Bradleygolding Posted February 4, 2022 Share Posted February 4, 2022 (edited) Let me start with a story…… I am eight years old and it is the Summer of 1968. On holiday at Dymchurch in Kent my Dad starts pointing at the sky, and there they are, some very war weary looking Spitfires and Me109s coming back from a filming sortie. Spool on to 1970 and home in Biggin Hill valley just under the flight path of the main runway, when Ray Hannah turns up in MH434 still in a Battle of Britain scheme and beats up the airfield, valley and anything else he could find! Dad and I rushed to the airfield just in time to see him side slip it onto runway 29. Marvelous! He did it all again a couple of hours later when he left. MH434 remained in those colours until 1974. And that to me is a real Spitfire, a cleaned up Mk IX in Battle of Britain colours. So here is my take on MH434 during the filming. Is it MH434? Three cleaned up Mk IX single seaters were flown during the film. MK297, MH415, and MH434. They were all different! MK297 had fishtail exhausts so not that one. MH415 had straight exhausts and then later fishtail ones after an engine change, it also had strobe lights in the gun ports so not that one. MH434 it is, we’ll say later in the filming due to the lack of an odd short rod sticking out below the rear fuselage which is visible in some early shots. The colours? Hm…….always a contentious one this. Every photo you see is different. I have ended up using Dark Earth and Light Green, which are not quite colourful enough, but they are close once weathered. The under sides had a bluish tinge (look at the wing behind Kenneth Moore’s shoulder in the collapsed hangar. Not a flyer but they were all painted the same.) so I used Sky with added White and a dab of Navy. The weathering. Originally the aircraft were to be presented as quite clean and there are some photos around that show quite some subtle dirtying up. However the R/C unit was having trouble getting the models to look real on film so the great weathering up of models and full size began. Lots of dark washes and black brush strokes. The markings. These are from Fundekals and although reasonably accurate are some of the hardest I have ever had to apply. They are thick, brittle, and self-destruct the moment they get near the model, and the guide as to where to put them is incorrect in many respects. My advice is to look at the film photos in detail first. The under wing roundels are wrong for the film as well, but right for the actual battle. Excuse the lack of a gun sight, it kept falling off so I put it somewhere really safe, if only I could remember where that was…… Steve. Edited February 4, 2022 by Bradleygolding Daniel Leduc, themongoose, KiwiZac and 14 others 16 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeC Posted February 4, 2022 Share Posted February 4, 2022 (edited) "Hello Rabbit Leader, I thought you might come in from the sun." "DON'T THINK, don't just glance, LOOK ..." Great work. Funnily enough, I've just embarked on doing MH415/G-AVDJ wearing her film camo and civilian registration ready for the trip to Tablada for some filming. Your model here is timely inspiration. A good story too. I first saw the film in Ipswich in 1969 and was hooked from then on. The latest copy (February 2022) of Aeroplane has a couple of articles that may be of interest, one on MH415 and MH434, which both flew with the same squadron during WW II; and a "Where are they now" article on all the Spitfires used in the film. Edited February 4, 2022 by MikeC Bradleygolding 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bradleygolding Posted February 4, 2022 Author Share Posted February 4, 2022 (edited) Thanks Mike. MH415 had the wrong under wing roundels when it went to Spain. They were all semi corrected later in filming. Steve Edited February 4, 2022 by Bradleygolding MikeC 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dennismcc Posted February 4, 2022 Share Posted February 4, 2022 What a great idea for a build, the film was and still is one of my favourites and it must have been the saviour of a lot of airframes from the scrap yards. Cheers Dennis MikeC and Alain Gadbois 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeC Posted February 4, 2022 Share Posted February 4, 2022 (edited) 4 hours ago, Bradleygolding said: Thanks Mike. MH415 had the wrong under wing roundels when it went to Spain. They were all semi corrected later in filming. Steve Without wanting to hijack your thread Steve, mine wears painted-out (but still faintly visible) roundels etc plus just its civilian registration. It will be challenging! Edited February 4, 2022 by MikeC Bradleygolding 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KiwiZac Posted February 4, 2022 Share Posted February 4, 2022 What a fantastic piece of work, bravo Bradley! 15 hours ago, Bradleygolding said: The weathering. Originally the aircraft were to be presented as quite clean and there are some photos around that show quite some subtle dirtying up. However the R/C unit was having trouble getting the models to look real on film so the great weathering up of models and full size began. Lots of dark washes and black brush strokes. I'd never heard that explanation and always wondered why it was so OTT, fantastic! Thank you for sharing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bradleygolding Posted February 4, 2022 Author Share Posted February 4, 2022 37 minutes ago, MARU5137 said: isn't Fundekals Jennings's decals. is he aware of the problem /difficulties with them I wonder? No I have not contacted him, but they were produced in 2011 so I suspect that they are suffering from age. As you can see they did eventually go on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
themongoose Posted February 5, 2022 Share Posted February 5, 2022 Love the camo job! I’m with you on the gunsight dilemma… Bradleygolding 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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