Thanks lol. I simply needed to add the final shots back into the thread. Thank God most of it was done with PBucket before they sold out, because I had thought I lost all of those progress shots like I have on a lot of my other posts.

Please excuse me for digging up this old post, but the (final) pictures are all missing and I just got this kit back out of storage from my Dad's garage so I took some new ones. It's a shame the site I was using at the time shut down.

This is still one of my favorite competed aircraft builds and I remember enjoying the journey from start to finish. I'm not so upset with how it turned out now that I'm looking at it again for the first time in 3 years. Not bad for a bunch of scratch built greeblies and a bit of artistic license. 

Definitely go with the Eduard! It builds into a much better looking model. :)

This old Revell is a challenge and nowhere near as detailed out of the box.

I think you did a great job!  I keep seeing this kit at Hobbylobby and want to purchase it but then I ran across Eduards offering and think I might run with that one.  Again though, looks really good!!

Thank you.  :) I still need to fix that ridiculous chipping lol.

With the windscreen, remember to cut the masks first and then remove them before you glue them on. If any glue gets under the tape you'll have a huge mess on your hands. After that, add the masks and then putty, sand, primer. That's the tricky part!

Making new frames isn't nearly as hard as it looks when all you have to do is square up the pieces (sand them even so they match up - angles and such) and glue some sheet plastic to the edges of them. Wait for the glue to cure and carve out the extra plastic and sand smooth. Remember to mask before sanding, you don't want to scratch your canopy!

If you need any help, P.M. me and I'll do my best to help you through it.

Hopefully my pictures give enough information to get you through that modification without too much trouble.

Another piece of art, sir. I am still working on my Spit...if you call letting it sit in it's box for 3 weeks. I have your thread "bookmarked" because I am at the "canopy" stage. going to try your fix. Again, great work.

No worries Max. I do it all the time too. Sometimes up to 15 minutes of detailed information gets truncated because I hit the back button instead of the post button lol.

That is soooo frustrating! I bet it happens more often to more of us than we know lol.

OK, I'm losin' my mind. I did comment a few days ago on your fine job and lookin' good but I see I didn't hit submit. I'm claiming it was the sites fault or some other lame excuse. It gets worse they say, lol. Anyway, belated compliment!

Max

Oh tell me about it! Lol!!

These modern kits are going to spoil me. But on the other hand, the wheel wells shouldn't have been green either and thats MY lack of research.

Not so great when you have to do the manufacturers research for them! Just goes to show

Thanks Chris. Yes I know that's not where the radio goes, but that's where Revell put it and I just went with it. I could've changed it at the time, but I didn't want to scratch build the bulkheads. Chalk it up to laziness, lol.

Mike

Dont know how I missed thIs wip  but that is some fine scratch and paint work.  

I hate to throw a spanner in the works, especially as you've made such a beautiful job of it, but you've got the radio in completely the wrong place. The hatch on the left side of the fuselage behind the cockpit is the radio hatch, and the space behind the pilot's seat should be just that - a space. You should just see the inside faces of the fuselage, with a couple of gas cylynders attached to the walls. Sorry, but I only just saw your posts for the first time, or I would have said something whilst you were still at the cockpit building stage. Beautiful build otherwise

Joe, Mike, so sorry I didn't see your posts. Thank you! 

Now, my apologies for dragging this post up from the depths, but I got some new pictures that are much better than the last ones I posted. Unfortunately these pictures show what a lackluster job I did on this one with the weathering. :P The chipping looks naff.

Well... That.... Is better.  :/

That really came out great!

Mike

silentbob33

Looks pretty good to me Mike! Looks to me like that extra effort paid off for you.

 

Thanks, Bob. I really wish, in retrospect, that i had not scribed the wing gun acess panels so dang deep or as wide because I think that's the one thing I did that detracts from the overall efforts applied. I think they look terrible. Wish I had left them alone.

jgeratic

Brandon, excellent work on the Spitfire, I believe  you have captured the essence of this early fighter.

I could be wrong about the underside colour, perhaps Bader's mount was a one off with a regular grey paint?  Sky Type S had a noticeable green tint to it, but maybe your camera didn't capture this?  If so, skip the remaining of this response ...

One thing I hate about Vallejo labelling is sometimes it doesn't match the paint you are looking for.   I know their foray in RAF paint sets has taken a second round with their Model Air series, and have finally labeled a Sky Type S as such.  In their first set, they would have you use 71.103 GREY RLM84, a German paint!   Though it does have it matched with FS 34424, which does seem to be a popular value quoted for RAF undersides.

Now you say you prefer using regular vallejo paints, so a closer choice would have been VAL70.885 PASTEL GREEN.  It has the same FS value associated it as mentioned above.

regards,

Jack

 

 

Thank you for the compliment! I used the period photgraphs for reference on the weathering. I still think its a bit exaggerated, but its pretty close in some viewing angles.

As to the color, I will tell you Revell would have me paint the bottom of the plane in "Sky Blue" which in my collection would be way too blue and have no green tint to it at all. I chose Sky Grey because it was available to me and looked (in my mind) to be more appropriate. It does have a very slight tint of blue hue to it, but again no green at all.

Following the Revell instructions I'd have a very brightly painted Spitfire with a light blue underside and a white nose and tail band. Not quite the way I imagine it should look at all.

So my color choices were more artistic and personally chosen for how I wanted this plane to look in my collection, more than historical accuracy. (hence the soft color transitions in the upper camouflage pattern)

I hope that covers it adequately. :)

Brandon, excellent work on the Spitfire, I believe  you have captured the essence of this early fighter.

I could be wrong about the underside colour, perhaps Bader's mount was a one off with a regular grey paint?  Sky Type S had a noticeable green tint to it, but maybe your camera didn't capture this?  If so, skip the remaining of this response ...

One thing I hate about Vallejo labelling is sometimes it doesn't match the paint you are looking for.   I know their foray in RAF paint sets has taken a second round with their Model Air series, and have finally labeled a Sky Type S as such.  In their first set, they would have you use 71.103 GREY RLM84, a German paint!   Though it does have it matched with FS 34424, which does seem to be a popular value quoted for RAF undersides.

Now you say you prefer using regular vallejo paints, so a closer choice would have been VAL70.885 PASTEL GREEN.  It has the same FS value associated it as mentioned above.

regards,

Jack

That's a fine looking Spit, Mike.

Nice job and thanks for sharing your WIP.

1943Mike

Looks good to me Mike. I think you did a fine job.

 

Thank you.  :)

BrandonK

Excellent, Sir !! You took your time and it paid off is spades. NICE !!!

BK

 

Thank you , Brandon.  :) 

Excellent may be a bit of a stretch though lol.

Thanks.

Yeah I know about it, but I thought it was over already. Besides, this T-Bolt is going to take a lot of work. Everything needs to be rescribed and I have an average of 4 hours a week to work on my builds. That's a tough one.

I'll see where I'm at after I finish up my T-90.  ;)

Excellent, Sir !! You took your time and it paid off is spades. NICE !!!

