I am mystified by the appearance of the riveted strip on models (1/76 & 1/72) of the Mk I by Airfix and Mk IV by Emhar and other plans or drawings. I've been trying to find it on various photos and, if the roof is visible in the shot, the strip is always absent. I've attached two images to show what I mean.
Is the strip something that was originally in the plans but was dropped before production or was it a part of Mother that didn't make it through to production?
I have found two different four view drawings of a Mk I, clearly drawn by different hands, each of which shows that strip so it would seem there's an unknown original source somewhere (or when) that shows the stripfrom which these were taken . Like you I can find no photo showing the strip. However I have found a few that appear to have the last section of roof as a single piece as well. In most shots taken from the rear the riveted dividing strip on the last roof section is very obvious so I'm trying to enhance these odd ones to see if its really there or it there were some minor variations. That the rear roof section could be modified is clear from a photo of a Mk I supply tank in which the last roof section extends to a point above where the end of the external fuel tank on the Mk IV would be and then there is a square end to the hull.
One wonders if some original drawing was made using a Mk I that had in some way been modified at some stage in its life and this had the strip as a 'one off'?
One wonders if some original drawing was made using a Mk I that had in some way been modified at some stage in its life and this had the strip as a 'one off'?
Or possibly the strip crept into the drawing as an accidental double of the next panel and has been repeated ever since. It wouldn't be the first time that that's happened either in text or drawings.
