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My third and final entry Airfix's 1/48 Supermarine Spitfire Vb in desert mode. And since the decals are sketchy at best I have a set of Vb decals from Techmod. Let the fun begin!

I didn't manage much modelling in 2021 and both completed models were for other people. They were a 1/48 scale Airfix Spitfire Vb and a 1/72 scale Revell P-47D Thunderbolt in Burma markings ( see below ). Not much, but read on, I haven't been idle!!! Now for the reasons/excuses! I spent January packing up the contents of my house, ready to move house in February. February was spent stripping out all the machines, tools, benches and units from my existing workshop. The house move happened late February. March was spent rebuilding my workshop in the new house, in a room around 20ft square ( bar one corner taken up by another room ). I also made a little photo studio and display area in a cloakroom cupboard. The workshop was first so I had somewhere to make mess while working on the house. April was felling a number of trees to tame the garden and April and May were decorating and re-plumbing the utility rooms, the office and guest room. June was started as decorating my daughter's bedroom, but which ended up being gutted with new ceiling fitted and plastering. July was fitting out shelving and storage in the garage. Some of August was a short holiday. During September and October, I took a break from major work on the house ( though it continued ) to strip down my 1/1 scale Flying Control Dodge Weapon Carrier and repaint it back to standard olive drab finish in order to get it in the garage. I'd hoped that the builders I'd booked would have modified the garage doors by September, but I'm still waiting! November I was back in the house, finishing my daughter's bedroom having got the electrics and plastering finished and also started to add another 8 inches of insulation in the main loft ( 14 x 14 metres ). Then in December, I was back on the Dodge for part 2 of the work, building an A-Frame crane in the rear. That was finished on Christmas morning, after present opening and before in the in-laws arrived. So there you go, a really busy year! I hope those are reasonable excuses for my lack of plastic activity. At least I was still building, even if most of it was at 1/1 scale!!! Now the pictures..... Airfix 1/48 Spitfire Vb Revell 1/72 P-47 Thunderbolt My new workshop, before and after pics. The mini photo studio and display area. The Flying Control Dodge at the new house. As it stood, it was too tall to fit through the garage door. I'd booked some builders to fix that problem and I'm still waiting as of January 2022. The Dodge WC51 stripdown. Stripping off the old paint. First side done. Then the truck was turned around to work on the second side. Quite a bit of welding was needed here and there to patch areas rusted through with new metal. Starting the repaint into olive drab. Painting was completed late October and it was out for the November Remembrance services on the 11th and 14th. Building the crane in the back of the Dodge. The jib winch. Crane head, ready to be welded in place. Ready for painting. A chain hoist is used for the lifting. Finally, complete and out for a photoshoot on December 30th.

Sorry for gash phots . Bit of a nightmare this one as it has been in the dope shop twice the first time looked good then i sprayed a matt varnish and it reacted.I tried to lightly remove the lacquer layer on the wings with micromesh but that had the effect of polishing the errant layer.....which is what it was supposed to do duh! So stripped it started again and here we are. I have two mk 1 inbound in both the gentlemen and ladies scale ....im not saying which is what lol

My latest model, built as part of the recent Spitfire GB. The build thread is here if you want to see it coming together. Comments and critique are welcome!

Kit: Airfix 1/48 Spitfire Vb “Specialist Spitfires” Decals: Victory Productions “Aces of the Empire” Extras: Eduard harnesses I’m attempting another parallel build. The subject of this one is Spitfire Vb W3257 of 611 Squadron RAF based at Hornchurch in August 1941. This was the aircraft of Flt Lt Eric Lock; he was killed in action on 3 Aug flying W3257 on a “Rhubarb” mission. There are a couple of photos of Lock in this one, but it’s unclear if the aircraft was FY-E or FY-F. I’m going with ‘E’ I think, but I’d anyone has better information, please shout! Steve First, the box and sprue shot And a look at the profile

Afternoon folk's at the moment no! Built for the Spitfire GB is the venerable 1/72 Vb from 1974,it was a £3:99 cheapie from King Kit just for nostalgia. Brush painted I re-cut the major panel lines and added a wash,the ailerons were cut and teased into place and a bit of graphite used for exhaust and gun staining,took just over a week.Many thank's for looking in.

Happy birthday RAF! I'm joining in with a Spitfire Vb in the markings of 457 Sqn RAAF when it was briefly based at RAF Jurby in the Isle of Man, using the recent Airfix kit and Xtradecals. This is just a placeholder for now - I'll start this build when I've made space in the production line, but as the Sea Hurricane in the Hawker GB is nearly done it won't be long. I haven't built a Spitfire in a long time. Probably over 30 years. I think the last one was the Heller XVIe. It's not that I don't like Spitfires - the opposite in fact - but I just never seem to have got round to building one. If the centenary of the RAF isn't the time to build what must be the iconic RAF aircraft, when is? This also ticks a couple of other boxes for me - it fits with my small but slowly growing collection of aircraft with a Manx connection, and it's a RAAF squadron (so will satisfy Mrs Z who has been asking when I'm going to build something Australian!). More soon when I get the box out and get started. Perhaps even tomorrow.

