SPITFIRE GROUP BUILD 2007-2008

Put me down as a definate maybe, it depends on how the airbrushing goes on the FAA build.

In the meantime here are some videos to get everyone in the mood, I love the sound of those RR engines.

Spitfire in flight

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A95tD9iZKkc

Interesting Spit

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xI3aWfoeIQI

neat slide show for Polish BoB squadrons

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=di0pkn4Rgo4

Warning for language, but pretty funny

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XkmHcAnPDIA

Thanks for the videos Aaron!  I love the "low" pass one.  Here's another good one:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yVOqXjk58io

Some very cool videos, thanks.

Roy

Nice Vids-Thanks!

Just a quick post before I go out and do some gardening.

Darren I hope you don't mind but I have played around with the badge a little to resize it and put a border around it.

Cheers

Darren,

What are the chances of having you add the new badge to my other two and making it animated?

Roy

No problemo Roy.  I'll fix that up tonight for you.

Darren 

thanks abunch

Roy

Tango and all the others, Wow, does good new travel fast!  You just posted this a few days ago!  Anyway, would anyone mind if I post some progress pics of my Hasegawa Spitfire Mk9?  It has been in a constant state of "being built" since July of last year.  It is now very close to being finished, I need to give it a wash, weather it a bit and put on the fiddly bits (canopy, attenae, etc).  I don't have any other spot to put post and I thought why not put it here.

That all depends on how soon I can clean up my room with the model desk.  I moved it into a spare room in my basement about a month ago and still haven't cleaned up the room, it is a real mess and the desk is covered so I can't work on anything.  Talk to you later.

I would love to see some pictures of your work.  I know the others would like nothing more.  Why not join our build?

Roy

Darren-

Nice work on the GB badges.

Jay-

 You are here anytime! We would love to see your Spitfire. Join our Group Build-its a good laugh and the people here are just the best.

Hope we see more of you round here!

Roy your animated sig is inbound.

Cheers

You're my hero

Roy

TANGO 1 wrote:

So sit back, and have a nice glass of beer on me.

Just had my knee operated on this past Friday so the pain pills do not allow for any booze.  the good news is I am feeling pretty darn "happy" and it's a lot less filling  Is it Ok if I just raise a ceremonial glass to what is turning out to be a popular little GB? 

Nice vids Aaron.  If you need to get "in the mood" for Spitfires.... rent "Dark Blue World".   Some fantastic Spit footage.

ruddratt wrote:

OK, I looked through my decal stash and found the markings I want to use on my Mk.Vb. It's a Soviet bird overpainted with colors similar to RAF Dk. green and Ocean Grey, with azure blue undersurfaces, a large white "65" on both sides of the fuselage, and lots of big red stars!

That'll look really nice- not the usual Spitfire markings that you normally see. Is the decal set you'll use AM or did they come with a kit?

I'm in the latter stages of two 1/72 Spitfires- a Mk. V and a Mk. VIII, and I'm putting US marking on those.

For the GB I'll stick to the typical RAF markings.... just to be a traditionalist.  

Jon, the markings are from one of Aeromasters earliest sheets (#48-009 "Red Stars in the Sky"), which also has markings for a Hurricane Mk.IIb, 2 I-16's, an LaG-5, and an La-5FN of the 159th IAP, all of them wearing red stars. I had origionally bought it for a Hobbycraft La-5 I was building a few years back. I'm glad I hung onto it.

I've seen pics of Spits with stars & bars....they look awesome, so I can't wait to see your builds! I know you'll do 'em justice, based on the quality of your work.

...& I thought about roundels for my GB Spit, but I've always been the rebel in my family.

wing_nut wrote:

TANGO 1 wrote:   So sit back, and have a nice glass of beer on me.   Just had my knee operated on this past Friday so the pain pills do not allow for any booze.  the good news is I am feeling pretty darn "happy" and it's a lot less filling  Is it Ok if I just raise a ceremonial glass to what is turning out to be a popular little GB?      Nice vids Aaron.  If you need to get "in the mood" for Spitfires.... rent "Dark Blue World".   Some fantastic Spit footage.

Thanks for the tip, never heard of Dark Blue World but the description and a few clips I found from the movie look good.

ruddratt wrote:

OK, I looked through my decal stash and found the markings I want to use on my Mk.Vb. It's a Soviet bird overpainted with colors similar to RAF Dk. green and Ocean Grey, with azure blue undersurfaces, a large white "65" on both sides of the fuselage, and lots of big red stars!

Mike-

I saw a photo of that bird a few days ago while looking through my references, very good looking plane I must say!  I'm glad to hear you are doing that one, with your skills I KNOW it will look awesome.

Darren-

OK, I decided.  Please put me down for a 1/48 Tamiya Mk.V Trop.  Thanks!

I've been reading about all the different 1/48 Spitfire kits, and in particular about the complaints about the Hasegawa Mk IX being "off" in fuselage length.  I have the Tamiya Mark I, Hasegawa Mk V and IX, and the ICM IX and XVI.  I compared them all, and what I seem to see is that the Hasegawa IX is a bit shorter than the ICM kit, but not a great deal, and it is longer in the nose as it should be compared to the Mk I and V kits I have.  What strikes me as strange is that Hasegawa didn't seem to revisit their Mk V when they did the Mk. IX, it is a completely different fuselage, and the V seems more accurate in length from the firewall back than the IX does.

