Texan76 Posted January 7, 2016 Share Posted January 7, 2016 Welcome to my first ever Work in Progress build here on the forum. I think all of my UK brethren will like this one. In tribute to the Battle of Britain, I will be building a Spitfire MK.I in 1/48. This will be my first Spitfire and first Airfix kit I have built. It will be OOB except for the Eduard super fabric seatbelts. Thought I would give those a try instead of the usual photo etch belts. I will build marking A from the kit decals. I found the RAF ground crew kit at my local hobby shop, so I grabbed it and hope to make a small diorama. I have to admit, I am a little intimidated by it, as I have never attempted figures before. I will build the airplane first, and study up on figure painting in the meantime. Here are the colors I plan on using. I prefer Vallejo Model Air paints, but due to research and availability of some shades here in the U.S., I will also be using Tamiya and Model Master. Just washed the sprues, set them to dry for the night. I will study the instructions tonight and hopefully get cracking tomorrow. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Texan76 Posted January 7, 2016 Author Share Posted January 7, 2016 Ok, getting ready to start. I need assistance with a couple of things of any of you can help. I have searched relentlessly on the forum, but could not find a straightforward answer. First, the instructions state to paint the interior back half aluminum with the forward part Grey Green. Most Spitfire pics I've seen are all green inside. I guess it's not too big a deal since the back half won't be seen much. Last, the instructions state to paint the wheel wells aluminum. I've read that a lot were painted Sky like the rest of the bottom of the aircraft. Without getting into a huge debate on 100% historical accuracy and so forth, what was the most common color configuration for these Spitfires for the interior and wheel bays? Thanks everyone. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mhaselden Posted January 7, 2016 Share Posted January 7, 2016 The instructions are correct regarding the interior. The "interior green" was only applied to the cockpit area. The entire region aft of the pilot's seat was aluminium. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Texan76 Posted January 7, 2016 Author Share Posted January 7, 2016 Thanks! That certainly helps me getting started. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Texan76 Posted January 8, 2016 Author Share Posted January 8, 2016 Sub-assemblies and clean up complete. Opened gun bays on one wing. Found one minor issue when test fitting fuselage halves. The fit was good, but a panel line on top of the engine cowl does not line up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kahunaminor Posted January 8, 2016 Share Posted January 8, 2016 Good start on this, As far as the panel line not lining up, don't worry as you will have to eliminate the join all along the top. The Spitfire had a single piece cowl. You can rescribe the panel line later. Keep up the good work. Regards, 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Texan76 Posted January 8, 2016 Author Share Posted January 8, 2016 (edited) Interior all sprayed and ready for detail painting. I gotta say, I am in love with the new Vallejo Metal Color. I tested out the duraluminum shade for this. I love this stuff. Bye bye Alclad. Just another note. I masked over the metal color about 15 minutes after spraying, it did not lift at all. I used grey Badger primer for the base. Edited January 8, 2016 by Texan76 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
59North Posted January 9, 2016 Share Posted January 9, 2016 Great start! I'm very interested in looking in on this build as you progress. I just got the Airfix Vb for Christmas, and a great deal of it's parts are common to this kit. Already, I'll being looking for the Vallejo metal the next time I travel to the city. Looks good so far! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Texan76 Posted January 9, 2016 Author Share Posted January 9, 2016 Cockpit finished! A little trimming required to get it all together, but no biggie. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Texan76 Posted January 9, 2016 Author Share Posted January 9, 2016 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Texan76 Posted January 9, 2016 Author Share Posted January 9, 2016 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
