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Seafire XV in 1/48th scale.Finished.


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G'day chums,

Purely on a whim the other day I thought it might have a go at this Groupbuild.I'm going to make a start with this one.

 

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She's the Special Hobby job reboxed by Revell and looks rather good on the sprue.

Edit-I'm trying to put the piccies for this through Skydrive.This is another of my little experiments just to see if it is possible to do.

The reason for editing this post is that Skydrive doesn't seem to want to play nicely and I've had to go find another URL to replace the first one I put up so that we can all see the piccie again.

Keep watching this space for more than one reason chums.

Edited by Alex Gordon
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Good choice! I've got the Special Hobby boxing as a long WIP, and I've loved building it. Easily one of the most satisfying build I've done so far.

Sean

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Got a bit done,

 

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Parts to start with prepared and laid out for photography.My habit is to remove components from the sprue and mount them on a cocktail stick for ease of handling and painting.Superglue is wonderfully helpful with this game.

 

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Cockpit frames and instrument panel after drilling out the lightening holes.

 

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Handhold slot cut into the seat.

 

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Head armour after cutting out the slot for the harness.

Edited by Alex Gordon
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Back again Chums,paint on relevant bits.I'm just getting the hang of an airbrush with this
build so please bear with me.

 

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Fuselage taped up for glueing and cockpit subassemblies together.My method of taping up uses Vinyl Insulating Tape.It is suitably stretchy and elastic enough to put the relevant pressure on the joint in such a way that with the right preparation a near spot on joint can be achieved.Some types of tape are more suitable than others.The combined use of Contacta and Polyweld will be holding this together.Polyweld is a hot variety of Liquid Poly that has a tendancy to evaporate off the brush somewhere between the bottle and the joint.I am finding that If I'm quick enough to make the trip then this stuff approximates superglue in grabbing time.

 

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Cockpit subassemblies.I've just realised that I've not added the buckles to the harness.The harness is made from Tamiya tape,painted with Humbrol 72 Matt Khaki Drill and suitably messed about with using the sharp end of a pin to make the holes to pin it all together with in the real world.A cocktail stick and a drop of silver paint have made the finisher on that.

 

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Edit-My attempt to use Skydrive to host the piccies has fallen to rags.They seem to alter the URL on a daily basis so that the links to the piccies don't work.I've just spent a thoroughly entertaining half an hour reworking it all through Photobucket which continues to operate reliably and elicits no complaints from me.I'm using the freebie option so don't all look at once or the bandwidth will be exceeded and then no one will be able to see until next month.

Edited by Alex Gordon
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G'day all,here we go with the next bit.

Glue set,tape off,joints visible all round.It would seem that while the plastic turns to goo at the merest sniff of glue,like the French Resistance there is no give.So it is time to play another of my little games that work well for me.

 


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A length of sprue from the kit (same plastic same qualities) was stretched and then glued onto all joints.After a moment or two for the glue to start working the sprue was pressed into the joint using the wide end of my tweezers.

 

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Once set a quick work round with the sanding block and a polish off with a strip of 6000
grit Micromesh to make all good did it for me.

 

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Cockpit goodies in.I'm really enjoying this one.She's a challenge but she's fun.

 

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Edited by Alex Gordon
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G'day again chums,more bits done and a bit more paint chucked about.

 


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My usual method of attaching the wings is to fit the upper halves to the fuselage first,let them set and then glue on the lower part afterwards.This largely ensures a good upper joint with very little fettling required.What I did have to do was back the inside of the joint with stretched sprue because I could see daylight through some parts of it.

Having let all that set it was time to paint the inside of the wheel wells while they could be reached easily.I've gone for the same colour as the underside,I like making life easy when I possibly can.

Once that had dried I set about the underside identification lights.The clear parts were glued in first,very fiddly bearing in mind they are only about 4mm across.


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Then I decided to make some reflectors to go behind them.Using some aluminium foil I made three concave shapes with the aid of my rivet punch and my thumb tip.A spot of delicate cutting gave me some suitable looking shapes for the job.

