tbell

Funny you should mention the sit. I just got it up on the gear last night and the first thing I noticed was that the nose looked too low to my eye. This in spite of the fact that I had swapped the kit wheels out for the ones from the Tamiya Mk.V (mainly because I like the detail better). As for the wing shape, I compared it side by side with the Tamiya wing and while it may well be off, any error in the shape of the Airfix wing does not seem to be as pronounced as on the Tamiya wing. I am by no means an expert on the ins and outs of Spitfire shape minutia, so I guess this is a case of ignorance-is-bliss. Oh well, this was always intended to be a relaxed build anyway.

Thanks for the kind words everyone! I'll be posting shots of the finished model in a few days. Thanks for the constructive feedback Mark, it's very much appreciated. Based on your advice I've revised the belly oil staining. Funny thing is, I have a beautiful photo of the underside of MB882 and it is exactly as you describe. It was staring me in the face all along, but I just wasn't paying attention. As for the panel lines, I completely agree with you. You'll have to take my word that they look considerably more restrained in person; the photos are somewhat contrasty and the lines look more exaggerated than they really are. When I shoot the finished model I'll be using a different backdrop, so hopefully the pics will be more representative. BTW, "Dinger" was my nickname back when I was in the Canadian Forces... Kev, I used blu-tack (3M brand) to mask the camo. I rolled it into "worms" about 1/8" in diameter and masked between with low tack painter's tape. I had to go back & forth between the green and the grey in several spots to clean up a handful of minor errors before I was satisfied. Reference photos of this particular aircraft show the demarcation to be very hard, harder even than I've represented them on my model. Thanks, David. I first stumbled across the idea for refining the panel lines when I was filling in the rivets on the Trumpeter 1/48 Sea Fury. To be honest I haven't given the shape of the nose too much scrutiny, but nothing jumps out at me as being egregiously amiss. I've noticed that Airfix got the downward thrust angle of the engine correct, which is nice. One minor niggle would be that the aft end of dorsal/upper engine bulge should be more tapered/pointy than it is. It's a separate piece and could have quite easily been sanded to shape had I noticed the issue before gluing it on. The fit of all three engine bulges was excellent, BTW. All that was needed was a lick of Mr. Surfacer to blend them in perfectly. Cheers, Tony

Happy new year to everyone! I felt I needed a bit of modeling therapy, so I started this as a quick, almost OOB build a few weeks ago to try to get my mojo back. It still needs a few fiddly bits like the landing gear and antenna, but I figure it'll be done in another week or so. It's a nice kit; not quite as refined as Tamiya/Hasegawa, but very good nonetheless. It required dry fitting and tweaking to get things just so, but very little filler was needed. Some folks have complained that the panel lines are a touch overdone, something with which I kinda agree. Before starting any assembly, I gave the fuselage and wings a heavy coat of Alclad "Black Primer and Microfiller" and then sanded everything back to the bare plastic, being careful not to obliterate any of the fine raised detail scattered about the model. This had the effect of smoothing the slightly rough surface texture and rendering the panel lines somewhat finer. The other thing I just had to address were the way-too-deep Dzus fasteners around the engine. I drilled them all out, plugged the holes with stretched sprue, sanded them all flush and redid them with a beading tool. This is the first time I've tried AK Interactive "Engine Oil" for the streaking on the belly. I'm quite pleased with how it turned out: The other must-do on this kit is to thin the wing trailing edges which were almost 1mm thick with the flaps raised. Elbow grease plus 400 grit wet & dry sandpaper sorted it out. Gunze Mr. Color 23 Dark Green and Tamiya XF82 Ocean Grey over Tamiya XF83 Med. Sea Grey. I used Montex Masks for the main markings and the kit decals for the stencils. Both products were excellent. Other minor tweaks included, sanding the propeller blades thinner, adding Master brass canon barrels, replacing the radiator outlet flap with 0.010" styrene, drilling out the exhaust stubs and fabricating the little scoop on the top of the engine cowl from sheet aluminum. Cheers, Tony Bell

Hi Tony, The kit 'B' roundels (assuming you have the boxing that includes the RCAF markings) are also correct for '2185'. That is to say yes, they were the smallish ones like on the all-white Venturas. Have you considered using "oil dot fading" to weather the EDSG/DSG upper surfaces? It would look very effective, IMHO. Cheers, Tony B PS. Would you happen to have a higher resolution scan of this photo? The printouts under your model look better than what I have...