BK

Looks good to me Mike. I think you did a fine job.

Thank you, Piper.

I don't think its great, but 6 months from now I'll look back and maybe think so. lol

I'm pretty bad about being critical of my own builds. We all are to some degree.

Thank you, again. :)

Impressive, great job man!

The P-47N is 1/48 Revell

The P-51D is 1/48 Monogram re-released by Revell

The P-47 does have more detail, but I'll have to go over almost every panel line and rescribe all the details. That would be a very intensive build.

Ive got to finish my T-90K for my group build first. I've got some decent progress into now. Just need to finish up the rest of the kit assembly and figure out what to scratch up for extra details.

I've got an update to post later on that.  ;)

P-47.  I see a lot of members building Mustangs.  I haven't seen any P-47's in a while.  What scale and brand type are they?  Thank you in advance!

Toshi

Bad lighting, terrible background, bad angles. = not good pictures.

Thanks, Toshi. The kit was easy to work with. 

Not sure what to start next, P-51D, or P-47N?

The pictures look fine.  You did a great job on this build, I love it!

Toshi

http://www.use.com/JoSx8

completed, but with crappy pictures I took in a rush.

You've definately out did yourself on this one!

Toshi

Uh, thanks guys. I started the weathering on Saturday. Exhaust streaking looks appropriate, but I really went waaaay overboard on the gun streaking. not the gently used look I was after at all. It looks like its been shooting fireballs. So I'll be toning that down. After I correct that issue I'll be getting onto the chipping. My plan is to lightly weather for realism, but not go overboard as this plane was not abused at all. Not to my knowledge anyways. Period photos and movies show some wear, but not a lot of abuse.
 That's the look I'm after.

I really like how the paint came out on that. The subtle fading and weathing looks great.

BK

Those look great side by side.  Very well done!

Mike

http://www.use.com/JmKsm

trying something different. Bare with me here.

Should be a few pictures of my Spitfire with the 109G10 I gave to my oldest son.

If this works ...

Happy Thanksgiving, my friends. I hope you all have a splendid Holiday with much love and great eats.  :)


I managed to find another route into my account that didn't kick me out for whatever reason. You'll see I'm very close to the finish line, and I'm at the stage where weathering is about to start. The only things I have yet to attach are the air speed indicator, cockpit mirror, and the radio antennae. There are still a couple of touch-ups to take care of (as those seem to always pop up from somewhere) but I'm almost done!

I added the dorsal marker light and the tail marker light, unmasked and trimmed out the cockpit glass, attached the landing gear, and permanently attached the propeller. Then I gave it a cote of Vallejo clear Matte to dull down the finish. After all of that I hand painted the red squares over the gun ports (in real life they used tape to keep dirt out).









I know you guys must be getting pretty bored with my updates when it doesn't look like much has happened. But right now all I can do is little things here and there when I can find the time. I'm basically living a little over an hour away from my Dad's garage right now and I get to come and work t my little box once, maybe twice a week now, if I'm lucky. Usually not more than a couple of hours at a time.

So I'm just updating what little progress I've been able to make. I hope you all can bear with me a little longer as I'm getting close to a the final finish.  :)

Thanks for looking, lurking, or peeking. :)  Have a most excellent Thanksgiving!  :D

I've got a pin wash on some of my panel lines, the landing gear are blocked and ready for installation, the bay doors are painted, and the tail wheel is also painted.  

I've been waiting three days for Photobucket to stop throwing a tantrum so I can upload the pictures, but no luck so far.

Photobucket seems pretty broken right now. If it's not one problem, it's another.

So there is a chance I may finish this model before I can upload the pictures lol.

On another note, I got my car running, but I need to do one more session to replace the rod bearings once and for all.

Anyways, I hope you are all going to have a happy thanksgiving this week.  :D

Thank you, my friend. No doubt I will fix it this next time.

the final reveal should be good, I hope lol.

just a matter of finding more time.  :)

I've had the exact thing happen to me on my old '79 Mercury Zephyr.  It ended up being that one of the main bearing caps wore down and seized.  I did exactly what you did and rebuilt the straight six and the tranny to better than new. 

I ended up selling it in Palm Springs before moving to Ohio.  It probably would not have survived the winters here as it was a daily driver.  I feel your pain my friend.  It's no fun at all when things don't go right.  

With saying that, I am looking forward to your final reveal of this WIP and good luck with your Geo engine rebuild!

Toshi

Thanks, Mike. My only regret on this one so far is that I've not spent enough time to finish it yet.

I spent most of this last weekend working on my Geo. After a complete rebuild of the engine with a new crank and all new seals, I only had the lifters to replace in the top end. I finally got around to doing that and found that part of the noise I had been hearing was the lower end. It seems I didn't tighten the Rod caps enough and the No. 1 and No. 3 rods were knocking. Fortunately nothing was damaged. So I tightend it all up and it was running better than ever. All nice and quiet.

Then it stalled. After pulling it apart and pulling the rod caps twice in one day it still did it a third time. It kept siezing up after it would warm up. SO this next weekend I am going to pull it apart again and pull it all out. Check for damage again and try for a fourth time to get that dang engine to run properly.

Its all just frustrating, as you can believe it should be.

So I've not had a chance to really sit down and work on what relaxes me for almost a month now. I've managed to get a few things done, as you can see by what I've got posted before now, but I should have finished it by now and I really, really want to finish this one and move on to the next lol.

Here are the bay doors. I drillled holes in some 1mm card stock and then slowly shaved them down. Once I get back to work on these I will use a file to get them just right. Then painting and gluing happens. lol

Not much of an update, but I get a few minutes here and there.

You are doing some fine work on this one, looks great!

Mike

Thanks, guys. The green does look brighter in these pictures. I made a custom mix of sky grey and medium green to get the pale green, but then I used a Vallejo wash which changed the tone. 

Same thing I did with the cockpit. I can subdue it with some white oil Paint to tone it down a little

that would bring out the recesses better anyways.

made some progress with the bay doors today. Had to fab some new U brackets to make it work. If I can upload the pictures with this new phone I have, I'll update later.

stikpusher

Not sure if I agree with green for the flap and wheel wells, but otherwise outstinding.... You have really dolled up this girl!

 

A great build indeed. I do agree with stik on the color choice for flaps and wheel wells. Zinc chromate were used in US aircraft, not British. I would have opt for the RAF interior green instead. Model Master carries that color.

Outstanding work!  I'm really looking forward to the final reveal on this one. It's been a long time coming yet well worth the wait!  What a fantastic job you've done.

Toshi

Not sure if I agree with green for the flap and wheel wells, but otherwise outstinding.... You have really dolled up this girl!

Been a while since I've been able to get anything done, but I had some time this morning before working on my car.

I painted the prop tips, touched-up the registration errors on the decals, added the exhaust stacks, and applied the decals to the underside of the model.





I've got some paint on the wheels and I'm getting ready to work on the bay doors next. If I can find the time this one should be finished before Christmas lol.

