robstopper

Another lesson learnt.........don't apply paint before having had a coffee in the morning.... Applied a fresh coat of silver on the wings this morning, which went on better. Then I thought "that looks a bit dark...." At first, I put it down to having used a black primer, but then realised I'd used 56 Aluminium, when it should have been 11 Silver. D'ohhhhhhhhhh..... Oh well, it's only the first coat, needed a second anyway.

I tried the first coat on the wings earlier, which just didn't work - thinned too much, I think. I had tried it without primer too, which probably hadn't helped. Now primed, will try again when that has cured. Almost made another mistake with the windscreen, having masked it and painted it all aluminium. But, the lower section where it meets the fuselage should have been OD! Thankfully, I hadn't trashed or thrown away the masks, they were still useable, so they have been reapplied so I can apply the correct colour. Lesson learnt? Don't get carried away and rush things 😂😂

No visit to Duxford as the weather was poor yesterday, so a bit more progress. Main build all done, first coat of Metalcote polished aluminium applied to the fuselage, flaps and small sections of the wing undersides done. Needs a second coat, then the fun bit - breaking out the multitool and buffing wheel to turn it in to metal! Then I'll apply good old Humbrol Silver Fox to the wings and tailplanes. Undercarriage done, not that impressed with the CML resin undercarriage and wheels. So much flash to clean up, they didn't really look much better than the kit ones. Tyres look fine tho. Front windscreen is done, needed a bit of fettling to the Eduard instrument panel for it to fit though, possibly because that is more for the Tamiya kit not Revell? Canopy is masked, and painted inside, just needs another coat or two of yellow on the outside. I used canopy masks inside and out for the first time, much easier at 1/32 scale! Does make it look better however.

Wing fillets on, needed a bit of fettling and a small bit of filler. Rudder and tailplanes on too, these were a doddle, no alignment issues due to the fixing tabs keeping them nicely in place Weather-depending, i might be over at Duxford tomorrow, so no progress may be made until next week now.

Bit more progress. Fuselage halves together. Pretty good fit, minimal sanding needed, just a small smear of filler behind the canopy sliding rail. Quickboost exhaust stubs. These needed some enlarging of the ports in the shroud before they'd fit, and I also couldn't fit the interior mounting plates, but the shrouds glued in to the openings OK so they weren't needed anyway. I usually prefer to fit the exhausts as a final step to make the fuselage painting easier, but as these needed to be fitted from inside the fuselage halves, that wasn't an option on this. I should really have painted the shrouds before fitting the exhaust stubs though, so I'll have to be careful there. Propeller nose cone "arf'n'arf"d black and white, boss painted red, and prop blades with the tips masked off (these are yellow on the outer face only, the back faces are completely black on Contrary Mary and I think other Mustangs?), needing a second coat of black Wings assembled, and mounted on to fuselage. Leading edge fillets still to fit, I left them off so I could get a better fit to the wing roots. The wings needed a bit of persuading to fit, I think I should have paid a bit more attention to joining the top and bottom halves together. Propeller assembled. The bottom intake needed persuading to fit as well, and will need a bit of fettling to smooth the join to the fuselage, but I've had worse to deal with on kits.

Ah ha, i see what you did there Mike! I'm a Fortunate Son to have a nice kit to work on, I hope I don't have to Run Through the Jungle to get it built 🤣 Anyway....back on topic. Yes, you're right, I did need to sand the cockpit assembly down somewhat to avoid it blowing out the fuselage halves too much. I had just a small gap to fill aft of the canopy sliding rail. Made a start on the wing assembly last night, and put the lower intake together as well. Pics to follow once interesting progress has been made.

After having done my tribute to Contrary Mary in 1/72 scale a little while ago, I've now started on a 1/32 version too. I *was* going to build it as the Duxford IWM - based "Hun Hunter/Texas" but come on....i gotta build it as Mary, right? Using the Revell "later version" kit, with Lifelike decals, I have for the first time gone down the route of some aftermarket resin additions. Eduard Look resin instrument panel and PE seatbelts, Quickboost exhausts, and Czech Master wheels and undercarriage legs. Early days so far, but impressions are good, much better than the Revell 1/32 mk ix Spitfires I have built in the past. Just a small gap in the fuselage halves behind the canopy to deal with.

Thanks. I do always try and find different angles, shots and compositions. With the amount of time i spend at Duxford, you can quickly end up with loads and loads of very similar photos otherwise. And using b&w is a great way of masking errors in exposure, etc, something i still need to rely on 😅

I'm a lucky chap fullstop, to have had the chance to get to know the chaps who own and operate RW382, and them being generous and welcoming enough to let me help them out on days like this. Every time I've driven back home recently, I find myself wondering "Did that really just happen?". Utter privilege to be granted that sort of access, being airside gives you a different perspective - it never ceases to amaze me the level of interest and appreciation the public have for these warbirds, and '382 in particular it seems.

Thanks LB! I'm used now to having grass stains, oil stains, damp shirts etc.....Darren Harbar has got a lot to answer for, I tell ya! It was something I learnt from him, having the grass/tarmac in the foreground gives a different perspective to the standing upright shots that most people automatically default to, myself included. You just have to put up with the odd looks when you prostrate yourself on the ground at every opportunity! 🤣 I also had a little visit to the top of the control tower, so got some top-down shots that I wouldn't ordinarily have the chance for too.

