there is a thread on a WWII group about the the USA stopping the use of camo on some oftheir bombers and fighters and that the RAF continued with camo.
No post yet on why they stuck with camo.
In regards to modeling, what were the skins of the British aircraft made of? A diversion to a bmf Spit, Lanc or Typhoon could be interesting. What does a Hurricane look like unpainted?
Craig
Spits , Typhoons were aluminium or duralium , Hurricane was timber frame and Irish linen covering from the rear of the cockpit back.wings I'm pretty sure were of metal construction .If you look closely at a pic of Hurricane you will see the strakes of the frame running along the fuselage under the linen covering.The nose and cockpit were aluminium or duralium.
Also, the RAF flew night missions almost exclusively for their heavy bombers.
I believe it matters what Mark when it comes to the wing surfaces.
Bill Banaszak, MFE Sr.
Top-surfaces were still "camoflaged" (earth-green) although the underside was night-black.
(kim)
If you look at an "exploded" drawing of a Hurricane you will see that is chielfy constructed of high-tensile wires which is what made it virtually indestructable. You could shoot-away 90% of its external structure and it would still fly. More importantly, if you check the RAF's own record you will find that Hurricanes were being produced at twice the rate of Spitfires before the end of the so-called "Battle of Britain".
(kim)
kim offered me a plate of cheese and whispered:
The "Night" (or black) could also be one of two different standards. "Special Night" was used early in the war and is the finish used on overall black Defiants and Beaufighters. It was a very matt black that weathered quite badly. Later experiments showed that contrary to expectations, Special Night actually showed up quite well in a searchlight beam. The replacement, also called Night, was a semi-gloss black which kept its finish far better.
General reconnaissance (ie maritime patrol) aircraft had white undersufaces and sides. The sides were matt while the undersurfaces were gloss. I seem to remember some speculation in Scale Aircraft Modelling many years ago that night bombers were finished in a similar manner, with Special Night sides and gloss Night undersurfaces. However, I don't recall whether this was ever actually confirmed.
The earli Mk I Hurricane had Fabric covered wings, but later Mk I's and all that followed vere metal. Almost all movable surfaces vere also fabric covered, thoug at some time the Spitfire started to have metal ailerons. You'll have to chech very carefully for the exact plane you want to model.
If you don't want camo, there are late war and post war Spits in NMF or Silver paint.
True. But keep in mind that Hurricanes were being built by two factories (Hawker and Gloster's) as opposed to one factory for Spitfires. The second factory for Spitfires (Lord Nuffield's shadow factory) didn't start to come on line until late September of 1940.
Bill Shuey
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