SPITFIRE GROUP BUILD 2007-2008

darson wrote:

Jon, I had a look on Hannants web site last night and saw the Airfix Spitfire Mk.I.  I must admit from the box it looks tempting with both the flat canopy two bladed screw for an early Mk.I & blunt spinner three bladed screw for the Mk.II in the same box is a great idea. My biggest problem is that I have been let down by Airfix in the past so I will definitely wait a while until I see some reviews of the kit before I pounce on it.

I know what you mean.... I built two of their Mk. IX's in the last 6 months, which are recent toolings, but they definitely had fit issues.

I have a nostalgic soft spot for Airfix Spitfires..... warts and all. Not sure why, really.... I do though. Maybe it's the fact that it's a British company making the Spitfire.... I dunno.... probably just a sad excuse to increase the stash! LOL

I must be a sucker for them- I have 9 unbuilt Airfix Spits, and 3 built Airfix Spits.... and as soon as that Mk. I comes in, I'll likely get 2 of them. LOL 

And I'll post up something about it when I do! 

Dave-

nice work! I like the shades of green/earth that you have used and the markings look like they wentb on well too, this one is coming along nicely.

Marc-

looking good! Very nice assembly work there-the wings look great! To answer your question, I think the RAAF aircraft would have been overpainted azure blue after they got them. I have some references, I'll check them out.

In the meantime, I'm sure my namesake should be able to help us out on this one.

Marc: Great Spit and the cockpit looks fantastic. The seat color is just perfect

All: Thanks for primer tips. I will have to come up with something for my next project, but now I will be more carefull while chosing the primer brand.

Greg 

Dave & Marc....really nice progress guys! Dave, the dark earth looks much better in that pic. Marc, the Ultracast stuff really looks great....can't wait to try mine!

Marc, I'll have to leave your question for the experts (I've been wondering that myself....would the Soviets have overpainted those parts underside blue or left them alone? )

Hey Roy... glad to hear all it well and good luck with the move.

Dave... nice work there.

Greg... Like Darren, I almost never prime.  When I do, I use Rust-Oleum Specialty Plastic Primer.  I decant it in a jar ala Swanny's straw method and let the bubbles from the de-gassing (is that a word?) subside.  It is white and the perfect consistency for an AB.   For those that say they hate spraying white due to the poor coverage... use the R-O stuff.  Great coverage and it is not as stark as the regular whites and has a more "scale" look to it.

Darren.... Nice work so far.  I love that wing attachment method and use it whenever possible.  Can't remember the last time I have used putty for an upper wing root.  Used it gain on this build.  The putty you see in the pic below is from cleaning up when I removed all the existing detail and panel lines.

And speaking of this build... here is where I am.  Airframe all done. I drilled out the wings last night for the Ultracast cannons. Ready for some pre-shading.

You can see a bit of the wing root seam in this one...

And now a question about color.  On an RAAF bird with an Azure blue underside... what would typically be the color of the insides of the wheel well, the LG door and the LG strut?

Darren, thanks for sharing that technique.  Wish I would have used it on my spitfire because I had a bit of a step to deal with.

Greg, I rarely prime either except as a check for seams which is usually done in whatever colour I happen to be using next.  This is usually the cockpit colour as I spray the cockpit with the interior colour first so that the framing on the inside of the canopy looks appropriate.  As this doesn't require much paint I usually use up the rest of it on the seams to do my check.   I have heard of other people that use krylon primer out of a spray can (available just about anywhere). 

Anyway, got the decals on today.  I used the markings for Johnie Johnson's Mk I off an aeromaster's Battle of Britain set that I have had sitting around for sometime.  Again I apologize for the quality of the photo as I am still using my web cam until my wife gets back. I'll take some better pics latter.  The kit is Airfix's 1/72 Mk I, just the fiddly bits left which with airfix means not much left to do.

Greg I don't know about the rest of the guys but about the only times I prime an aircraft (or pieces thereof) is when I'm doing a NMF and want to check for defects and to check wing roots and seams to make sure that everything looks OK.  Normally for these jobs I just use a bit of Gunze or Tamiya light grey as I find that the lighter shades tend to show up my crappy workmanship better than darker colors.

Cheers

Thanks for sharing those tricks :)

I have two of Mk IX from Hasegawa and it looks it may be handy :)

BTW: my rework on Mk II (Tamiya 1/48 Mk I) was slowing down a bit due to the paint texture. I am not sure what caused it but I used the MM primer (white) and it gave this texture afterwards. Now I already faced real difficulties with decals ( already passed it - pictures posted earlier) but now it is a real problem with using wash to highlight panel lines. I have no idea what did I do wrong with the primer, but I am sure I will use a diferent one next time.

I did maybe 50% of panel lines and it is going very slow - a lot of hard cleaning involved.

On my next one I will use the Mr Surfacer 1200 50% with thinner 50% according to Swanny's guidelines :)

What primers do you guys use ?  

Greg 

Darren, looks like an excellent idea mate and will be something I'll definitely use myself in the future.

Jon, I had a look on Hannants web site last night and saw the Airfix Spitfire Mk.I.  I must admit from the box it looks tempting with both the flat canopy two bladed screw for an early Mk.I & blunt spinner three bladed screw for the Mk.II in the same box is a great idea.

My biggest problem is that I have been let down by Airfix in the past so I will definitely wait a while until I see some reviews of the kit before I pounce on it.

Cheers

TANGO 1 wrote:

Hello Chaps! First off- best wishes to our mate Roy-hope all is well.