Overall, I don't think I can tell there is anything wrong with the Hasegawa IX without a ruler.  Other people seem to have differing opinions, which is their due.  I do think I will end up with a more pleasant result and experience with the Hasegawa kit than I will with the ICM kit, one of which I am thrashing through now as a practice for our main event.

The 1/32 K5054 project is waiting for the starting pistol, with all of the ingredients in hand.  I'll be using the Paragon conversion on the newer Revell MkI/II kit.  I found a French Blue Grey in Pollyscale enamel that I hope will avoid brickbats from the experts.

jeaton01 wrote:

I've been reading about all the different 1/48 Spitfire kits, and in particular about the complaints about the Hasegawa Mk IX being "off" in fuselage length.  I have the Tamiya Mark I, Hasegawa Mk V and IX, and the ICM IX and XVI.  I compared them all, and what I seem to see is that the Hasegawa IX is a bit shorter than the ICM kit, but not a great deal, and it is longer in the nose as it should be compared to the Mk I and V kits I have.  What strikes me as strange is that Hasegawa didn't seem to revisit their Mk V when they did the Mk. IX, it is a completely different fuselage, and the V seems more accurate in length from the firewall back than the IX does. Overall, I don't think I can tell there is anything wrong with the Hasegawa IX without a ruler.  Other people seem to have differing opinions, which is their due.  I do think I will end up with a more pleasant result and experience with the Hasegawa kit than I will with the ICM kit, one of which I am thrashing through now as a practice for our main event. The 1/32 K5054 project is waiting for the starting pistol, with all of the ingredients in hand.  I'll be using the Paragon conversion on the newer Revell MkI/II kit.  I found a French Blue Grey in Pollyscale enamel that I hope will avoid brickbats from the experts.

Just build them all- they'll average out! LOL 

jeaton01 wrote:

Overall, I don't think I can tell there is anything wrong with the Hasegawa IX without a ruler.  Other people seem to have differing opinions, which is their due.  I do think I will end up with a more pleasant result and experience with the Hasegawa kit than I will with the ICM kit, one of which I am thrashing through now as a practice for our main event.

John I couldn't agree more, IMHO there is nothing wrong with the Hasegawa kit that my humble Mk.1 eyeball can pick up.  I have several in the stash in either in the Hasegawa or Revell AG boxings and plan to build all of them.  I have a couple of the ICM kits as well but just haven't gotten around to building one yet.

By the way when do we start to see some pics of your practise build?

Daywalker wrote:

Darren, Not sure if you saw my Spit WiP a few months ago, but I started with a set of Aeromaster decals and had nothing but problems with them.  Ended up sanding them off, touching up the paint, and starting over.  To be honest, I am deathly afraid of trying them again in the future.  (Sorry about the pun!)

Frank I know this was a couple of pages ago now but I did see your Spitfire WIP a while ago and to be truthful the idea that some Aeromaster decals might just be garbage did cross my mind.  The thing is, as I said I have used these decals many times before and have never had a problem and as a matter of fact I used a set last night on my Fw 190A-7 and went on perfectly.

Cheers

How about some pics of your Fw190 A-7?

Roy

Is it me or are our gifs on the same shedule

Roy

darson wrote:

Frank I know this was a couple of pages ago now but I did see your Spitfire WIP a while ago and to be truthful the idea that some Aeromaster decals might just be garbage did cross my mind.  The thing is, as I said I have used these decals many times before and have never had a problem and as a matter of fact I used a set last night on my Fw 190A-7 and went on perfectly. Cheers

Darren,

After my Aeromaster fiasco, I looked through my stash and noticed that a lot of them have what looks like dozens of poorly applied coats of clear on them.  These seem to be the bad ones.  Other sets have that nice, satin-like sheen which seem to be the good sets.  Unfortunately, most of my sets are the bad ones, suppose they can serve as reference or patterns for masks in the future.

Daywalker wrote:

ruddratt wrote: OK, I looked through my decal stash and found the markings I want to use on my Mk.Vb. It's a Soviet bird overpainted with colors similar to RAF Dk. green and Ocean Grey, with azure blue undersurfaces, a large white "65" on both sides of the fuselage, and lots of big red stars! Mike- I saw a photo of that bird a few days ago while looking through my references, very good looking plane I must say!  I'm glad to hear you are doing that one, with your skills I KNOW it will look awesome.

Thanks, Frank! I'll give it my best!

I also gotta ask you about that guy, since you said you found a pic of it in your references. Upon closer inspection of the decal sheet instructions, there seems to be some conflicting info on it. There are mentions of it being a  'b' on one page and a 'c' on another page. There would be some minor surgery involved if it is indeed the 'c' (removal of the wing stiffeners and the wheel bulges in addition to the possibility of mounting two more 20mm cannon). If it's the 'b' I get to leave the wings alone except for the removal of the wing stiffeners, which is a breeze. Does your reference make any mention of which wing it uses?

Good news Mike, looks like it's a Vb.  No surgery!  The caption above the photo reads:

"This Mk.VB was one of those delivered to the Soviet Air Force early in 1943, and it is seen at an exhibition of equipment later in the war.  The loop antenna mounted above the rear fuselage belonged to the RPK 10M homing system.  The antenna was fixed athwartships, so the pilot could take a bearing only when he was flyings towards or away from the beacon."

  I scanned the photo from the book "Aircraft of the Aces" no.16 by Osprey, here it is:

Roy it's kind of off topic but sure I'll post some pics of the Fw 190 when I get home tonight.  Also, you are absolutely right our sigs are in sync .

Cheers