Hi Tony, Nice work so far! Seems this is going to be a popular scheme, as I'm planning to do it as well as Stewart and yourself! My sources (the May 1971 issue of IPMS Canada's RT magazine) corroborate Stewart's answer that the undersides of the wingtips were red. Here's the profile from that issue of RT: From the article's notes, "8(BR) Sqn. 'M'. Dark sea grey (36118--darker shade on drawing and Slate gray (34127), over white (37875). Sharp demarcation line lines [sic] between colors. Note: Wingtip undersurfaces red. Wing tank bear USN tricolor scheme. Roundel 36" diameter. Fin flashes 24" by 20". '2185' (rounded numerals) black 8" high. 'M' black, 24" high. It appears behind the roundel on both sides of the aircraft. Prop hub black; wheel discs white. (photo: PAC - PBG5018A)" IMHO (based primarily on the "Son of Lassie" footage) the fuselage demarcation line in the profile is incorrect. I think you've got it right on your model. Cheers, (another) Tony

Another vote for post-war RCAF:

Gorgeous! My favourite C-47 scheme. I have the same markings in 1/48 - yours make me want to dig out my old Monogram kit...

Thanks Edgar! Why am I not surprised that you would come up with something? Now at least I have the general shape of the tank - something I didn't have before. Cheers, Tony

I'm looking for some good reference pics for the Spitfire PR.XI, particularly the cockpit and the enlarged oil tank. Oddly enough, my Morgan & Shacklady book doesn't even have an illustration of the oil tank. Are there any pics out there of the Shuttleworth PR.XI in bits & pieces? Cheers, Tony

Not for a while. It's been on the back burner for a couple of months while I work on the Wingnut Wings Albatros D.V for a magazine article. I'll be back at the Spit and posting progress in a few weeks...

Looks like it's coming along nicely. I don't know why, but for some reason the PC10 and Battleship Grey colour combination has always appealed to me. Are you planning to paint your rigging material or leave it au naturel? I ask because on the real thing the RAF wires were either darkish steel or Japanned. I've found that Humbrol Metalcote Steel is the perfect colour to replicate this. Thinned with some Gunze Mr. Color thinner it brushes on beautifully. Cheers, Tony

For some reason I've had to ask Eduard for more replacement parts than I have any other manufacturer (with one exception it's all been my own doing, i.e. destroying or losing things). In every case they've provided the parts promptly and for free.

busdriver put a link in the top post in this thread. Pretty impressive build.

Belcher Bits homepage: http://www.belcherbits.com/ Straight to the Lanc engines: http://www.belcherbits.com/lines/148conv/bb15.htm

Nothing to add to Super Aero's post, except that you might find the following reference pictures useful: http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v11/tbel.../USAF%20Museum/ Cheers, Tony

Hi Ed, I like the CDL colour you used on your Pup. Could you let us know what you used? Cheers, Tony

My favourite tool for scribing is simply a No. 11 X-Acto blade with a wee bit (~ 0.5mm) broken off the tip. One trick that I've found makes scribing 10x easier is to brush a little bit of lacquer thinner or liquid cement along the line after scribing and before sanding (let it dry before sanding, of course). It makes cleaning out the line after sanding much, much easier. I used this method to scribe my Monogram P-80, and it worked great: Cheers, Tony

The Hasegawa 1/32P-47D Bubbletop might also be a good choice. Pick a scheme that has OD all along the top of the fuselage and you really only have to worry about the underside seam. Cheers, Tony

