Frank: Looks good!!! 

Harold: Interesting story about your uncle's service- thanks for sharing with us. No idea about the underside colour- it all confuses me.  

Ye, that does look like a crown above the wings, and its hard to tell, but i think i can make out the C behind the RAF.

So your Uncle must have been based at RAF Coltishall in 1940 i take it.

An RCAF pilot's badge, now that would explain the curve visible along the bottom.

On a whim, I thought of trying to find a serial for an aircraft flown by your uncle, but the online diares for 242 Squadron have no listing for Schopp during the first six months of 1941?

regards,

Jack

jgeratic

An RCAF pilot's badge, now that would explain the curve visible along the bottom.

On a whim, I thought of trying to find a serial for an aircraft flown by your uncle, but the online diares for 242 Squadron have no listing for Schopp during the first six months of 1941?

 

regards,

Jack

 

Below is a link to some additional information about his location prior to 1944; however, it is not 100% accurate. Uncle Harold was born in 1918, was trained as a pilot in Canada and arrived in England or the U.K. in late 1940 or early 1941. He was a Flight Sergeant Pilot as evident by his picture and age at time of enlistment. We know he was not killed in Germany; he was killed in a mid-air collision over Leon, France returning from Ulm, German. He was not living in the U.S. at the time of enlistment, he was living in Canada with his Uncle Poole's family in Nova Scotia.

http://www.inportercounty.org/Data/Military/WWIIList/SchoppHaroldHarrison.html

Harold

It's easily possible he was a fighter pilot with another squadron during the period before transferring to bombers.  In 1940,  Canada had the lone fighter squadron operational as no.1 RCAF Squadron (Hurricane).  But Canadian pilots were also posted to many RAF Squadrons.

In March 1941, no.1 RCAF become number 401.  Henceforth, all RCAF fighter squadrons were numbered in the 4XX range.  Canadians though, would contiue to fill rosters of RAF squadrons as well, some even becoming squadron leaders of RAF units.

But 153 Squadron is interesting because they began the war as a fighter unit, flying Defiants, followed by Bristol Beaufighter types.  Is it not possible your uncle was stationed with this unit right from the start?

regards,

Jack

jgeratic

It's easily possible he was a fighter pilot with another squadron during the period before transferring to bombers.  In 1940,  Canada had the lone fighter squadron operational as no.1 RCAF Squadron (Hurricane).  But Canadian pilots were also posted to many RAF Squadrons.

In March 1941, no.1 RCAF become number 401.  Henceforth, all RCAF fighter squadrons were numbered in the 4XX range.  Canadians though, would contiue to fill rosters of RAF squadrons as well, some even becoming squadron leaders of RAF units.

But 153 Squadron is interesting because they began the war as a fighter unit, flying Defiants, followed by Bristol Beaufighter types.  Is it not possible your uncle was stationed with this unit right from the start?

 

regards,

Jack

 

It appears 153 Squadron had Defiant, Beaufighter, Hurricane and Spitfire planes before they transitioned to Lancaster bombers. Thank you Jack, you very possibly have solved a bit of missing history for my family.

Harold

Wish it were that straight forward, but working backwards from his last mission, was able to find several entries for the month of November 1944.  See beginning with file no. 4 listed here (after clicking 'preview an image of this record'):

http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/D8389809

October and September, Schopp is not on any of the 153 Sqn roster lists.  This might mean he was indeed with another squadron before November '44, but which one?   That is a lot of fighter units to consider, even if you take out the auxiliary ones.

regards,

Jack

jgeratic

Wish it were that straight forward, but working backwards from his last mission, was able to find several entries for the month of November 1944.  See beginning with file no. 4 listed here (after clicking 'preview an image of this record'):

http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/D8389809

October and September, Schopp is not on any of the 153 Sqn roster lists.  This might mean he was indeed with another squadron before November '44, but which one?   That is a lot of fighter units to consider, even if you take out the auxiliary ones.

regards,

Jack

 

Harold

Spitfire Mk VIII update: Sprayed the MM enamel primer the other day. Today I did some pre-shading. Since these Spitfires operated in North Africa and Italy I'm sure the paint was pretty well sun bleached. I dusted the upper surfaces with Tamiya Flat White thinned 4/1. Then I preshaded the panel lines with Tamiya Rubber Black. I hope the color difference shows up well under the two-color desert camouflage.

fotofrank

Spitfire Mk VIII update: Sprayed the MM enamel primer the other day. Today I did some pre-shading. Since these Spitfires operated in North Africa and Italy I'm sure the paint was pretty well sun bleached. I dusted the upper surfaces with Tamiya Flat White thinned 4/1. Then I preshaded the panel lines with Tamiya Rubber Black. I hope the color difference shows up well under the two-color desert camouflage.

