Work in progress - Tamiya 1/72 Spitfire Mk.1

A few steps down the road - ready for clear coat before decals, washes and further weathering...

Slightly better photos :)

Looking good! What did you use to mask the camo? 

I use a silver pencil and a very soft (4B) lead pencil to suggest wear. Never tried the hairspray method. 

Hi Paladin, 

I used Vallejo Liquid Mask since it's a hard edge demarcation and freehanded it with a flat brush, approximately, so it's not that exact but it's close enough :)

As for the hairspray method, this is the fourth time I am using it and it really is a tricky method, at least from my experience, because it's easy to overdo, but so far I like it as it looks very realistic. It depends on the HS thickness, base coat thickness, drying time, etc... I mentioned the other problem with significantly thinned down paint which I encountered. I had luck with my T34 with winter camo since it is a temp camo and a lot of it was chipped off, so the thicker HS layer worked fine. For everything else I would use thinner HS coat, especially at 1/72 scale. That's what I learned from my very limited experience :) 

I haven't tried the pencil method and had no luck with sponge chipping, but will be persistant and learn that as well :) 

Best, 

Nikola

Thanks Tempest, 

Will try not to mess it up :)

Regards, 

Nikola

Decals on and weathering continued... 

Hi Gents,

Almost finished. Waiting for the Uschi rigging line to arrive and then on for some better photographs (apologies for the current photo quality as my phone camera sucks). 

I messed up the canopy somehow, as it fogged from the inside even though I didn't use CA glue. Also, I deliberately left a micro gap between the front windscreen and the movable part of the canopy. Any ideas why it might have happened? I am not happy with the canopy in general. I left the masking liquid on for too long and it was a disaster while removing it. Still needs a touch up.

As for the camo, I think that it should have more contrast between the green and the brown, although it is very much dependent on lighting conditions. I used Vallejo BS Dark Earth and Dark Green, and probably overfiltered the camo scheme and lost some of the contrast, so lesson learned here. :) 

Thanks for looking!

Best,

Nikola

Oh wow, that's a beautiful finish on that bird.

Hi Mopar, 

Thank you very much. Glad you like it. :)

If only I hadn't messed up the canopy. 

:) 

Best, 

Nikola

Unless you know to look for it, you really can't tell by looking at the pictures. I wonder what caused that to happen.