PlaStix Posted September 24, 2014 Share Posted September 24, 2014 (edited) Jerry Billing was born in Canada in 1921 and in his late teens he was determined to become a fighter pilot. Initially joining the RCAF as an air-gunner in 1941, his persistence eventually saw him active as a Hurricane pilot and then, from 1942, a Spitfire pilot when he joined 19 Squadron. While with 19 Squadron he flew many different types of sorties in Mk.V Spitfires. Following action in Malta and some training of other pilots in the art of dog fighting, Jerry was sent to 401 Squadron in 1944, where he was assigned a Mk.IX Spitfire.On D-Day itself Jerry was on patrol over Gold Beach in ML135, but there wasn't any sign of the Luftwaffe. However, on the 7th June 1944, he was back in action again and downed a Ju88 and damaged two Fw190s.More information about Jerry Billing can be found hereThis is my first Eduard kit and it was built as part of the D-Day Group Build.Self indulgent bit - please skip ahead to the photos if easily bored!I've been working towards this kit for a while. A few years ago, when I got back into model kit building, I was mostly building bits and pieces including lunar landing modules, a space shuttle, a Batmobile and a big fire engine!Then, while searching online for possible next kits, I came across this Eduard Mk.IXc Spitfire kit. Wow! I was blown away by the detail and I loved the idea of the extra PE parts and paint masks. The only thing was; I hadn't ever built a 1/48 kit before and the last time I had built a plane kit (other than an Angel Interceptor) was when I was a kid. Also £28 for an aircraft kit seemed quite expensive! With my lack of experience I felt I would need to practice a bit first by building some smaller 1/72 Spitfires so that I didn't make a complete mess of the Eduard one. I built two Airfix and one Italeri 1/72 Spits and thoroughly enjoyed all of them. I then thought I ought to try my hand at a cheaper 1/48 Spitfire so I made the re-boxed ICM, Revell Mk.XVI, which turned out to be a fantastic project!And, as could be expected, even before building this kit, I was addicted to building Spitfires!So here we are! I used wanting to be part of the D-Day Group build as an excuse to finally buy the Eduard kit. I added a few scratch-built extras to the cockpit and it's all brush painted (hairy sticks!) with Humbrol and Revell paints. All-in-all a thoroughly enjoyable build. Mike's review of the kit itself can be found hereThe WIP for my build can be found hereFinally (at last!) here are the photos - I'm afraid I took rather a lot and then couldn't decide which not to use!The next few were taken when it was almost finished but show some slightly different views to the ones above:Some photos of the cockpit before being buttoned up:I also learnt a lot from many people who contributed in the WIP and I'd like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who dropped by.Kind regards,StixPS I think there's a couple more Spitfires calling out to be made! More soon........... Edited October 15, 2014 by PlaStix 28 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cookenbacher Posted September 24, 2014 Share Posted September 24, 2014 I was watching your WIP in the GB section but lost track - stunning Spitfire. Great finish, detail and weathering, and nice work on the pilot figure too. Something to aspire to - thanks for posting. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
giemme Posted September 24, 2014 Share Posted September 24, 2014 Stix, following your WIP was a pleasure; excellent kit, excellent build, the outcome is outstanding, awesome, excellent ... well, I ran out of adjectives Ciao 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theanorak73 Posted September 24, 2014 Share Posted September 24, 2014 very nice 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JD tiger 1 Posted September 24, 2014 Share Posted September 24, 2014 Excellent spitfire, fantastic photography and weathering really looks stunning Thanks JD 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Navy Bird Posted September 24, 2014 Share Posted September 24, 2014 Very nice indeed! Great work! Cheers, Bill 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
keith in the uk Posted September 24, 2014 Share Posted September 24, 2014 Lovely job , very neatly finished. if i was to be picky i would say the wings look a little flat with no diheadrel allthough this could be the camera angle playing tricks ? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IrritableRabbit Posted September 24, 2014 Share Posted September 24, 2014 supermegaperfectissimo! I made that word up... Hard to believe eh? But grief! That is a good build and nicely photographed as well. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PlaStix Posted September 24, 2014 Author Share Posted September 24, 2014 (edited) Hi Cookenbacher, giemme, theanorak, JD, Bill, Keith and Jonathan thank you for the kind comments. Keith - I don't know enough about the subject to know what the correct amount of dihedral should be so I've just taken a quick photo. The quality of the photo isn't great because light wasn't good but hopefully it's enough to get an idea: Let me know what you think (although there isn't anything I'll be able to do about it if it's not right!) Jonathan - great word - you could be a word designer! Kind regards, Stix Edited September 24, 2014 by PlaStix 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevej60 Posted September 24, 2014 Share Posted September 24, 2014 Superb job Stix one of the best we,ve seen here and the pilot figure is an added bonus! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snapper_city Posted September 24, 2014 Share Posted September 24, 2014 Great job PlaStix. Not normally bothered by Spitfires but this one is a beauty. So much so this kit will probably be finding it's way into the stash very soon. Great finish once again. The pilot figure really adds to it. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JackG Posted September 25, 2014 Share Posted September 25, 2014 Excellent build, paint and presentation - just brilliant! I followed your wip too, and really amazed at how well you did with painting over masked edges, something I gave up on some time ago, but you've proven it can be done. Where did you get the pilot figure from, it's quite well done. regards, Jack 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Crusty one Posted September 25, 2014 Share Posted September 25, 2014 Really really good job stix!:-) 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
batcode Posted September 25, 2014 Share Posted September 25, 2014 great looking spit, nice job on the paint and finish 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Val Posted September 25, 2014 Share Posted September 25, 2014 Stunning model! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PlaStix Posted September 25, 2014 Author Share Posted September 25, 2014 (edited) Hi Steve, Snapper, Jack, Crusty, batcode and Val. Thank you all for the kind comments. It was a really enjoyable build. Snapper - it is a lovely kit to build Jack - the pilot figure is from Revell's 1/48 Pilots and Ground Crew set no. 02620. I'd bought the set for my Mk.XVI build, to make it into a bit of a diorama, but don't need the pilot. Kind regards, Stix Edited September 25, 2014 by PlaStix 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pascal JMW Posted September 25, 2014 Share Posted September 25, 2014 stunning 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Leonl Posted September 25, 2014 Share Posted September 25, 2014 Perfect, IMHO anyway! You've done a fantastic job and should be very proud. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wolwe82 Posted September 25, 2014 Share Posted September 25, 2014 Absolutely beautiful build Stix, so great!!! And the shots with the pilot are amazing!!! Love every little bit of it! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pawel Szczudlyk Posted September 25, 2014 Share Posted September 25, 2014 Another great spitfire from your factory mate.well done! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PlaStix Posted September 25, 2014 Author Share Posted September 25, 2014 Hi Pascal, LeonI, Wolwe and sdk_uk - thank you ever so much for the kind comments. Sdk_uk - 'factory' may be the right term - I've got two in mind for my next project! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rob85 Posted September 25, 2014 Share Posted September 25, 2014 A beaut of an AC, looks real. Thanks for sharing Rob Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Buzby061 Posted September 25, 2014 Share Posted September 25, 2014 Excellently done, superb finish, just enough weathering & well photographed. Pete Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave A Posted September 25, 2014 Share Posted September 25, 2014 A very nice build, and beautifully photographed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PlaStix Posted September 26, 2014 Author Share Posted September 26, 2014 Hi Rob, Pete and Dave. Thank you for your kind comments. With regards the photos - I'm going to have a go, at some point, at doing a few more of them in black and white - I was quite pleased with the one I'd done already. Kind regards, Stix Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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