 

Harold

Frank: I like the pre-shading too. Looking forward to the final results. 

Thanks, guys. I'm anxious to get the camo started to see how it will look over the pre-shading. Today it's too cool to be out on the patio shooting paint so I may have to wait a couple of days before applying color. In the meantime I should probably clean my airbrush.

FotoFrank. The preshadeing looks good, I'll be watching 

Sergeant. Nice pics ! 

Gamera and Bish thank you..

I gave some med sea gray over some black motteling. The landing gear is in place. I need to touch up here and there before masking.

I never had any luck with pre-shading frank, look forward to seeing how yours come out.

Good to see the paint going on Nick, the pre shading seems to be working well.

Nick, that looks excelent!

I have been bitten by the group build bug.

I would like to join in with an Airfix 1/72 Spitfire Mk.1a

Glad to have you on board JB. I'll get you added at the weekend when i have a bit of time to catch up on everything.

Unfortunatly, there is no vaccine for the GB bug, once its got you, thats it for life.

Nick: The mottling and pre-shading look great, esp on the underside. 

JB: Welcome! 

I started on the cockpit this morning working on the seatbelts and trying to make some raised details on the instrument panel.

As I was going over the instructions I noticed the version I will be working on which has the Black/White undersides on the wings calls for the wheel bays and the inside of the landing gear covers to match the color of each wing. I assumed they would be aluminum or maybe interior green but I have not been able to find any good references for what the actual color on this scheme should be. 

Any input on the correct color would be appreciated. 

From the factory, the wheel well where the tire sits would be painted to match undersides, while the narrow portion where the leg rests would be painted aluminum.  If the b/w undersides were applied in the field, not sure if the paint application would be as neat.

https://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/235034296-wheel-well-colours-bob-spitfire-hurricane-defiant/

https://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/235036044-colour-for-undercarriage-bays-on-a-mk1a-spitfire/

regards,

Jack

thank you Jack

Those links were very helpful

A little more on the Wellesley, I have the powerplant together.  Pushrod housings were added with fine wire and then it was pressin between the cowl parts.  Painted it steel with the front ring painted SNJ Brass inside.  I've also painted the underside flat black and started work on the landing gear.

Nice work on that engine John.

Bish. I finally made up my mind.

Steve. Thanks masking now for blue/gray paint.

Gamera. Many thanks some touch up here and there.

John. Sharp looking engine.

my latest pics.

West Texas wind storm kept me indoors all day saturday alowing me to work quite a bit on the Mk1.

I added dials to the control panel, masking tape seat belts, a crowbar on the side door panel and a clear piece of plastic on the gunsight. Unfortunately the canopy is rather thick and is one piece so much of it won't be visible.

All buttoned up and almost ready for primer.

JBRaider

West Texas wind storm kept me indoors all day saturday alowing me to work quite a bit on the Mk1.

I added dials to the control panel, masking tape seat belts, a crowbar on the side door panel and a clear piece of plastic on the gunsight. Unfortunately the canopy is rather thick and is one piece so much of it won't be visible.

All buttoned up and almost ready for primer.

 

I know how you feel. I felt the same after building a Tamiya Spit in 1/48 with a closed canopy and mine wasn't as detailed as yours. You did that excellent detailing in 1/72!

That pit has come out nicely there JB. Good progress.

Good morning, everyone. The weather over the weekend has been really nice so I've been out on the patio using up a lot of paint. Yeah. Having to do a hobby shop run today.

Painted the underside of the Mk VIII. I had to mix my own Azure Blue. I got close to the color but it's not exact, but it'll do. I mixed the color 4/1 thinner to paint and built up the color very slowly. The idea is to make the pre-shading look subtle without completely covering the shading. After clear coating, I'll go back and highlight some panel lines and control surfaces with Tamiya panel line accent.