Spindly landing struts are why I replaced my Revell legs with aluminum tubing and paper clips lol!

What a fabulous pair you have here, Joe. Glad I lurked this post! Lol

Now, I too want one of those Hurricanes!!  :D

Joe, superb job on this duo!

regards,

Jack

Joe-

What a couple of great builds, I tried making some roundels but without the same success as you. Have yet to get the clean edges as you achieve, new 11 blade, Tamiya tape and all, just lack the touch so far, but I'll keep at it.

Thanks for the post and great photos, always a good read.

Patrick

Two more awesome builds!

Mike

Whoa, two more beauties there Joe!!! 

I gotta pick up one of these new Airfix Hurricanes. 

Dude! You have GOT..........to be kidding me!! There aint no way.....no WAY you just finished those two up in that amount of time. True beauties these both are in any case Joe. Wow!

Very nice work, as always, Lawdog.

-BD-

Those are sweet, Joe.

Thx again for taking the time to post the WIP, always a treat.

The Hurricane and Spitfire are fantastic examples of what a model should look like.  Museum pieces!  They both look awesome.  I can definately agree with you in that the Tamiya Spitfire is a superior kit.  

Thank you so much for sharing your stunning work in projects with us.  They are just inspirational.  

Toshi

They look amazing!  Thanks for the kit reviews as well

Roger, over!

What? 

Huh?

Who?

Thanks everyone.  It truly is easy to paint them on. I'm gonna try the bullseyes too on my next build, which is the Hasegawa Typhoon Mk I bubbletop.

Rob, I've never had those issues with Blue Tac, but I do need clearance Clarence.  

Jack, indeed I've read that Merlin Spits belched some serious oil and have seen period photo to support it.  Yours looks great!  Mine is fairly similar to that, perhap slightly more restrained but that's a personal preference.  

Well, we can scratch these two off my bench.  Going with done.  I'll start with the Hurricane, which was done in the kit provided markings of Wing Commander Ken Mackenzie of 501 Squardon.  On October 7th 1940, after running out of ammunition, he downed a Bf 109 by slicing off it's tail with his starboard wing.  He then managed to land his stricken 'Cane.  Mackenzie would ultimately score 11.5 kills before being captured in 1941.  

Reference the kit.  I was overall pleased and can certainly give it a nod over the Hasegawa kit.  I had no real fit issues.  Unlike Hasegawa, there's no funny panel line issues at the bottom wing/fuselage joint and the canopy can be easily posed open.  No plugs either!  I'd say all it needs is some PE in the pit.  It certainly won't be my last and I probably will dump my Hasegawa 'Canes on ebay.     

Now for the Spitfire.  This was done in the kit provided 602 Squadron markings of Osgood "Pedro" Hansbury in August of 1940.  He was an 11 kill ace to include two in this particular machine.  (Note: I must say Airfix has done a nice job of providing interesting markings, on both kits. I felt no need to go aftermarket on either.)    

About the kit.  Let's just say all my Tamiya Mk. I and V kits in my stash are safe from fire sale.  I wasn't particular impressed with this kit.  First there's the stupid cowl "saddle" which fits lousy and the poorly designed fragile-a@@ landing gear?...really?  It took me forever to get them lined up properly.  I ended up using Tenax and Super glue to get then to stay in place.  It's not that I won't build another one, but if I had to choose this or Tamiya, I'd still pick the Tamiya hands down.  

Thanks for following.  If that P-40B is as good as the Hurricane, it should be a real treat.    

Joe have you ever noticed a color change under the blu tac? It seems with MM acrylics it sucks the moisture out and it leaves a lighter color line. Does is not happen with tamiya acrylics?

Nick! Heath! Jared! There's a fire in the barn!

Joe, coming along really nice on both those.

About weathering,  both aircaft had some problems with oil loss, particularly the Merlin Spitfires.  I also recall reading the Spitfire cowl tended to be darker than the rest of the aircraft due to both oil and exhaust stains, combined with the heat of the engine.   The Hurricane had to have an oil ring collector installed just aft of the propellar nose.

Here's what I came up with after studying some period photos:

regards,

Jack

This is fun to watch, as usual.

You make it all look so easy, Joe. And those roundels are very nice.

Those painted roundels look great! As always, inspiring work overall.

-J

Man I can't tell you how much I like watching your builds come together Joe. Good stuff!!

Those look great, Lawdog. As for the Blu-Tack - yeah, I hate that part. So I just went to freehanding my camouflage whenever it's not a solid line. Takes some practice, but I found that if I use a 0.2mm needle airbrush at 20 psi it can get me a pretty fine demarcation line.

This Mustang was freehanded, and it saves me a lot of time these days.

