SPITFIRE GROUP BUILD 2007-2008

Darren that's the same bird with the same markings that I'll be building for this GB and I'd just like to thank you for setting such a high bench mark for me

Truly she looks just great, but what did you use for the high speed silver, it looks very effective?  I'd planned on using a straight coat of Alclad aluminum myself.

Cheers

Beautiful work Darren! That's one of the kits I'll be building.

Maybe I'll just take your pics and Photoshop my house background in..... hmmm..... 

darson wrote:

Darren that's the same bird with the same markings that I'll be building for this GB and I'd just like to thank you for setting such a high bench mark for me Truly she looks just great, but what did you use for the high speed silver, it looks very effective?  I'd planned on using a straight coat of Alclad aluminum myself. Cheers

Darren -you're welcome mate! Thanks for your kind words, I painted mine with Humbrol Metalcote Aluminium, its nice stuff.

Jon B. ,Marc and John....

Thanks for your kind words!

John,

I have to admit you have me stumped on that one. I am pretty sure the Seafire's and Mk.22/24's rudder's were all one piece surfaces. In the kit, the rudder is one complete piece.  I'll go check my references and see what I can find. 

Edit: 

John.....I'm a liar! I went back and had a look and the Airfix Mk.22/24 and 46/47 kits. They do have the two piece rudder! I am completely baffled as to why? I will seek out the answer!

I was looking at some late Spitfire markings from Aeromaster, but can't tell what mark they are for.  The decals in my Airfix Mk.46/47 are out of register, so I wanted to get some new ones.  I found these two sets, but don't know if they would work.  Does anyone know if they would?

http://www.squadron.com/ItemDetails.asp?item=AN48697&Submit3=Go

http://www.squadron.com/ItemDetails.asp?item=AN48698&Submit3=Go

Thanks!

Frank,

The first sheet (Part 1) would be better. You can use at least three of those options. The second, sheet I could only be sure that you could use one. Hope this helps.

BTW, now I've seen that first sheet, I'm gonna have to get myself one!

Frank,

here's a quick heads-up on that decal sheet, here are what the marks are:

Griffon powered Seafires Pt 1 (4) Mk XV 12-2 806 Sqn HMS Glory 1946; PR464/Q 803 Sqn RCN HMCS Warrior 1947; Mk 17 SX273 S-50 741 Sqn Op Flying Training Unit RNAS St Merryn 1947; SX156/156 767 Sqn Deck Landing Control Offficer Training Unit Yeovilton 195

Even though they are not specific 46/47's I recon you will OK as there are no major differences in the airframes. Weapons may be different, but thats easy enough to fix.

Hope this helps,

really impressivelooking in that NMF.... Tango.

Am I jealous...hmmm maybe a wee bit

And to the rest...thank you for the kind words, and for the peek at your gooddy work

All Spits are pretty, Darren, and yours is one of the prettiest!  I've always had a bit, well, a large, fetish for the Spitfire and even though I'm only doing an Airfix 1/72 Mk IX for this build, I am feeling the severe need to be doing more Spits!

Did some good shopping on the weekend, lads, and managed to pick up some knives, a mini-vice, some clamps and some blue painter's tape.  Not much but it's a start.

Now to find that trestle table...

Here are some pictures of the templates.  I put scale rulers on both so those who download and print them can size them accurately.  These are for the bubble canopy fuselages, but I put a cut line on the only tempate that is affected.

John thanks a bunch for those templates they are sure going to come in handy especially the camo mask one as cutting out those masks is always such a pain.

Andy congrats on your purchases, but just a word to the wise on blue painters tape, make sure you give it a test on a scrap of plastic before you start using it on your model.  Some of those tapes are more low tack than others if you know what I mean.

Also if you have got yourself some CA glue go to the chemist and get some nail polish remover just in case.  I have managed to stick myself to either the bench or a kit part on more than one occasion and the nail polish remover is the only thing that will get you unstuck.  Oh yeah pick up some nail polishing sticks while you are there, they make great sanding sticks.

Cheers

Thanks Darren.  I was thinking just this morning about a "what if" I super glue something where I don't want it and whether a "glue softener" would soften everything else around it!  Used to have a big supply of emery boards/sticks so will have to re-stock...going to the post office this arvo which happens to be next to a chemist...

