Armstrong Whitworth Lamington

[Gondor]

My understanding of PRU Pink was that it was for aircraft that would be operating in the lower altitudes and was intended to make them less visible against the cloudbase.

I think you might be getting confused with PRU Mauve Jim

Gondor

[PR19_Kit]

Both the Mauve, Pink, Camotint, Pale Grey and loads of other colours were used during that period. And all were tested in all sorts of conditions to see which worked best.

[zenrat]

Hmmmmmm.
I've just found a Spit MkVIII in Medium Sea Grey over PRU blue which I like the look of.   Maybe pink instead of grey...

[zenrat]

PRU Lavender* and PRU Blue...


*IJN lower surfaces grey plus a drop of red.

[JayBee]

My understanding of PRU Pink was that it was for aircraft that would be operating in the lower altitudes and was intended to make them less visible against the cloudbase.

I think you might be getting confused with PRU Mauve Jim

Gondor

What's in a name?

Billy Connolly had some idea :

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4vRz5KrO2dc

[zenrat]

Main upper and lower surfaces are painted but there's too much fiddley stuff to do so it is not going to make it.

Not to worry though.  I'll get it done before I start too many builds for the Cold War GB.

[PR19_Kit]

Ah yes, 'fiddley stuff', the bane of our lives. 

[zenrat]

Oh I quite enjoy the fiddley stuff but I have to force myself not to rush it.
The Lavender/Blue "main chunk" is sitting on the drying table awaiting paint in the U/C holes and cockpit.  it looks quite good even if I say so myself.

[NARSES2]

Oh I quite enjoy the fiddley stuff but I have to force myself not to rush it.

I concur with the Honourable Gent from Down Under

[zenrat]

Got on with the fiddley stuff today only to discover that the Frog Dewoitine kit has different diameter main wheels.  I am assuming this wasn't so in real life and used the left over wheels from the Frog GAL Hotspur.  They are significantly smaller in diameter but obviously the Lamington was designed thus for reasons of weight saving.
Frogs undercarriage legs are also horribly spindly and completely lacking in detail so i've replaced them with lengths of jumbo paperclip to which I will glue the gear doors.

[zenrat]

Finished.  Better late than never I suppose.

Armstrong Whitworth Lamington Mk 2a

Designed as a high altitude research aircraft the first Lamington (named after a small village in Scotland and not the delicious Australian cake) flew in 1935 at which point 5 were procured for the RAE (Royal Aircraft Establishment).
AW Lamington 13 by Fred Maillardet, on Flickr
As war clouds gathered over Europe thoughts of the more enlightened personnel involved with RAF procurement turned to high altitude photo reconnaissance and the development of a specialised aircraft for such missions.
AW Lamington 7 by Fred Maillardet, on Flickr
By boosting the Lamington's Napier Cutlass Inverted Vee 12 opposed cylinder two stroke heavy oil engine with twin intercooled (in the wing roots) turbochargers and by fitting a radical for the time five bladed propeller (the result of RAE research with Mk1 Lamingtons) a service ceiling of 55,000 ft was obtained.
AW Lamington 15 by Fred Maillardet, on Flickr
Mk2a Lamingtons carried no weapons, the military payload consisting of a single camera mounted behind the pilot which was set to either oblique or vertical photography before flight depending on the mission being undertaken.
AW Lamington 11 by Fred Maillardet, on Flickr
The aircraft modelled was attached to 610 Squadron at RAF Gravesend in June 1940 and was being used at the time to evaluate experimental colour schemes for PR aircraft.  That shown is PRU Lavender over PRU Blue and was intended specifically for dawn missions.  The RAE had intended that nothing was to interfere with these colours on the wings but RAF regulations strongly insisted both upper and lower surfaces should bear markings in the national colours.  Insistence was however less strong when it came to sizes and by deliberately miss-interpreting the regulations as applied to refueling vehicles it was possible to get away with the small roundels shown (until questions were asked regarding why PR aircraft had been reclassified as trucks).
AW Lamington 6 by Fred Maillardet, on Flickr
Immune from interception by piston engined aircraft due to their ceiling the Lamingtons continued in service (in a variety of colours, including the infamous fruity fish – apricot and salmon – splinter pattern camouflage scheme) until jet interceptors rendered them obsolete.
AW Lamington 1 by Fred Maillardet, on Flickr
The model – It's a Frog Dewoitine D520 with the wings from an MPM FW189 and the nose from an Academy Ju87G.  Prop is from an MPM Spitfire XVIII and decals are from the Airfix Battle of Britain airfield set with the Spitfire and refueling trucks.
AW Lamington 5 by Fred Maillardet, on Flickr

[PR19_Kit]

Hehehe, I LOVE it! 

That's got some SERIOUS wing area to it, most impressive.

Just one small JMN-ism, it's got 19 Sqdn codes (QV), or was that all part of the disinformation?

[zenrat]

Thanks Kit.  Knew you'd like the wings.

I just used the decals from the Airfix RAF Battle of Britain Airfield Set.

(it would have been nice if it contained the 5 Spitfires shown on the box art)
I'm pretty sure the decal sheet had 610 Squadron printed on one corner.
I'm not too worried though.

[PR19_Kit]

610 used DW or JE codes according to this handy Wiki list :-

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_RAF_squadron_codes

That Airfix BoB set must be based on Duxford, where 19 Sqdn. flew from during the Battle. It doesn't look all that much different to this day, there's just as many Spitfires there now! 

[Gondor]

610 used DW or JE codes according to this handy Wiki list :-

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_RAF_squadron_codes

That Airfix BoB set must be based on Duxford, where 19 Sqdn. flew from during the Battle. It doesn't look all that much different to this day, there's just as many Spitfires there now! 

Actually the squadron is QV as its always the leading two letters that lead the roundel on the port side of the aircraft. That makes it 19 squadron according to the list you provided the link to Kit.

Gondor