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Sword Spitfire Vc Trop


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NOTE FROM FUTURE PROCOPIUS: This post is six years old.  A lot has changed in six years. 

 

So ever since I meandered over here a little under a year ago, I've realized more and more that I was not making models that looked terribly good, and that many if not all of the posters here were. My new year's resolutions included the ordinary inconsequential things (be a good husband, be a better runner, work harder, etc.) but also my top priority resolution: work on being a better modeller. I decided to knuckle down and really make the effort on a new Sword Spitfire Vc I'd gotten, since I was really beginning to feel I couldn't justify the expense of a nice model unless I really worked on it a lot more than I had been. So, I started on the 20th, and finally finished today. Normally it took me two days or three days to build a model, but I'm much happier with how this guy turned out.

HOWEVER - I still have a long way to go. I'm terrified of trying weathering, and I couldn't make a mask for the canopy to save my life. Here is the short list of mistakes I made that I know of. There are likely others I don't even see.

- Reversed the colors of the camo scheme by spraying Dark Earth as the base instead of Dark Green.

- Skewed the seat in the cockpit during assembly so it swings to one side

- Badly scuffed the canopy attempting to cut a mask while the tape was on it.

- Poor canopy framing paintwork.

- Used RAAF Sky Blue for the underbelly, as the instructions said "Sky Blue". I now believe this to more properly have been Sky Type "S".

- One landing gear slightly canted in because I forgot to remove some flash.

- The spinner looks like crap. I couldn't figure out a good way to put it together and paint it without messing up the paint or the assembly process.

Anyhoo, with that introduction, here goes:

IMG_20120304_172013.jpg

IMG_20120304_172027.jpg

IMG_20120304_172035.jpg

Please excuse the fact that this was photographed on the bathroom floor (but look how clean I keep it!), there's not a lot of natural light in late-winter Illinois.

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Good job! As far as I know, the reversed camouflage was really used during the WW2. I'm not sure about this special plane, but it's OK!

P.S. Your bathroom floor is clean just like in a surgery! :thumbsup:

Edited by Val_Ukraine
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This is a kit I'm hanging out to get my hands on. Thats a nice build and the spray job is well done. The way I understand it in regards to which sky to use the Aussie mkvc's with british serials(these were the first to arrive) were origanally painted with the British desert scheme and on arrival in Australia the sand colour was overpainted with follage green. But this sky you have would have been used later so its not wrong. For masking the canopy I follow the framing with the knife but work on a glass surface with a light behind it to out line the frames through the tape. its still not perfect and I couldn't do a circle to save myself but you need to have a new blade in your knife. its hard to tell from the photos but did you spray the canopy the interior colour before the dark earth if not this will give the framing a more solid appearrance. Looking forward to seeing your mkVIII our little trade motivated me to do mine, sorry about my little write up here you didn't really ask for advice and there are plenty here more quallified than me to give advice so I'll shut up now

Cheers Callum

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Callum's last applies to me too, so just to say that your Spit looks perfectly acceptable to me. When masking canopies I take a new blade and just use it between my fingers for closer control.

(And besides it's modellers like us that make the others look so good...)

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I think it looks fine and the Sky Blue is a better choice than Sky anyway. The canopy looks as though it has "fogged" from superglue?

For the benefit of Forlornhope who seems a bit confused about his RAAF Spits this one is a SEAC bird - not RAAF! It was flown by FO Lawrence Weggery of 615 Sqn RAF out of Dohazari during the Burma air campaign "dry" season of 1943-44 and named for his wife. FO Weggery was a New Zealander hence the fern motif on the nose. It is sometimes depicted with MSG under surfaces but for my money Sky Blue or even Azure are more likely. Judging by photographs the roundel centres, fin flash light portion and codes were probably in "SEAC white" - which was actually a light blue similar to Azure - rather than white.

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For masking the canopy I follow the framing with the knife but work on a glass surface with a light behind it to out line the frames through the tape. its still not perfect and I couldn't do a circle to save myself but you need to have a new blade in your knife. its hard to tell from the photos but did you spray the canopy the interior colour before the dark earth if not this will give the framing a more solid appearrance. Looking forward to seeing your mkVIII our little trade motivated me to do mine, sorry about my little write up here you didn't really ask for advice and there are plenty here more quallified than me to give advice so I'll shut up now

Cheers Callum

I ended up brushpainting the cockpit framing because I messed up the masking process so badly and I didn't feel confident about trying again. I like your suggestion, thanks! I think I'll try that for the future.

In fact, I've been trying to get better so that I can do the Mark VIII justice! Every now and then I give the sharkmouth a little longing look.

(And besides it's modellers like us that make the others look so good...)

Quite right! Without me they'd be nothing!

I think it looks fine and the Sky Blue is a better choice than Sky anyway. The canopy looks as though it has "fogged" from superglue?

Ah, I've managed to do something correctly in spite of myself. Splendid!

The canopy's actually like that from knife scratches during the ill-fated masking attempt and some poorly-thought-out tries subsequently to buff them out. I used Micro Crystal Clear to affix it to the aeroplane.

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Nice tight airbrushed finish on it and a pretty clean job on the construction side of things too.