No doubt I'll stick something to my forehead even when doing my practice runs before unleashing myself on an actual kit!  Thanks for the heads-up on the tape too.  My current thinking with that stuff is sure it'll be useful when filling seams but as most of the kits in the stash have raised panel lines (and engraving doesn't interest me...yet), I'm bound to sand some those lines away.  I can either avoid it by not putting putty near the lines (be like connect the dots/gaps when painted!) or replace sanded lines with really stretched sprue but I don't know if that's even plausible.  A bit outside the Spit GB and more suited to a "How to..." thread but any advice appreciated!  Or am I thinking too hard?!

Andy the best nail boards to get IMHO are the soft variety with a fine grain on one side and a coarse one on the other side.  I get mine from the cosmetics section at K-Mart along with my cotton buds and disposable gloves.

Cheers

John-thanks for posting the templates.  Copy saved to my desktop for future use.

Andy-the nail polish remover is a definate.  However, use caution if trying to de-bond two plastic pieces.  Nail polish and plastic do not like each other.....

btw-superglue (CA) is also very useful in sealing long shallow wounds, such as those self inflicted by common modeling tools...

Andy in West Oz wrote:

No doubt I'll stick something to my forehead even when doing my practice runs before unleashing myself on an actual kit!

You joke.... but yours truly once spent half an hour searching for a 1/72 PE throttle lever for a P-47, only to find it solidly glued to my temple later in the day. You never know where those little parts covered in CA may tweezerpult off to! 

jwb wrote:

You joke.... but yours truly once spent half an hour searching for a 1/72 PE throttle lever for a P-47, only to find it solidly glued to my temple later in the day. You never know where those little parts covered in CA may tweezerpult off to!

tweezerpult, I like that I think I'll have to file it away in my useful modeling terms for later use.

Oh yeah and I did actually glue my hand to the bench one day only to discover that SWMBO had stolen my nail polish remover to use on her nails of all things .  This was very embarrassing as I had to wait for her to come and rescue me

Cheers 

Cheers 

John, those templates are awesome! Got 'em copied and I can't wait to try them! Thanks!

Bob, I was under the impression that CA's were origionally developed for use as liquid sutures. I know they've made many a 'repair' on this guy.

....and I know all about 'lost' parts, too. Have yet to glue anything to me (that is pretty funny, Jon!), but I have found more than one 'pebble' in my shoe as a result of tweezer-pult parts.

darson wrote:

....only to discover that SWMBO had stolen my nail polish remover to use on her nails of all things .

Scandal! Oh the humanity! I've been a victim too!

My wife has:

• Renamed my sanding sticks "nail files"
• Used my masking tape for painting walls
• Opened packages with my xacto knife
• Used my CA to glue a coffee mug handle back on
• Worst of all- she used my Future to mop the floor- and then got mad when I followed her up with a panel wash in the recessed lines of the tile!

It's awful the indignities we must suffer for our hobby.

Be strong fellas- we'll get through this! Now, onward to the LHS! 

jwb wrote:

darson wrote: ....only to discover that SWMBO had stolen my nail polish remover to use on her nails of all things .  Scandal! Oh the humanity! I've been a victim too! My wife has: Renamed my sanding sticks "nail files" Used my masking tape for painting walls Opened packages with my xacto knife Used my CA to glue a coffee mug handle back on Worst of all- she used my Future to mop the floor- and then got mad when I followed her up with a panel wash in the recessed lines of the tile! It's awful the indignities we must suffer for our hobby. Be strong fellas- we'll get through this! Now, onward to the LHS!

LMAO

Right, I'm off to the LHS as we speak!

OK guys, here's where our Soviet Spit stands so far. The office is basically done, and soon I'll be joing up the main wing components and buttoning up the fuselage. She's done primarily OOB except for a few extras...the seat is a Cutting Edge resin piece, some plumbing and cabling was added using fine solder and stretched sprue, the gunsight was modified (I removed the reflector glass so I can add something more to scale later on...probably slide-cover glass that I'll cut with a diamond-tipped scribe), some instrument face decals were added (the Tamiya kit is a little sparse in that department), some of the interior framework and hardware was drilled out, and I added a scratchbuilt bulkhead to close the 'pit in a little. The base coat is Acryl RAF interior green washed with MM RLM74, with the details picked out with various acrylics and drybrushed with camouflage grey and light tan. As always, comments and critiques are more than welcome.  

Very nice work Mike. I'll be refering to these pics for my builds.  btw, what color did you use for the seat?

Jon-thanks for the earlier tip about your purchase of the Tamiya Spitfire Vc @ Hobbylobby-the last couple of times I had been there the selection wasn't that good-anyway, I made the hour trek Saturday, scored the Spit along with a Tamiya bf1094/7 and the Stone, Wood & Cook '41 Willys gasser-all using my 40% off coupon!

mike, Looks great! 

Roy