Spitfire GB

Jester

My completed Spit IX engine. Nowhere near your end product Doogs, I kneel before your mastery of the topic. I need to re-file as I can see the exhaust mould lines here but strangely not in real life when I look at it even up close, hmm?  But with my limited equipment and no dedicated space I reckon not too bad for a noob... 

Don't sand off those lines, they represent weld seams.

GUYS!!!  Anyone else building? Plse dont be shy

Im wanting to get the rivets to show ok on mine, and must say Im a bit apprehensive when it comes to this. Went to my local model shop and we through a round a few suggestions and came up with using Tamiyas (amour) weathering!  It looks ok too.

Got home and though the instructions say use the brush dry for the "powered" effect.. I wet a small rag and tested on the base wing of the Spit.. loved the result and its clean and so easy..

Shows the soot as black on the recessed join sections of the wing ok

Tried a brown rust type the same way, not too bad (both maybe hard to define here but you can imagine when the final coat of paint is applied I guess.....)

My completed Spit IX engine. Nowhere near your end product Doogs, I kneel before your mastery of the topic. I need to re-file as I can see the exhaust mould lines here but strangely not in real life when I look at it even up close, hmm?  But with my limited equipment and no dedicated space I reckon not too bad for a noob... 

Hey everyone, just so you all know, I wont be living at my place for about a week and wont have a computer very often during that time so I wont be able to reply while Im gone.

jeaton01

  No two airplanes will look the same.

Jester, those photos show the round exhausts that look like they have been all cleaned up.  In service they are a lot more burned looking.  The light grey is most probably lead deposits and the degree to which it is there can depend on the octane of the fuel used, and also whether the airplane has been flying at high or low altitudes.  At night those stubs can be seen to be red hot, if you can see them through the flame.  Reddish tints are usually oxidation (rust).  No two airplanes will look the same.

Nice one Dowg.. will try :)

Got my engine totally finished last night, was a bit of a pain as my work base needs to be mobile so setting up the good lighting (lamps etc) gets annoying.. but arh well. Thanks again.

Well the exhaust condition depends on a few other factors, too - where the Spit was operating, how well the ground crew could care for it, etc. Just like a car - if you wipe down the exhaust, it stays cleaner. 

The Spit I built - the one reference photo of it shows far dirtier exhausts:

I painted mine with a 50/50 mix of Alclad Steel (dark-ish metallic gray) and Exhaust Manifold (bronzish) and was happy with the result. For the ones you posted, if I were going after that look, I'd just go with Steel with maybe a touch (10-20%) of Exhaust Manifold, then hit them with some MIG pigments - blue burnt metal in particular.

.CONT-

These here

SPITFIRE exhausts:   I think Im getting stuffed at this little speed bump.. the colour of the Spits exhaust of all things..

I have painted mine a cross between red-brown and dark bronze but meh, dont look right. Ive gone onto youtube and studied a few pictures (in colour) of the IX exhausts.. they were in fact more light grey than anything!!  SHOCK HORROR!  They did have a small bit of red/brown at the very base-

So on that I will keep the base red/brown and thin right down another coat of red brown but adding metallic grey, finger xrossd this will look better >_<

Thanks Joe.  Yes, I used the kit decals for the leading edge yellow ID stripes.  That's the last time I will do that and would highly recommend painting them on. LOL 

I used a black oil pin wash on the major panel lines but it didn't come out well in the photos except on the elevator line.

Thanks for the tips there Doogs. The owner of the LHS said it also will cut well with Tamiya Acryl thinner. Yeah I was pretty impressed with their selection as well as including the FS# on the bottle.

Joe - I tried Lifecolor last year and had endless problems with it spraying runny.

Then this summer I tried, on a whim, thinning it with Testors acrylic thinner. Worked like a friggin' charm. The Testors stuff works really well on Vallejo, too. 

You can also use Future as a thinning medium for both. A bit thicker than water, so it doesn't go all runny. That and it dries ROCK SOLID and shiny.