Thanks for clarifying this, Bish. The instructions are, surprise, incorrect again lol.

Johnny, thanks you very much! :)

Great work on the Spit Mike. Just  small note, this is baders aircrfat from 1941, when he became Wing Commander at Tangmere. In 1940 he was with 222 Sqn at Duxford though they moved to Essex to cover Dunkirk. He only became a Sqn Ldr, 242 Sqn, after this.

Its been suggested that his lack of legs helped him as a fighter piot. When pulling high G turns, he could resist black out for longer because he didn't have legs for the blood to be puched down into.

Thanks, guys! I'm pretty darned pleased with it so far. :D

A little history; This is Wing Commander Douglas Bader's plane from 1940. When he first flew into combat during Operation Dynamo. He claimed to have shot down five enemy aircraft during the evacuation of Dunkirk, but only one was confirmed.

Two tin legs and the man flew like nothing would ever touch him. Incredible story about the man.

Oh man, that is looking good.

BK

You're on the home stretch now.  It's looking awesome!  Looking forward to it's final reveal.

Toshi

Looking very sharp there MB! 

Nice work with the decals Mike! Looks like they settled down nicely.

So I finally got some decals on this bird. I've only go them applied to the upper surfaces at this time. Next week I'll get them on the bottom.

It looks better in person than it does in the pictures. It also looks like its 1/72 in these pictures instead of 1/48.

Thanks, Chris. I hope these little tricks serve you well.  :)

The more I scratch build, the more I start to think there is almost nothing I can't replicate in one way, or another, with bits of scrap plastic. It has become one of my favorite parts of a build. The results may not be perfect in scale, or even accurately portrayed at times, but the results are usually better than nothing at all lol.

If I had the extra money for a the cool detail sets however, I would be using those instead, but not exclusively. The combination of scratch building with AM parts is usually mind blowing.  :)

Anyways, use what you can and have fun.   :)

Nice work Mike,

I especially like seeing your scratch building techniques.  Good tips and stuff that I will use.  Thanks !

. . . And the finished product is pretty impressive too !

Chris

Thanks, Toshi. I hope the move continues to go smoothly for you, and I can't wait to see your next build, my friend.  :D

There are still some things to work on with this build, such as the gear doors, tail wheel, and exhaust stacks, but its more than half-way done and I'm looking forward to getting the decals on it.  :)

Thank you very much, Greg. Its probably the only one thing I do well with my AB. lol

I clean it with tap water, and on occasion I use some Testors acrylic dried paint remover to get the gunk out of the hard to reach areas. But mostly just tap water seems to do the trick. Once in a while I will use a bit of acylic thinner, but water seems to work well for most of the time.

I use Testors AB thinner when using enamels though. Water really makes a mess when trying to clean enamels lol.

I'm still trying to figure out how to compensate for humidity, which seems to really muck things up when working with acrylics. Every time I have that issue it seems like my AB and compressor are breaking down on me. That's so frustrating and I still can't seem to get past that problem when it occurs.

Basically I am NO master of my AB yet. I know paint and how to use it, but that doesn't mean I can use my AB like a pro every time I load it up lol.

Thank you, my friends, for the wonderful compliments.  :D

Your Spit is looking great, Mike. Particularly nice work on the freehand camo.

I an envious of your ability to spray those nice light coats to allow the toning and for lack of a better way to say it, post shading. I try but end up laying it on too thick.

What are you using to clean your A/B? Just curious due to a comment you made.

Sorry, in that I am replying three days late on this progress.  Been busy packing away.  As you probably know by now, the den/man cave has been packed up.  I'll start my next project after the big move and when we settle in.  You'll love my next build!

Returning to the main subject here of which is the Spitfire, your progress is amazing.  I'm following this build wanting to see the final reveal!

Toshi

So I got a little more done today. I've painted the wheel wells and the flaps and cleared those out. I primered the wheels as well while I was at it, so the bay doors are about all that is left to attend to at this point. Once things settle in I'll gloss and start getting some decals on it. :)

No, really I don't mind and I'm glad you told me. I really didn't know that. So thank you, and don't worry. You've done a me a favor.  :)

Anyone who knows how I can make things more accurate is welcome to say so. I may not always feel the need to fix such things, but there is no harm in knowing how next time could be even better. Somtimes I don't fix things on a current build, but I usually change them on another one.

Such as knowing that the panels behind the glass on a P-40B should be the same as the rest of the outside and not interior green as those dang Monovell instructions say.

:)

Sorry,Mike, if I am an RC, but you were doing such a good job on replicating things that I thought you wouldn't mind a little simple thing that can be missed.  Just like the color of fire extinguishers that one person clued me in on (initials HVH).  I don't go around and look for the right colors of IP knobs and levers as I am sure there are some people like that out there.

Well dangit. No I did not know that. That will be rectified when I get a chance. :/

I liked that splash of color in there too. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go shed a small tear, lol. J/K.

Thanks for catching that Rich. I really like how this one is turning out so far. It would bother me if I finished it and THEN found out that was the wrong color. So good lookin' out, buddy.  :) Thanks!

Excellent work Mike, but I did note a basic faux paux? with your crowbar on the left side door.  For your next war time Spitfire, it should be a natural steel color as it was not painted red until after the war.

On Sunday I did manage to find a few minutes to spray the tail band on it. I have a few pictures, but forgot to up load them to my laptop before moving into this new place we're in. So my camera is still up north with the pictures in it lol. The AB worked flawlessly and sprayed without incident. So I'm chalking up the last round of problems I had with it up to my lack of experience... and maybe humidity.

I should be able to get more done on Thursday. I'm looking forward to blocking in the flaps, and the landing gear bays and getting them finished up.

I still haven't managed to get around to scratch building the details onto the gear doors yet, but I'm looking forward to finishing this project. Its looking really good to me so far and I think its going to be my new favorite lol. :)

Yeah, so far, so good lol. I'll be taking a break from it for a few days. Got things to do that will keep me away until Thursday.

Not much left on it. I think the most time I'll be spending onit will be to address the landing gear and doors. The exhausts will be easy and I finally got some Set and Sol to work with so I shouldn't have any more issues with having to make paint repairs after using the LC to settle them down anymore.

I'm looking forward to that lol.

Toshi

BTW, the free hand camoflauge looks awesome.  

Toshi

 

That's because of that wonderfull 0.3 needle! :D  I love that thing!

Toshi

You sure are on a roll!  LOL!  Looks great.  I have a question.  Are you using Vallejo Air?  If not, what's the percentage in thinning out the Vallejo Model Color that your spraying?  I'm assuming you also use the proprietary Vallejo thinner?  Thank you in advance.

Toshi

 

I'm using the regular Vallejo paints. I've been thinning them with individual ratios using tap water. I've also been having intermittent issues with clogging in the nozzle because of the pigment content of some of the paints is heavier then others. I started by using the Vallejo thinner exclusively, but I had more problems with that than I did with regular water. That, I can't explain.

