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Tamiya 1/48 Spitfire Mk.Vb


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That is a really nice finish. The weathering is superb. Some nice photograph angles too. Well done

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Again, thanks for all the kind words!

Looks fantastic Tony, a really tidy build. The canopy looks great, did you polish it or dip it?

Hi Doug,

The canopy is simply as it came out of the box. I've moved away from Futuring my canopies lately, as I find it limits my options when it comes to cleaning them up with alcohol or Tamiya lacquer thinner. If needed, I'll polish a canopy with Tamiya Rubbing Compound, but it wasn't necessary in this case.

Wow! Liked this one. How did you paint the exhausts? They look the part.

Best regards
Rune Haugen

Thanks, Rene. My method for painting exhausts is really quite simple. I start by airbrushing them with Tamiya flat black, thinned with alcohol for maximum flatness. Then I simply dust them with various shades of brown and rust pigments, finishing off with a bit of black pigment and a very light rub of graphite on a few of the edges.

Beautiful looking build!

Would be interested to know what masks you used? I tried using a Montex one for a recent Hurricane build - with mixed results. I found it to be very fiddly, especially with the four coloured fuselage roundel, so any info or pointers would be most welcome.

Hi doozer,

I cut my own masks using my Silhouette Portrait cutter and artwork I developed myself based on the Airfix decals. The fuselage roundels were indeed a bit fiddly. The steps I took were (before painting the camouflage):

1. Spray the area white.

2. Using a blob of Blu Tak, mask off a circle just slightly larger than the white of the roundel, but smaller than the inner diameter of the yellow.

3. Spray the yellow area, covering a bit more than necessary

4. Remove the Blu Tak.

5. Weed out the red and blue portions of the roundel mask.

6. Using a clear piece of Frisket laid over the yellow and white masks to keep them centred, lift them from the backing paper and carefully place them on the model.

7. Spray the red centre.

8. Mask the red centre with a slightly oversize square of Tamiya tape

9. Spray the blue

10. Mask the blue with a slightly oversize (but smaller than the outer diameter of the yellow mask) circle of Tamiya tape

11. Paint the rest of the camouflage.

It may seem complicated, but it really wasn't.

That is just fantastic and one of the best builds I've seen lately! The weathering and "feel" in the paint job is just what I'm aiming for myself in the best of worlds and the canopy is clear as glass.
I really like painted markings myself, how did you make your masks?

/Erik

Hi Erik,

As I mention in my reply to doozer, I cut my own masks using a Silhouette Portrait cutter. It wasn't exactly cheap, but it has proved to be a very useful modelling tool.

I made a particular effort to get the paint as smooth as possible. I started by priming with Mr. Surfacer 1000, which I rubbed smooth with 3600 grit Micromesh cloths. Then I airbrushed the camouflage and markings with paint thinned about 66% (i.e. 2 parts thinner to 1 part paint). My gloss coat was Tamiya X22 clear, over which went the decals, followed by a another coat of X22 which I rubbed down again with 3600 grit Micromesh (wet). A couple more rounds of X22 and Micromeshing to completely blend the decal film in with the paint, and I finished off with a 50/50 mix of Vallejo matte and gloss polyurethane varnish.

Cheers,

Tony

Edited by tbell
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Wonderful job! I am doing a MK I. Not a big issue, but Tamiya decals are incorrect on the walk lines. the Starboard wing is a straight line and I am also told by this that know better that the red broken line was a post war thing. Little points perhaps to consider for next time. A cracking build, good sir.

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Wonderful job! I am doing a MK I. Not a big issue, but Tamiya decals are incorrect on the walk lines. the Starboard wing is a straight line and I am also told by this that know better that the red broken line was a post war thing. Little points perhaps to consider for next time. A cracking build, good sir.

Hi Sean,

Thanks for the feedback. As I acknowledged in my post, the markings are indeed consistent with the modern restoration of warbird G-MKVB BM597, but that I weathered it as if it were in service. I wanted to use the Airfix markings but felt that zero weathering, as would befit a restored warbird, would have made for a somewhat boring model.

The anachronisms go beyond just the wing walk markings. BM597 did actually serve with 317 Sqdn from Sept '42 to Feb '43 and during this time she would have worn grey and green camouflage and sported the later C and C1 type roundels on the lower wings and fuselage. To make it historically accurate would have meant binning all of the Airfix decals save for the serial number!

Cheers,

Tony

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