1/32 Spitfire VIII

[Suddensky]

Hello all,

I realised that my last WIP of the 109 got sort of abandoned at the cockpit stage and then became an RFI, so I thought I'd try to be a bit more consistent with this one... The 1/32 Tamiya Spitfire Mk VIII.

I picked this kit up in Hong Kong about three years ago and have been steadfastly avoiding it ever since... I built up the Zero that I bought at the same time but somehow thought that the Spitfire was beyond me and that I must be a 'better' modeller to do it justice. This is a ridiculous frame of mind... this kit yearns to be built. There have been more reviews and build articles of the Tamiya Spitfire that I can count so I won't go over the basics again, but if you want a big Spit, and it's within the budget, then by jingo this is the answer.

OK, so to be totally honest I didn't choose this one to build today, that honour goes to Susan who picked it from the stash and decreed that it must be finished as per the box art. It must be said however that I came to this off the back of building the Trumpeter Mig 17, so I might have mentioned to her in passing that sticking bits of badly fitting plastic together in a vain attempt to resemble a vague facsimile of an aircraft, was not the best use of my time. Fortunately she knows my opinion of Tamiya, and I like the fact that she gets to chose the next victim, it absolves me of any rational choice.

So fortunately my Spad is still as alert and helpful as ever...

So on we go, as usual the first stop is to sort out the control surfaces I'll be using later:

I know, it's boring, but needs to be done.

I was awaiting the arrival of the Airscale Cockpit Placards set, so decided to make a start on the engine:

A bit sparse? How about some other bits and bobs?

And all together....

Honestly, if you ever needed another excuse to get a Tamiya 1/32 Spit, then the engine (and cockpit) alone should convince you. I simply cannot believe how well and how quickly this has gone together so far... it just fits so well!!

I was pretty happy with how things were going, I thought that this would be straightforward and OOB, I mean how could it get any better?

Then I showed the engine (barely in primer, and most certainly nowhere near finished) to Her Ladyship... to which the comment was... "It's very nice, but you haven't added any stuff to it..."

I think she means wires... and pipes... and tubes...

I will attend to this presently...

Thanks for looking, more to follow,

Peter

[Leonl]

I have the same thought as you, that is, I need to be a better modeler before I tackle my Mk9... Whilst I believe you're correct I'm going to follow Spad's example and have a lay down somewhere warm while I think....

Nice start, mind if i follow....

[jenko]

I have the same thought as you, that is, I need to be a better modeler before I tackle my Mk9... Whilst I believe you're correct I'm going to follow Spad's example and have a lay down somewhere warm while I think....

Nice start, mind if i follow....

Sorry.....but it's one of the easiest kits I have ever put together.

It's idiot proof....................... trust me...... If I can make a fair job of it anyone can .

The only problem, if you can call it that is when you detail the engine no two engines seem the same and that the mounting of said engine has to be carefully done other wise the cowling covers do not fit properly . Why did they not give an option of using the engine as a separate model ?

Best think of it as several kits in one. I was that impressed I went out and bought the Mk16.

Go for it....

Nice start.

Dick

Edited April 29, 2016 by jenko

[spitfire]

Nice one and I like the scheme on the box art as well.

Cheers

Dennis

[Biggles87]

Hi Peter, good to see you here again. I can never resist a Spitfire build so I'll be tagging along, although already having four in 1/32 ( and about a dozen in 1/48) I probably won't be getting this one.

Cheers

John

[Suddensky]

Thanks all.

Got to agree with Jenko, it really does go together beautifully, and as a result, pretty swiftly too (for me anyway). Thanks for the tip on the cowling, I want to add a bit of plumbing to the engine, but I can see how it would foul the cowlings pretty easily if I'm too enthusiastic with it.

Go for it Leonl... with the kit, not the lie down... or both in fact! It's not just the quality of the fit and the moulding which makes it such a pleasure, but other touches such as the clarity and pace of the instructions, and detailed colour call-outs. Now that I've started, I can't see anything in the 35 pages which really concerns me with the actual construction, so I'm already getting worried about doing a good paint job and not over-weathering it!

Hi John, good to see you again, I've got the IX and the XVI in the stash, courtesy of a weekend in HKG in January, so it looks like I'll be catching you up... as the man said; you can never have too many Spitfires.

Hi Dennis, absolutely, makes a change from the BoB or greys and greens!

Thanks for looking,

Regards,

Peter

[RMCS]

Looking forward to seeing this

[FG2Si]

Nice start on your Spitfire. Funny you mention Battle of Britain green/brown as I'm just finishing up their MkIX in those colours. It's MH434 from the film.

As previously mentioned, mounting the engine to the airframe needs a bit of care as it can affect the alignment of the cowlings. The only other real fit issue are the leading edge gun inserts. Everything else should fit fine.

I think this is probably my favorite kit at the moment. They just go together so easily and there's a lot of choices for schemes and markings.

