Spitfire GB

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.

That is an awesome paint job Tim, how on earth did you mask it?

DoogsATX

For instance...check out Spitfire #3 below. Especially the top profile at the bottom. CRAZY! Half the thing is camo, and the other half's just green. 

Too bad it's a Spit Vc, and that pretty much leaves it to a Special Hobby kit. Would it kill Tamiya to cut a new wing, throw it into the Vb box, and sell it as a Vc?

Doogs, great looking scheme; your Spitfire is coming out very nicely. 

While the VAST majority of Spitfires were painted in the Day Fighter Scheme, there are so many other schemes out there that I've decided to chase as many down as possible.  I did another aircraft from that squadron on the Aeromaster sheet, in 72nd of course.  No Vc at the time was available so I cobbled together a spare CMR resin wing to a Revell Vb fuselage (Revell wing was so inaccurate it was useless otherwise). 

Poor photo, I was still figuring out how to use my camera back when I built the kit.  Link to the photos of the conversion is here.  Some (but not all) of my Spitfire photos here.  The light sand color is actually more pink than sand, my desire was to mimic the Desert Sand color used on some US aircraft.  I know the instructions said to use Middlestone, but it just didn't look right.

Now that Sword has a new Vc, very high quality albeit short run, I want to redo this subject.

Tim

Yeah thats looking awesome Doogs.. really clean, sharp, love it !!!

I received my new air brush today AND went and got one of those handi clip huge magnifying glass things to help with painting of the tiny parts.. how I did it before amazes even I.. crazy!  Theyre so good, recommend to all.

Got the engine in the frame today of my Mk9 (pic's later), some of the radiator pipes wanted to make it difficult but got there in the end--

Youre right on how the holes and joints are perfectly aligned, very impressed!

Lovly Spitfires.

Thanks Darren - good to know! Honestly, I'm considering just building the Vb with Vc markings. I know the B and C wings are different, but they're pretty close. Close enough that probably nobody I show the thing to in real life will know.

On the VIII front - decals and sludge wash complete. Tomorrow, dull coat.

Doogs I picked up that MDC 'C' wing along time ago in an attempt to build a Seafire Mk.II from Operation Torch.  Well before the Special Hobby kit was even a glimmer.

Let's just say that the project went nowhere fast as trying to fit the resin wing to carved up portions of the Tamiya wing was a disaster.  I am sure it was my lack of skill but if you after a C wing Spit in 48th go Special Hobby and save yourself a lot of grief.

The one I'm doing for this build is coming along Ok (should have some pics this weekend) as long as you give it a bit of love and care, but shake 'n' bake is ain't.

I still plan on doing that Seafire Mk.II, but this time I'm going to kitbash the Tamiya fuselage onto the Special Hobby wing.

Cheers

Buckeye

That top profile is wild!  Don't think I'd want to paint that scheme on a model.

I'm actually eyeing it as a potential next build. If not, saving it maybe for that Africa group build that's in the offing.

I also just found out that MDC makes a resin "C" wing for the Tamiya Vb kit...hmm...

Sadly...the Tamiya Vb AND the $20 resin wing would only come out to something like $6 more than the Special Hobby kit. And people always gripe about Tamiyas being expensive...

Here is my spit after a coat of primer.Desert colours this weekend I hope. It will be in Stanislav's sceeme.

Theuns

That top profile is wild!  Don't think I'd want to paint that scheme on a model.

Thanks Rob! 

Yeah, the Spit looks odd in US markings to me, too, but that's exactly why I'm building it. I'm drawn to the strange ones! And that's honestly the thing that kind of gets to me about RAF Spits (or most in ETO) - they all look the friggin' same. It's a good look, don't get me wrong...but I do like the ones that get strange.

For instance...check out Spitfire #3 below. Especially the top profile at the bottom. CRAZY! Half the thing is camo, and the other half's just green. 

Too bad it's a Spit Vc, and that pretty much leaves it to a Special Hobby kit. Would it kill Tamiya to cut a new wing, throw it into the Vb box, and sell it as a Vc?