I spent another fabulous day at IWM Duxford yesterday. Weather wasn't the best, but the airside access I got more than made up for it! I'd planned my visit to spend some time up on the Tank Bank, practising shots before my next airshow attendance there, but that didn't happen as I was too busy acting as assistant ground crew on the Suffolk Spitfire. Cleaning, guiding in and out of the hangar and generally running around after her is pretty fine way to spend a Saturday. Plus, it gave me some great photo opportunities in unsual areas. Heavy metal there in the shape of the Fury Mk.II, P-47D Nellie B, a couple of Hurricanes, Aerial Collective T9 Spitfires, the wonderful Lockheed 12A Electra Junior which Air Leasing have recently returned to flight (a first for me!), MkVIII Spitfire MT928 (MV154), and of course my lady, RW382. Best though was seeing Sally B strutting her stuff, so good to see her back in the air after being given a clean bill of health in the last few weeks! I was sheltering from the light rain underneath Plane Sailing's Catalina for the shots of her running up the engines, that wing makes a good umbrella 🤣

Yes, I've taken shots down at the M11 end, aiming over the Stephenson Hangar, with reasonable results. As you say, it depends what time of the day - the later it is, the kinder it is to you. Mid way through the day, and mid point on the crowd line, is a bloomin' nightmare 😅 thanks for the advice, will head up to the tank bank this weekend, to hopefully get some nice shots of RW382. If it works for me, I'll head there on the flying day at the end of the month too. I'm glad I live local-ish to Duxford and have IWM membership!

Looks like you do get a bit better light from that angle, rather than directly in to the sun like usual at Duxford. I didn't make it over on Saturday in the end, too much wind, rain and low cloud. But as my mates at the Suffolk Spitfire are operating there this weekend, I'll hopefully be there this saturday instead.

Excellent pics. Were you stood at the tank bank end of the runway for these? I'm popping over there tomorrow to get some practice in before the USAAF Flying Day at the end of July.

What a coincidence, I'd thought about paying a visit here this weekend too! Decided to wait until it wasn't quite so scorching hot though 🤣 Thanks for sharing.

Agreed! The side shots of G-IRTY look fab, but especially the underside made it look like Bacofoil! 😅 Still, absolutely stunning in the air, true goosebumps moment for me. Thoroughly enjoyed my second SW show, so massively different to Duxford shows. Even when there was a queue building up at the end of G-IRTY's display, the parking marshalls were switched on enough to realise, and divert people, myself included, around the back of the hangars and out the old main gate, so I was on the road and on my way home quicker than I'd have been by using the "new" entrance. They should teach the Duxford parking marshalls how to do things!!

My second Shuttleworth airshow, two weeks after the first! Themed to aircraft which have flown long distances, around the world etc, etc. I was tempted there by the presence of G-IRTY, the Silver Spitfire. Had this aircraft on my must-see list for ages, and she didn't disappoint - looked stunning in the sunshine. The BBMF Lancaster flew some wonderful passes, John Romain sparkled in the Buchon, and there were some wonderful, unique pairings/groups that only Shuttleworth can provide.

Thank you! I did use the Dallas hood from the kit to give it a bit more bulge to the canopy, but as the rest of the kit is still pure single seater and not TF-51, I didn't have to try and replicate that "cheat". Couldn't find a TF conversion kit in 1/72!

Thanks chaps. To be fair, the photos do a good job of hiding a lot of the small defects, but I did try really hard with this one. Nearly had a disaster due to an errant drop of CA on my fingertip when fitting the undercarriage.....just about got away with it, just the barest smudge in the paint.

Another one for my collection of 1/72 scale versions of warbirds that I've had the opportunity to sit in, either static on the ground or in the air. Latest is the Airfix P-51D "Contrary Mary", representing the TF-51D from Ultimate Warbird Flights I flew in earlier this month. Not a bad little kit, for just under £9. Had to buy two tho, as I massively messed up my first attempt at the blend of natural metal finish fuselage and painted silver wings, so the first got sacrificed as a test mule. I used Humbrol metalcote polished aluminium for the fuselage and some panels on the lower wings, burnished with a gentle action on my multitool, and good old Humbrol no.11 silver on the wings and tailplanes. Gloss finish to the wings, satin on the fuselage as its not that shiny on the real aircraft. Decals are Lifelike, which went on fairly well, even on the compound curves. Just the vertical tail ones split a little and needed some touching in. Only major fault on the kit is a huge amount of flash on the aerial, so I had to cobble together one from scrap. All in, it served as a nice warm up and practice for the 1/32 scale version I will build later this year.

The first one of the season always seemed quieter. I think the USAF one was busy as it was during the school holidays too, and they had given away loads of tickets to military personnel. I'm an IWM member too, should be over there this saturday for the 4th time already this year, to catch up with my friends at The Suffolk Spitfire

great pics. What was the traffic situation like on this one? The last Duxford FD I went to last year put me off massively from going to another one, which is a shame. I'd been to several over the last couple of years, and they were great - good flying selection, but enough of an "underground" event that the crowds and traffic weren't excessive. The USAF 75th Anniversary one last year though was a shambles - seems word has got out about them now.

hahaha, that's a quality shot.

Thank you very much, kind of you to say. I think it's probably the single best, most successful day with my camera I've ever had. So, I've now booked to go again on the Around the World airshow on 4th June - the Silver Spitfire should be in attendance!

Thanks Hans. Do you also do your best work at night, after the sun has gone down? 🤣