As for the engineering on the cowl of the Spitfire, I like the idea, because it eliminates the seam there, which I had some trouble with on my Tamiya Mk.I. Seam work is my biggest weakness, and anytime they make it so the clear parts don't need to fit to a distorted area, I'm happy. (see cowl top joint above, where I accidentally took off too much of the aft area when I was working the centerline seam).

Can't wait to see these finished up.

-BD-

Awesome!  Love your streaking technique.

Mike

Those painted roudels do make a HUGE difference! I've tried it in the past but couldn't get a good circle cut out. I'll try it again using a piece of glass as you did. Really, really nice work so far Joe!

Wow Joe, those colors look great. The roundels being painted is such a major improvement over decals. This is fantastic.

BK

I love the color variations you used!

Toshi

Thanks Rob.  I'm doing everything I can....and stop calling me Shirley.  Interesting choice on post shades, I never thought of 66.  Post shading will segue into this post. 

I wanted to raise the grunge factor up a bit with some aggressive post shading. Some folks use chipping and panel fading...I use the latter and post shading.  I've always liked to keep weathering noticeable but restrained.  I always felt it was easy to overdo and I can't stand chipping everywhere.  Here I reasoned that Battle of Britain machines got dirty.....real dirty, but were too new to be dinged up to bad.  Like driving a new car through the mud.  Here's my attempt at this.

I started by spraying the undersides XF-21 Sky to represent this color.  The duck eggs and sky type S or F all confuse me.  This color has always looked ok to me.  I thinned it with Tamiya's lacquer thinner which makes Tamiya paint spray like silk.  I then added some XF-2 Flat White and lightened the control surfaces. After some condensation streaking, I postshaded the underside with an alcohol diluted mixture of XF-69 Nato Black and XF-64 Red Brown.  I paid particular attention to the centerline and engine area.   

These turkeys then got Gunze Dark Earth.  I still hate the semi gloss of Gunze but the color is spot on.  I added some XF-2 Flat White and streaked it slightly.  I was going for dirty not faded.

Now the fun part (sarcasm).  I used blue tac "worms" for the camo masking using the instructions profile as a reference.  I thought the lines depicted in Airfix's drawings were a bit too scalloped, so I eased up a bit n this.

I then used XF-81 RAF Green for the rest.  I think Tamiya nailed this color.  Some XF-57 Buff was added and the green and streaked.  All masks were removed and I postshaded the uppers too.  I added the exhaust streaks at this point too.

Here's what painted roundels look like.....huge difference

Hurricane...

 Yikes...time to get started on the gears and such.  Be back soon...

Thanks Joe I was wondering how you guys did this.  I have a drill bit template but the circles are not nearly big enough.  I'll have to see if I can find one like yours.  Really need to do this as I'm terrible with the larger decals. Just a thought on postshading.  I used to use flat black but to me it always looked to stark, I use RLM 66.  IMO it seems to create a faint but noticeable post shade.  I was scratching my head on how to post shade black.  I think it worked well for that.  It was not as stark as white plus I could use the same paint on all the camo.  I've never had any luck with washes.  If I try oil wash over dullcoat it sticks everywhere. and acrylic washes don't seem to stick will enough.  I still marvel at your cockpit painting it still looks airbrushed

But the other two pilots... they're just fine. They're at the controls flying the plane... free to pursue a life of religious fulfillment.

Thanks folks.  Last time I said I would share my method for painting roundels.  I have always had trouble with the upper blue and red wing roundel decals settling down.  I decided to try this out. I still don't have the nerve to try the bullseyes yet.  You need a circle template, fresh exacto, piece of glass or mirror, and wide Tamiya tape....thusly.

Let's start with the Sptifire.  I sprayed the general area on the wing XF-7 Flat red.

Grab your decal sheet and find the right sized circle on the template.

Now lay down some Tamya tape on the mirror or glass Use several strips side by side to widen it.  Cut out the circle and stick it where it's supposed to go.  

Then I sprayed blue.  I used Tamiya XF-8 Flat Blue with a touch of Flat black to darken it slightly.

Then we cut out the larger circle from the template.  The tough part is getting the red "dot" in the center.  It takes some fiddling.  I suppose you could find center and put a black dot on each then line them up, but I was too lazy to measure them. 

Full view.  I did the fin flashes in a similar manner.  P aint each color then tape off.  

You can also cut out the circles in sections for nice clean cuts, just make sure when they are applied its in a perfect circle.  I did this when the cut goes astray which happens (see close up of blue roundel above).  

I did the same with the Hurricane.  I should be painting soon.  I plan on experimenting with aggressive postshade weathering

Very inspiring.  :)

I'd love to see more soon.  :D

That's a tutorial I surely look forward to lawdog.   Great build so far.  They all turn out great. 

Nice pair there, great work on both as always.