I'll echo the recommendation for the Fine Molds 'F. If you're still considering converting a 'G to an 'F, I highly recommend The 109 Lair. The drawings section will give you a lot of info regarding the detailed differences. Another small scale option is the Accurate miniatures pre-painted 1/100 109F-4 Trop. It's actually very nice: I assembled this one in one evening, spent a few minutes matching the colours to touch up the seams and then had some fun weathering it. Cheers, Tony

Basil! Would you happen to have a picture or diagram showing this detail? Now I know where where to turn if I have a question about some arcane bit of Spitfire trivia... Cheers, Tony

Thanks all, for the kind words! Dingdingding! That was the mistake I was referring to. Please collect your prize of one free internet each... I've since popped the reflector glass off and will glue it back on just before I attach the canopy (although knowing me, I'll probably forget) Shush, you. One day I'll get it back on the bench, I promise! @Edgar, thanks for all of the info. Unfortunately it's a bit too late to make good use of it, but I've made notes for the next one. Re the RR name plates, I was under the impression that the RR built engines had 'em, but that the Packard built ones (Spit Mk. XVI, Mosquito B.XX, Lanc Mk.III, Mustang, etc) had the plain rocker covers. I could be mistaken, though. @TonyT, I did indeed weather the rudder bars as you suggest, albeit after those pictures were taken, and I also added the cables (two each, so I got it right, yay) using ceramic "wonder wire". I'll make a note about the PR.XI, as I'm planning, at some as yet undefined point in the future, to convert the PCM Mk.IX to a PR.XI. Cheers, Tony

I've been chipping away at the Tamiya Spitfire for the past couple of months (OK, so I'm slow!). Instead of doing it OOB, I decided to add a few simple details, including the sea cushion from epoxy putty, some plumbing from fine solder and an oxygen hose from a guitar string. I wrapped fine wire around the grip and added the wires. I have a few more details to paint on the panel (e.g. ammo counter, blank instrument): The colour balance is a bit off in the pictures; the seat is much more brown in person. Placards are from the venerable Waldron set: I've detailed most of the starboard side, but have yet to do the port. Nor have I done the throttle quadrant: My references show cat hair by the gear quadrant, so I've tried to reproduce it as accurately as possible: I added the the RB Productions harness. This is the first time I've tried Radu's belts, and they're great. The instructions suggest using Gator Glue or Pacer Formula 560, but I had neither. The instructions are also emphatic about not using superglue, so instead I used LePage contact cement, thinned with lacquer thinner and applied with a 0000 brush. The bonds are very strong, yet flexible. Perfect. The brass & steel photoetch bits are extremely fiddly and it's a miracle I didn't lose any. Working under a magnifying lamp with needle nose tweezers was a great help. To drape the belts I soaked them in diluted white glue and them positioned them while they were still soggy. Suffice to say that in the future I will be defaulting to Radu's product if the option is there! Although I trust Tamiya's research, I still prefer the look of the more teardrop shaped canon blisters, so I substituted the PCM parts. It took some shimming, sanding, bending and fitting to get them in there properly, but in the end they look OK. I used a jeweller's beading tool to reproduce the fastener detail. Too bad most of the cockpit will be hidden now the the fuselage is buttoned up. See if you can spot the facepalm mistake (since fixed!)... One of the minor disappointments is the lack of the "Rolls-Royce" on the engine's rocker covers (no doubt due to licensing issues), so I did the artwork on the computer and sent it off to Fred of Fotocut, who produced them in etched brass for me. Unfortunately there is a minimum area for an order like this, so I have a couple of hundred left over! Constructive criticism always welcome! Cheers, Tony

Good point. If the firewall is "kinked" then it's a Griffon powered a/c, no? There are also a few Mk.V shots in there too.

Surfing last night, I ran across a bunch of good engine & firewall pics in this thread in the Czech language ModelForum. Some nice work in that forum, too...

Thanks, lasermonkey, TonyT, Tedfellows and (MaMaMa)Max Headroom! In addition to the firewall, there are some other goodies in those shots that will be really useful (like the leather gaskets on the frames for the engine panels). Cheers, Tony