Get you mitts on some Future/Klear or whatever they call it in your part of the world.

Once you've painted your subject,give it a nice even coat,let it dry and then dip your decals in it

once they float on the backing paper,apply to your model.

Your decals will never,ever silver.

You can also use it to give your Spit's glass a nice couple of thin coats.

You'll be amazed how clear and shiney it suddenly becomes.

Mark

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I have future, but I only dipped the canopy prior to putting it on the plane. I'll try painting it on in the future.

I did the basecoating thing (it got a layer of dullcoat after I put on the decals), but it never occurred to me to dip the decals on it, thanks!

PS: Miggers, I love your signature - is it from anything?

Edited by Procopius
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You have done a fine build of this Spitfire and it will look great on display !

And, with a bit of a crop here or there, the Spitfire is actually photographed very low over a solid cloud deck ..... no need to mention at all a spotless bathroom ! :D

Mike

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I think it looks fine and the Sky Blue is a better choice than Sky anyway. The canopy looks as though it has "fogged" from superglue?

For the benefit of Forlornhope who seems a bit confused about his RAAF Spits this one is a SEAC bird - not RAAF! It was flown by FO Lawrence Weggery of 615 Sqn RAF out of Dohazari during the Burma air campaign "dry" season of 1943-44 and named for his wife. FO Weggery was a New Zealander hence the fern motif on the nose. It is sometimes depicted with MSG under surfaces but for my money Sky Blue or even Azure are more likely. Judging by photographs the roundel centres, fin flash light portion and codes were probably in "SEAC white" - which was actually a light blue similar to Azure - rather than white.

Ohh my mistake I thought there was only the RAAF release so just assumed it was RAAF, but then you know what they say about assumptions, thanks for pointing that out I've got RAAF on the brain at the moment I did buy the Raaf release today though.

Cheers

Callum

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A very nice job! Limited-run kits are seldom the easiest to work on, just getting it together and making it look good are things to be proud of!

If I may make a suggestion, I like to use ordinary kid's watercolors, and chalk powder, for weathering effects. Not only are they dirt cheap, but any mistakes can be removed and re-done as many times as it takes with no risk whatsoever to the paint finish. They are great confidence-builders for starting out...and I still use them today at my advanced age, LOL.

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  • 6 years later...

First off, I'm envious that you got your hands on this kit - I have found them difficult to get, unless for an outrageous price.

You've done quite a nice job of it.

Canopy masking has never been my strongest suit, but working with small offcuts of Tamiya tape is what works best for me.

Using odd little triangular shapes, and starting in the corners, moving outwards, one can end up with a kind of "mosaic" of tape that covers all the clear bits.

I should add that, as such, I virtually never do the "stick tape on; then expose framing by cutting away the tape with a very sharp blade" method.

It's probably just me, but I can't do this without scoring the plastic or causing the tape to come unstuck.

All in all, your build is quite good - I doubt I'd have noticed if the camouflage colours were "swapped".

Keep it up - there's room for all of us in this hobby.

:goodjob:

 

 

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22 hours ago, Tom Hyjt said:

A job well done.  I like it. I have a Spit that I am going to paint shortly.  Can you tell me the exact paint you used with their identification numbers?  Thanks.   ..Tom

Hey Tom,

 

 

This was six years ago, and I wouldn't use the same paints now, but at the time I used Model Master Acrylics: RAF Dark Green and Dark Earth, and Pollyscale RAAF Sky Blue. Nowadays I'd use Colourcoats enamels, who're sold by H&B Hobbies here in the States. 

 

15 hours ago, kapam said:

First off, I'm envious that you got your hands on this kit - I have found them difficult to get, unless for an outrageous price.

Well, it was six years ago, but I do have three more in the stash.

 

15 hours ago, kapam said:

Canopy masking has never been my strongest suit, but working with small offcuts of Tamiya tape is what works best for me.

Using odd little triangular shapes, and starting in the corners, moving outwards, one can end up with a kind of "mosaic" of tape that covers all the clear bits.

I should add that, as such, I virtually never do the "stick tape on; then expose framing by cutting away the tape with a very sharp blade" method.

It's probably just me, but I can't do this without scoring the plastic or causing the tape to come unstuck.

I've found that the Eduard mask for the Hasegawa Spitfire IX fits the Sword Vc/XII/IX family of kits perfectly, so I use that now.

 

15 hours ago, kapam said:

Keep it up - there's room for all of us in this hobby.

 

 

Thanks! I did, and I think I'm at least a little better now:

 

31978560293_8ec29e8af7_k.jpg20170208_193712 by Edward IX, on Flickr

 

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Nice build of a great plane. And the first thing to get better is the recognize your own mistakes and look for ways to improve - so all things that you are doing. And hey, my builds look crap compared to most of the builds shown here. But I do get better and the main thing is to enjoy modeling, right?

 

Cheers,

Michael

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This does not as bad as you imply in your description.  I've really struggled to the spinner issue for example.

 

In any case, I bet even the best model makers make plenty of mistakes and are probably good at disguising cock ups.

 

I've trashed three models this year through clumsy handling ........

 

Regards

 

Dave

 

 

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