Carl

[Suddensky]

That's one great looking Spitfire Carl!

Had a pretty productive weekend, got the social duties out of the way from Friday to Sunday, leaving Monday free for mangling plastic.

Added some bits and bobs to the engine, various gauges of wire, scraps and spares, and some electrical cabling:

Looks a bit better under a dose of Halford's grey:

And then some black, Vallejo Modelair in this case:

Looking forward to adding the detail colouring and weathering a bit later. In the mean time I made a start on the cockpit. Once again although there are lots of parts and the outcome looks suitably busy, the instructions are broken down and laid out so well that the construction process is very intuitive and great fun.

Vallejo Modelair interior green with a Flory dirt wash. In retrospect I wish I hadn't dry-brushed it with dull aluminium, it seems to have led a load of silvery sparkles on the black panels which show up under a bright light or flash... fortunately there won't be either of those in the fuselage. Looking forward to starting on the cockpit walls, and also the Airscale placards.

More to follow later this week (I hope), thanks for looking.

Regards,

Peter

[Carius]

Very very nice work.

Cheers

[Grey Beema]

Great work. Coming on really well - Now do I have space for a 1/32 Spitfire???

Edited May 4, 2016 by Grey Beema

[Leonl]

That Merlin looks great looking forward to seeing that develop. The weathering on the cockpit is very effective....

I will admit to having a look at my Mk 9 and thinking I should bring it up to near the top of the stash... I have a few projects in the pipeline but after that....hmm may be just may be....

[Bodmin]

Great looking Spit so far and great detail.

[FG2Si]

Nicely done engine Peter. It'll be even more impressive after the details get painted I'm sure.

Great progress on the cockpit too.

Carl

[pacificmustang]

Great work on the engine, don't let it bog you down though as I have seen too many builds stall when it comes to doing the engine. It is a lovely kit, I really had fun making mine. I have another 2 Mk9s to do at some stage. It really is that enjoyable a buid

Bruce

[Suddensky]

Evening,

Well that was a busy time... a week in Japan and then this last week with people over for dinner almost every night, followed by guests for the weekend... it's all left very little time for 'doing Airfix' as one of my mates calls it. Oh, and yesterday morning Frankie managed to tear himself pretty badly on - I suspect - some old barbed wire while running about like a loon in the woods with his chum Barney, so that meant a few trips to the vets who stitched him up nicely.

Managed to get a couple of hours in after lunch today, so it's a pretty small update but I thought it would be a good idea to keep it moving along.

I got some washes on the engine, Vallejo grey, then green, then white on some areas. Not entirely convinced, I wanted to get it looking a bit heavier and oilier, but I thought I'd leave it for now before I overdid it. If anyone has any suggestions they would be more than welcome!

Finished off the seat and belts and the other components of the cockpit chassis, including the lovely cockpit placard transfers. I really love these, they are to my mind easier to use and more scale realistic than PE items. I started with a few on the IP but unfortunately they haven't shown up too well on the pictures.

All went together very well, and a quick test fit showed that it fit perfectly in the fuselage.

That's about all for now, I've made a start on the cockpit walls but there's not really enough progress to show yet. Got a busy week ahead but this kit just keeps calling to me so I think I'll probably just make time to get some more done.

Thanks for looking,

Regards,

Peter

[thehennessyguy]

The engine and cockpit looks great so far, I picked up my first 1/32nd scale model the other day for £21 its a big ol hawker hunter by Revell and it looks great. This WIP is starting to make me want that Spitfire really bad I'm just praying it won't be too expensive because i haven't flicked over to eBay just yet haha

[mick]

good progress

[Suddensky]

The engine and cockpit looks great so far, I picked up my first 1/32nd scale model the other day for £21 its a big ol hawker hunter by Revell and it looks great. This WIP is starting to make me want that Spitfire really bad I'm just praying it won't be too expensive because i haven't flicked over to eBay just yet haha

Welcome to the wonderful world of 1/32... you know it makes sense!!! I've always found myself in a 'will I or won't I' situation with the Hunter, the kit is obviously fantastic value for money, that's a lot of plastic for just £21, and some of the examples you see built up are just amazing. Unfortunately I'm just not that much in to the UK cold war stuff... hang on, will admitting to that get me expelled from BM...? Maybe I'll read Empire of the Clouds again and be inspired to get one.

Those Tamiya 1/32 kits are by no means cheap but I still reckon they offer considerable value for money, given the sheer quality involved. You can pick up a Mk IX from a reputable supplier in the UK for £76 plus p&p, so they are by no means the most expensive kit out there either, plus you don't really need to add any after market products, as the original offering is so well detailed. If you can afford it then my advice would be to go for it... it really is a game changer!! Good luck!

[Leonl]

The Merlin looks great....

