidence in a photo of another 485 Squadron Mk.XVI Spitfire that shows a black spinner on the aircraft. Alan Lind provided a photo of TB675 during its time with 74 Squadron (coded 4D-V), and this photo also shows it with a black spinner. So my logical conclusion is that the spinner was indeed black with a white band, as these colours are the national colours for New Zealand and would be most fitting for a Kiwi pilot and his Spitfire.
The other two small details that I questioned was the shield underneath the prop, and again the colour question arises... Red or Black? I chose the black option as it matches the colour of the spinner in the photo of Murray Lind standing in front of his Spitfire. Luckily, Tamiya provides both colour options on
the decal sheet supplied with the kit. The last small detail was the “Rongotea” decal on the Tamiya sheet. For some reason Tamiya depicted a black outline around the lettering on the decal. Unfortunately, this is incorrect, as there is a fantastic close-up photo of this area which clearly shows no outline. Lifelike Decals sheet has the correct artwork for “Rongotea” on their sheet.
Painting
With the marking questions answered, I moved along with the part that I enjoy most during building - painting and weathering. This is where the model start to come to life. My chosen brand for this task is Mr. Color Lacquers range. I have
only started using these paints in the last 18 months, and the results I’ve achieved are fantastic. The paint dries quickly and gives a smooth even finish.
I started the painting process with the underside colour, Mr. Color C363 Medium Seagray. After the lower colour was dry, the camouflage demarcation line was masked off with 6mm Tamiya tape and masked off with an paper mask to prevent any over spray from landing on the freshly- painted lower surface. The complete upper surface received its first colour of C362 Ocean Gray sprayed through a Tamiya HG-III airbrush. Once the Ocean Gray was dry, I rolled out Blue Tack snakes to mask off the camouflage lines. Using the paint guide, I tacked the blue
Paint masks are applied to fuselage. An oversized masked dot has been applied to protect the
inner parts of the roundel, and the blue area of the mask has been removed.
The paint mask is reapplied over the blue area prior to the yellow.
Mr Color C326 Blue (FS15044) is sprayed from the bottle. Final stages of painting the roundel.
The white part of the roundel has been sprayed.
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tack snakes on the required surfaces and masked off the gray areas with 3M 40mm masking tape those areas that needed protection from C364 Gray Green.
Just recently, I started using paint masks for markings. This gives the painted-on look better than decals. Funny that! In the early stages of the build I contacted the team at Miracle Masks (http://www.freewebs.com/miraclemasks/) to produce the mask set required for my build. I supplied photos that I had and a scan of the decal sheet to help them with the process and advised them that I was working to a deadline, and they were more than happy to oblige. Approximately eight days later, I had a set of masks in my hand, well before I required them for the painting stage!
After reading the instructions provided with the masks, I started applying the masks to the model. I decided that the easiest way was to apply all the mask to the model, and work my way around the model starting with the masks that needed the fewest colours to complete. I started with the serial numbers on the fuselage, and the outside of the paint masks were masked off with 18mm Tamiya Tape. With low air pressure running through my airbrush, I slowly started to mist on small coats of Mr Color C2 Gloss Black over the mask for the serial number. The main trick with using a paint mask is to slowly mist on the paint over the area and slowly build up the colour. You don’t want to flood the area with a thick coat of paint. Most masking materials are very thin, around 80 microns thick, and if you apply a heavy coat of paint you’ll end up with a raised ridge of paint around the outline of the mask after its removed.
The same method was used for the code letters on the fuselage, and Mr. Color C368 Sky was used for the OU letters and C62 Flat White was used for the V. The next task I had to tackle was the painting of the roundels on wings and fuselage and the fin flash on the tail. These were multi-part masks, so each part that was removed had to be kept for the next stage in the process. The first step was to paint the centre of each roundel white. I did this while I was painting the code letter V to save time and paint. Each mask was then reapplied to protect the colour that was just sprayed. I used Mr. Color C326 Blue, (FS15044) and C329 Yellow (FS13538) straight from the bottle, but the C327 Red (FS11136) that I decided use was a tad too bright from the bottle. So three or four drops of black were added to my airbrush cup to darken the red. Once everything
dried, the masks were removed. A couple of small areas required touch ups, and this was done with the relevant colour, a fine tip brush, and a very steady hand.
All the paint masks are finally removed and reveal the fresh markings.
Wing walk lines were masked off with Tamiya tape and sprayed.
Exhaust stains were achieved by applying Soot from the Tamiya Weathering Master set.