SpeedAS

Yep, got it. Now I see the half moon shape on Fig38. Thanks Andy! Indeed agree to disagree on the Mtt representation. That aside, your craftsmanship is great. Indeed, Erla G-10 is one to watch - with all the hope in the world that we might get a decent one finally. Good luck, I'll keep reading this thread as the G-10 is quite close to heart.

Hi Andy, I did read the first post about personal opinions. :) Funny enough, we apparently use the same references and yet reach different conclusions. I wonder, what's your take on figures 37 through 40 (the top down views) - every time I read that part I seem to think something else of it. The main idea being is that when Mtt recycled those G-6 airframes, they ended smoothing out the G-6 bulges thus being almost symmetrical - not quite. This is the reason why I think there's nothing wrong with Eduard's Mtt G-10 representation. The asymmetry is there, though quite subtle. Just outing my opinion. :) I do apologise if that somehow has upset you.

Please don't start the third world war over what I'm about to write... There's nothing wrong with the Eduard Mtt G-10 representation. Even the gun troughs are 90% correct for and Mtt G-10. The cowling represented in the kit is Type 100 which is typical for an Mtt block 130xxx G-10 which were built by recycling G-6 airframes and the WNF blocks 610xxx-613xxx. What you're trying to represent is halfway through the Type 110 cowling which is used on Erla machines block 150xxx-152xxx and 490xxx-491xxx - exactly what the front view in the first post shows.

Thank you for the kind comments!

The picture gets clearer little by little. Thank you! If it's not 100% wrong, then I'll leave the wire as is as I don't have any viable photographic evidence to what the actual aircraft had. Something to keep in mind though for the next time I'm going to be building a Mk.Vb or Mk.Vc.

Thank you all for the kind words! You explanation makes sense. Thank you! I have been in doubt about the antenna wire as I've seen pictures a Mk.V where the wire was: - running from the top of fuselage, over the mast to the rudder and; - running from both sides of the fuselage to the leading edge of the horizontal stabiliser. - absent. Not sure what to do though.

The Spitfire Mk.Vb Trop project is done. The subject aircraft is the T*M EP340 belonging to 249sqn stationed on Ta' Qali (Takali), Malta in 1942. The recorded highlight for this aircraft has been a sortie on 13th of October 1942 where the Canadian ace pilot John McElroy has managed to shoot down a Bf-109 and a Re.2001. Two days later, on 15th of October 1942, this particular aircraft - piloted by the Australian pilot Edwin Hiskens - was shot down by the German ace pilot Marian Mazurek. The loss of the T*M EP340 has been recorded as 'missing over sea', status of the Australian pilot as 'presumed dead'. Enjoy the final pictures and let's remember those who have fought for our freedom.

Short update whilst I'm racing to the finish line with only 6 days to go until the ESM show in the Netherlands. Subject of the update for today are custom paint masks done in vinyl. A big thank you goes out to a fellow model builder, Peter! Top tip: a good coat of gloss varnish is required before the vinyl masks can be used. Otherwise you risk pulling the paint off when removing the masks if the gloss varnish layer is omitted. PS: I hope i didn't overdo the chipping effects. I kind of went "Bob Ross" when doing the chipping effects - "Maybe some little, cute elephant stepped right here, happily chipping away the colorful paint..."

Thank you Christer! I'll give the decals a quick go, see if it looks ok - I can always remove these if I'm not happy with the result and spray paint the roundels. Though the odd thing with the Tamiya decals in this kit is that they supply white background decals while the roundel decals actually look solid to me. Now that my curiosity is sparked, I'm off to try these decals. Will get back with the results asap.

Just a quick update. The belly paint job has been finalised and the entire model has received a coat gloss varnish.

Thank you for the kind words! Small update and a question. I've finalised the camouflage this evening. The black edges between the two camouflage colors have been corrected. I know it looks good in the picture, though this is something I needed to correct because in real life it looks really unfinished. This is the final version of the camouflage. I hope you like it. Base layer of Azure blue has been sprayed on. Next step is getting that pre-shading done again. [/url] Now for the question. I haven't seen any decals being sold for T*M, EP340. To be perfectly honest, I don't think that decals will look good in combination with this type of paint job. I'll have to spray paint the registration and the roundels as well whilst I'm at it. Can anyone point out the correct FS numbers for the roundels? Thank you!

Thank you both for your comments and the warm welcome!

Thank you Thom! Final progress shots for today. Sprayed the middle stone color roughly according to the A-scheme. I've left a bit more room for the dark earth color as I want to avoid overlapping of these two colors as much as possible. Blu Tack has been quite useful for marking the dark earth spray area. No further masking was required as I spray paint at a fairly close distance with low pressure using 0.2mm nozzle. Here's the result after spraying dark earth. Removing Blu Tack reveals what I've been anticipating - fairly hard edge for dark earth and the need to do some touch ups for middle stone. Quite happy with the result so far. Same as with the Do-335, the detail and variation in the paintwork should really pop once a clear gloss coat is sprayed on. I guess that's the nature of Lifecolor matt paint. You don't really know what the final result is until a gloss coat is sprayed. Fingers crossed.

Time for some primer and a bit of color. First off I've sprayed the model with Alclad II Black primer. Thorough check has revealed no imperfections. Next is the pre-shading. Step 1: spray the lightest color as base color. Step 2: spray pre-shade in each individual panel using two different colors. Lightest color will simulate the worst worn paint, a bit darker color is used to diffuse and bring in some variation. Step 3: spray pre-shade over the panel lines using green/black color. This will go nicely with a desert/sand wash later on.

Nicely done! I like the idea of over-painting the decals.