 

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Once in position a drop of Klear was used to secure them in position.

 

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I think that they add a little depth that would otherwise be missing.

 

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Innards completed I dry fitted the lower wing.A little bit of thinning to marry up the wingtips was all that was needed before taping it all together,glueing up and putting aside to set.

Edited by Alex Gordon
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Hi Alex, I like your idea of the stretched spue as a gap willer, I don't think you can beat like plastic for filling. The build looks like it is coming along nicely.

Colin

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G'day chums,back again.

Colin,dear heart,this kit is a sweetie.The fit is glorious,the plastic is easy to play with.She's a delight to work with.

More progress.

Glue set,tape off,not as many gaps as I was expecting.

 

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More stretched sprue and patience,two pairs of hands would have been helpful for this but I only have one pair so this was a tricky maneouvre.While I was at it I had a revisit to
the upper cowling joint because it was still faintly visible.

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While that was setting I decided to work on the propellor blades and paint the tips.

 


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Humbrol 154 insignia yellow was sprayed on and left to dry.

 

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Edited to add this;

"Always keep them wanting more"

Chums ,you all know what is supposed to happen next.So do I.Let's hope it does.

Edited by Alex Gordon
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Hi Alex,

like your choice very much, looking forward to seeing he final product so will follow with interset.

The idea of using sprue to fill the gaps is great. I've only recently started using the same method, it's so much simpler and cleaner than filler, and less damaging to the surounding detail.

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G'day again chums,

Rich,I've been using the stretched sprue gap filling method for a few years now and I find that the offending joint is less likely to break open with handling over time,or the filler of choice fall out.It works for me.

I thought it was time to play with the wheels.Here we see the mainwheel tyres assembled.

 

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A little bit of weighting wouldn't go amiss so a gentle warm with the Zippo and a light sanding gave me these.

 


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Being as the yellow on the propellor blades had dried a spot of masking and painting was in order.My masking method for the blade tips is to draw a line along a length of masking tape marking a scale 4 inches.Applied front and back perpendicular to the blade centreline and the marked line just at the tip and squared up does the job rather well.A tad fiddly but a good result beckons.

 

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Humbrol 33 was my black of choice.I'm quietly getting the hang of this airbrushing game.The results are worth the effort but the hairy sticking I am used to is so much less faffing about.

 

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While that was drying it was time to have a look at the cannon barrel fairings.

 

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The fairings as supplied are wider than the bases to mount them on.

 

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I didn't fancy messing about with these so a quick root about in the spares box yielded

 


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a pair from the Airfix FR46/47 kit that I built back in 2003.

 

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I drilled through the centres if the bases and opened out the holes to take the replacement parts and then glued them into position.

While I was at it I fitted the bomb rack fairings,which was lovely and straightforward, and started on the outright fiddle and faff that is the centreline fuel tank.This comprises the two vertically split halves (dead easy,hidden joint) two legs and the fuel uplift tube,all 3 of which are a sod to position.I planted the tank on a lump of Blu Tack and then alternated between the chair and the floor for half an hour or so while positioning the twiddly bits.

 

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Good game,good game.

Edited by Alex Gordon
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Hello again chums,

Bill,I've built the odd Spitfire (12 at the last count) on my travels so I've more or less got the method off pat.If I don't foul up the paint job then I'll have to watch out when it comes to the decals.

Phil,there's a long way to go yet,but we're getting there.

Just a quick update.My now trusty leather punch just happens to have one cutter that is just the right size to mask off the underside identification light lenses so 3 of the tiniest little circles of masking tape later and,just in case I really foul it up,a square of masking tape to cover the cockpit we are ready to throw a coat or two of Humbrol 90 Sky at her.

 

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Now we are waiting on drying time.

 

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Edited by Alex Gordon
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Hello again Chums,

Col,this is going so easily I'm wondering where I've gone wrong.Maybe it's because I'm not trying to do too much and being slowed down by the inertia of adding detail.

