Supermarine Spitfires Over Malta
Euro Decals’ new 1/72nd scale decal sheet “Supermarine Spitfires Over Malta” provides decals for nine different spitfires involved in the defense of Malta in 1942 and 1943. There are decals for one IXc, three Vb, and five Vc spitfires.There are enough decals provided to build all of the nine options, so you’ll have some extra roundels and fin-flashes for the spares box. The specific aircraft represented are:
- Mk. Vb Trop, BR586 ’T-M’ 249 squadron 1943
- Mk. Vc Trop, BR124 ‘U-2’ from USS Wasp 20th April 1942
- Mk. Vc Trop, BR126 ‘G-L-E’ 1942
- Mk. Vc Trop, BR344 ‘3-M’ from USS Wasp, April 1942
- Mk. Vc Trop, JK715 ‘S-N-A’ 243 squadron 1942
- Mk. Vc Trop, BR190 ‘A-2’ 603 squadron 1942
- Mk. Vb Trop, EP691 ‘X-A’ 229 squadron 1943
- Mk. IXc, EN479 ‘N’ 126 squadron 1943
- Mk. Vb, Trop, EP200 ‘G-L-T’ 185 squadron 1942
Many of the aircraft defending Malta had to be ferried to within flying range of the island by aircraft carriers. Since the standard RAF upper surface camouflage of the theater (dark earth and middlestone) wasn’t appropriate for operations over water, many of the aircraft were re-painted using naval paints during transit. This provides an opportunity for modelers to build some very unusual looking spitfires.
The decal sheet is printed in good register and the colors look good to my eye. Carrier film is very tight to the edges of the markings. The red centers of the roundels are printed separately so that registration errors won’t result in ‘googly eyed’ roundels. I used Micro-set setting solution and Micro-sol decal solvent when applying decals to my build. The decals conformed to details and settled into panel lines very well.The edges of the carrier film disappeared after applying a matt varnish. No airframe stencils are provided on the decal sheet, so if you want stencils for your build, you will still need your kit decals. Surfaces repainted during the transit to Malta likely had their stencils overpainted. The instructions provide an 8 ½” by 11” four-view color illustration of each marking option. Suggested paints are listed for Humbrol, Xtracolour, Xtracrylix, Mr Color Aqueous, MRP, and Vallejo brands. The exact colors used to re-paint Malta-bound spitfires has been a subject of debate over the years, but Euro Decals’ color choices seem plausible to me. Euro Decals’ choice of ‘non-specular intermediate blue’ for spitfire BR344 flown from USS Wasp in April of 1942 is interesting as this color had not yet been adopted by the US Navy. I chose to use ‘non-specular blue gray’ instead, as it would have been the color used for Wasp’s own aircraft. That said, it is possible that some paint mix resembling non-specular intermediate blue was used on BR344.
The decal instructions do not recommend specific kits to use but from my personal experience I would recommend Eduard’s 1/72nd Mk. IXc, Tamiya’s Mk. Vb, and Airfix’s Mk. Vc. The Airfix and Tamiya Spitfires include parts for the long-range ferry tank. The Airfix Vc also includes the extra 20mm canon barrels often seen in photos of Malta C-wing spitfires.
In summation, these decals performed well and provide lots of options for unusual-looking spitfires. I am very grateful to Fantasy Printshop and to IPMS/USA for providing these decals for review.
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