Alex Gordon

Yes,from the one I found in the outside world.Also available on pinterest Thanks Paul I appreciate your understanding.While you're on the hook I am starting to think that the underwing serial numbers on the Xtradecal sheet may be oversize (why is it different to all other contemporary Spitfires) and the underwing roundel locations are awry because of that.Do you have an opinion on that idea? Thanks for doing what you do by the way,the one that doesn't make a mistake doesn't make anything.

Looking good from here old chum.The eyes are a tricky thing to do,they will pass muster with no problems.

Hello again Chums,a little more progress. Adrian,thanks old chum.Me too,I was trying to stay away from the "if it's a quarter pounder he's a McDonald" line and very nearly succeeded. The various bits of strapwork are starting to go on,the usual painted masking tape.There is a sequence to be followed otherwise things will be in the wrong order. I've gone for the fancy shoulder bits,they weren't always walking into a punch up and the idea of parade order is appealing.A couple of slivers of masking tape assisted with the gluing process. The arms were then fettled and glued on making sure that the angle of the left one would be good for a musket on the shoulder.There will have to be some corrective work on the fingers to look right but that is for later on.There has also been yet more touching in of the red. In other news I've found that the paper used in the wet pallet has disintegrated so I've cleared it all out and am going to try a piece of polythene instead. Thanks all for looking in,more soon.

I have to agree,the image is a bit fuzzy and I've read it wrong but I couldn't tell you with any certainty what it does say.

As Giorgio said there were two schemes for fighter aircraft,the A and B schemes.One was the mirror of the other but the colours were not transposed so the green always stayed green and the brown was always brown.The 2 scheme idea was largely dropped by factories when the Day Fighter Scheme was adopted,the darker grey replacing the brown on the upper surfaces but there are examples of MU repaints that were in the mirrored scheme (Spitfire Vb ER220 for a start) so the patterns were still floating around in various places. The bits I could see on the photo of TZ233 and three other similarly painted airframes that I've found showed me that it was a loose version of the B scheme.

Everything I've read on the subject (there isn't a huge amount of it) agrees on Light Slate Grey which is a green colour and AZ have that in the boxart image.I hadn't noticed that the paint diagram on the back of the box has it listed as "Dark Grey",I thought it was just the way the image had been printed.

In my opinion Xtradecal is wrong.I built a 1/48th scale one earlier this year,this link will take you to the finished item https://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/235138125-airfix-spitfire-xviii-in-148th-scalefinished/&do=findComment&comment=4971011 .If you carry on to the end of the thread my reason for thinking so will become clear.

There's plenty of room for a Mk XVIII in any scale. Could they please not repeat the Xtradecal mistake of transposing the green and brown upper surface colours

You know that kit right at the back of the stash... Looking very promising so far old chum.

There is this from a while ago https://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/53345-beuteauswertung-10-spitfire-vi-cockpit-walk-around/ .

Nope,they all respond to food and some respond to "C'm 'ere ya bxxxxxx" otherwise they're unconcerned. That leak looks a bit of a nasty.Have you had to have the plaster off the walls to dry them out as well?

Shame you didn't ask The lack of will to have certain "niche" items in the search history is precisely why it was Hugh and Ailsa not Hugh and Hercules Looking good so far old chum,I'm nearly tempted to have a crack at mine.

G'day again Chums,a little more to show. Cliff,thanks old chum.It's the way I tell 'em. Tempestfan,cheers old fruit. The head has been dryfitted. The missing bits on either side of the collar joint were filled using a number tag from the frame glued in and fettled once set. The soles of the boots weren't quite meeting the plinth properly,noticeably so. I made a couple of thin cuts through the left ankle joint which took enough material away to set things right. The boot soles have been painted and the paintwork touched in. The cuffs have had a bit of attention too,paint scraped away from the lacings and chrome silver on the buttons. There's still a way to go yet.Thanks for looking in Chums,more soon.