Haven't tried Lifecolor as a main exterior paint yet, but I'm about to with my Panzer III. Hoping I like the stuff - it brushes really well, and I'm a lot happier with their color accuracy than Vallejo (outside of their Panzer Aces and Model Air lines, which are quite good).

Buckeye

I think mine is just about ready for the shelf.  I see a few spots in the pictures out in the natural light that need some minor touch-ups.

Kit is the 1/48 Tamiya Spitfire Mk. Vb built straight out of the box, painted with Model Master enamels and finished with a black oil pin wash.  As noted earlier the decals gave me the most trouble of any kit I've ever built.  Over all I'm pretty happy with how it came out.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hey Buckeye,  Your Spifire turned out really Sweet! You did a great job considering the decals. I encountered the same problem with the decals on my Tamiya 1/48 A6M3 Zero. Although I absolutely love Tamiya kits I now order AM decals just to avoid the hassle plus build more interesting aircraft. Did you use the kit decals for your yellow leading?

I painted the ID band on mine yesterday using a new brand of paint that my nearest LHS has started carrying in lieu of the difficulty in getting Tamiya paints. It is called Lifecolor. It is an acrylic and they have a rather nice color selection. So, I figured what the heck.  I tried out the sky color as it is the closest match to the decal set lettering I am using. At first I thinned the paint with their thinner and it was too runny. I then reshot the paint straight out the bottle with rather nice results. It is though a bit "fragile" as it scratches off easily and will pull off slightly wit masking tape. I solved that problem though with a coat of flat.

                                                              Joe  

DoogsATX

Alright, I'm sticking a fork in the Mk.VIII.

Overall, I really can't praise this kit enough. Expensive, blah blah, but it friggin' earns it. The fit, the engineering, the ambition, the obvious passion that went into it. It's a downright epic build. Hope you all like the final results:

WOW dude thats awesome man, srsly. (Told ya you should enter that in a show, would be great to see irl)  Thanks

Hey out of interest, how do you get your pictures to show full span here, I use photobucket but we have click to get full screen.

Again, great job mate !!!

The latest on myne.

The feathered paint edge didn't come out as I had hoped, but in 72 scale it is (for me atleast) near to imposable to get right!

Decals tonight and last clearcoat to complete a fun little build.

Maskall and white tac worms.

The gloss clear makes the colour look a bit darker

Theuns

Doogs - That is absolutely Stunning!!!!! Your skills really are top notch as well as your attention to detail. Thank you very much for sharing your build and I do hope you stay tuned while the rest of us finish up. 

                                                Kudos. Joe

ww2psycho

 

 

Um Doogs... All I can say is WOW! I cant make up my mind for which pic to put on the first page, can you choose one?

How about this one?

DoogsATX

Alright, I'm sticking a fork in the Mk.VIII.

Overall, I really can't praise this kit enough. Expensive, blah blah, but it friggin' earns it. The fit, the engineering, the ambition, the obvious passion that went into it. It's a downright epic build. Hope you all like the final results:

Not sure what I'll be building next...right now I'm leaning toward either another Spit, something USN, or Academy's P-47N. But...this thing's definitely lit an enthusiasm for Spits I didn't have before! Thanks for the excellent GB!

Um Doogs... All I can say is WOW! I cant make up my mind for which pic to put on the first page, can you choose one?

Awesome work Doogs!

I gotta ask, how do achieve the dirty tyre look?

Cheers

Alright, I'm sticking a fork in the Mk.VIII.

Overall, I really can't praise this kit enough. Expensive, blah blah, but it friggin' earns it. The fit, the engineering, the ambition, the obvious passion that went into it. It's a downright epic build. Hope you all like the final results:

Not sure what I'll be building next...right now I'm leaning toward either another Spit, something USN, or Academy's P-47N. But...this thing's definitely lit an enthusiasm for Spits I didn't have before! Thanks for the excellent GB!