So every few colors I have to pull the nozzle out and dig the goop out of it before I can spray another color. I may be able to paint well, but I'm still trying to figure out how to use my AB properly.

Bottom of the plane is done. Turned out okay. I think my compressor blew another seal. I thought I was having AB issues (splattering and all that) so cleaned gunk out of it I had no idea was even there lol. But that wasn't the issue.

I pushed through it and finished very slowly. But now the fuse is painted and ready for the next steps.

And a dry fit of the other parts got her sat on her wheels and sittin' purdy.  :)

Well that's all for now. Thanks for looking. Have a very good Friday night!  :D

BTW, the free hand camoflauge looks awesome.  

Toshi

You sure are on a roll!  LOL!  Looks great.  I have a question.  Are you using Vallejo Air?  If not, what's the percentage in thinning out the Vallejo Model Color that your spraying?  I'm assuming you also use the proprietary Vallejo thinner?  Thank you in advance.

Toshi

Thanks, Toshi! After a couple revisits withthe sanding sticks it came out pretty good and I got right into spraying the camouflage!  :D

I started by laying down a layer of Vallejo Leather Brown as a base after the primer dried.

Then I switched to Vallejo Flat Earth and highlighted only the top portions with a dab of white mixed in.

Not too bad at all, but the camera has washed it out a bit.

Okay, so far I'm really happy with the results. So I keep going, switching out to Vallejo U.S. Dark Green and a drop of white in the mix after that for the highlights. Still keeping to only the upper surfaces.

So now I'm taking a small break and I'll be shooting this with Testors Dull Cote to seal this layer up.  :)

Once that is all done my plan is to spray the bottom with Vallejo Intermediate Grey and then switching to Vallejo Sky Grey with the same process being repeated with highlights.

Wow, the canopy looks good after you sanded the putty off.  This will be a very cool WIP to follow, I'm happy that you restarted all of your past projects!

Toshi

Ugly puddy work started.

And then I thought, what am I going to do with those flaps I cut out??

Since they were pretty dang thick it seemed the logical choice. Adding the ribs would've made them more difficult to get glued in place again.

That left me with enough time to let the bondo dry and so I started in on the sanding and shaping.

Just a little more work here and I can move on.  :)

Here I am dredging up another one. Since I'm in a mood to finish things (so I can move on to other builds, as you all well know that feeling lol) I've gotten the Spitfire back on the bench and got back to work where I left off. With these darned mis-fitting canopy pieces.

All I've got done so far is a lot of shimming so things line up as they should. Lots of little bits of stretched sprue to build the basic shape back up and then I will mask up the glass, apply puddy, and then start shaping the front canopy into the fuselage.

You can see I've already started on the back canopy glass. None of these pieces are even from side to side and they have needed a lot of work, wich is why I have a lot of the canopy frames re-fitted with white card stock. Its a tough process and takes nerves of steel, constantly making sure you don't get glue anywhere it shouldn't be.

Some of you are already familiar with this problem.You can't tape the pieces before you glue, as one small slip and you've glued the tape to your glass and that's a messy cleanup process. So glue first, then mask and sand. Still, you have to be VERY careful.

Anyways, here's what I've got done.

This process takes some time, but its going to be worth it.

Thank you, my friend. :)  It is those little details. I like 'em. ;)

I too purchased this same color on another project for the same reason.  It's the little details like this that makes things look exceptional and you're doing it just like all of your WIP!  Thank you for sharing your techniques!

Toshi

Well thank you guys! Yes it takes some talent, but more than anything it takes practice lol.

Not much to show. (Secret birthday project for my Dad happening right now.) but I did manage to get the spinner painted up. Standard flat black blades, aluminum hub which cant be seen anyways, and the correct color for the spinner. Vallejo Green-Grey 70.971

I've never had this color before though I've tried to replicate it dozens of times over the years to varying degrees of success. Nice that I finally found it in a convenient bottle lol. The instructions call out this part in white, but that's not the correct color for the aircraft I'm building. The tail band is also called out as white, but I'll be using this color instead.



As I said, not much, but it feels nice to at least have this much done.

Fantastic stuff!

"So yeah all you need is a bit of scrap" and if I might add a heck of a lot of talent. Thank you so much for sharing.. So far all of my scratch building invloves scratching my head

No problem, Allan. Its not a great saw, but it does work as one for very tiny pieces. I use it more as a scribe as I intended it, but yeah. If it helps you out, all the better.  :)

Mike, thats an excellent idea for a saw blade.  Ill try doing that on one of my blades.

Oh, wise guy, eh? Nyuk, nyuk, nyuk. lol

I suppose I should get something else done with this bird soon. ;)

I bet you could have two saws if you just pay separate shipping and handling! 

No problem, Greg. Its obviously a simple modification that anyone could do, and it works better than you would think. It doubles as a small parts saw as well. It carves lines, it makes nice cuts, and it comes with a sald shooter attachment for lunch breaks.  ;)

LOL

Thanks for showing us your modified #11, Mike. I was curious what it looked like, and it looks very handy indeed.

No worries, Toshi. But next time I'm taking credit for the build lol!!! MINE. j/k

I think the advantage that my home made tool has, is that since I cut teeth into the blade I have a front "tooth" at the tip of the blade. That makes corners much easier to navigate with the blade. From what you basically described to us, you already use the same method I use, but you're using a standard No. 11 blade which is difficult to manouver around tight corners.

If you modified one of your old blades like this, I think that would help you get what you want. But like me, you'll still need practice.  ;)

Well, I'm not going to lie - I'm disappointed that you didn't give me the magic technique that makes it foolproof :)

I like the sound of that tool. May have to make one myself. Right now, I typically lay the No. 11 blade flat and push gently, with the tip slightly up from the plastic. Then I flip it and ise the backside of the tip to scrie the line like I want it. I can generally match panel lines for depth and width, but when it comes to curves, I have a really tough time. I'm thinking of getting a knife with a rotary tip, since that will allow the blade itself to spin as I scribe, and that might be what I need.

The tape as a guide is a great idea, too. Thanks!

-BD-

Toshi, Mike's going to kill you, go hide! The rest of us will never speak to you again.

Kidding aside, we all mis-post sometimes.

When I do it, I usually go in to edit my post, just delete everything and replace it with something like "deleted by poster" or "Deleted by Greg" or something. I figure everyone knows what happened when they see that.

Sir, I'm so very sorry!  My mind was not where it's suppose to be this morning.  I posted my completed project on your thread by mistake.  If anyone can help me delete this post ASAP, please do so.  Again, please except my apology sir, I'm so very stupid to do this.

Toshi

Here 

M. Brindos

Thanks Brandon. If you want advice on how to get better at scribing, you need a monovell kit lol. I really have no secrets to scribing or any methods that no one here hasn't heard of. I guess my secret weapon is my own home made scribing tool, but that doesn't help me keep anything any more straight than the proper tool for the job.