Hello again Chums,I have to say I'm struggling with this one.It's not going the way I'd like it to,that started with the rigging not working,and I've had enough of the serial number masking not working well and the paint job deteriorating every time it's handled.I've decided to put it to one side until I can sort out an easier method of getting it there.I still haven't found the tailskid either,it's around here somewhere. That said the kit itself is spot on and well thought out and executed.My thanks go to Col and Dennis for doing their bit,Enzo for doing his and all who chipped in and generally encouraged.Special thanks are due to Jean for giving us all the benefit of his research even though it wasn't used here.

He's right you know Tidy job,well done .

Personally I think it'd be rude not to As said above "Definitely part of the Airfix experience for many of us" Good job on some tricky to get at figures .

Hello again Chums,a spot more progress. The bit that was stopping the tunic meeting the kilt properly was a locating peg in the tail. I'm going to use the sporran so the strap was made from painted masking tape. The locating peg was cut off and the tunic glued to the kilt. The head has been glued to the bonnet. And there is mould growing in the wet pallet box. Thanks all for looking in,more soon.

G'day again Chums,work continues on the serial numbers. Matt,thanks old fruit.Patience comes to he who waits.Having recently cottoned on to your Two Tiggies thread you're doing some splendid work in there. Adrian,cheers old chum.It's not as neat as we'd all like it to be. I only made the one lot of masking for the underwing serial numbers on the basis that both sides would look the same.Removing the masks revealed the not unexpected rough nearly thereness. Some fine pointed hairy stick work has sorted most of the neatening up. The smaller serial numbers on the fuselage and rudder are being cobbled together from a couple of Airfix Spitfire sheets. A strip of masking tape was positioned on each side of the rudder to give me a straight line to work to and symmetrical placement. The same sort of thing was done on the fuselage too. My fancy masking put the port rudder numbers too far aft and the stroke of each painted item too wide. Refinement and general sorting out continues. More soon Chums,thanks for looking in.

You certainly pulled one out of the bag there old chum.She's looking superb,have a few of these .

She looks good to me old fruit . Don't.She's perfectly alright as she is.

G'day again Chums,a little more to show. Andwil,thanks old fruit.That's the sort of gen that I hadn't thought about and brings life to a build thread. Ventora,cheers old lad.Wethering isn't something I'm good at so parade tidy will be the thing for this one. Our mans face is all but done.The eyes are always tricky,this time I put a tiny dot of black where the pupils should be and then took most of it away with a damp brush tip.Another go at the left eye should finish that job. There has been more paint on the twiddly bits. The water bottle has had its first coat of paint. Sooner or later bits will have to be put together.I started with the legs. There is a locating lug on the left leg that is supposed to fit into a corresponding slot on the right leg.It didn't fit.Dryfitting legs to kilt revealed that it was going to be a fiddle so the lug was cut off and then the legs inserted individually and wiggled to make sure that the relevant bits met the plinth properly.Glueing was done through the top of the kilt into the holes in the mounting plate inside. Mounting onto the plinth was done by drilling appropriate holes and fitting up a copper wire pin.This was done before the glue had set so that any further wiggling to fit wasn't going to be a problem. I couldn't resist an offer up of the tunic which revealed the need for a spot of fettling to hide the nearly there joint. Some of the paint has come off with handling but no more than I'd expect even if I was using enamels.I have to say that the wet pallet idea is working very well,just lift the lid,do a bit then put the lid back on until the next session. More soon Chums,thanks for looking in.

Hello again Chums,some masking this time. Dennis,thanks old fruit on all counts. Adrian,cheers old chum.I don't have a printer or any decal paper.I'd like a Silhouette cutter or similar but I haven't found one I can afford yet so,as you are about to see,I have to handball everything. I've oversprayed the relevant areas of the airframe with matt black paint. Using some spare decals as a template I've been cobbling together some tiny little strips of masking tape. It's taken most of the day to work up this lot. Silver paint next.Then I could do with finding the tail skid which I appear to have mislaid . Thanks all for looking in,more soon.

I haven't seen this one before.Going from Aircraft Modern to Which A 10 C kit this happened All working fine after I'd processed all the screenshots.

This was dicussed in the Rumourmonger thread here https://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/235104530-airfix-148-buccaneer-s2-for-2022/&do=findComment&comment=4308253,there was a photo of one airframe in the grey/white scheme with the fairing in front of the intake.