DaveyGair

With the Swordfish and the Spitfire IXc tuckes away in their respective galleries time to get on with this. I gave it a blast of grey undercoat which didn't reveal anything worth troubling over so got some paint on. In my enthusiasm I forgot to take photo's of the progress so here's where we're at. The colours were airbrushed using Vallejo ModelAir paints. Medium Sea Grey undersides, top was Dark Green over Ocean Grey, for which I used USAF Medium Gunship Grey. At first I thought this may look too dark but as I surmised (pure luck really!) under a coat or two of Matt varnish the colour toned down a fair bit. I think it looks OK anyway. All the decals were applied using 'Klear'. For the large serial codes under the wings I 'Blu-tacked' the gear doors in place then applied the decals, cutting through them after they dried. Next stop, all the fiddly bits then the Gallery! Davey.

Hi Pete, lovely job mate. This is what I want to avoid but could be an option, I'll try with the kit turrets first. I doubt if CMK would oblige but when doing a Mk.1a they had the wider tail-planes and Lanc' fins anyway. Using a Revell Lanc' kit as the fuselage donor. I've just finished reading the book by Robert Kirby 'The Avro Manchester: The legend Behind the Lancaster' and it's a great read. Apparently at different times different aircraft, whether Mk.1 or 1a had the upper turrets removed. The ventral one was discarded early on. So some research or modellers licence is required. The Mk.1 I want to do from the Planet kit, L7301, ZN*D of 106 Sqn flown by Plt.Off L.T. Manser who was awarded a posthumous VC, doesn't have the blisters in the canopy, an upper turret and has the early short exhausts. I may just use the tail-planes as is, life's too short! Davey.

I hope I can do it justice, and it comes out as good as yours. I will have to modify the tailplanes so I get the 33' span for a later Mk I. The trouble is I have a few Lancasters and an Airfix Stirling but I will be using the turrets on all of them, except the early upper on the Stirling as I will be doing a later B.III. So it will be OOB as they say! Davey.

Many thanks guys. Steve, I think it's the Matt varnish that's brought the whole thing together toning down the colours a bit. I hope everyone is doing OK in this Lockdown, I'm loving it, my wife is climbing the walls being the type that likes to get out and drag me around National Trust places! Davey.

Supermarine Spitfire Mk IXc. S/Ldr Eugeniusz Horbaczewski, Polish Fighting Team, Afrika, 1943. KP kit Built OOB, brush painted with Xtracrylics, Galeria Matt varnish airbrushed over 'Klear' gloss.

Thanks Cookie, I've got quite a few different aircraft lined up for a desert scheme, watch this space! Here we are finished. I've done a bit of weathering, I know vehicles and aircraft got battered by the wind and sand but I don't like to go too over the top! I lost the canopy rear view mirror, scratched a new one and lost that one so it'll have to do without! I think this will be the last Spitfire, got other stuff to get on with not GB related. Davey.

Lovely job Pat. I hope there's another Lanc' GB in the future, had too much on to do one justice in this GB. Davey.

Lovely job Pete, I don't think I'll have the spares for turrets when I do mine! I had another look at mine and got the Caruna plans out from the Warpaint book to have another look. I'd read elsewhere about the 28' tailplane thing. The Planet kit parts for both tailplanes are a perfect match on the drawings, but when I measured the overall width of the tailplane his drawing comes out at 30' 5" or there abouts! The Planet fuselage halves seem to match up but are longer than the drawing (Manchesters were 6" longer than a Lancaster) so got a Revell fuselage half out of the box and it's more or less a good match. Shows you shouldn't treat drawings as gospel! Of course I want to do a later 33' span aircraft! Davey.

Got the decals on and a Matt varnish done (airbrushed on), really hides those brush strokes! The decals were very thin and a couple broke on handling but generally stuck to where they were placed and could be pressed into the panel line detail. I don't know if it's just me but the upper wing roundels look a tad big, comparing it to the other Spitfire builds I 've done they seem the same, maybe it's the colour scheme? Davey.

Thanks Djordje, the Black is simply Ultimate's Black Acrylic Primer airbrushed and I did a very, very light dry-brush over the surface with Dark Slate Grey (just what I happened to have at hand!) Davey.

Thanks for all the positive comments people. This is the fifth of Airfixs' new tool models I have done and like the rest was a pleasant build. For some reason in the last couple of years I've started collecting various decal sheets just to build something different from what is in the box and perusing the interweb came across Xtradecals sheet for the Swordfish and Black Mischief' immediately grabbed my attention. As it was researched by Tony O'Toole it must also be accurate? Davey.

Like everyone else I think it looks good and you enjoyed the build and that's what counts. Like Adey I did a downturn in modelling because of trying to emulate the great builds I saw at my local IPMS branch and modelling shows, but it just boils down to what makes YOU satisfied? I think I have gotten better this second time round and end up not obsessing about hiding every last join and 'is that shade of green correct?'. Davey.

Got some paint on this today after finishing the Swordfish. As mentioned earlier, since getting back into modelling a few years ago I got some airbrush gear and a bunch of Vallejo ModelAir paints, plus others, and have been satisfied by the results, and as a bonus the clean-up is easy. I thought I would give 'hairy stick' painting another shot. I've used Xtracrylix paints for all three colours. I used this type of paint on the Stuka I did earlier in the year and thought I would give it another go. It dries almost as soon as you put it on, even when thinning it a little. But I persevered and after a few coats of each colour it doesn't look too bad. I did brush on some Vallejo Acrylic Grey Primer beforehand, but this seems better airbrushed on. I made a mistake on the starboard wing scheme and had to redo it! I feel like there are still a lot of brush strokes visible, so experimented with a light sanding of the port wing. This took the 'peaks' off and made the wing look a bit weathered! Anyway, onwards and upwards, I'll get the decaling done tomorrow maybe before all the little finishing bits and pieces. Davey.

Very much so! Given me food for thought. I've never thought about displaying any of my models in a diorama set up, but I've recently bought the Airfix Bomber supply set, for some reason, so need to have a go at this. I plan to do an Alleycat 'Tallboy' conversion of an Airfix Lanc', have a resin lifting trolley coming from Canada, so need to do something like this to display the aircraft about to be bombed up. Cheers Adey. Davey.

I always like looking at your RFI's Adey, especially interested in the scenery, especially the airfield/airport type. Do they take up much space or are they just set up for photo's and tucked away again? Davey.