Procopius Posted March 30, 2012 Share Posted March 30, 2012 Earlier this year, I resolved to build a sharkmouthed Spitfire, and thanks to the kindness of Britmodeller's Forlornhope, who sent me some spare Almark decals he had, I just finished doing that. I used the Hasegawa Spitfire VIII kit for the build, accepting (but not liking) that it has some length issues. I sanded off the bulges over the landing gear bays, as I'm reasonably sure that they were not present on the aircraft during the war, and used an Eduard pre-painted etch set for the cockpit--an effort largely wasted, especially when it came to the tiny rudder pedals I painstakingly bent and folded, and which are totally invisible to even the most grimly determined observer. I swear to you they're in there, though. I also used an Eduard mask for the canopy and hubcaps, and I now see that my entire life before discovering these was wasted. I masked the camouflage using these incredibly useful templates, downsized to 1/72 through judicious misuse of my office copy of photoshop. I also used Future/Klear vice micro-sol/micro-set as my decal solution, and it is VERY effective, albeit alarmingly predisposed to cause the decal to stick instantly and resolutely. Not good if you're ham-handed, as I am. Now, on to my mistakes. There are probably others not obvious to me as well. 1. Completely stuffed up putting on the sharkmouth decal, the whole point of the thing, and the aeroplane has a very lopsided and sheepish looking grin as a result. 2. Failed to use filler at the wing roots and fuselage seam, and it shows. 3. Landing gear slightly cockeyed. Please excuse the poor photo quality, I use my phone for these, and it's a mere 5mp. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Forlornhope Posted March 30, 2012 Share Posted March 30, 2012 (edited) I think you have done a very good job there except what happened to the red prop hub ? . (ok it was red with a white stripe at the back and a pain in the bottom to mask)Really though this is awesome. what have you used to attach the canopy if its just pva glue you could rip it off and replace it with a vacform canopy later on and have the canopy slid back, that would show alot more of the cockpit detail you have added but this will look nice with your other Spitfires. Bought myself another Hurricane to use thouse decals you sent me turns out the Airfix mkI is still the old one (I already got 1 of those in the stash.) I want a new one might have to get AZ unless I get lucky and find another Hasegawa kit. The sharks mouth is good fun to line up isn't it Once again great finish and thanks for sharing Cheers Callum. Edited March 30, 2012 by Fornlornhope Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HOUSTON Posted March 30, 2012 Share Posted March 30, 2012 Procopius, PRETTY COOL AND IMPRESSIVE Build. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimbuna Posted March 30, 2012 Share Posted March 30, 2012 A lovely example. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Procopius Posted March 30, 2012 Author Share Posted March 30, 2012 I think you have done a very good job there except what happened to the red prop hub ? . (ok it was red with a white stripe at the back and a pain in the bottom to mask) Aaaa! I should never have trusted the decal sheet without looking at a photo! It said white, and I, fool that I am, believed it. A quick google image search would have shown me otherwise. I had wondered why your build of it had the red spinner... If you do go the AZ Hurri route, let me know how they are; I'm starting to feel snobbish about raised panel lines and thus less enthusiastic about the old Airfix one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
goose Posted March 30, 2012 Share Posted March 30, 2012 Thats a very nice looking spit, i do like aircraft with the shrks mouth, makes them look mean. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vulcanicity Posted March 30, 2012 Share Posted March 30, 2012 A very nice build. Certainly not much to worry about there! The fuselage seam is not that noticeable Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SAAF Modeller Posted March 30, 2012 Share Posted March 30, 2012 Very nice! My favorite planes to build at the moment. 72 scale Spitfires. Haven't build a Hasegawa one yet... It looks great! Well done Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Forlornhope Posted March 31, 2012 Share Posted March 31, 2012 Aaaa! I should never have trusted the decal sheet without looking at a photo! It said white, and I, fool that I am, believed it. A quick google image search would have shown me otherwise. I had wondered why your build of it had the red spinner... If you do go the AZ Hurri route, let me know how they are; I'm starting to feel snobbish about raised panel lines and thus less enthusiastic about the old Airfix one. Some of them had white spinners I think , just call it modelled at a time when it was borrowing this one after some problems with the red one does suck about the instructions though its a pretty obvious feature of the aircraft colour wise. I'm sticking with engraved panel lines kits because I'm trying to use washes and chalks to highlight them. I could scribe them myself but my scribing skills suck . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tempestwulf Posted September 22, 2012 Share Posted September 22, 2012 Even with the faults it's still a fine job. You'll get better with time and motivation, it's about trying something new and doing just that little bit extra each time. I've got a 1/72 Hasegawa Spitfire VIII under construction myself atm. "Avagrog" from 79 Sqn. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike DeTorrice Posted September 22, 2012 Share Posted September 22, 2012 You are far too hard on yourself ....... it's a wonderful Spitfire ! The shark-mouth version is clearly an excellent choice and it really fits the Spit ideally. Very well done ! Mike Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnd Posted September 22, 2012 Share Posted September 22, 2012 I agree with Mike, you're being too hard on yourself. It looks good to me. Regarding the masks you printed off, what paper did you use, and what did you stick them on with? John. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Belle Posted September 22, 2012 Share Posted September 22, 2012 Great build !! Great attention to detail too. Belle Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Procopius Posted September 23, 2012 Author Share Posted September 23, 2012 Regarding the masks you printed off, what paper did you use, and what did you stick them on with? Just regular old printer paper, and I used little loops of Tamiya tape under the masks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnd Posted September 23, 2012 Share Posted September 23, 2012 Just regular old printer paper, and I used little loops of Tamiya tape under the masks. Ok, thanks, will give that a try! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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