SPITFIRE GROUP BUILD 2007-2008

The European and N.Africa theatre colors might be:

RAF Azure Blue (~FS35231) North Africa

or

RAF Medium Sea Grey (~FS36270) - England

The FS colors are just similar to RAF. Get exact MM colors for RAF (I use enamels MM RAF paint)

Do you need other colors and camo schemes ? 

Greg 

Hi all, everyones builds are going good I see.  My airbrush replacement parts will be here monday.  My hobby time has been reduced because I started college on wednesday, and I am a full time student there.  So I can not work on models during the week basicly but I have a 3 day weekend every week.  I also have been asked to start working for Seagrave Aviation but I have not talked with the person yet, thats tomorrow.  But I will try to stay up with you guys the best I can.

Chris

Thanks John.  I will get it. You have to learn everyday ... , right?

Seems to me the testors regulator is a cheap design but costs twice as much as the BearAir . It looks to me I have to make some fittings/reduction to get it to work with my compressor. Here is my Vb , still some corrections have to be made ..

John, I think you are right. I used Mr Surfacer 1200. I will add more paint to get 75/25 ratio and try again.

I am not able to control the pressure from a compressor. It is a Testors Blue Mini compressor - no controls of any kind, just On/Off switch :)

I am glad I did not ruin my Vb !

Greg 

darson wrote:

Greg, just as a couple of tips when using putty on wing roots etc... Mask off the immediate areas around the gap you are trying to fill so that don't get bits of putty where you don't want them, this makes your clean-up a whole lot easier. Using a product like Gunze Mr Dissolved Putty is great as it can be easily and accurately applied with a small brush. If you are using regular Squadron/Gunze/Tamiya putty, then wait a couple of minutes after you have applied the putty then give the area a wipe with a cotton bud/q-tip lightly dipped in nail polish remover.  This removes most of the excess putty you don't need and just leaves it in the gap you are trying to fill, it also greatly reduces the sanding you need to do. Cheers

Thanks. Great tips - as usual , now I just have to implement them

I mixed Nr Surfacer with Lacquer thinner (50/50) and sprawyed on my Vb.

At the end of sprawying I had a moment of horror ....

It looks to me as spider net was flying from the airbrush ... It looked like white strings attached to various areas , where I sprayed. I think it was the end of paint and it was drying while in the air. Those attached to the surface of the plane and looked really wierd.

I just waited few minutes and wipe them off with a soft cloth. No trace. Strange. I think if I would not catch those on time and sprayed over them - it would be a dissaster.

Did you guys ever experienced this kind of problem while spraying Mr Surfacer ??

Greg 

Daz your birds are both looking awesome, I can't wait to see them finished off.

Greg, just as a couple of tips when using putty on wing roots etc...

• Mask off the immediate areas around the gap you are trying to fill so that don't get bits of putty where you don't want them, this makes your clean-up a whole lot easier.
• Using a product like Gunze Mr Dissolved Putty is great as it can be easily and accurately applied with a small brush.
• If you are using regular Squadron/Gunze/Tamiya putty, then wait a couple of minutes after you have applied the putty then give the area a wipe with a cotton bud/q-tip lightly dipped in nail polish remover.  This removes most of the excess putty you don't need and just leaves it in the gap you are trying to fill, it also greatly reduces the sanding you need to do.

Cheers

Thanks John. I got 1000 and 1200. Swanny suggested to thin it with a Lacquer THinner 50/50 ?

I am a bit scarry of melting the plastic with this stuff what push me to test it on something else than my Vb 

Greg,

My pleasure, glad to help out a friend!

Thanks Frank,

As I mentioned earlier, I am still working on my process (you know that I am new, right ? ) so, I thought that I made all the sanding properly - parting lines etc. However doing primer - mostly to just see imprefections - I realized that I need to do more sanding - some parting line are visible , not much but still is, something I thought I already took care of . I would like to make sure this craft will be better than my first Mk IIa I did earlier in this group.

