Spitfire painting question

For most WWII British aircraft, including the Spitfire, the wheel wells, inside of the wheel covers, and the landing gear legs were left unpainted natural metal.

Pete

Sorry schmeter, you're wrong.
Spitfire wheel wells were painted the same colour as the underside of the a/c. The oleo legs, oleo leg fairings, and even the wheels (on early Mk's) were also painted the underside colour.
Cheers
Bob S.

Just a thought, if Bob is correct then you could go a shade or two lighter as the wells would have stayed unweathered / unfaded and kept clean, this seems to give a nice accurate effect also. Some early Mk1's did have unpainted fuselage & tail undersurfaces (with the black / white main wing undersurface) till summer 1940 -no wonder they changed it ! - according to my Osprey Spitfire book. Good one to spend a little research time on i guess..............

Hi Migs
The early Night, White and Aluminum scheme that you refer to was used only from Feb to May 1940 and the Aluminum was painted, not bare metal. Mostly they were Night and White, split right down the center with even the tailwheel being Night on the port and White on the starboard and this also included the wheel wells, oleos, oleo fairings, and main wheels.
When you say the wheel wells would be clean, don't forget that they were operating off grass aerodromes and the mains would spray any mud etc right up into the wheel wells. I usually give mine a wash of Grimy Black mixed with some Dark Brown and also do the oleos and the oleo fairings and wheels.
BTW, which Osprey book are you refering to? If it is the Osprey Modelling Manual, get rid of it. I wrote seven pages of corrections for mistakes made in that book and sent them to Osprey. They put a stop to publishing on it. It is probably the worst book that I have ever seen for Spitfire reference. The author hasn't a clue about what he is talking about and is not much better at building a model.
Cheers
Bob S.

Hi Bob,
dont worry, i dont use the said book as a Spitfire bible and take your point about the muck & mud, (i have a 2001 copy of OMM 18, which to be honest agrees with your points, is written mainly by Geoff Coughlin and has some nice builds included) the finnish you use is in effect a shade or two away from the undersurface colour albeit darker rather than lighter and this subtle change is all i was getting at in effect.
Is it possible that some later Mk wells were left part primed in a grey / green and is this a common practice on more modern aircraft , pinks, yellows, greens ect reminding me of primer shades.
Hopefully PF benefits from the debate anyhow...............

Oh yes,

I have benefitted from all this talk. Thanks guys.

PF

Hi Pig & Mig
The later marks were all the same, painted the underside colour in the wheel wells and u/c, except that the wheels were being left in the aluminum natural alloy colour. Coming direct from the factory the oleo legs were seen in aluminum too but these were painted the underside colour either at the MU or Squadron level. Invasion stripes were not continued inside the wells.
You see, the wings were made seperate from the fuselage and were painted prior to mating to the fuselage. The underside colour was sprayed over the whole wing and it would have been costly and time consuming to mask the wells and paint them a seperate colour, much quicker to simply spray the lot. That is why the inside of the radiator fairings is also the underside colour and the curved part where they cover that was built with the wing.
By "more modern aircraft" are you refering to Spits? If not, that is outside my expertise.
About that Osprey modelling book #18......I stand by my statements and Geoff Coughlin hasn't a clue about Spitfires. I can e-mail you a copy of all the mistakes and guesses that he made. Shameful really. As for the modelling, anyone that puts the door on a Spitfire upside down shouldn't be published. Terrible modelling throughout and very misleading information.
Cheers
Bob S.