Christer A

You're doing good work here Björn!

That too long cowling is legendary 😁 It's very strange with the cockpit floor though. I mean , the cockpit sides are right there in the same box and they are still different lengths? It could be due to resin shrinkages, since the sides are ok and they a different color and what feels like a slightly different material, and this light grey is uniformly shorter across the entire length. Still, 3mm is quite a lot...

Ok, let's get to work. It's familiar grounds after all, so let's make the best of it. I started with constructing the wings. I very soon discovered that the helpful approach to cut of all parts and put them in sealed bags has some drawbacks! The previous owner did not cut each and every part so I'm missing a few bits, and cannot readily identify others. But it's the wheel wells, and who's going to look in there to see if I've put the correct parts in or not? One area that I always end up with some small issues with is the radiators. First time I test out to add some shims like above to get the "roof" at the correct height instead of sanding everything to fit. To my knowledge this aircraft kept the Azure blue on the undersides, so that means most of the stencilling and so on will be added here later. Then I went to the cockpit area to have look around. Yes, most bits are still there, but a few of them were not. Lesson learned. Never buy partially started kits unless you're prepared to use it as a parts donor... So, I dug out my Brassin cockpit instead! A whole bunch of resin goodness, crisply cast and little to cleanup to do, and it's a dropfit without the need to thin the fuselage to the last micron. But.... The floor piece is very much too short! This affects the spacing of all bulkheads and firewall throwing everything out of alignment. Come on Eduard! That resin engine cowl is too long, and this floor is too short....Sure it's 10 years too old by now (almost) but it's still sloppy! I'll probably cut off the part that is not interior grey green, and call it a day. No plans to have the rear floor exposed in any case... So, I started to paint it all in any case, adding some etch here and there Also mixing and matching resin and plastic since some of the resin bits was too complicated to use (the seat for instance requires the upper firewall attachment to be fitted as a tiny etch bracket whereas the plastic one is in one piece) In this scale I think I can get away with it though... Still missing quite a few detail bits, and some weathering, but the weekend is almost upon us, so there is a chance that it will improve shortly 😀

First step of the fin fix complete: From a decent long distance it looks ok... And the rest of the main assembly was done as well. Time to shift over to the sand, fill and primer stage of this build!

Yep, a DSPIAE is on it's way! I foresee quite a few things that needs round masks... I'm sure it's a bit tricky to use, but that's life! There's always some bits and pieces that needs a little extra paint isn't it? I think I haven't fully painted the landing gear doors, or the fuel tanks or...😱

Thanks guys! I caved in and ordered one of these circle cutters that's made out of a big ball bearing. That might solve future issues. Also, all-around good guy @Marlin will send me some replacements for these troublesome decals so I got a lot of options in the near future!

Thanks! I absolutely agree to this being a favorite 🥰 It's small world! The pressure to do a decent job increased quite a lot. Tom sounds like a decent fellow It is a quite a big box....but it has room for a lot of Overtrees!

Gosh, I seem to have hit a little wall here... Well, the main painting is finally complete after what felt like an eternity! There was a lot of masking, repainting, remasking and so on, but in the end I was happy and started to do some simple decaling. Kinetic doesn't give you everything though, but a decent amount. There are those crazy Daco sets if you're so inclined, but I'd like to keep some semblance of sanity... However, I didn't have the lighting properly focused on the model so I had a slight misshap in centering some nasty decals. That looks really bad, and my efforts to correct it just had the decals folding in on themselves. Ok, I need to source some new ones and try again.

Let's get cracking then! The bulges from the landing gear doors and some pesky ejector pin marks on the inside was removed. Sink marks on the prop were filled. Then I attacked the rather cramped office with paint and etch: As always, Eduards colored etch is not really matching the cockpit color, but no news there! I did leave off quite a few of the most fiddly bits . When it's time to do my next Sea Fury, a resin cockpit will be a better upgrade. For the short shot fin, I have a plan, but it depends on the fuselage being assembled first. Very complex plan here, with a slice of plastic strip that will be sanded to shape... Let's see how it goes!

Well, the Sea Fury is rolling along and starts to get ready for primer (more on that in the proper thread), so I thought I could always go back to my original listing: A Spitfire VIII! One can never have too many mk VIII:s. So I pulled out my battered box to have a little rummage in it to see what's left in it. Now, I have built this one: and that one: The box is a dual combo , so there shouldn't be anything left... Somehow It looks like there are 4 sets of Overtrees and Weekend edition sprues in here! I counted out 6 sets of PE as well, and one Brassin engine, a brassin cockpit and some other bits and bobs. One of the extra kits was for sure bought used at a IPMS club meeting where the lovely chap had cut off all parts, cleaned the up and put them back in marked bags. That's the one I'll choose for this endeavour! It'll be a bit like a LEGO set, with the main drawback that I can't really identify the pieces except by basic shape...could be fun! Also, this will be the scheme: Heavy fuel staining? Wheels with sun screen? Azure blue, Dark Earth, Foliage Green, white markings, red spinner...what's not to like? That'll be that engine cowl then but I have some resin ones is box somewhere. Let's go!

Thanks Dave! I made a test on the cowling just to see how it turns out. The cover that extend over the exhaust pipes is short shot on one side and will need repair. I guess I have the earliest boxing? I could repair it, and might make a decent job about it in the end, but the Barracuda set is flawless and also a little bit more detailed! It is a little smaller in diameter though, but a little work on the surrounding parts should cure that. Speaking of short shot: That fin will need some work! Thanks for the heads-up regarding the undercarriage doors, spinner and frame. I found a page here http://www.adf-gallery.com.au/picture.php?/Sea_Fury_WH589/category/sea-fury-wh589 that shows exactly this. Well, the masking will be made easier for sure! Even though the white spinner and silver canopy frame is more pleasing to the eye... I dug around a bit for the color of the wheel wells. Hawker yellow seems to be the thing, but to track down how it actually looks is a bit harder since it deteriorates over time. Airfix suggest Hu.74 for it, but since I gave up on those paints years ago I made a mix with some Tamiya paints, and the shot some Yellow Zinc chromate from Real color. To the left is my mix, and to the right is Real color. I guess that after a wash or two the YZC will mute quite a bit.

Well, this will be my contribution to this GB. I had thought to thin my heard of Spitfire VIII:s for this gb, but then I decided against it....although Spits are nice, I felt I should do something else. Hence a Sea fury! It will be Oxford Blue in the end, thanks to a Xtradecals sheet that I forgot to snap a photo of. So far, I only have a few resin bits: Masks, belts, and more cockpit etch will arrive on Tuesday. Let's get it on! Oh, and happy ANZAC day!

It looks fantastic, especially those checkers!

This will be really tasty Bosse!

Let the painting continue!! Dark green FS34079 to be exact: A lttile bit funny that this color is in FS while all the rest are RAL...But anyway. Last color to go on is off course RAL7021 I had to mask this in parts, since the painted areas are quite long and goes all over the place. Also, the masking goo is quite runny so one does not have that much time before it has "melted" a little too much. Oh well. Time was on my side... With the masking removed, this was the look. Some overspray to deal with, and I think I need to postshade the dark gray to match the rest, but overall I'm happy with the result! A gloss coat will also help to show which areas that needs further work.