arfa1983

Yes it was kit decals. This kit is probably one of the older ones in my collection but it does make me nervous about some of the other sheets I have. So I will have to get some of the Microscale to be safe on those "more important" kits! I've certainly heard of people having this problem before but I definitely never encountered this myself before.

Well, with the extension granted for the F14 group build, I thought it would be better to work on this and get more practice. This was a long day! And I really know why I cannot switch from 48 to 72! Before masking : Several (painstaking) hours later: Oh almost forgot: Several minutes later: Moment of truth: I then needed the instant gratification of putting decals on. Oh man are these decals bad. Cracking, breaking, even exploding into a million pieces! But anyway, got about 75% of them on. Bedtime now. Is it perfect? Far from it. Are there countless flaws? Oooh yeah. Plenty. Do I love it? Yes! It's so nice to be on the home stretch with this one, and all the elements and colours come together so nicely. I've really learned a lot with this build and paint job. Mostly that 1/48 is my preferred scale!

Teeny tiny! That out of register yellow circle on the roundels is anxiety inducing.

για τα τζάμια? So it's like Windex?

Well got the second colour and next mask on! Very excited to spray the final colour and do the big reveal! By cutting the tape extremely thinly you can do really bendy bends.

Well if it goes as fast as 2021 it will be here in no time!

What do you mean by Ajax ?

That looks so good! One thing I always notice with planes with big roundels like that is that they always look a little stark contrasted with the beautifully weathered camouflaged paint job. I suppose painting the roundels can allow for similar techniques to be used (not that I have ever done it!) But I have used a pale white or grey thinned to try and show a faded effect on the roundels. However it didn't look quite right. I am absolutely not criticizing your beautiful Spitfire but just wondering if anyone has any ideas on this?

It was actually @Tim Moff who got me onto it. They only had 12mm stuff at LHS but I've been cutting it into strips. It works OK, but doesn't have quite the stickiness of regular Tamiya tape, so make sure it's burnished down well and double check again before committing paint to plastic!

Thanks LM I will keep an eye out for it here. In the past I've tried other cheaper stuff before and it's usually not performed well, so I've stuck (no pun intended) with the Tamiya. For large areas I usually just use printer paper though to keep costs down!

Well done! Looks so cool to have such a, frankly speaking, ugly model kit built and painted to such a high standard. For sure you needed to use the kit decals for authenticity! So. Which one will you build next?

Had some fun today with my new toy Tamiya bendy tape for curves. Looking forward to seeing how it looks when done! Worked on this instead of my F14 because we had few too many today for a bbq lunch so didn't want to ruin it. 🍺 So this poor F15 became my victim! Will spray the green first and then another mask job, then the tan colour. Then it will be back to regular Tamiya tape for the grey areas. Certainly I know why 1/48 is my usual choice.

It goes together incredibly well. I didn't think the side panels were too bad. They are mostly invisible anyway. Thanks for the pointers on the decals! I will be using the kit stencils so I'll keep that in mind. Did you use setter and softer with your decals?

To prove I'm not just waiting for the possible extension, I got the white on today with Mr Color 316. Once you go laquer you never go backer! I should be able to get the grey on tomorrow morning plus a coat of gloss so I'll be in pretty good shape for finishing up on time or almost on time! Finishing weapons will be a second priority. Most reference photos for this plane show it naked so if they aren't done in time it will also end up that way in the gallery, then I'll finish them as I don't want to rush the weapons or work on them if mojo is waning. I picked up the white paint at the LHS today and they'd got a recent shipment of goodies so stocked up on Tamiya putty, Mr surfacer, Tamiya extra thin, plus some of the bendy Tamiya tape I have recently heard about!

Definitely could do with a week extra or so!

Well, that goes without even saying!

Well, that goes without even saying!

Thanks! Never seen it but I need to get some

Excellent Finnish!

What is Tamiya bendy tape???

A perfect job Thit!

Stunning

Sign me up! Will definitely use this as an opportunity to try out some heavy handed weathering and new techniques.

This one is not dead .... yet! With a push I believe I can get this super close if not finished by the end. A week or two extension (like the F4 STGB) would be a welcome early Christmas present though! I have most things primed and/or ready to be primed. I worked out all the seams I could see after the first primer and so should be able to do most painting this weekend. I have also polished and dipped the canopy but I am not sure if there was even a seam line on it!? It seems the seam perhaps only extends halfway down each canopy section like a detonation cord or something like that. Anyway, as it stands now! Yes I am sick of dark primer but naught else available here at the moment. And some bowls of bits!

I guess the Greek part could, but there doesn't seem to be any mention of Turkey in there! Certainly if there isn't enough interest in this one I'll build my buckeye in that one!