So, making the story short ... I am just not sure how much more work Is there at front of me on this craft

I am sure of one thing: I am going to take much better care of wing-fuselage fitting next time (I hope )

Thanks Guys for all your help. Me alone... it would be like a baby in a jungle (and not a Tarzan either )

Greg 

greg-

I heard about that Tamiya primer too.  As a matter of fact, I ALMOST bought some Monday at the LHS.  As for using primer, I generally only use it when I have done a lot of filling and sanding (read: Hasegawa 1/48 P-40E!).  I usually use Mr. Surfacer 1200, but sometimes use MM enamel primer.  Hope that helps!

Thanks Darren. I am still working on my process . I heard about a tamiya primer in a can what supposed to cure within 30 minutes. Next time.

Thanks for the kind words lads-much appreciated.

Greg,

I never use a primer, but I don't think it matters either way-if some problems show up, you can  sand the primer down after its applied. I know it takes time to cure, so if its time that is the issue, why not shoot some thinned white paint over the area so see if any imperfections show up first?

Hope this helps. 

Gentlemen, I need an advice.

I had to use some putty to cover my inexperienced attempt to glue wings to the fuselage on my Zumbach's Vb. I sanded it and it looks OK to me. Now its time to do primer and it may show some existing problematic areas what may need an additional attention.

Question is: do you put additional putty on top of the primer and than sand it or you remove the primer from the area of required correction prior to applying putty ?

I use enamel primer (Model Master - grey - it worked fine on my P-47 but it takes a lot of time to cure ... )

any advice ?

Greg 

ruddratt wrote:

Work, chores, honey-do projects, and quality time with the Mrs have left me with very little time at the bench. What's your secret, guys?!

Lots and lots of coffee so I can stay up all night and build!  Ever see that matress commercial where the person asks "how do you guys stay awake with all of these comfortable matresses around?" and they show the employees in the break room drinking coffee outta da pot and eating the grounds?  That's me!

Darren, you are the Spitfire master!! Great stuff!

I really need to get cracking on some of my builds. Work, chores, honey-do projects, and quality time with the Mrs have left me with very little time at the bench. What's your secret, guys?!

Another update:

I managed to get the undercarridge on the Mk.IV tonight and seal in all the decals. I used the Eduard PE to detail the u/c legs and it was a bit of a pain to fit it all together, but it seems to have worked.

I also made some progress on my FAA Mk.47 which I am building along side my Mk.IX. I got the u/c on and have done some touching up with the paint. Everything has now been sealed in with a gloss coat.

Here's a few pics.....

John,

thanks for your kind words-glad to hear you are keeping up the good work with K5054.

Greg,

sanding those wing roots can be a bit of a pain, if you follow the guys advice you will be fine.

Frank, John: Thanks. This is what I thought. A little lubrication will prevent dust and keep sand paper last longer.

Thanks

Greg-

I always use water when I sand.  Seems to make the sandpaper last longer, and less scratches.  Just my

Thanks John for a tip !

A quick question: do you sand with water or dry ? 

Darren, you are working hard to make a tired looking airplane, but hey, with that nose art who's gonna see anything else?  Looks good. 

I have one coat of grey primer on K5054, and some Mr. Surfacer 500 on a couple of wing panel lines that I scribed too wide, but I am making progress.  The engine intake air scoop is different, recessed a little and located a bit further back, and then there is another scoop that covers up the back of it, that's all done, and I also inset plexiglas on the wing tips, sanded them down smooth and polished them, because K5054 had that kind of position light arrangement.  Doing this is starting to feel like I brought in the Spitfire, jacked it up, and changed out everything but the overall outside shape!

Greg, I make a special sander to do inside curves like the wing roots, I just take a wooden dowel of the right diameter and attach sandpaper with CA glue, rolled around it.  I use a pretty coarse grit paper and don't press very hard, then touch it up with a finer grit.  I put Tamiya tape on both sides of the sanding area to keep collateral damage to a minimum.  It's usually best to put the tape down before you apply the putty.  At some point I came to the brilliant conclusion that the excess putty I don't put on is excess putty I don't have to sand off!     

Oh, boy !

I decided to put some putty at the wing root - just to cover some inaccuracies of my inexperience ... It looks to me that I just stepped into ... something nasty.

G.. next time I make sure the root match is perfect and do not mess with putty again. At least not at the wing root. What a nasty spot to sand !

Greg