Spitfire GB

Not much for WIP pictures, but rest assured I'm still in.  Both Spits have been primed and pre shaded.  I used those new Vallejo acrylic primers.  SWEET!  I used the Surface Primer for the primer coat and the pre shading was the black primer.

Undersides are painted too.  Medium Sea Grey and Azure Blue respectively for the IX and the V.

Gotta go back to work tomorrow so the rest will have to wait. 

Satch

DoogsATX

Greenshirt:

The breaker bar on the left-side door should be cockpit green, not red, unless modelling a post-war machine.

 

Good to know! I was all set to paint it red...

Ditto Doogs. Grateful for that bit of info.

The discussion on seat colors has raised another question for me, the color of the oxygen bottles. I have seen them in interior green, black and even a bright metallic green. What's everyones take on this?

                                   Joe

Quoting Edgar over on BritModeller:

[Oxygen tanks] were black, set horizontally on the starboard wall of the compartment under the rear-view glass. The (should be) silver tanks, on the port wall, were compressed air, driven off a compressor fitted on the engine. The pipework, on top, was normally copper, with the clamps, about 2/3 of the way down, cockpit green, which, on Mk.Is, at least, appears to have been a match to Humbrol 90, Beige Green.

Tim

The tanks are one of those items that, IMO, is so difficult to see, even without the glass on, that, in my opinion, why bother? The crowbar is another matter, especially if the door's down. But then I'm definitely of the "if you can't see it, don't bother with it" disposition. 

And...I finished up the big Spit's cockpit last night! It was somewhat daunting at first keeping up with all the subassemblies and various bits (I'd bet there are at least 40 pieces in play here), but it comes together beautifully. After it's had a day to set up, I'll be closing the fuselage tonight.

Here it is closed up in the fuselage (I sandwiched it in, then glued the walls to the floor from underneath. Love it when things fit together well enough that you can "hide the stitches" like that!

And...the view from afar

Doogs, that cockpit is awesome.  It's a whole kit by itself.LOL  You have inspired me to look into getting a 1/32 kit and see what I can do with it.  Can't wait to see the rest of your build.

Were the lap belts really that wide?

Mike

TIM- Thank You for the info on the O2 bottles. Very helpful

DOOGS - Absolutely outstanding work on the cockpit. I do agree that I if I am unable to  find a correct color for what will be an invisible part then I will use my best guess. Yet there is that enjoyable part of researching, referencing and knowledge sharing that lends itself to getting at least a ballpark idea of what a particular part be painted , connected to or shaped like that gives me my own personal satisfaction. Heck being where I'm from, aside you folk, I'm the only one who looks at my models anyhow.

Joe,

You're very welcome; it's what the GB is about -- sharing information.

After a 30 second description at our local club meeting each month, my models go on the shelf and I'm the only one that looks at them.  Some get photographed and shared online but I'm the only one that "sees" the details.

Tim

It's looking really good, Doogs!

Thanks all! I'm really happy with the pit, but I have to give a ton of credit to the kit and to the Eduard cockpit set (easily the best IP I've ever seen them do). 

Mike - watch out, 1/32 kits are addictive! I built my first one back in February, and I'm already on #3! Assuming that new Tamiya Mustang starts shipping in a few weeks, I anticipate that I'll be on #4 before I know it. And no, I have no idea where I'm going to display the Spit yet. It's too big for my current display cabinet.

All...regarding the tanks, I totally agree that the research is a blast. My disregard was partially, well, they're out of the way, so while it's nice to know for knowing's sake, I don't think it goes too much beyond that, at least for me. And partially sour grapes because I'd already painted my O2 tank the instruction-mandated silver and installed it. So in the face of alternate information, my response was Hammer's "DILLIGAF". Though I have seen a Spitfire O2 tank for sale that was mostly gray, with the "dome" painted half black and half white. What's the deal with that?

Hey Doogs, No worries there I'm all about artistic license in the face of concrete evidence.

DoogsATX

Though I have seen a Spitfire O2 tank for sale that was mostly gray, with the "dome" painted half black and half white. What's the deal with that?

Doogs,

Since it says "air" on it, I'll offer that it's probably not the O2 tank, but the compressed air tank, which was supposed to be silver (actually aluminum dope) but not always.

