My rendition of Wing Cdr. J.E. “Johnnie” Johnson’s Spitfire Mk IXc EN398 is now complete.
This legendary plane is a popular subject for a wealth of good reasons. Johnson was the highest scoring Western Allied fighter ace against the Luftwaffe with 34 individual victories. He flew EN398 as Commander of Kenley Wing from March to September 1943. In this timeframe he shot down 12 aircraft and shared 6, and damaged 6 others. EN398 is generally considered to be the highest scoring Spitfire ever made.
Interestingly, EN398 never caused Johnson any technical trouble (no aborted missions) and never suffered any damage due to enemy action.
Consistent with the special history of the plane and pilot, this Tamiya kit is certainly deserving of its glowing reviews. I highly recommend it. While building it mostly out of the box (as I did) results in a top-shelf build that anyone can be proud of, master modelers of course can add an amazing amount of spectacular detail.
Since the last update, I gave it a gloss coat of Tamiya X-22/MCLT and added HGW wet transfers and the few aircraft-specific decals. After another gloss coat over the decal/transfer areas, I applied a Flory panel line wash (medium grey on the underside, dark grey over the Ocean Grey, Dark Dirt over the Dark Green, and black on frequently opened covers and panels). A thin brown-black mix was applied to various panel lines and the exhaust stain was created with a combination of thinned tan, grey, brown and black streaks. Model master flat clear lacquer finished things off along with some chipping and scratches and other detail painting.
One of my goals for this build was as smooth a finish as possible. I was very happy with the combination of the AK Real Colors and MRP paints. The colors are spot on and the paint dries to a very smooth, thin and somewhat glossy finish. In between coats, the surface was lightly sanded, polished or buffed, followed by a wipe down with a damp cloth to get as smooth a surface as possible. I’m pleased with how the finish turned out.
Surprisingly, I had a few instances where paint came up when removing masking tape. I have not had this happen before and am thinking that the Mr Surfacer may not be robust as a primer as other options. I’m interested in others thoughts on this one.
Another unhappy discovery I made was that the adhesive on the roundel Montex masks left some sort of a residue that resulted in a slight paint color change. I didn’t notice until after the gloss coat. I’m interested if anyone has noticed or resolved this issue. Is there a way to clean this off? I’m thinking that this points to masking the markings before the camo or using tape-based masks instead of vinyl.
The HGW wet transfers worked very well, although there is a learning curve. Before applying to the model, I tested them using Mr. Mark Setter, Mr. Mark Softer, MicroSet and MicroSol, and the results were fine with each one. I used Mr. Mark Setter on the model and am thinking that MicroSet (blue bottle) would probably have been fine since it’s the weakest of the bunch and still gave acceptable results. In any event, a light gloss coat over the dry transfer makes any residue disappear.
The rubber tires provided in the kit have received generally bad reviews because they are apparently hard to weather, hard to clean, hard to paint, have a seam that’s difficult to remove, etc. etc. In my case, I simply sanded the center seam and then roughed up the tread area, cleaned the sidewalls using blue tac and was done. I actually think they look ok but I understand the limited flexibility if more effects are desired.
Besides the masks and wet transfers, the Quickboost cockpit door was the only other aftermarket add on. If you are building the kit and plan to have the door open, I highly recommend it (details in an earlier post).
All in all, the build was a tremendously satisfying experience. Added a couple of photos since the last edit. Thanks for following along. Enjoy the photos.
