I seem to have overlooked this thread as it is developing very nicely. The scheme on these Spitfires looks like the standard land based scheme to me.
I do agree that colours changed on aircraft in service, either through weathering, sun fading or being re-painted. Whether or not a present day Spitfire scheme is exactly as it would have been when it was in service sixty years ago is impossible to prove as old colour photographs are not reliable sources of accurate colour information.
As we discussed in a previous thread I believe the only reasonable path to take is to obtain colour chips of the relevent British Standard colours (most of the wartime ones still appear on the list) and to use these where indicated on the factory drawings. Only in a special case where one might be trying to re-create a particular aircraft in an unusual or particularly weathered scheme would I suggest that it was reasonable to deviate from British Standards. Of course there remains the probability (as suggested by Mark 12) that, say, Medium Sea Grey paint at Castle Bromwich was different from that being used at Westlands for example. In my opinion it is the intention that the colour should have been British Standard Medium Sea Grey that is the over-riding factor, regardless of the possibility of local deviation.
To what extent the British Standard colours have changed over the years has been challenged but one has to bear in mind they are ‘standards’ and the aim of BSI is to preserve these colours as constant references.
The new PS915 scheme that looks so eye catching used British Standard ‘Medium Sea Grey’ and ‘PRU Blue’ (I think I am correct in saying) and looks ‘right’. The original aircraft may have been stained, worn and sun-bleached but one has to draw a line in the sand somewhere.
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