IIRC, Supermarine used a gray primer as the first protective coat, followed by aluminum dope for the second coat for all interiors except the cockpit, where they used their green.  All per MAP spec.  Saying that, the air bottle in your picture may just have the single gray primer coat, for some reason now unknown.  I've never seen mention of the black/white marking on the top.  Just curious, is there a provenance for the tank, such as the serial number of the aircraft it was removed from?

Tim

Tim - I'll have to dig a bit more into the history of that tank and get back to you - busy day at work with lots of looming deadlines, so it may have to be tomorrow or something. Unless I decide to just goof off instead!

Slowly making my way through Spitfire assembly at the moment. The fuselage is welded together, rudder, horizontal stabs and elevators are all assembled (Tamiya's rod-and-PE hinge assemblies...not sure if I love them or hate them yet), and I've been plowing into the wings. So far, some definite love and hate there. Love the way the various gun panels just fit. Love that I can tack them from the inside with Tenax so they're glued with no evidence whatsoever (save the backside of one panel on the bottom wing, where somehow some got around to where my finger was pressed...eesh). 

The one thing I HATE about the kit is the way it handles the lights. 1 - drill through thickish plastic. And since they're big holes, you have to go for something like a 3/16" drill bit. Which are pretty coarse, making it tough to smooth the hole out. Then you mount the light/reflector from the inside, and drop the lens in from the outside. Except there's this nasty slightly-larger circle that it sits in. I'm going to need to do some serious thinking on how I want to tackle filling that. There's another such light on the bottom of the fuselage that's even worse, since it sits right on the seam, and you have to drill it out ahead of time since you have to install the reflector piece. Frustrating, in a kit of such wondrous engineering, to have this one piece be such a ridiculous disconnect.

Wings are glued and mounted to the fuselage. I actually found it far easier to tape the wings, deal with the fuselage joins on the underside, tack the upper wings to the fuselage from the inside (nice thing about this kit is that you can get into the inside of the wing root in places), then glue the uppers and lowers together.

I added a jar of MM for scale, but it really does a pretty poor job conveying how big this sucker is. Not 1/32 P-47 big, but even without the entire forward section and the wingtips, it's already larger than my 1/32 Bf 109E-7.

The 109 sitting on the same stand during its buildup...

I also couldn't resist test-fitting the Master Hispano 20mm cannons. Slide right in! They droop the slightest bit, but a dab of glue will fix that right up.

Not too much longer now before I stall out and have to build/paint/detail the Merlin. What's that Armageddon quote about 90% excited, 10% scared?

Hi gents.

just as a matter of interest, the silver dope over the primer would not be very scuff resistant, dope does not adhere to metal or smooth surfaces to well.

When I worked for the EMS the O2 cylinders were black with the exact 1/2 black 1/2 white markings as per the pic. SO it is interesting to see it marked as "air"

If it was for the pilot to breath it would defenately not be air, but an O2 with most of the moisture removed.

Theuns

Okay. Did some looking. Yeah, that's a compressed air bottle used I guess with early Mk. guns, which used compressed air triggers. At least that's what the site says.

THIS is an oxygen bottle.

Both images come from this site: http://spitfirespares.com/SPITFIRESPARES.COM/pages/home.html - which is a very good reference for small detail parts of all kinds, if a seizure-inducing nightmare to navigate...

Flaps and brakes ran off the compressed air too, Doogs.  Hadn't heard that the guns did.

jeaton01

Flaps and brakes ran off the compressed air too, Doogs.  Hadn't heard that the guns did.

I hadn't either...apparently only early marks though. Hurricanes too, according to the site and bottle description. Guess electrical triggers were preferable.

So...I'm getting very close to finishing initial construction. Flaps (in the up position), forward wing roots and wingtips were installed last night. After a relatively disappointing experience with the wingtips on the Tamiya Mossie, I was stunned by these suckers. Glue them together, slide them in to the ends of the wings and...THERE IS NO SEAM. 

I've also decided to wait and install the radiators until after I've painted the plane. That way, I can paint up the actual radiator grills, paint the interiors of the housings, paint the plane, and then just install it all before the decal work begins. Did a test-fit to make sure this would be doable, and yep, just like most everything else on this kit, they just fit perfectly. 

