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Excellent work. It looks almost real!

We have a few decals

Prop and exhausts dry fitted to check alignment. Honest.

Meanwhile, I have added this little rod.

We have gloss! Well, in places at least. The green went on much more smoothly than the dark earth which is still matt in places despite several coats. I sprayed Humbrol Clear for the first time and it worked fine although I found it needed just a drop of thinners. I also removed the masking from the cockpit. Now, if I could only find the instructions I'd put some decals on.

Cheers, Jason. This one will be a later Mk I with a Rotol prop. The other will be an early model.

At long last the paint is done. One or two little spots need attention but overall I'm pleased.

Well, I was going to wait until the other Spits were ready and paint the green all at once but in the end I coudn't wait and so out came the Revell Matt 37 enamel and I put on a few coats. First I went round the edges with two very light coats to seal the edges of the masking and prevent any paint getting underneath. Then it was just a case of building up thin layers of paint until it all looked good. Only problem now is I'm itching to get the masking off. Be patient, man, be patient.

With the Eduard 1/48 Mark IX spitfire close to needing the upper surfaces painted I thought it might be a good time to get back to this little project. So I have spent a few hours masking the camouflage on KLoT. The method was simple if a little time consuming. Stick on tape, draw pattern, cut with new scalpel. If you are interested in the Eduard Mark IX Spitfire, here's the whole sorry tale. http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/234990153-a-sad-and-sorry-tale-or-a-comedy-of-errors/

The assembled propellor. The blades were polished slightly to remove some imperfections and decals applied. The spinner had a few coats of Clear before some very fiddly decals went on. Finally two or three layers of Matt Cote before being held together with my new best friend EMA Plastic Weld. Time to wrap this up carefully and put it away.

A spare hour this morning saw the other side getting the treatment. Here it is with the wash applied... ..and here it is cleaned up. Still a bit to do but I'm happy with it.

I know I said I would be unlikely to get much more done for a while but impatience got the better of me. The paint was dry and being a satin finish rather than matt I thought I would have a little play with some wash effects. So out with Humbrol's Dark Grey Wash and start working on the panel lines. This is a technique with which I have had limited success in the past but I'm happy with the result this time. Have only done one side so far in case it all went pear shaped. Can you tell which one?

Those little improvements have made a big difference. As somebody else said, Mustangs really look great in RAF colours.

Meanwhile, work continues on the propeller. The spinner and blades have been glossed with a few coats of Humbrol Clear. The blades have been polished up to a decent shine and the decals are being applied. The spinner has been dirtied with an enamel wash of dark grey mixed with a bit of brown while the back plate was given a wash of Citadel's Nuln Oil to make it look really grubby. They aren't the best pictures but they'll give you some idea of how things currently stand and it may be a while before anything else happens.

At last the yellow stripes, fuselage band and cannon fairings are masked and the undersides get a coat of Humbrol 165 Medium Sea Grey. My solution to the stripes is to mask off the bottom half, spray the grey and then mask off the top before spraying the upper surfaces. This seems to make more sense than trying to mask off the stripe in one go or painting it afterwards. We shall see.

A bit of masking done and these will soon be finished.

Next up is the Sky fuselage band so out with the trusty Humbrol 90 and whack a few coats on. Leave that to dry a bit and add a few more coats to the spinner. That's fine, leave it to dry, add a last coat to the fuselage band. Shall I pick it up by the wing? Shall I pick it up by the nose? No, pick it up by the bit you just painted! It's ok, it's only one side, a quick wipe with some white spirit... I was on a bit of a roll now so I got out the Revell 15 Matt Yellow and sprayed the prop tips and the leading edges of the wings. I'm not sure how I'm going to do them yet but it seems easier to paint and mask them now than try and do it once the camo is on. You may have noticed some extra blades in there. I haven't had a brainstorm and tried to add a couple more props to a Mk IX Spitfire. They are actually for a Seafire which I started while wondering what to do with this one.

Thanks for the info, everyone.

I was searching the net for any images of this Spitfire. It's a Mk IX MK126 5J-G 126 Sqn RAF Harrowbeer 1942 and I noticed the cannon fairings appear to be painted black and white. Anyone know why?

Not having a dedicated area in which to build models, I find that things slow down dramatically as soon as any real painting needs doing which is what has been going on recently. Today I have the house to myself and I managed to get some done so I'm now back to where I was in October. Never mind, it's all good practice.I've kept the preshading deliberately quite heavy on the upper surfaces becuase I usually end up almost obliterating it with the top coat and I want it to be a bit more obvious on this one. The sharp-eyed amongst you will have noticed I've painted the cannons black. I have a photo of this aircraft which appears to show the cannons painted black and white. I've no idea why so will be asking questions later. Anyway, onwards and downwards!

Hmmm. Is there a dislike this button?

The good thing about washes is if you get it wrong you just wipe it off and do it again. Very nicely done, though. Great looking cockpit.

Fill, sand, fill, sand, prime, sat on by children, glue back together, fill, sand, prime fill, sand, prime...enough ENOUGH! Here she is with the last primer she's getting. Looking good now although it has to be said some of the fine detail has been lost in places.

Above and below. There's a bit of cleaning up to do and a couple of little places still to fill but its nearly there.

The other side