Hey Doogs,

Beautiful job with your spit! Still looks odd with American markings. Someday I'll have to get one, but I told myself no more models until the next model show, just outside of Toronto in October- I have too many sitting around and it takes me too long to build them. Good luck with the job search.

Rob

Jester

The Mustangs my next build (after the 1/48 maccer(big) of a Lancaster)  The 'tang looks bloody awesome indeed.

Im up to the engine mounts and radiator tubing on my Spit... heck nearly pulled out some hair trying to get those suckers in the correct position but finally after and hour it was done .. argh

I like this build a lot BUT Tamiya I feel shouldve made the drawings a bit more detailed or clearer esp regarding this sort of thing, some parts Ive found very confusing and they were solved but actually building the part ahead as a sort of jig

One thing I loved about building up the Spit is how well the parts fit...you can literally test fit an entire assembly without tape. 

I didn't have much trouble with the engine mounts...the frames and lower crossmember all friction-fit fantastically well, but the radiator hoses with a bit trickier. There's a certain way they fit, but it's not called out well either in the instructions or on the part. I ended up gluing mine with Gator's Grip so it'd have a bit of flex when the coolant tank and such mounted up front.

On my front, yesterday was a big day. 

Presentation, of course. I'm reasonably sure I crushed it but now it's that *$@%^! wait to hear.

To celebrate what's probably the last hand of the job hunt (I'm reasonably confident I'll be getting at least one job offer between now and Monday, and possibly two), I broke my kit freeze and splurged on one of those new Airfix Mk.XIIs. 

On the bench last night, I started weathering with ProModeler (Flory now...) Dark Dirt wash. Got more to do, but most of the bottom and a portion of the top are in a good place and ready for the next stage!

The Mustangs my next build (after the 1/48 maccer(big) of a Lancaster)  The 'tang looks bloody awesome indeed.

Im up to the engine mounts and radiator tubing on my Spit... heck nearly pulled out some hair trying to get those suckers in the correct position but finally after and hour it was done .. argh

I like this build a lot BUT Tamiya I feel shouldve made the drawings a bit more detailed or clearer esp regarding this sort of thing, some parts Ive found very confusing and they were solved but actually building the part ahead as a sort of jig

DoogsATX

 

Also...while their pour stubs are a huge PITA to remove...I really do love the quality of their resin bits. I'm almost tempted to hold off a bit on building my Tamiya Mustang, just to see what they come up with.

You and me both on that count Doogs and given that Barracuda have already started releasing decals for the Mustang I'm hoping they release some detail sets as well.

If you happen to be hunting for Spitfire accessories, it's hard to go past Radu's paper Sutton harness.  It may be a little fiddly to assemble but looks stunning.

Good luck on that presentation by the way!!!

Jester

Ok had a better look, and it looks awesome, might get the detail set for $14 and the treaded 5 spoke tyres!~!

man that stuff looks real good, thanks heaps!

Gladly! I've got the smooth tires (love the treaded, but alas, they weren't used in MTO) and they're a far sight superior to the kit's rubber tires. Which I would've been cool with were it not for that impossible-to-remove seam running right down the center!

Also...while their pour stubs are a huge PITA to remove...I really do love the quality of their resin bits. I'm almost tempted to hold off a bit on building my Tamiya Mustang, just to see what they come up with.

Ok had a better look, and it looks awesome, might get the detail set for $14 and the treaded 5 spoke tyres!~!

man that stuff looks real good, thanks heaps!

Whoooa didnt even know you could get that stuff.. buggar and Ive already attached mine *sad face.

Jester

Thanks Doogs.. hey is that the Tamiya Mk9??   Mine doesnt seem to have the rolls royce name plates like that??  :=/

am I missing something here

It's the Mk.VIII - basically 95% the same kit. Different tail/rudder design I believe, and a retractable tailwheel. Engines are the same between the two...I've got the plates because I'm using Barracudacast's rocker panels (and seat, and wheels, and port door!). 

http://barracudacals.com/proddetail.php?prod=BR32004

Thanks Doogs.. hey is that the Tamiya Mk9??   Mine doesnt seem to have the rolls royce name plates like that??  :=/

am I missing something here

satch_ip

Doogs, nice Spit.  31st FG is my favorite.  Are you going to bring that to the Austin show next month?