Also started in on my first-ever inline engine build. Done plenty of radials in my time, but this'll be a first. Happy to report that the Barracudacast rocker covers (with the Rolls Royce stamps!) fit abso-friggin-perfectly. Lots more work to do...

Doogs is the King.  I'm just a jester.  A couple of shots to prove that yes I am working on two Spitfires.

Between the heat, kids, work, and keeping my wife satisfied, there is precious little time for modeling. 

Off to Portland tomorrow.  I'll get back to work on Monday morning.

Satch

Very nice work everyone! I have the fusalage together on both spits, I'll be catching up wth Mk I to the Vb this weekend. Hopefully not too much more before painting, I'll post pics this weekend too if I get the chance.

Doogs and Satch, You are turning out some very nice Spits. Just plain excellent work. I commend you on your progress.

As much as I enjoy watching your progress I must admit that in doing so a terrible malady sets in. A malady I refer to as "Bench Envy". That wishful desire to have more time working on my model and making some real progress at times. Heck, I'm still folding little PE parts for my cockpit.  Don't get me wrong here. I have absolutely no regrets or resentments towards my other committments or responsiblities (OK, maybe watching every NASCAR race, Utah Jazz basketball  and Denver Bronco football game isn't necessarily a responsibility). Yet this malady will come upon me often in the form of daydreaming and thinking, "Man I would SO much rather be working at my bench other than what I am doing right now!" Thus I envy those of you who are able to acquire healthy blocks of bench time. Indeed in the end I am grateful to be able to enjoy this hobby and this forum with the time I do make.

                                                                 Joe

Was able to get some work done this week on my Tamiya 1/48 Spit.  I got the fuselage/wings together and got the underside painted along with the first color of the top side.  So far so good..........keeping finger crossed.LOL

Buckeye - the Spit's looking great! Kinda wishing I'd decided to do 1/48 seeing all this progress! I'm knee-deep in Merlin parts right now! 

Not much to show for it yet, but here's a quick snap of the engine, engine frame, and engine bulkhead test-assembled and fitted to the main airframe. 

What strikes me about this is what's kind of struck me about the entire kit. Apart from the main engine assembly, nothing is glued or taped together. Structural elements don't just fit together. They lock together. With something with as many parts in play as this Merlin, that kind of test-fit solidity is really nice to have.

Slowly but surely...

DoogsATX

WOW! Those RATO pods are huge!!!!

But seriously, the engine looks like it was a kit in itself. What did you do with it - painted the Rolls-Royce red, overpaint black, then sand off the raised letters??

Looking great Doogs!!  Think I'll put your kit on my wish list.

Mike

Buckeye

Was able to get some work done this week on my Tamiya 1/48 Spit.  I got the fuselage/wings together and got the underside painted along with the first color of the top side.  So far so good..........keeping finger crossed.LOL

 

Buckeye- Your Vb is looking really good. I made some progress on my Tamiya Vb in the manner of more PE bits cut and folded and additional detail painting done on the cockpit. It is interesting watching you do yours OOB. Have you encountered any issues so far up to where your at?

                                                             Joe

VanceCrozier

 

DoogsATX:

 

 

 

WOW! Those RATO pods are huge!!!!

But seriously, the engine looks like it was a kit in itself. What did you do with it - painted the Rolls-Royce red, overpaint black, then sand off the raised letters??

The scary thing? The engine and all its various bits are probably only 1/4 done! Thank god it all fits together so cleanly, or else I'd probably be puling my hair out!

For the RR logo on the rocker covers...they're actually embossed, not raised, which, fun! I tackled it by painting them red, masking the logo plate with thin strip of Tamiya tape, painting the engine black, then removing the tape and drybrushing the plate. Seems to have worked out pretty well. 

JOE RIX

 

Buckeye- Your Vb is looking really good. I made some progress on my Tamiya Vb in the manner of more PE bits cut and folded and additional detail painting done on the cockpit. It is interesting watching you do yours OOB. Have you encountered any issues so far up to where your at?

                                                             Joe

Thanks Joe.  No issues so far except the one caused by me.  I cut the fuel filler cap a little too close to the part with my sprue cutters and put a flat on one side.  I had to use a very small dab of putty to fill the void.

I'm hoping to paint the camo pattern next weekend using silly putty for the first time.  We'll see how that works out.

Mike