I have an old No. 11 Exacto blade that I cut teeth into with a file and sharpened on a stone. I run the serrated blade slowly over the line I want to scribe until I've got a noticeable line formed. Then I turn the blade around and carefully scrape the line deeper until I have my line scribed. I'll dig up a picture if you're interested. Its quite simplistic and there is nothing fancy about it at all. I used a bit of Tamiya tape to help me along some of the longer lines, but as you can see from the pictures, that only helped so much. The biggest problem I've had so far is controling my depth. Th epanels on the wing are way too deep to be practical and they didn't turn out as square as I wanted them to.

But there really is no secret. My Academy P-40E gave me a lot of practice and I learned what not to do and what to do better next time. I swear, the next plane I have to scribe will probably look even better than this one does, and I surely hope so lol!

 

Toshi

Thanks Brandon. If you want advice on how to get better at scribing, you need a monovell kit lol. I really have no secrets to scribing or any methods that no one here hasn't heard of. I guess my secret weapon is my own home made scribing tool, but that doesn't help me keep anything any more straight than the proper tool for the job.

I have an old No. 11 Exacto blade that I cut teeth into with a file and sharpened on a stone. I run the serrated blade slowly over the line I want to scribe until I've got a noticeable line formed. Then I turn the blade around and carefully scrape the line deeper until I have my line scribed. I'll dig up a picture if you're interested. Its quite simplistic and there is nothing fancy about it at all. I used a bit of Tamiya tape to help me along some of the longer lines, but as you can see from the pictures, that only helped so much. The biggest problem I've had so far is controling my depth. Th epanels on the wing are way too deep to be practical and they didn't turn out as square as I wanted them to.

But there really is no secret. My Academy P-40E gave me a lot of practice and I learned what not to do and what to do better next time. I swear, the next plane I have to scribe will probably look even better than this one does, and I surely hope so lol!

This is looking so nice. I remember building this one as a kid, and as much as I'd like to do one of these kits justice, I just don't have your skills. Especially when it comes to scribing. Any secrets? I find the tools tend to wander when I do it, and it gives me infinite amounts of headaches.

I can't wait to see more.

-BD-

M. Brindos

I need to remember that its okey to make little-to-no progress sometimes.

Hey, come spend a day or a year with me, I'll train you in that Mike.

Greg, Thank You. One can never escape the feeling that progres is never fast enough, but pushing too quickly leads to greater mistakes and missed steps. Something I am constantly fighting with. Trying to make my visions appear before they are fully realized. Some of those mistakes are quite present in this build and it never fails to make me feel like I'm not doing a good enough job on the model. I need to remember that its okey to make little-to-no progress sometimes.

Ultra, You've been a member since October of 2009, and yet you have not built one model yet? That's some dedicated studying! I'm going to bet your first build is going to be far better than you will give yourself credit for. If anything I have shown in this build log helps in that endevour I will be a very happy camper indeed. I don't show how I do things to promote my own skills, but to help others find new or easier ways to get the results they want to see with their own builds ( I typically make a lot of mistakes and its very helpful to show how to fix them when I can. There is always a way to get back on track and overcome any disaster). This spirit of cooperation is what I find most amazing here at FSM. The constant sharing of information of new, old, and revived tricks and techniques is always going on here. Each new project seems to have something in it I had not thought of, or had forgotten lol. I hope you share your build with us when you decide to finally tackle it. :)

Allen, I hear ya buddy. These winged thingy's do take quite a bit more patience (and precision) than my usual armor builds. I can't get away with covering up small mistakes and flubs with dirt and weathering lol. The new landing gear do look rather sharp, don't they? lol I'm confident they will look far, far better than the kits offerings.

Gamera, Straight panel lines are a royal B1tc#! The round gas cap even more so! lol. Even after this small amount of scribing I have some serious respect for those of us who will rescribe an entire model! That's dedication!! The landing gear are nice and solid. With the aluminum tube on the outside of those paper clips they are very strong. The nice thing about using paper clips, as I think you know, is that although they are rather stiff, they can still be bent slightly if they need to be. I usually use them for MG pintles and such because of their rigidity. They do bend, but not easily as we all know lol. They are perfect for landing struts. Plus the added bonus is that I won't have to paint them to get a realistic chrome-like shine! They come that way lol.

I don't know if I'll be getting much done in the next couple of days. My Monday load didn't show up at the store I'm working in and it should be showing up with todays load. That over 300 pieces I have to shelve and the store is doing inventory today as well. That means all of us vendors have to wait until after 12p before any of us can start working our orders. Its going to be a long, insane day with double the work for me. I'm going to be exhausted for sure. I'll probably end up sitting at my little box in the garage staring at the models and day dreaming once I get home tonight.

I'll be ghosting the forums probably all day. My old Blackberry clone won't let me log in, but I can at least read the threads. :)

I wish you all a pleasent day!  Happy modelling, my friends! Keep up the most excellent work!!  :)

She's coming along nicely Mike. I've never been able to scribe panel lines that weren't more crooked than a politician so I gave most of it up. And neat replacement landing gear, not only are the plastic ones often flimsy but the replacement white metal ones often aren't much better, the paper clip wire is much stronger. 

Ive learned that planes take a lot more care and patience than most other subjects.  But its also very rewarding.  Excellent work on the landing gears, Mike.

As a newbie getting ready to tackle my first build I really appreciate the step by step WIP and commentary.    Can't wait to see how it turns out. 

Coming along nicely, Mike........

Tires on and a dry fit before bed last night;

and a nice and blurry pic from this morning. (Not enough coffee yet, sorry)

Have a great day!

Absolutely. I'll be getting creative with tamiya tape and styrene. I've got an idea as to how to attach the bay doors that should work.

Interesting on the improvised landing gear... are you going to add the bands on the exterior of the tubing to match the kit parts?

Why thank you, Toshi!  :D

I got impatient and sprayed down some primer to check my lines before I added the raised panel lines back on. D'oh. Well its a minor setback, but its another example of me not being patient. I'll pay for that and I know it.

The lines don't look horrible, but I thought they would be better.

So even without the raised panel lines put back, it doesn't look half bad with the five foot rule.  :/

Yeah. After all of this work I'm not setting it on these fragile turds. So, guess what?

Some aluminum tubing from Hobby Lobby and a paper clip are all I need to fix this problem.  ;)

I cut off the hubs and drilled those out. Cut the paper clip into two equal length pieces and glued them in with CA.

And that's already an improvement.

And finally, after I drilled and set the new struts, I had the model sitting on her "legs".

I might need to make an adjustment.  lol  :D

Amazing, amazing work!  Great WIP!

Toshi

Round two is showing some promise. I think I may be able to get the dang panel lines to cooperate with me.

And this area under the nose looks like its going to work out rather nicely.

Now to get the other lines "in shape".

Bob, Greg, thank you so much. I'm glad I could be of any inspiration.  :)

Well, round one of sanding, scribing, and puttying is complete and it loooks like rubbish. This is going o take a little more effort then a couple of passes it looks like.