Taking the extra stick off the masking tapes a good idea .. Ill have to remember that one, Chur

Jester

Im gonna try tamiya tape for masking, heard its pretty good and doesnt rip the under coat of camo off.

Does even better if you remove most of the tack by sticking it to the palm of your hand or inside of your forearm. That way when you go to peel it off, there's pretty much no chance of paint lift unless you're using one of those glass-jawed paints that lifts if you look at it the wrong way. Like Model Master Metalizers.

Also, for masking big areas (underside of the wing when you paint the top, etc), you can cut post-it notes or paper into strips and squares , then just tape the edges down with Tamiya tape. Saves tape, keeps the model safe! If you do it right, you can also remove most of your masking in like one pull!

Greenshirt

  

One option in 48th is to use the wing of the recently released Airfix Mk XII as it's a c wing with Mk V radiators.

Tim

Tim - what a coincidence! I just picked up a Mk.XII on Thursday afternoon! I knew it was basically a V with a Griffon shoved in. Didn't realize they left the radiator details the same though. Hmm. May have to compare and see how the wing would mount onto the Tamiya fuselage. 

Im gonna try tamiya tape for masking, heard its pretty good and doesnt rip the under coat of camo off.

Darson -- My memory escapes me, but I either used blue painters tape or tamiya tape.  Would have sprayed the sand color first, the dark green last.  For some reason I do remember when the tape came up there was absolutely no flaws in the underlying paint, and that surprised me greatly. 

Doogs -- The decals/instructions were from Rising Decals sheet 72-019 "Yankee Spitfires - Corsica & Italy, 1943-1944".  VF-R is from the 5th FS, 52nd FG, LT John Anderson.  The instructions say the colors appeared to be "crudely oversprayed" which would mean to me a an obvious soft edge is appropriate.  Unfortunately even in 72nd scale that's difficult to achieve.  A one inch soft edge = 1/72nd of an inch or about this wide:  |

There are Vb to Vc mods documented somewhere on the net.  Until recently there were few available Vc wings for 72nd scale, and even fewer for the larger scales.  Most involve using a Mk IXc wing and backdating the radiators on the bottom.  One option in 48th is to use the wing of the recently released Airfix Mk XII as it's a c wing with Mk V radiators.

Tim

Wow guys very nice! I wish I could do that good.

To prove Im actually participating in my own GB heres a pic of where Im at on both of them.

Done most of the engine, a few bits to add like oil cooler tank and the very underside here isnt painted cause the oil tank will need to be fitted..

Definitely into the home stretch now!

Got a lot done tonight:

- Applied clear coat (Alclad Matte for the airframe, Light Sheen on the prop spinner...love this stuff!)

- Started chipping (mainly wing roots and access panels for now)

- Attached landing gear (can't see from this photo)

- Unmasked clear parts

Still need to do additional chipping and staining, plus the exhaust stains, which will be interesting since the reference photos show it dark underneath, with a light gray/ash type thing going on on the surface, and almost running down the fuselage a bit. Got a few ideas on how I might approach it, but not sure yet.

Tim - dig that camo pattern as well! Was it really hard-edged, or is it just a 72nd scale so as makes no difference? These jobs seem to me like field mods the US undertook of their own initiative (or in the case of the one I plan to model, seems they wanted to overpaint it, ran out of paint, and decided to try to save it by turning it into camoflage.

Looking more closely at the Vb and Vc wings, I'm thinking I should be able to fake things pretty well with the kit's wings. Adding the plugged 20mm should be no biggie. Moving the inboard .303s and rescribing a few access panels. Replacing the wing blisters with Ultracast's "Large Mk. IX Blisters". Sanding a few offending details. Honestly, it doesn't sound all that intimidating. A bit scrappy maybe, but nothing awful. 

Buckeye - digging the Vb! Great job on the scheme and camo! Maybe it's the lighting, but I'm not seeing much of that black oil wash?