Thanks friend, means alot.

Roy

TANGO 1 wrote:

Hello Chaps! First off- best wishes to our mate Roy-hope all is well. Secondly, here is some progress with my Mk.IX. First time I've tried this and it will not be the last! I tried the old trick of attaching the top of the wing only in order to acheive as small a gap as possible at the wing root. Basically, tape the wing halves together, dry fit them to check allignment, when the wing root looks good, superglue it to the fuselage and when its dry you can glue the bottom half of the wings on. This method takes longer but saves an awful ammount of filling and sanding! Here's some pics- you can judge for yourself......

That's cool! I'd heard of gluing the upper wings on to the fuselage, and the lower ones after, but I'd nev er seen the little twist of taping the wings together- I'm trying that on my Mk. IX! Thanks for the pics!

Hello friends, I'm still here.  Been very busy preparing for the move.  I leave the 21st.  You guys have been hard at work

Frank, your is looking good.  that seat is outstanding and as Little Red Riding hood would say "My what big eyes you have"  No wonder you have no trouble with small details.

Marc & Darren, what can I say ....outstanding!  I myself love PE parts, big fan.

Greg, Happy to see that you reworked Spitfire is turning out great.

Darren (Aussi), looking good my friend.

Mike, looking good my friend and thanks for asking about me, means alot.

You guys will be happy to hear that I have put all my building supplies in neat plastic boxs to travel with me.  Since I may/should have some free time I plan to work on my GBs.  I have been do some small stuff on the Spitfire; cleaned the parts and drilled out the exhausts and the I think the carb intake under the center fus. 

If I missed anyone, great work to you all. 

Roy

ruddratt wrote:

Hey Darren! Looks great so far man! Neat tip on the wing root fitting. I'll have to try that method. That's one area that I've always thought could be less labor-intensive if the right technique was used.

I have heard of that method, but never knew how well it works.  Think I'm gonna try it on my Seafire, thanks for the info!

Hey Darren! Looks great so far man!

Neat tip on the wing root fitting. I'll have to try that method. That's one area that I've always thought could be less labor-intensive if the right technique was used.

Hello Chaps!

First off- best wishes to our mate Roy-hope all is well.

Secondly, here is some progress with my Mk.IX.

First time I've tried this and it will not be the last! I tried the old trick of attaching the top of the wing only in order to acheive as small a gap as possible at the wing root. Basically, tape the wing halves together, dry fit them to check allignment, when the wing root looks good, superglue it to the fuselage and when its dry you can glue the bottom half of the wings on. This method takes longer but saves an awful ammount of filling and sanding!

Here's some pics- you can judge for yourself......

Dave-

Hard to tell on the colors with the lighting, I wonder if the decals and a wash will help?

Mike-

I talked to Roy last weekend, and if memory serves, I think he is actually moving either next weekend or the week after. 

That's quite a color contrast Dave. Like you said, the weathering might tie them all in together a little closer. Sometimes it's so difficult to evaluate a color until you see it next to a different color. I wonder if you could darken the dark earth by cutting it with a touch of black and painting the outer parts of it with this mix, giving it a sort of faded look in the middle. That would involve a lot of masking again. I guess I would see how the weathering affects it first and then make that decision.

Well Frank, when your not laser welding your homemade belt buckles things can move right along - plus not having the wife around helps too

Actually I remembered my computer has a built in web cam.  not great quality pics but it proves I've been doing something (besides being a couch potato while my wifes away

It's hard to tell in the photo but I'm not real happy with the dark earth color of the model master acrylics.  Not that I'm an expert but it's quite a bit lighter than the humbrol color I used to use.  I actually thought for a minute that I had bought the wrong paint but that is not the case.  I also tried the paper mask that someone posted earlier in the thread (thankyou whoever you are!) but it was lifting in a few places and the edge is a bit soft in places.  Anyway, some weathering should take care of all my complaints.

Wow, you're sure making some excellent progress Dave! Can't wait to see some pics!

...and has anyone seen or heard from Roy? I know he's moving, just figured he might have been somewhat settled in by now.

Frank... good looking work onthe pit

Jon... be careful.  You don't want to get a reputation for being stuck on one kind of model.  It took me a longtime to shake that Fw 190 jones I had.

Now where did I put those 3 Eduard 190 A-8's???

Thanks guys!

Dave-

I look forward to seeing your pics, can't believe you're ready for paint already!

Jon- I really think you should get one of those new Airfix kits and do a side-by-side with it!  After all, what's one more Spitfire...

BTW- did you get a chance to find out about the bottom camo color on the Mk.46's?  The sky looks right to me, just can't find much about the colors on these.

Frank, nice work on the office.  Looks awesome  

Jon, it's not an excuse... it's called motivation!

I've got the sky and the top coat of green on my Mk I but I won't be able to take any pictures until my wife gets back from her trip with the camera.  

I noticed Hannants is carrying Airfix's new 1/48 Mk. I. My friend at the local LHS is going to let me know as soon as he can get one. I'm looking forward to it- I'm thinking of doing a side-by-side comaprison build with Tamiya's Mk. I and writing it up.

Like I need an excuse to build a Spitfire......

Daywalker wrote:

Well, I finally have some progress pics!  I finished up the interior aside from painting the seatbelts, which I made from lead foil from a single malt scotch and fine wire.  I don't know if they are 100% accurate, but they look good to me.  I also spent a lot of time scratching up the seat.

Those both look great- especially the scratch-up on the seat. Very nice!