I'm not going to be able to tell how well this is really looking until I can get some primer on it to check. I have a feeling this is going to be a lot of rechecking and correcting going on.

What an excellent WIP thread, Mike.

So much great stuff, no way to do it all justice in a comment.

I could kick myself for every bag tie I've tossed in my lifetime now. (and with every one, I've had a haunting feeling to keep it. Yes, every one)

That's just one of many thoughts crossed my mind perusing your thread.

Top access wing panels are laid in. A little deeper than I wanted them, but they should take a wash really well lol.



I also laid down a panel so there are no gaps to see through the pit, plus it acts as a basic floor.



Control lines added tot he pit before I closed it up with the wings.



Wing root gaps stuffed with bits of card stock and stretched sprue. I'm going with this method because I want to add panel lines back to this area after I get this all sanded down and matched up.




I used a flashlight to get these pictures. You almost can't see anything in there now that its all closed up.





But hey, that looks pretty good. Better than a flat solid floor at the bottom of the pit.

Thanks for looking!!!  :)  Now I've got to wait for all of this glued stuff to solidify before I can mess with it or it will get really ugly. 

Thank you VERY much, Toshi!  These older Monovell kits are really good candidates for practicing on. Plenty of room for improvement.

I've added some control cables to the rudder pedals and the control stick, but they are super hard to see without shining a light directly into the pit lol.

I've also got the wings glued on and I'm in the process of shimming all the gaps. I'm probably not going to get to sand any of it down till tomorrow morning though.

Pictures later.. :)

I love the way you scribe, it really does enhance the Spitfire!  This is some thing I've never done before and would like to apply it on my next build!

Toshi

More access port panel scribing.



Scribing and shimming



and the hole for the landing light opened up for a real lens later.



Not much to look at. This part does go pretty dang slowly.

Not perfect, but netter than nothing.

That is looking super good, Sir. I love the details you've added. NICE!!

BK

Thanks, Stik!  :D    !!

M. Brindos

I would be honored, and more then a bit flattered lol.

 

I just scratched in a fuel filler door. Then I was just thinking, I hope that goes there. I mean, I just assumed because the fuel capacity stencil goes there. I hope I'm right about that lol. Otherwise I can just fill it back in.  ':/

 

 

Yes that is the fueling point for the fuselage tank.

Thanks, Gamera. I don't have time to find out right now. I have to run to work. Not scheduled till 1:00, but the earlier I get in, the sooner I get done and it's my Wife's birthday today. Can't be lolligagin' any longer lol.

I hope you're right and my instincts are trustworthy enough this time lol!

I think you've got another winner there Mike, sharp work! 

BTW: I think the fuel is in or near the right place. I remember trying to figure out how to mask one for puttying the fusilage seam without destroying it. 

I would be honored, and more then a bit flattered lol.

I just scratched in a fuel filler door. Then I was just thinking, I hope that goes there. I mean, I just assumed because the fuel capacity stencil goes there. I hope I'm right about that lol. Otherwise I can just fill it back in.  ':/

I'm gonna watch this project of yours for ideas to spiff mine up when I eventually tackle it...

Son of a gun. I did remember correctly. Thanks, Stik.  :)

****************

I finished off the panel lines on the right side of the fuselage.

I also added a 1/32in. spacer of card stock and recessed the nose a bit to give the illusion of depth where the panels should have some. This really helps to give the nose some much needed definition.

I scratched out the rear access panel on the right fuse tail section as well.

With the hub base and the propeller on there, it looks much better than it does stock.

I'll see what other trouble I can get into to slow down my progress when I get home later. That trip to Seattle wiped me out and now I've got to go to work lol.

Man this is one outstanding project! Excellent scratch work going on here!  And yes, as you suspected earlier, this kit was of original Revell parentage, not Monogram. It was released in the late 70s along with a Me-109 G-10, P-51D, and a P-40E. The 109 is still being reissued like this one under Revellogram since they merged, while the P-40 was upgraded and reissued in a Pro Modeller boxing. The P-51D is not as sharp an Monogram's P-51D of the same vintage, and its' last boxing that I know of was with the T-6 as a pair of Reno Racers from Revell Germany.

This is the original Revell boxing from the 70s

Not to be confused with the older Monogram Spitfire Mk.IX that had no cockpit and the retractable landing gear...

Toshi

Thank you so very much for the photos of everyday items you use.   OMG!  I can't believe it.  Yes, AM is really a simple concept yet what you're teaching me can be complex and very gratifying.  Even as you so rightly describe the artistic spur of the moment epiphany.  

You've got my mind thinking now.  Hmm...  LOL!

Toshi

 

I guess I've only shown you the door. You are the one who must open it lol.

***********************

For my last update tonight I will leave you guys with this;

Those are my scratches into the fuselage. They cleaned up much better than they did on my Stuka. I started using my home made scribing tool a little differently and I'm getting much better results because of it. Another bonus is that my scribed lines are a bit more uniform in depth. If I can keep my hands steady for the other side I should have some really great results.  :)

You may also note that I have the rear glass installed, and you may wonder why I have no protection over it yet. The reason is quite simple.

Thank you so very much for the photos of everyday items you use.   OMG!  I can't believe it.  Yes, AM is really a simple concept yet what you're teaching me can be complex and very gratifying.  Even as you so rightly describe the artistic spur of the moment epiphany.  

You've got my mind thinking now.  Hmm...  LOL!

Toshi

LOL! I have LOTS of uh, oh moments, Toshi! It IS all about how you approach them. You've got that right! LOL

Here is an example of a few of my typical "Go-to" scratch building supplies. They are all different sizes and such. The bread ties are almost the exact same size as these yellow garbage bag ties.

Then I have an example of the the left-over meterials used to make those seat belts. The belts were made from Tamiya tape cut down to 2mm in width and that extra buckle was a reject because it turned out too wide.

I really enjoy building this stuff and usually I like the extra detail they can provide to a stock kit. I simply don't NEED to buy all of the AM, but when I do have it, generally its a lot simpler to use lol. I am definitely not opposed to using PE or resin pieces. They make life a little easier sometimes ;)

They look great!  I've always admired the perfection you and your peers strive for, so when you had that uh, oh moment, I was some what in disbelief.  I guess we all make mistakes and it's how we approach the situation that makes us better modelers.  

I've never heard of bread ties for the seat belt.  One more thing I'd like to attempt.  That is so cool!

Toshi

Thank you, Allan.  :)

Yesterday I thought I was at the point where I could move forward so I glued the fuselage halves together. After some time in the clamps I checked to make sure my seams glued together well enough and I was satisfied with the results. But something was missing. You know that feeling in the back of your mind that tells you, you missed something.

I'd forgotten to install the seat belts. Well, as the fuse was closed up this made it difficult to do, but not impossible. I made these from Tamiya tape and made catches with that bread tie wire I mentioned before. I made a total of five of them in all because the first two went without a hitch. The third one was too big, but four and five turned out good enogh to use.

