Spitfire V - Best way to paint the Camo

[Sean_M]

I have laid down my base coat on a 1:48 Airfix Spitfire Va. The Painting diagrams are not to scale. I could try and scan them in and enlarge the diagram to make paintiing masks. I see some people use blue-tack. I am not that skilled with an airbrush yet so I would have to mask the camo. I see in Brett Green's video he raises the mask with blue tack. Of course he is working with a commercial product and on a 109, neither of which help. Any suggestions?

[JackG]

Here is some 1/48 masks http://www.yolo.net/~jeaton/mymodels/spitfire/templates/SpitTemp.html

The left side drawings are the actual masks to cut out, while the drawing on the right side illustrates the placement of masks.

You can just roll some small strips of masking tape to stick to the model, how much pressure you apply at these 'sticking' points will determine how much of soft edge you will end up with.

regards,

Jack

[Col.]

Cracking link there Jack, very useful and we timed as I'm just about to mask and spray the green on my own Spitfire, there seems to be an occasional but small amount of overspray on the early Mk.1s I'm researching for the current project but not sure if that was tightened up for subsequent machines such as the Mk.V.

[Sean_M]

Here is some 1/48 masks http://www.yolo.net/...s/SpitTemp.html

The left side drawings are the actual masks to cut out, while the drawing on the right side illustrates the placement of masks.

You can just roll some small strips of masking tape to stick to the model, how much pressure you apply at these 'sticking' points will determine how much of soft edge you will end up with.

regards,

Jack

Jack you are a Scholar and a Gentleman - Thanks

[Seawinder]

I have laid down my base coat on a 1:48 Airfix Spitfire Va. The Painting diagrams are not to scale. I could try and scan them in and enlarge the diagram to make paintiing masks. I see some people use blue-tack. I am not that skilled with an airbrush yet so I would have to mask the camo. I see in Brett Green's video he raises the mask with blue tack. Of course he is working with a commercial product and on a 109, neither of which help. Any suggestions?

When I mask for Spitfire camouflage, I lay masking tape down on the model (which sometimes involves several conjoined pieces to follow the demarcation), draw the demarcation line with pencil, take the tape off the model, lay it on my cutting surface, and knife-cut it. I then take sewing thread and attach it to the tape about 1/16 inch away from the edge. Finally, I put the tape back on the model. The thread raises the edge enough to give just the suggestion of feather. Be careful to spray perpendicular to the tape and surface to avoid overspray under the tape.

HTH.

[JMChladek]

The Blue-tack method is what I typically use since it is so easy to do. Roll the putty into nice tight snakes, apply them to the model surface, use masking tape to cover the gaps and then go to town with the spraying. Best part is you don't have to be skilled with an airbrush to do this since the masks do the job. The poster putty I've found can even be mashed down quite a bit to where there is almost no undercut and it still produces a very slight hint of a soft edge (perfect scale effect for the elusive look of at least some Spitfire camo patterns).

[Sean_M]

I have been poring over my sources of Spitfire picture and get impression that the top wing camo curved over the fron wing and was not equally spilt in a nice neat line as depicted in some colour slides. Anyone care to comment?

[composite guru]

I made rubber masks from inner tube material to spray my Spit. I found it worked quite well for me.

As for the split line from upper to lower colours, most of my reference showed a feathered edge rather than a solid line as you said.

[Sean_M]

I was talking about the leading edge if the wing. As if the the Spit wasflying head on

[Col.]

Afraid all my research has been into early Mk.1 machines with the white/night undersurfaces and those seem to have a straight solid demarcation between upper and lower colours.

[composite guru]

I was talking about the leading edge if the wing. As if the the Spit wasflying head on

Yes my last quote under the pics said about that bit.

[Ed Russell]

I made rubber masks

Ahhh sorta like real ones appear to have often had (:>)

[Sean_M]

I have had another look at the pics. It seems that the early Mk 1a in Black and white hat the upper and under surfaces meet neatly in the middle of the wing. BOB pics with the Sky type S are hazy. More often it seems that there is no neat line. Perhaps this was due to squadron life. Things get worse when you look at overseas spits. I read/recall that the Malta Spits were repainted in arrival so all the lettering "Step here" etc was lost so all the neat little decal sets for those Spits should not be used. I look at a picture of Johnnie Sitting on his wing (JE J) and was amazed to see how roughly the D-Day stripes were applied. As many of you know I am working on Bader's Va which would be August 1941. Post war Spits are pristine so no help there.

[Edgar]

Don't forget that some Spitfires had their Sky undersides painted, in a hurry, on the Squadron, so an irregular demarcation could easily have happened. From late 1942, wing leading edges received special treatment, with panel lines and rivet "divots" being filled, smoothed, then painted, so later airframes are unlikely to show the same ragged demarcation.