Hi folk's my other build for this GB is Tamiya's Spitfire Vb flown by Polish pilot Jan Zumbach,another part of the RAF's story has been the large number of overseas personel that have swelled the rank's over it's history particularly during WW2 especially from those countries occupied by the Axis power's.This will be my first Tamiya Spitfire so really looking forward to it. Now the decal's I got fromKing Kit for £3:99 so the kit was bought a couple of week's ago for this GB,I think the plan will be to use the Tamiya decal's with the AM codes etc as the roundel's don't look right to me.

Hi All- It's the new tool Airfix 1/48 scale Vb. I was looking forward to this build alot but it turned into a bit of a 'mare... I used Montex masks for the first time, and it turns out I'm not clever enough to operate them... I had seperate 3 attempts, and made a right mess of the paintwork. The u/c legs didn't work for me at all, in the end I was flailing, more or less just throwing glue at the model...lol. I was still gluing the port leg back on for the millionth time during the photos, despite using a whole can of Foul Language..ah well, lessons learned.. "Corporal! ... you know the regs on parking 1/48 aircraft in the 1/72 maintenance sheds!" Thanks for watching, Dave

Hi All, I started my Spit Vb a couple of weeks ago. It's proving to be as pleasant as other new tools in the Airfix Arsenal (well, apart from the landing gear) and I thought I ought to share my progress so far... Masked and Primed I painted the underside in a mix of Hu 90, and 34, to tone down the green tint of their sky Painted topside in Tamiya Flat Earth I tried my luck with free hand camo on the HU 27, a bit poor but I tidied it up with blu tac, and more flat earth And this is the result after tidying her up Sitting on her wheels (after a little swearing and superglue) A shot of her undercarriage And last update from yesterday, the landing gear still hadn't settled, so I used a little more glue and then had her resting on two nail files acting as support struts. That worked like a charm

I present for your entertainment my recently completed Italeri Spitfire Vb WiP here. I chose this for relaxation after Memphis Belle. Big mistake. Although it has few parts, there are challenges as the WiP shows. Built OOB as EP706 wearing 'T o L', 249 Sqdn. Malta 1942 (it says in the scheme). Spitfiresite.com says: On Malta, the aircraft saw service with No. 249 Squadron. Due to scarcity of serviceable aircraft, pilot rotation was usual on Malta, and EP706 was reportedly flown both by F/O George “Buzz” Beurling, the highest-scoring Malta ace, and Sqn/Ldr Maurice Stephens, commanding officer of No. 249 Squadron. It is probable that both these aces scored victories while flying this aircraft. The paint scheme was standard Dark Earth/Mid Stone over Azure Blue and red spinner. Airbrushed with Vallejo Model Air, unprimed (don't do this!). Edit: Forgot to add one of that 'pouty mouth': Thanks for looking

Those of you following my ramblings know I planned to build this as a rest from my Memphis Belle build but was distracted by a present from my daughters, a Gromit Aeroplane. Belle is now curing and I find myself at a loose end, so I thought I'd have a look at this again. I have several good reasons for choosing this: everyone else is building Spitfires and I want to build one now ("What a shining wit", as Mr Spooner would say) the kit has the fewest lessist smallest number of parts of any kit in my stash Malta because it's one of the schemes and "The Malta Story" was on tele (telly?) recently (Alec Guinness and Jack Hawkins - yes!) and I could pick up some detailing tips from the film as they're always realistic. And some clarification on the aircraft colours*. It's this kit: Look - "No 001"! Procopius (my Spitfire guru) has already warned me that this is not one of his favourite kits and Cookie commented that the trop filter "turns the Spitfire from a young blade about town into a grumpy old man who has just sucked on some lemons." Nevertheless, I shall proceed! * Just kidding, it's a black and white film. I thought of that 'witticism' one night. Then I thought "Why not build a Spitfire exactly the same as the reference photos? Sort of Greyscale?". That'd be really accurate and will get the rivet counters going! Then I came to my senses and had some more wine. Drink responsibly - no shouting.

Hi all I have just finished the Hobbyboss 1/32 Spitfire kit for my Dad. I wanted it finished as EN821 SNM as found in this kit but at the time In case i could not model it in 1/32 I bought this lovely little kit as a back up.... (I like Spitfires too... ) So I have started Making her yesterday and today.. (You think I would have had enough spits nope...) I Think the intention with this kit is to be a quick fun build and I will most likely do it as EN821 SNM again but this time a flying wheels up model to photo shop. I am really enjoying this little kit and will defiantly be buying more of them Including the mk1 too. This is my first ever Tamiya and I am blown away at the quality.. Cheers Rob