I've been wanting to see if I could make these and it wasn't too hard. Just a lot of careful bending. After that is was easy to set my belts and CA those around the catches.

Painting them in the pit was a mistake, but I got excited and set the belts before I thought of it. How is it, that with all of our need for patience, sometimes we just can't help ourselves?  lol

Anyways, it turned out alright after all. They're not as detailed as I could have made them, but patience didn't hold out for me.  :/  I guess that's the way it goes sometimes.

A lot of great cockpits going around FSM these days. This is one of them.  Nice work Mike!

Nope, scratch building things isn't that difficult. Just like any other skill we posses, you just have to keep doing it to get better at it.

Thank you for the compliments!  :)

Toshi, no you don't need any special tools. I do have a set of calipers, but I don't ever use them for this stuff. I do use a Pico Meter, which is normally used in the printing industry to make sure your prints are in register, but it also has milimeters on it as well and that is what I use to measure things with.

I dont think anyone will laugh at any attempt you make to improve something on one of your models, my friend. Not if you're trying. You've shown great determination to work on every new skill you've decided to try and I think you'll like the results if you give it an honest effort. You don't need to go into super detail. But a few basic bits to show something better represented than a kit part always looks cooler and more realistic.

You guys take care and have a great day!  :D

Edit: Thanks Crown!  :)

Super job on that spitfire 

Complicated styrene sizes, digitil calipers, special tools.  That's what I thought was needed to scratch build.  Thank you for the tutorial!  I think I can do some of what you described.  Just don't laugh when you see my feeble attempts.  I will try my best.  Thank you M.Brindos!

Toshi

It's shaping up to be a great build. Good Job.

Rick

That pit looks really good! Thanks for the quick tutorial on scratch building. I defiantly want to give it a go on a build soon. Looking forward to more!

I've got the office fully painted up and I think it looks preety darn good. Well, to me it does lol. Not nearly as detailed or well represented as what some of you guys do with the resin and PE, but for good old fashioned basic skills, this ain't half bad at all.  :)

I've got the canopy, and windscreen under control now. I just need to get further along in this build before I can attach the windscreen and do further work to blend it into the fuselage.

By the time I'm done it should fit well enough.

Okay, so the upside of rebuilding the canopy glass is that it now slides open and closed.

The down side is that I have to construct new frames to get the pieces to fit together properly. That front windscreen is especially bad. You'd think that now that Revell has these molds that they might care to fix a few of these really bad canopy fit issues that have been notorious for an entire generation of modellers.

I've got my work "cut out" for me with these ones. lol  ;)

Thank you, Bish.  :)

I'm not wanting to get too carried away with it all, but some basic control shapes are needed to make it look like a functional space. Same thing I did with the 109, but without as much detail as that one. For instance, I'm not going to add all of the little electrical boxes and the wiring, but I will be adding a floor with some basic details because the flaps will be down and that leaves big open holes through the pit.

The biggest problem I'm having so far is the canopy glass. The middle and rear glass fit fine, but the windscreen is rubbish and I'm going to have to add some card stock to get it to fit correctly. That going to give me issues with bits of white showing up in my canopy frames after paint, but I'll just have to live with it, or otherwise make it work to some small degree.

The only other option is to glue it on and leave it looking like mis-fitting junk. :/

I've already engineered a way to get the canopy glass to slide open and closed ;) So at least that's going to be neat. But its not going to be very cool if the canopy won't line up with the windscreen, now will it? Must fix, and early in the build at that!

Some really nice scratch work in there Mike, its coming on really nice.

Its actually pretty easy to scratch build things. All you need is some scraps to work with.

For example, I built up the flap control with some scrap card stock.

I cut some squares about the same size and then cut the corners off of those to make octagons.

From this point its easy to sand off those corners and make the shapes round.

I then cut out a slot for my control lever.

After that I sandwiched and glued the three layers together with the slotted disk in the middle. I sanded down all three disks down even, glued it in place, and added a lever.

On the throttle side I built it very much as it was molded on the side wall and using a little memory from what my references showed me I came up with this;

I also scraped off the emergency bar and added one of appropriate size in its place on the side door.

When you get into the mind set of scratch building, suddenly every little piece of junk has a new purpose. Such as, I like to use bread tie wires, paper clips, and staples a lot.

That's just incredible.  I just don't know where or how to start scratch building.  I can't imagine how you guys do it!

Toshi

Ask, and ye shall recieve. lol

I've got the radiator painted in aluminum with a dark metalic wash, but I think it needs further definition with a good ol' black wash to make it pop a bit more.

The damper is built and installed and I even have some simplistic actuators in there as I couldn't find a single reference picture for the radiator at all. So I (forgive me) "winged" it.  ;)

I've also got the seat painted and given a wash. I've left the seatbelts off this time because I'm going to install them after the paint instead of painting them while they're on the seat this time. That will cover up that ugly EP mark in the bottum of the bucket.

Then I closed up the fuse halve temporarily to check how much room I have for the next round of scratch building in the pit for the walls. I need to build up a throttle body and what I believe is a flap actuator on the right side (correct me, please, if I am wrong).

Its very difficult to get a good shot in there with the fuselage closed up, but far better with the naked eye. After looking at some pictures online I think I have a good idea of what I need to build.

As always, it's looking great!  I'm very excited to see more progress!

Toshi

LOL Good comments, fellas! LOL

I'm working on painting the seat and I'm back into this model now. I'll post some progress pics later.  :)

Always great stuff, Mike!  I have been wanting to start this kit for a couple of years now and always end up doing something else.

As I have learned from several internet sources, the kit is of 1979 vintage and is a pretty decent kit.  The only real big issue is that it misses the gull wing shape of the wings under the fuselage.  If you look at a pic of a MkII and others i suppose from the underside you can see it clearly.  Other than that, spruce up the pit and she's good to go.

Spitfires just get my juices flowing!!!!!

Thanks, Brandon. Although I had thought I knew this kit, it turns out I've never built it before lol. I like it though. Just like the 109G-10, the kit has just enough detail to let me make it even more fun lol.

Just before bed last night I stayed up with the builder's bug and I detailed the radiator using some internet pictures for inspiration. I don't think this is accurate, but it sure as heck looks cool.





Of course copious bits of sprue and card stock were used. The results are pretty good, I think.





It looks like a radiator.    Now I just need to find a good picture of the actuator for the damper so I can add those in there as well.

Have a great day!

Beautiful work Sir, you are off to a great start. I love the gun sight mod, great idea! 

BK

There was this gap...



...behind the cockpit and I knew I wouldn't be able to putty it after it was painted and assembled so I glued some styrene scraps and stretched sprue to build up the gap then sanded and filed it to fit together without the gap.



That should eliminate the need to fix it afterwards.

Then there was this wing warp issue. No big deal and easily rectified. This is the first time I've had one this bad though.