D-day stripes were painted in non-permanent colours (so were prone to wear and tear during sorties,) with the idea that they could be easily removed when their usefulness was at an end. The orders, for the painting of the stripes, said that the type of paint would be specified at some future date, but I haven't, yet, found what that might have been; when the black wing undersides were reintroduced in late 1940, a washable paint was specified, so the same type might have been used in 1944. There's a photo of stripes being painted, which is regularly trotted out "to show how roughly the stripes were applied," but examination shows that the stripes are being repainted.

Those who insist on wide feathered edges might find this interesting (or not, as the case might be.):-

Edgar

Edited October 10, 2012 by Edgar

[Sean_M]

Once again, many thanks Edgar. That means Bader's Va would have had a nice neat line in the center of the wing

[rmcclure]

I guess it's worth considering scale as well. Variations of a few inches on the real thing will be fractions of a mm when you scale it down so using paper masks kept only just off the surface is a good compromise and all in the aim of simulating rather than necessarily replicating.

Good luck,

Roger

[Edgar]

Those we've spoken to, who did do freeheand spraying, always said that their overspray limits were set at an inch, sometimes half, rarely as high as two inches, which isn't easy to replicate, even in 1/24 scale.

Edgar

[Sean_M]

Those we've spoken to, who did do freeheand spraying, always said that their overspray limits were set at an inch, sometimes half, rarely as high as two inches, which isn't easy to replicate, even in 1/24 scale.

Edgar

Edger so wjat you are saying is mark a straight line somewhere in the middle of the leading edge and spray a nice demarcated straight line

[Sean_M]

I made rubber masks from inner tube material to spray my Spit. I found it worked quite well for me.

As for the split line from upper to lower colours, most of my reference showed a feathered edge rather than a solid line as you said.

I work on spits mainly and Hurries. I like the inner tube idea. that way they last longer and you have you own spray mats in miniture. Any idea where I can get some old tubing?

[composite guru]

I work on spits mainly and Hurries. I like the inner tube idea. that way they last longer and you have you own spray mats in miniture. Any idea where I can get some old tubing?

I used old inner tubes that were surplus to requirements. They are a pain to cut as they stretch so i stuck it to some doublesided tape on a cutting board and made sure i had a fresh scalpel blade fitted.

[Sean_M]

I used old inner tubes that were surplus to requirements. They are a pain to cut as they stretch so i stuck it to some doublesided tape on a cutting board and made sure i had a fresh scalpel blade fitted.

I did PM you. Did not realise it was such a big job and a pain so ignore the PM

[Seawinder]

Edger so wjat you are saying is mark a straight line somewhere in the middle of the leading edge and spray a nice demarcated straight line

I'm not Edgar, but FWIW, what I generally do is to mask along the center of the wing leading edge from the wing root to the first cannon position. From there to the wing tip, I simply spray across the leading edge, keeping the angle constant. The result is a quite clean line. Of course, if there's a yellow leading edge stripe, that's not necessary.

[Graeme H]

Also there are the AML paint masks, this is the A Scheme for a MkV, they also do B Scheme and A and B for Mk1's

http://www.hannants.co.uk/product/AMLM4908

I have used the 1/72 ones, using the A scheme Mk1 twice , they are sort of a very thin vinyl which on the larger ones are in 2 halves so that the outer edges can be adjusted.

they appear as a translucent green colour on the sheet, but become clear when you take them off the sheet.

I found that I could put the masks back where they came from and reuse, I don't have any idea how often one could do this, but care is needed, they can tear very easily.

The upside to these is they are very quick, took me less than half an hour to mask

[rav]

Here is my way (Spitfire Mk.Vb, Tamiya 1/72):

All parts in Surfacer, mounted on toothpicks:

Yellow and Sky elements painted:

...and masked with Tamiya tape, 0,5 mm tape and Humbrol Maskol:

Undersurfaces painted Medium Sea Grey, including landing gear:

...and masked with pieces of paper glued with Maskol (to protect details) and Tamiya tape:

Painted with Ocean Grey and masked withBlue-Tack and Maskol:

Painted with Dark Green and unmasked:

Decalled and weathered:

Finished:

[Albeback52]

I have laid down my base coat on a 1:48 Airfix Spitfire Va. The Painting diagrams are not to scale. I could try and scan them in and enlarge the diagram to make paintiing masks. I see some people use blue-tack. I am not that skilled with an airbrush yet so I would have to mask the camo. I see in Brett Green's video he raises the mask with blue tack. Of course he is working with a commercial product and on a 109, neither of which help. Any suggestions?

I don't have an airbrush Sean and therefore all of my models are painted the old fashioned way!!Lol! - with a brush!! I've used an age old method ever since I started modelling. Draw the camouflage pattern on to the model with a soft pencil & then fill in using a flat brush. In this instance, If painting in the grey/green pattern,I'd apply the grey coat & then draw the (green) pattern on to it. It's not difficult - especially if you have a pattern the same scale as the model.

Of course, it won't necessarily work with an airbrush but, it certainly cuts out all that tedious masking!! On a small subject like your Spitfire it should work - if you're willing to put aside the airbrush.

Good luck with your model

Allan