Just a quick update,paint dry and looking good to me so it's masking off time.Cockpit filled with tissue paper

 

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and the underside taped up and the bigger areas covered with bits of Coop carrier bag to prevent overspray.

 

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If you don't want paint on it don't let it get on it.I will be spraying the green on the uppersurfaces tonight.Let's just hope that I've burnished the edges of the tape down properly,I don't want any bleed under.

Edited by Alex Gordon
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G'day Chums,

Been chucking the paint about again.I used a new paint to me,Humbrol 224 which looked very much like Humbrol 155 after a coat of varnish.

 

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I added a spot of Humbrol 35 Gloss Varnish to the final coat of this to give a smooth surface for decalling.Drying time permitting the next step is to mask for and paint the Grey.

Edited by Alex Gordon
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Back again chums,

While the green paint was drying I decided to assemble the propellor.Very thoughtfully the blades have a square end for mounting onto the backplate which means that they will all sit at the same pitch and takes all the vagaries out of the job.

 

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With the green paint now dry it was time to mask off for the grey.

 

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What I did very early on in the build was to prepare the masking for this job.I applied wide masking tape to the airframe completely covering it,then drew on the various demarcation lines and register marks with a pencil.I then stripped all of this off and applied it to a sheet of mirror glass that I happen to have and then cut along each pencil line with a scalpel,thus creating the pattern for the camouflage.What I didn't do was number each piece so that I could easily locate each one in position and so had a merry old time working out which bit went where on the fuselage.

 

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We got there eventually though.

 

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Anyway,Humbrol 123 Extra Dark Sea Grey mixed with a drop or two of 35 Gloss Varnish suitably thinned and sprayed on.

 

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and then unmasked.

 

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I am very pleased with the result.There was a little bit of paint buildup at the edge of the underside masking but a swipe or two with the back of a bit of micromesh took care of that.

 

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So while that is hardening off it's time to play with the undercarriage.The maingear leg comes as 3 components,the leg itself and the two parts of the torque link.

 

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These two bits are tiny and a bit of a game to attach to the leg.My easy way round it was to steady the leg with a blob of Blu Tack leaving both hands free to manipulate tweezers and glue brush at leisure.For a change this job didn't entail any crawling around on the carpet.

 

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After masking out the backs of the mainwheel hubs we are now ready to throw a bit of silver paint about.

 

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Humbrol(again) Metalcote 27002 Polished Aluminium was used and came up rather well I thought.That done it's time to work on the exhaust stubs.

 

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After a spot of hollowing out it was paint time again.Now I don't know about you,dear reader,but I don't hold with the idea of rusty exhaust stubs.They are made of sterner stuff than that so I tried something new to me.A base coat of Humbrol 27003 Polished Steel was sprayed on and allowed to dry.This was then polished with a bit of tissue and then a coat of very thinned Humbrol 72 Khaki Drill was misted on so that it just took the edge off the shine.After a few minutes drying a very thin misting of Revells Transparent Blue was applied followed by a thin misting of Humbrol 1327 Transparent Amber.

 

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Right or wrong it ain't rusty and,to my eye,looks quite good in real life.Decals next.

Edited to remove all traces of the Keyboard Dyslexia that I seem to be prone to.

Edited by Alex Gordon
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Hello again Chums,

Just a quick update.Decals on,ready for the varnish coat,then it's final assembly.

 

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Guess who found out the hard way that the pitot probe and both underwing antennae had to come off because they are in the way?While we are at it,who forgot to paint the arrestor hook fairing the right colour?

And guess who has just realised that the mainwheels are too big?

Good game,good game.

Back again soon chums.

Edited by Alex Gordon
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  • 2 weeks later...

G'day Chums,

Thanks Jenko for you kind words.

Apologies for the lack of updates chums,this hasn't gone dead,there has been a severe lack of Dayoffski just recently.I'm not complaining,much,just pining that I'm so close yet so far away.

Hmmm...Wouldn't that make a corking song lyric...

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