Sorry to hear about the paint peeling George (@gblair). You might try a primer coat before doing the regular paint. I've had good luck with Mr Surfacer 1500 protecting me from paint peeling (most of the time anyway).

Nonetheless, what you have done so far looks great. I too just bought some of those new formulation AK Real Colors, although it may be a while before I actually use them. I was mainly replenishing my US Navy 1950s colors after painting the Fury.

George (@gblair),

Mistakes can be a good thing. If the painters tape lifted some paint, it' s another opportunity.
I'm sure your Spitfire is a hand me down with a mottled painted surface faded by the elements and touched up with some paint as time allowed by the ground crew. Another shot of paint how ever slight the color will add to that lived in look of a well used aircraft.

Yup, such things can happen, my friend @gblair. All good now, your progress is excellent!

I tend to use Tamiya tape for the connection to the model and cheap copy paper to cover the larger areas. It's a bit more clumsy, but it saves tape and is effective. Main thing is to be sure and close any potential entry points for over spray.

Hi Carl (@clipper): I usually use just Tamiya tape for masking, but I used some Gator painting tape for delicate surfaces this time to fill in some of the larger areas. I plan to stick to Tamiya tape from now on.

Hi Stephen (@stephen-w-towle): I think the decals include the kill mark. I thought I had read that VCS-7 had shot down a German plane, but I just did some digging and couldn't find the info. They apparently lost about 8 planes (fuzzy records, some sources say 7). 4 were lost to anti-aircraft fire and 4 were lost to enemy fighters. The squadron lost only one pilot, who was hit by flak. All the rest of the pilots who were shot down survived and were recovered. Apparently one of the squadron planes was forced down in France just within friendly territory, and thus became the first US Navy plane to land in France after the invasion. I was thinking about using rubber black for the stripes, or perhaps even German black/gray. The stripes were recent additions to the planes, so I don't plan much weathering. As usual, all of this will be a game-time decision. Cheers

Hi, Jim (@jimh): I read about these spotters in an English magazine and thought it was a really interesting story. I was surprised to find there are a lot of photos of the planes and pilots online. I thought it would be a fun project. Thanks for stopping by.

Great job, my friend @gblair!

Looks perfect this way, George @gblair