That roundel blue sure does look “iffy” and the red is pretty suspect too on my screen… 😮

A question for Rhubarb. Is the plan to still repaint her in 1968 BoB colours as Red 3/8?

PeterW

No, there is no plan for that. It was a possibility in the very early stages of the rebuild but the owner decided he wanted a desert scheme, and that was at least 2 years before the idea of repainting G-BWUE came about when it changed owners. The Buchon was completely strippped to bare metal and after airframe work was completed we repainted he into the desired colour scheme which actually differs substantially from the hideous CAF applied scheme it wore when imported. The colours we have used are all authentic shades in a matt finish. There is still a lot of detailing to be completed and it requires the white band aft of the spinner to be applied and the Pik-As (Ace of Spades) emblem to go onto the engine cowlings as well. I’m sure when it is completed there will be a nice visual contrast between the two schemes if the opportunity arises to fly them as a pair occurs. Maybe the event will be captured by one of the air-to-air photo guys as well.

Here’s some detail shots I took for you yesterday. It’ll be a challenge to do these in 1/72… 😮

The guns were borrowed from G-AWHE and slaved in for the initial ground based photo shoot that I took and released, as the originals were not with the aircraft when it came from Breighton. As they had not been fitted in that rebuild, they were not part of the original technical certification and so new items were manufactured and a modification approval had to gained before fitment for flight. This took a while and so initial flying was undertaken without the guns fitted, hence the blanking plates at that stage. They were subsequently fitted and have been on ever since. From memory they were put on just before Legends this year. I think it looks best with the guns fitted, myself. 😎

So what’s in the box?

• SL633 is no longer in hangar 2
• There is a container o/s the hangar scheduled to go to the US
• SL633 has previously been reported as heading stateside

Bit late there Tim, SL633 is long gone, but another is returning to its owner after a generous stay…
Never mind “it’ll be in the book”, it’s in my camera and on my hard drive now…;)

How did they smuggle those TV cameras into the Hawkinge museum, tut tut…:rolleyes:

An interesting question re the “correct” shade. Paint fade and colour shift will always play a part as will original reference sources, colour chips, and personal recollections. Then there is the whole minefield of different paint manufacturers interpretations of a given colour specification or colour chip to match to. How accurate are the roundels on a preserved airworthy Spitfire that was “accurate” 5 years ago when it was painted, but has been very active since and consequently spent many hours being faded in the sun? In fact longer than it would have survived/been operational during the war itself? The debate will always rumble on, but debate is good as it usually throws up new points of view and evidence on the subject discussed. 🙂
In addition to the appalling colours on PT462 there is also MJ627. No doubt a well researched representaion of its own wartime colour scheme but really, using post war bright blue and bright (post office/cherry) red is a left-over from the “dark period” of the 1980’s attempts. 3/10 for effort. Could do better… 😉

ML407’s 1980’s scheme was really one of the early successes of getting the colours correct (even in the “dark period”!), and even WoGB got it right on NH238, but then it was painted at Little Staughton from memory and their stuff was usually pretty good.