Satch

Maybe. I was planning on bringing something, but between the job situation, new house wrapping up in October, etc, I'll definitely be at the show, but I'm not sure if I can get away for the full day to wait for the judging and such.

Doogs, nice Spit.  31st FG is my favorite.  Are you going to bring that to the Austin show next month?

Satch

Hey All, Here's a couple of progress pics. Freshly primered, need to rescribe some panel lines then a light wet sanding with very fine sandpaper to smooth things out and then the painting can commence.

DoogsATX

She's shaping up well, loving that camo scheme.

Thanks everyone! The crazy prep work begins this morning! So you either won't see me around much the next few days, or way more than usual!

Jester - My rather lazy "research" (Google image search) turned up several examples where the main engine/carb/supercharger assembly were all painted black (with red RR logo on the rocker covers). The problem - they're all restoration jobs. I've never been able to find a really good wartime pic of the Merlin 60 series, so it's hard to say for sure.

I painted mine SGB, then did some weathering with drybrushing, wash, pigments and some oil stains. I'm happy with it, but I had the exact same question about the actual color of a wartime engine. Though I actually lean to at least the core of it being black, just based on the ridiculous number of restos that go that route. 

Hope that helps a bit.

In other news, got about 3/4 of the way through the decals last night. All the various underside stencils took a ton of time, but I've got everything but the upper starboard side done. The Tamiya stencils have been...Tamiya-like. High quality, but OMG thick. The Barracudacals markings are in line with what I've experienced with them before. Thin, surprisingly strong, suck down into surface detail like paint. BUT they suck down so well that they're very hard to adjust! I lost one and fought a half hour battle with another US insignia that I tried to readjust. The bars ended up folding over on themselves. Sigh.

Finishing the rest tonight.

Doogs - The very best of luck to you.

Jester - Your Spit is looking really nice. Excellent work, I'm in the uncomfortable painting figures camp also. Besides it takes me a month + just to paint a cockpit let alone toss in a pilot figure. As far as painting the engine I'm not really much help although I would look to Doogs fantastic example. Your rationale seems sound and anyway sometimes do was looks good to You.

Buckeye - your decals are looking good to me.

 I got my primer coat on, Tamiya gray out of a rattle can. I'm in an inner turmoil with myself as to whether to paint and mask the yellow leading wing edge or to use the decal. I'll get some pics up here soon.

Thanks guys (GL also from me Doogs )

Hey as regards to Spitfire engines.. Ive skipped the wing build as this looks pretty much ok (will do later) and headed to building the engine and support up.

~The instructions say paint it semi-gloss black..! Hmmm Im in two minds with this as tha'll  look pretty average and from the pictures Ive seen the Spits engine was hardly ALL black.

Was thinking metallic dark grey with matt black in-lays with a bit of matt aluminum brushed over. Seen a few shots of this and it looks very realistic, what would you guys recommend??

Thanks heaps

Good luck Thursday Doog!

JOE RIX

Hey Doogs, Best of luck to you on your interviews. Maintain faith in yourself and TALLY HO!

                                                              Joe

Update on this front!

After not hearing anything on Friday, this weekend was awful. When your job is job hunting, NOTHING happens on the weekends. It's all just sit and wait. 

Then, first thing this morning, the phone rings. It's the recruiter. Feedback was extremely positive, and they're bringing me in Thursday for the final step - delivering a presentation (every new hire at this place has to do so). 

I'll be nose-to-grindstone for the next few days, but tonight, I've got some decaling ahead of me!

Count me in as one of those afraid of figures, even pilots.  I wish I could do figures because they add so much to the scale of a kit.

Mike