[Suddensky]

Evening,

Finally got a bit of time back with the Spitfire, first off, apologies for the pictures, I took them, then stuck the fuselage together before I checked how they had come out, they're not the best but should give you the general idea.

Got to work on the cockpit walls. Used the Airscale placard set, but to be honest I don't know if I've made the best of it. As it's a generic set there are no placement instructions and there's only so much that one can turn up online before all the conflicting versions run together in the mind, so I've pretty much gone with what felt more or less right at the time. The transfers are fine and settled down over contours well with a bit of Micro Sol and then some matt varnish to take off the shine, not that you'd know it from the pictures. Paints are Vallejo Modelair Interior Green, wash is Vallejo Grey, and the weathering is drybrushed light grey.

And the fuselage sidewalls.

And with the cockpit all built up, once again apologies for the picture quality!

Bit of a short update so that's about all for now, I almost started to add some wires and tubing to the cockpit, but then thought better of it. My rate of build is so slow already without complicating things. I've accidentally picked up a few more kits over the last month or so and I need to make some space on the stash shelf if want to be able to hide a Lanc and a B17F up there.

Hopefully tomorrow I'll get the wings built up and make a start on the engine cradle and firewall. I'm going to make an effort to crack on with things a bit quicker and get a few more kits built up.

Thanks for looking.

Regards,

Peter

[Leonl]

Nice update. Coming along very nicely. The placards look good to me...

[The Spadgent]

Lovely work. Very neat.

John.

[Suddensky]

Evening,

I've had a pretty good run at the Spitfire over the last couple of weeks, so plenty of pics in this update.

Having finished the cockpit I sealed up the fuselage and waved a sanding stick in its general direction. Then I stuck the wings together, which went well, except for the fact that I did it with one eye on the football and it wasn't until I came to mask off the nav lights that I realised I had not drilled out the holes for them... I believe the correct turn of phrase is 'Doh!' By this time of course everything was set fast, so I decided that I'll just live with it and not look at the underside too often.

Having mated the fuselage with the wings it was time to start with the Halfords grey primer, followed by Tamiya AS12 Aluminium, some hairspray - Tresemme - and then some almost random pre-shading with a very thin black. I was hoping to get some fairly strong tonal variations in the final finish to represent general fading and weathering.

The thin black seemed to pool and dry a little unevenly over the hairspray, but not to worry, it'll all be covered up:

Then it was time to slap on the blue, Xtracrylix Azure Blue to be exact, looks like it might be a little strong, but the pre-shading is showing through nicely.

I set that to one side and made a start on the firewall and engine cradle. Everything fits together fantastically well and the pipework is a joy:

What's that you say? It's a bit too clean? Very well, as you wish:

It was all going so well that I dropped in the engine, and guess what, that fitted well too... who'd have thought it. Be warned, there follow four gratuitous engine shots, I was pleased with it overall. The weathering is Vallejo grey wash followed by the green wash to represent and oily look, it seems to have worked as far as I can tell, but I am quite colour blind so who knows:

I didn't add the exhausts at this point as I was undecided as to how I would tackle the painting: I could either attach the engine and cowlings then spray, which could have led to overspray on the engine, or I could just be really careful in lining up the camouflage pattern lines and mask and paint everything separately. In the end I chose the latter approach.

So it was time to start with painting the upper surfaces, first on went Xtracrylix mid stone:

A bit concerned at some of the coverage and finish, looks like it's not gone on fantastically well over the hairspray, but this wing root will take more paint in the form of the darker brown, and there's always the weathering to come as well:

I think I like the variances in the finish, managed to get a nice random faded effect, but perhaps I should have undercoated in black and pre-shaded in white to make the mid stone appear lighter in places instead of darker. Any thoughts on that?

Time for the camouflage, in this case Xtracrylix dark earth. I've never foiund a method which suits me when it comes to soft edged markings, I've not achieved consistent results with free hand spraying, blu tac rolls, or hard edged masking. However, having read all about paint masks and how people had made their own out of paper, I thought I'd give it a go. I found that I couldn't do it with paper, as I'm no artist and don't have the facility to blow up the pattern from the instructions. So I used one of those transparent plastic document folders, cut out the rough shape of the wing and stuck it on with blu tac, the markings were then copied on with a Sharpie:

This was then removed, the shapes were cut out and the relevant bits reattached with blu tac rolls in an attempt to keep the edges a uniform distance from the surface of the airframe:

And the whole thing:

If you are thinking of trying this then be warned, it took me a very, very long time. Trying to get a single plane plastic sheet to stick to the three dimensional contours of the fuselage was challenging to say the least.

I'm happy with the results though:

So that's about where we are for now, still plenty to go. I tried to make some masks for the national insignia but after three attempts I was still not happy so I've just ordered the set for the Mustang... that should be OK right??? (I hope).

Thanks for looking, and there'll be more to follow soon.

Regards,

Peter

[Leonl]

Looking very good. I do like that scheme....