And lastly this fine evening, I made some choice cuts in preparation for further detailing later. Guess what I'm up to? lol

And also I found this;

Reasoned, I owe you an appology. You were RIGHT. This is a Monovell kit. I must be remembering a Snap Tight kit, I guess. This is not a kit I remember from my childhood, so I guess I've never built this one before. I am sorry about that.

Thanks for looking and have a great night. 

I am not awake yet, Jay. But this is where you can find some alacrity;

a·lac·ri·ty

"The throttle is molded to the side wall and really lacks depth, but I'll fix that with alacrity! "

So where can I get this Alacrity ?  Does it cost much ?  I supose I hafta order it from the UK. 

I had the old Monogram kit when I was a kid. It had a pilot and no pit what-so-ever. The landing gear were able to swing down and click into place as well. This is not that old Monogram kit. I think this one is a classic Revell. But yes, it has the raised panel lines [sigh] which I plan on fixing some of them. Mainly around the engine, gun bays, and the hatch aft of the cockpit.

This kit does have the Monogram feel to it, but that kit didn't have anything on the inside of it. The pilot sat on a peg lol.

However, this is the kit that is available in almost every store in America, yes.

Now on to tonights last gasp.

I removed the odd structures from the seat that I could find no picture references for. Miraculously the seat fit like a glove after I removed the mystery bits. I then decided to detail the (whatever it is) behind the pilot's seat and add some detail to it. It looks decent enough without paint. I hope it looks better WITH paint lol.

Believe it or not, all of that carving took me quite some time to accomplish this evening. And here I thought I was going to get to piant something, lol, silly me.

Then remove the drill bit and stretch out your coil of wire/cable.

Fantastic start Mike! This is the old Revellogram MkII that is in every hobby store on the planet for less than $15, with raised panel lines etc.? Well keep the shots coming, this was my first kit after coming back to the hobby, she's austere at best.

7474

How did you paint the instruments like that? I can only dry brush them, looks very realistic. 

 

I cheat! I use very fine tip artist's pens and fine tip sharpies.

Once you get your panel painted you just use a very small brush to drop in some very thin white paint. Capillary action fills it in. After that dries you start "coloring" your gauges in. It still takes a steady hand to make sure you stay withing the lines, but its easier than trying to use a tiny brush. Trust me, I know.

Update! Because who doesn't like an update, right? lol

For those of you cheap bast@rds like myself, who would rather take a shot at building it up yourself, rather than shell out the cash for better parts to cut the build time down a lot, I thought I'd share this little idea for those of you who haven't already seen it.

All you need to replicate (Better than not doing it) some decent looking gun sights is a little bit of blister packaging. It comes from almost everything these days so you shouldn't have a hard time getting your hands on a bit of scrap.

You just need some sharp scissors and some sanding stick of some kind to first cut out a general sized piece and then shape it to your needs.





Affix the lens with some clear gloss and you've got a fairly good looking gun sight. The one tht cam ewith this kit was molded completely solid. It definitely needed this little bit of scratch building.





And that's your tip for the day lol.

Now I am going to do a little internetz diggin' to figure out how to better represent this box (Battery? Radio??) behind the pilot's seat. You should be able to see quite a bit of detail through the glass on this one so I want to make sure it doesn't look like generic block. Besides, this seat doesn't look like it has enough to it either, or maybe it does. I'll have to go find out.



Keep moddlin' my friends!

How did you paint the instruments like that? I can only dry brush them, looks very realistic. 

Hodakamax

Ah, cool new project and looking good. I built the Tamiya version so try not to make mine look too bad. Keep up the good work and I may post mine after I see yours. LOL

Max

 

Bah! I bet yours looks fabulous, Max. I'll try not to? lol

1943Mike

Mike,

I'm very envious of your painting skills! When I look at your work compared to mine I almost want to give up. Now that's not going to happen so I'll just have to keep looking at marvelous work like yours and try to emulate some of the techniques you so aptly display.

The only Spitfire I have in my stash is the Occidental Mk IXe which, I've read, is not at all accurate as far as shape is concerned and not very detailed. How do you rate your kit?

 

 

No need to be envious of my skills, lol. They certainly are not up to my satisfaction at times lol. NEVER give up! Just let things rest a while before returning to them. SOme of my best work has come from setting things aside for a time and working on something else till I feel like working on it again.

I think I'll try showing you how I painted that color. It could come in handy, eh?

As for rating this kit...

I've just started it and I've never built this one before. The level of detail is rather nice for an older kit. It certainly was amazing for its time. The fit of parts needs a little tweeking and sanding before the few parts I've worked over fit without any issues. Which is typical.

There is plenty of room for scratch building up more details though. This kit comes with all the basic structures and parts but lacks all the seriously good details such as the wires or basic throttle controls. The throttle is molded to the side wall and really lacks depth, but I'll fix that with alacrity!

Basically you get enough to work with without having to buy a whole set of detail kits to make it look right. But if you wanted to, there would certainly be no problem with that. lol

Also it looks like the canopy is designed to actually slide open and closed. Nice feature, but it makes the pit sides look off. I think I can work with it and give it a little improvement however.

Overall score in my book would be about a 5. Just average in comparison with what has been produced in this decade.

As far as the general shape... It looks like a Spitfire to me, lol. We'll see what I can make of it, eh?

Oh, one last thing; the landing gear look a little weak and fragile. About as bad as they were on the Me-109G10 I built a while back. I'll probably have to adjust the way they stand once I get to thet point. The gear on the 109 were way too far inboard and it made the plane sit funny. http://cs.finescale.com/fsm/modeling_subjects/f/2/t/165748.aspx

So now I'll get to work on documenting what I do with the seat section of the pit. ;)

Ah, cool new project and looking good. I built the Tamiya version so try not to make mine look too bad. Keep up the good work and I may post mine after I see yours. LOL

Max

Jay Jay

Mike,

TY for posting this , another inspiring build.

Your IP looks stellar . The green wash you used made the color very realistic to my eyes for sure.  Looking foward to the next installment of your WIP.

 

Inspiring? Thank you! I think that IP is turning out pretty good myself, and I do like the color after the wash. It looks right to my eyes as well. I'm pretty sure its wrong, but I still like it lol.

I'll update as soon as I can.  :)

Mike,

I'm very envious of your painting skills! When I look at your work compared to mine I almost want to give up. Now that's not going to happen so I'll just have to keep looking at marvelous work like yours and try to emulate some of the techniques you so aptly display.

The only Spitfire I have in my stash is the Occidental Mk IXe which, I've read, is not at all accurate as far as shape is concerned and not very detailed. How do you rate your kit?

Mike,

TY for posting this , another inspiring build.

Your IP looks stellar . The green wash you used made the color very realistic to my eyes for sure.  Looking foward to the next installment of your WIP.

Well thank you, my fiend. I'm literally just getting started lol.

Paint is 95% done on the IP. Its not turning out too badly for a kit piece. The camera on Macro is showing me that there is a little refinement to take care of, but that's at least mostly done.

The guages are a little more rough looking at this distance, but the compass looks decent enough.

This is very exciting.  You've really have my attention!

Toshi