Well I havnt made much progress since my last post in here but I'm bowing out.  Lots of things got in the way this past year and I misplaced the upper right wing.

Maybe I'll find it and finish up in the RAAF GB.

68GT: Even if you don't make the deadline please keep going on her. Good luck on finding the upper wing, just found the clear parts sprue of mine last night with about forty-eight hours left to go... 

Is she perfect- nope... 

Is she done- yeap, pretty much... 

I had fits with the decals, probably my fault. I bought three sets and liked a set twenty-thirty years old the best so I used them. I probably wouldn't have the same issue if I'd used one of the newer sets. 

The canopy just messed up. Not sure what happened there. It's just stuff all over it, looks dirty. 

Anyway I'm glad it's over and ready to move on to another kit... 

Some of the decals silvered, the ones of the lower side the worst. Maybe I'll back and try to fix them. I just wanted this posted first. 

I think the ANZAC pilot came out better than the plane... 

JBRaider

Robert that CV came out really nice, I especially like the finish on the deck. Great job on the your first Spitfire Harold, definately one to be proud of.   I finished up mine with a couple of days to spare. The Eduard kits are fantastic and I am looking forward to doing another.

Harold

Gamera,

That's an excellent Spit.  I like it. 

Gary

Thanks Gary, you're too kind! 

Robert, great job with the carrier.  That deck really draws the attention.

And more Spitfires over the finish line.  Excellent renderings both Gamara and JB.  

Bish may have trouble falling asleep tonight...

regards,

Jack

Nice Spitfires, Gamera and JB!

Gamera

Is she perfect- nope... Is she done- yeap, pretty much... I had fits with the decals, probably my fault. I bought three sets and liked a set twenty-thirty years old the best so I used them. I probably wouldn't have the same issue if I'd used one of the newer sets. The canopy just messed up. Not sure what happened there. It's just stuff all over it, looks dirty. Anyway I'm glad it's over and ready to move on to another kit...

Your experience with decals reminds me to test any decals I'm not familiar with because they can be old or poor quality.

Harold

End of year check-in - and I didn't complete mine.

Harold, cracking job on the Mk II, great paintwork.

Robert the Invincible does look super, magnificent job.

JB, super work on the great looking Israeli scheme.

Cliff, the Mk VIII looks great, hope mine is as good when I get to it.

Tony, keep at it, great start nearly there.

The S.5 has been a slow burn and is not finished. I am getting to the painful part now. The painting and decals are done, next it is time for the floats to go on. With no positive mating points, I will need to build a rig to get it all aligned properly. This could take a bit of work

The blue is a bit dark, it should be the same colour as the blue in the roundel.

Well done everyone who finished on time, I will get to the end of S.5 at some point soonish...

Built kit list now updated, some very nice kits there guys. Great looking lineup of Spitfires and love the Invincible.

Yes Jake, i'll be having nightmatres involving that damn plane.

JB, i didn't add that second kit to the roster, i know its Eduard, can you confirm scale and mark please.

Tony, LA, those are coming on nicely, look forward to seeing them done.

68, thats a real shame. But if you do sort out the missing part, i hope you will post the end result here a well.

Thanks guys! Guess I'm annoyed that the beginning went so well and then things seemed to fall apart in the end. The camo and white leading edge ID markings really scared me but they went off like clockwork. I don't think I've ever had camo masking go down without some overspray or seepage. And then I got the issues with the decals and the canopy. In any case I still have the other two sets of decals and intend to build a couple more Aussie Spits sometime in the future.

I really do want to figure out what happened to the canopy though before I tackle the gigantic greenhouse canopy on the JU-188 however.

Piers I guess we are our own worst critics- the S.5 looks beautiful to me. The blue and silver look perfectly smooth and flawless from here. Good luck with the floats, I hate trying to mate up parts where there's no points to indicate where stuff goes.

Gamera  I think your Spit came out fantastic, 

Lost, that S.5 is coming along great, you may not make the deadline but I am looking forward to seeing the finished model.

Bish, my build was an Eduard 1/72 Mk. IXe. Thanks again for hosting this one.

Thanks JB, sorted.

Thanks JB, you're too kind!

And again Bish, thanks for another great GB!!!

Hi Bish,

Here's my 1/72 Airfix Spitfire Ia. I've used a combination of kit decals and a very old PD Decals sheet to depict YT-A, flown by Gordon Olive, and Australian who flew with the RAF in the Battle of Britain. In later life he went on to become a member of the Queensland parliament.

A nice little kit. 

Any photo is fine to use. Thanks for hosting another interesting GB.

Cheers

Tony

Thats 2 very nice looking builds there Tony, this and the 109 go well together. Great camo and i really like the finish. Thank you for sahreing that with us.

Superb work on the Spit Tony! Love the camo! 

Thanks Bish and Cliff.

taxtp

Hi Bish,

Here's my 1/72 Airfix Spitfire Ia. I've used a combination of kit decals and a very old PD Decals sheet to depict YT-A, flown by Gordon Olive, and Australian who flew with the RAF in the Battle of Britain. In later life he went on to become a member of the Queensland parliament.

A nice little kit. 

 

 

Any photo is fine to use. Thanks for hosting another interesting GB.

Cheers

Tony

 

Anyway, nice finish Mate.

Harold

Harold, i am with you there. Fortunatly a lot of German schemes are hard edged, but when it comes to soft edge its hard to get consistency.

Tony, super work there as always, the finish is beautifully done. And of course an Australian subject as ever, good to see!

The S.5 was a bit of a puzzle to get the floats on. There is no positive key to any of the struts, so they have all been drilled out and pins added. It has not made the structure any less wonky. I had no idea how to put it together - so here is my approach. First a jig to line up the floats and a  bit of scrap styrene to mimic the location points in the fuselage.

Glued the struts on with white glue to start with. Once that was set, I tried one under the fuselage. I liked it enough to superglue it all in place. Once that sets we will see the next stage.

I like how your solving those issues LA, nice work.

Looks to be coming well Piers, best o' luck!

Thanks guys, I got the other float on, slopping a lot of super glue around in the process. AMP supply PE straps for the rigging that look good.

Trouble is, they don't supply straps long enough to form the X between the floats. So I have flattened out some sprue, then stretched it. That needs to be painted and installed. After that, clean all the dust and crud that has stuck to the bottom of the floats, and give it a last coat of varnish.

Looks awesome Piers! Good to see everything straight and love the rigging, not sure I could have pulled that off. 

Tony,

Nice work on the Spit!  Truly worth waiting for.

Piers,

Too bad about the rigging between floats.  I would suggest grabbing some piano wire at the local hobby shop.

Gary

Gary, good call, afraid I was too impatient though. I scraped some sprue flattish then stretched it to give a flattish thin alternative. I think physics was against me as it rounded back up when I stretched it.

And it is complete! A bit of a pain to build, plenty of fit issues and poor/no keying, but a great subject though. I did like the PE stay wires, just be good to have some the right length.

And I didn't have it in my heart to add another Mk VIII...

As ever Bish, thanks for running a great GB. A lot of great and varied builds. I do have a subject for the Junkers GB, but it is a few down the making list. As long as I start before Dec 31, right?

Piers: Sounds good but I can't get your photos. They show up fine in your last post but I get broken links on my mobile and nothing here on the work PC.

Gamera, here is my slow progress to date.  I'm finding the fit of this ICM kit to be not so great.