(ex)Sgtrafman Posted January 9, 2016 Share Posted January 9, 2016 Hey Tex You don't mind me calling you Tex do you ? Mate your Spit is coming along beautifully and I'm darn intrigued by those Vallejo metallic paints, I think I might have to give em a try. Keep up the good work, it's gonna be a stunna. Ta ta for now Iain Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Texan76 Posted January 9, 2016 Author Share Posted January 9, 2016 Tex is just fine with me. Thanks for the compliment. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kahunaminor Posted January 10, 2016 Share Posted January 10, 2016 Nice work Tex, Keep the updates coming! Regards, Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevej60 Posted January 10, 2016 Share Posted January 10, 2016 Great start,first class job on that cockpit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SimonT Posted January 10, 2016 Share Posted January 10, 2016 Yup, looking good! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Texan76 Posted January 10, 2016 Author Share Posted January 10, 2016 Fuselage has been assembled. Fit was decent until the panel in front of the cockpit. It did not fit at all. It took much trimming of the panel and the top of the instrument panel just to get it to where you see in the picture, which is still not perfect. I settled for what you see because I did not want to take anymore off the instrument panel. It will take some work come sanding time. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Texan76 Posted January 10, 2016 Author Share Posted January 10, 2016 Gun bays complete. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Texan76 Posted January 11, 2016 Author Share Posted January 11, 2016 Wings on. Fuselage sanded and rescribed. Notice the big gaps at the wing root. Bending the wings up would not fix the gap. Filler will be required. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Troy Smith Posted January 11, 2016 Share Posted January 11, 2016 Hi Tex looks good, too late now but apart from the cockpit, the rest of the interior paint was aluminium, which includes gun bays and the top 'inside the wing' part of the undercarriage. there is debate about the outer circular wheel bay, but from what can be seen in period photos, go with the underside colour. see http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/234974004-question-for-wwii-aircraft-manufacturing-experts/#entry1851442 for some photos, and the quote from Edgar. from the build, looks like you are suffering from the new tool kit problem, parts that fit so precisely that a coat of paint or missed sprue nib can throw out later alignment. By then it's too late. older kits have some tolerance, these don't. If you are getting problems, you missed or misaligned something earlier, and it only has to be a tiny amount. this was discussed in this very useful build a few pages in http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/234968337-two-148-mkvb-spitfires-tamiya-and-airfix-new-spitfire-collection-expansion-project-finished-photos-now-in-the-rfi-section-080615/ one thing that may not be clear, the fuel tank cover is thin armour, and should stand slightly proud of the panel below. http://massimotessitori.altervista.org/sovietwarplanes/board/index.php?topic=2120.msg17897#msg17897 The UC leg attachment is badly designed, and is worth pinning, also easier to do before wing assembly this is a really interesting build of the kit http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/234986185-148-airfix-new-tool-spitfire-mki-x4382-from-no602-squadron-completed-on-31-10-at-1150-pm/page-1 I also suggest a read of this http://www.boxartden.com/gallery/index.php/Profiles/Camoflage-Markings/01-Supermarine-Spitfire as it explains very clearly what marking changes happened when, and has a factory camouflage diagram. Sorry that much of this is a bit late for your build, but I hope some will still be relevant. cheers T 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Texan76 Posted January 11, 2016 Author Share Posted January 11, 2016 (edited) Thanks for the info Troy. I could always respray the gear bays. I think I could hit most of it, but I might just let it go. Not sure yet. I have seen some modelers that have painted theirs in Sky. Gun bays, yes, too late there. I just went with the instructions on that one. Oh well. As far as fit, I have been very careful in my cleanup, don't know if I missed anything or not. There seems to be fit issues. However, I have mostly built Tamiya, Eduard, Hasegawa kits. I may just not have the proper experience for an Airfix kit. I'm glad you pointed out the gear legs. When I first saw them, my first thought was that they didn't look very sturdy. I might try doing the rod technique like shown in your link. I have used that before to repair broken gear legs. Works well. Thanks for your helpful insight Troy. Much appreciated. Edited January 11, 2016 by Texan76 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Texan76 Posted January 11, 2016 Author Share Posted January 11, 2016 All together, set to dry overnight. One last check in the morning, then on to the primer application. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Texan76 Posted January 12, 2016 Author Share Posted January 12, 2016 Holes drilled in gear attachment for inserting rod to strengthen gear. All masked up, ready for priming. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Texan76 Posted January 12, 2016 Author Share Posted January 12, 2016 Primed! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Texan76 Posted January 12, 2016 Author Share Posted January 12, 2016 Underside color (Sky) applied. After bleaching. Gonna leave this to dry for the night, then on to masking and the first topside color. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now