johnd

A poor man's micromesh can be had by cutting out sections of a pair of lady's tights. I'll leave it to you to source them. John.

At a guess you have a finer razor saw than I have, Sten. May I ask which one you use for this? John.

That's a good job with a flawed kit. The changes to the flaps and elevators are great. However, that spinner and prop are awful (not your fault, Revell's) and you'd be amazed at the difference a Quickboost replacement would make. If you'd like a replacement antenna, pm me and I'll put one in the post. Haven't got any spare pitot tubes though. Another problem is the oil cooler as its more appropriate for a Mk I, but as it's underneath it's low priority :-) John.

Thanks for the info, fellas. That's kept the process flowing nicely. I made the prop diameter 45mm and 11' turns out to be just over 46mm so I've stopped worrying. I bought ten 6ml tubes of acrylic paint from a pound shop so I'll try mixing some white and ultramarine in with the Hu96. Well, I'm on holiday, it's supposed to be fun... John.

Thanks WiP, I was hoping red was the one. I spotted that thread but there's not much on the Airfix effort. Trouble is, there's no phone signal and patchy WiFi here so surfing is tricky.

Hi all! I'm currently away on holiday and have nabbed an Airfix 1/72 P40E starter set from a charity shop at a good price, despite being the old tool. This depicts AK772 (GA-Y). As I'm a Kittyhawk ignoramus, I'd like to ask a few questions... 1. The prop looks quite lacking in diameter - is this the case and if so how big should it be? 2. The instructions show a dark earth spinner but red seems more appropriate for a mid 1942 desert scheme. Was there something different about this individual aircraft? 3. It has Hu96 supplied for the underneath, is this meant to represent Azure Blue or another shade? TIA, John.

Apart from chuckling at the resemblance of those two parts to a couple of Mexican bandits, I was wondering would it not be possible to just remove the back of the wheel well and thereby preserve the detail?

I'd heard the same about the Admiral Vb but can't confirm it. The only thing to be suggested regarding the Tamiya Spitfires is to avoid them. If you already have them, sell them on and buy proper ones.

Great, thanks! As is ever the way I came across that Mk.XII shot, in a book that I'd somehow missed before, just after posting...

My understanding of whether to use asymmetric or symmetric walkway lines on Spitfire upper wings depended on the radiator/oil cooler combination. Those with two radiators (e.g. Mk.IXs) would have symmetric, those with a cylindrical oil cooler under the port wing (e.g. Mks I, II, V) would have asymmetric. The reason for this was walking over the radiator area on the earlier marks could result in damage to the core.This clearly had to be fixed on two radiator models. Recently I began to wonder what flavour of walkway lines were carried on airframes with the cylindrical oil cooler and a C wing, such as the Mk.Vc and Mk.XII. I'd always assumed asymmetric but keep seeing models and illustrations for the symmetric variety. Maybe the strengthening on the C wing included the area above the radiator? Thanks, John.

I think it is a C wing that has had the modification to remove the unused cannon casing. John.

Excellent, perfect timing, just starting to think of doing one of these!

It turned out very nicely, well worth the wait... I don't think it needs any more matt either.

How's this one coming along then?

You have high standards, Mish. Looks a cracker to me. Anyone know of a supplier of lobsters in 1/72?

Very impressive job there. I especially like the exhausts, something I never get right. Any tips? John.

If they're the ones I'm thinking of they're water slide decals but have a thick film over the top. You apply them in the normal way but then peel off the top layer of film after a suitable drying period. John.

Interesting pic. How do we know the nose was yellow though? From the photo it seems to be a better match to the tail band rather than the roundel outer (at least on my monitor, with my eyes)... John.

I wasn't aware that Mk.Is carried fishtail exhausts. Always thought they made an appearance on the Mk.V...

The photographs of this airframe show that the tail band was a different colour to the undersurfaces. Paul Lucas said that there were eyewitness accounts of spinner and tail band being pale blue or grey and he interpreted that as 'Air Ministry Sky Blue'.

Hillary's Spitfire was one of the first models I made on my return to the hobby. It's still on the shelf in all its glory - Hu30 at its most lurid, wings at different angles, bright silver canopy rails to represent where they'd been filed and an upside down W pressed into service as an M. Time to replace, he deserves better.

Yes, thanks, I didn't know about the last two. It's tempting to use some old tool Airfix Spitfires on a 603 collection...hmmm...

Oh...I thought that XT-D was George Denholm's usual mount and Stapme had N3196, XT-L. At least, that's the one he crash landed in, though of course they wouldn't have had the luxury of their first choice of aircraft all the time. A Stapme 603 Squadron Spitfire is on my list so if I'm wrong please correct me... John.

The instructions are a little misleading in that area. You get painting directions for both rockets and bombs in the guide for both decal options, implying you can use either for each aeroplane.

Thanks for that, the toothpaste suggestion is a good one, though I'm a little worried about the caustic soda. I'll give it a go... John.