Spitfire GB

It doesn't work in every situation, but  sometimes after sanding you need to polish.  I use toothpaste, and polish with a cotton ball, q-tip, or old t-shirt.  It sort of "feathers" the edges and helps the cover coat of paint blend it better.

Sometimes, you can get by with just polishing it with dry cotton balls or the old t-shirt, and vigorous rubbing.

The downside is now you've got toothpaste to clean up.

By the way, the toothpaste should be "paste," and not a gel type.

1st post so please be gentle!

Could anyone please tell me if I can get a copy of the painting (?) of the badge being used for this Group build.  My favourite plane is the MkXIV Spitfire.  Obviously I'd like it without the lettering on it if possible.

Stunning builds by the way, mine are incredibly poor campared to these!

Puddle.

Greetings, Puddle, and welcome.

Don't know where the badge came from; maybe if you google Spitfire Mk XIV you can find it under "images."

And no doubt your builds will improve the more you do.  There is a huge amount of assistance in the forum here.  Ya just "build, build, build," then build some more.

Glad to have you around.

Well guys I'm calling my Spit finished!

Well done, JailCop.  Nice weathering, too.  Looks great.

Well, I finally got all the decals applied and overcoat on. Now to start weathering. Overall, the LifeLike decals weren't to bad to apply. They are a bit thick but I prefer that as you can maneuver them around without worrying about damaging them. Yet it took a couple of shots of Solvaset to get them to lay down entirely. Tha bottom line is though that they are a far cry better than the Tamiya supplied decals. It's a sentiment often echoed here on the forum yet it still baffles me how a company with such a beautifully engineered kit can offer up such substandard decals.

                                                       Joe

Very nice looking Spitfire, Joe.  Excellent job with the camouflage.  I like the little skull-n-bones on the bottom.

Well I finally cut sprue and began assembly of my ICM Spit. Just have the engine assembled so far. I will get some pics up tomorrow. The kit is sort of a two face to me. Great molded detail, good fit , but next to nothing for locating pins. Everything has to be lined up by the Mk I eyeball. Also trying out Humbrol liquid cement for the first time here since Tamiya Extra Thin liquid cement is still MIA at all the LHSs and Testors Liquid Cement has lost my confidence on my last build. One LHS had the Humbrol stuff yesterday and since I am so enamored with their paints, I thought I would give it a try. So far, so good.

Jailcop - grats on the completion! - glad to see your refrained from using jet black for exhaust stains

Joe - lookn good! ... almost at the finish line
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Decided to scratch build part of the sutton harness before finally putting the fuselage halves together.  Belts are made from masking tape, painted a shade of brown.  Grommets are just dabs of aluminim paint followed by and even smaller application of black. 

Can't see it in the photos, but the armor plate behind the pilot has a "mail slot" opening for the harness to pass through.  Making a neat hole in the brass would be impossible, so I just painted a black strip to represent this.   A piece from a 1/35 Aber "buckles and straps" PE set came in handy as a connecting point between the belt and tension wires. 

Just a quick detail fix on the rudder control arm:

On to the landing gear...

Plan is to have the wheels in the up position.   As luck would have it, the fit is not flush with the wing surface.   Could be just the struts, but something scale wise is certainly out to lunch.  The shape of the doors do fit nicely in the bay.
There was a couple questions I had about this area:

1) - how much of the strut is seen past the door edge

2 - and at the opposite end the door falls short of covering the bay

Thanks to the folks at Britmodeller they were quick to reply and provided links to photos.  Edgar also added this tidbit; depending on the pilots, the port strut might be a tad more visible as they tend to pump up the oleo pressure in the port leg to compensate the engine torque which pushed the port wing down.
http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=76210&hl=
http://www.primeportal.net/hangar/mark_hayward/supermarine_spitfire_mk1a_p9444/

Several hours of cutting, sanding and dry fitting followed.   I was able to use part of the strut to create the swival arm that can be seen in the landing bay.  The  tires still need a bit of sanding to create a better fit.  The doors and both remaining pieces of strut were also sanded for the same reason.

regards,
Jack

Thank You very much gentlemen.

Jack - Very outstanding detail work. I like how you approached the harness slot. It looks quite convincing.

JOE RIX

Jack - Very outstanding detail work. I like how you approached the harness slot. It looks quite convincing.

Agreed, extremely well-executed pilot and cockpity.  The harness is remarkable

And it looks like you're going to overcome the landing gear issues, too. 

Jack, your pilot is a real piece of work! He looks right at home there. I can not getover your work on that face.. superb! And your other work on the Spit is first rate as well.

Well here are the first pics of my efforts here. Nothing fancy so far, and no paint on anything yet...

The engine, which it willbe a real shame to hide under the cowl...

I am lookng at replacing the kit exhausts with some nice hollow ended resin ones from Ultracast. Hollowing out the kit ones is a bit more than I want to tackle.

The engine mount and firewall

and last night after my last post I decided to build the cockpit parts. The seat is not glued in as I think I will get a resin replacement from either Quickboost or Ultracast with a molded in harness.

basic cockpit

and with the sidewalls and IP

I will try to get it painted during the week so I can get it together next weekend perhaps....

Weekend Madness 4 has priority after IPMS Chapter on Fiday nite....

Stik - I haven't used the ones for the ICM Spits, but I've used Ultracast exhausts on both my Mustangs and loved them. 

Me too Doogs! I used their exhausts on my Hobbycraft 109K, Monogram Airacobra, and Accurate Miniatures Mustang IA. I love their products! I just saw that they had some specificly for the ICM Spit and since this kit has the beveled mount onto the cylinder bank rather than a flat recessed mount on the fuselage side I figured kit specific would be a good idea here.

Yeah they're hands-down my favorite resin manufacturer. Outstanding quality...the stuff fits well...very thin connections to the pour stubs (sanding/cutting those huge blocks away keeps me from playing with a lot of other resin due to the PITA factor).

Only stuff I've ever seen that's impressed me more would probably be the Gray Matter tires I ordered for my 1/32 P-51...WOW those are just gorgeous.

I have never run across Gray Matter line. Ihave used some Verlinden, Quick Boost, and Meteor resin stuff on aircraft. Like you Doogs,  Ultracast  is my favorite for the same reasons.

Today I was able to get a base coat of MM Acryl RAF Interior Green airbrushed on. Towmorrow I can start on washes, dry brushing and detail work on the interior parts, and painting the engine block.

stikpusher

I have never run across Gray Matter line.

Here's a review of the Mustang tires. These are direct replacements for the seam-ridden rubber ones that come with the big Tamiya kit, but there are also ones that are designed for the Hasegawa and/or Dragon kits.

http://www.largescaleplanes.com/reviews/review.php?rid=1012

Found this on the Airfix Tribute Forum.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/motoring/goodwood-revival/8753919/A-rare-Spitfire-Mark-I-takes-to-the-skies-once-more.html

I might join. Depends on whether I can find the right variant of spitfire at the LHS

Live seen a P-47, P-38, FW-190, F4U, ME-262 & this Spitfire GB and all have had a lot of interest. But I suppose if I started a P-40 GB no one would be interested. IDK

the real red baron

I might join. Depends on whether I can find the right variant of spitfire at the LHS

Live seen a P-47, P-38, FW-190, F4U, ME-262 & this Spitfire GB and all have had a lot of interest. But I suppose if I started a P-40 GB no one would be interested. IDK

I would join! I have one!

checkmateking02

Found this on the Airfix Tribute Forum.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/motoring/goodwood-revival/8753919/A-rare-Spitfire-Mark-I-takes-to-the-skies-once-more.html

Very cool! Looks funny with a white belly after all the debate here.

That is sweet news to see another Spit come back to life.

Incidently, the "white belly" look was in use for over a year.  Officially known as Night/White Special Recognition Marking from April 1939 to June 1940.

Likely been posted before, but get a kick as this news reporter reacts to a Spitfire approaching from behind, unaware as to just how low he is flying (warning of expletives).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wpq4Tu2NnrQ

For my build I'm still in the midst of gluing parts.  Have also discovered another detail Tamiya has missed.  They omitted the gun-bay heating vents located on the outboard ends of both wings.  I have two options, either to scratchbuild or cut off the vents from the  wings of their Vb kit (have a resin C-wing for that model).

regards,
Jack

jgeratic1

That is sweet news to see another Spit come back to life.

Incidently, the "white belly" look was in use for over a year.  Officially known as Night/White Special Recognition Marking from April 1939 to June 1940.

Likely been posted before, but get a kick as this news reporter reacts to a Spitfire approaching from behind, unaware as to just how low he is flying (warning of expletives).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wpq4Tu2NnrQ

For my build I'm still in the midst of gluing parts.  Have also discovered another detail Tamiya has missed.  They omitted the gun-bay heating vents located on the outboard ends of both wings.  I have two options, either to scratchbuild or cut off the vents from the  wings of their Vb kit (have a resin C-wing for that model).

regards,
Jack

Ok thanks for clearing that up, my mind races when reading a bunch of posts reguarding right color so I tend to get confused.

Im painting the camo on my spit right now, I have the underside and the brown on top.

Hey Jack, did you have a gap between parts where the back of the wings attaches to the back of the fusalage on the bottom? nothing huge but noticable if nothing is done about it.

Yes there is a gap, and seems more pronounced towards the center.  To address this problem area I think some thin plastic card to build up the fuselage end will do it.  That way once the wing is popped in no filling or sanding required as there should still be a visible line here.

regards,

Jack

jgeratic1

Yes there is a gap, and seems more pronounced towards the center.  To address this problem area I think some thin plastic card to build up the fuselage end will do it.  That way once the wing is popped in no filling or sanding required as there should still be a visible line here.

regards,

Jack

Thanks, I ended up filling mind with super glue and sanding it. doesnt look the greatest but I'm learning still.

Here are a couple pics of the MM Acryl Interior Grey Green that I airbrushed on the other day

Did anyone use Jeatons templates for the camo? I cant seem to get them to print off right.

Make sure you have your printer set to print as in the document, not fit to the page.  They should print the correct size.  However, if you are printing the ones I posted during my build, they are scaled to 1/72 scale to keep the file size down for that post, so you will have to print those at 150% of original size for 1/48 scale.

PM or e-mail me if you need help.

Cool thanks, I will try later today (3am now, working on a Corsair and a Wildcat).