Two 1/48 Mk.Vb Spitfires - Tamiya and Airfix (new) - Spitfire collection expansion project - FINISHED! - photos now in the RFI section - 08/06/15

[Troy Smith]

Thank you Sean - thank you and I will try to!

Yes I have seen the new stuff coming from Airfix and did notice the new 1/48 Spitfire and Hurricane. I'm now in a bit of a dilemma though, because I had planned a double build of the 1/48 Tamiya Mk.I Spitfire and the 1/48 Italeri Mk.I Hurricane I'd already purchased in readiness! I've even got the Eduard sets for each as well! My thoughts are now drifting towards two double builds!! I could do something similar to what I'm doing now with this current project but with comparison builds of the two Spitfires and the two Hurricanes!

Italeri Hurricane and Tamiya Spitfire? Flog them is my advice.

The Italeri Hurricane I had hopes for but it's wrong in so many details it's embarrasing.

As a Hurricane anorak please see just how many mistakes you can make

http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/234935596-sea-hurricane-148-italeri/#entry1390213

As I can see new Airfix being £17 instead of £30 RRP, and not having an impressive list of errors....9note, there are a few more not added to the list of shame as an edit went wrong.)

I was less scathing before I realised just how they got the spinners wrong, by having the nose wrong. and that they stuffed up the IIC kit as well, Up to that point it was just a tedious list of stupid faults. The nose one has tipped me over. Don't bother is my advice.

Correcting the Tamiya Spitfire seems more worthwhile though.

HTH

.

[PlaStix]

Italeri Hurricane and Tamiya Spitfire? Flog them is my advice.

The Italeri Hurricane I had hopes for but it's wrong in so many details it's embarrasing.

As a Hurricane anorak please see just how many mistakes you can make

http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/234935596-sea-hurricane-148-italeri/#entry1390213

As I can see new Airfix being £17 instead of £30 RRP, and not having an impressive list of errors....9note, there are a few more not added to the list of shame as an edit went wrong.)

I was less scathing before I realised just how they got the spinners wrong, by having the nose wrong. and that they stuffed up the IIC kit as well, Up to that point it was just a tedious list of stupid faults. The nose one has tipped me over. Don't bother is my advice.

Correcting the Tamiya Spitfire seems more worthwhile though.

HTH

.

Hi Troy. Fantastic and detailed advice as always! Thank you. I'll have to have a serious think about this now. Depending on how I feel closer the the BoB GB I may decide to have a go at it just to show what the issues are when the new Airfix version and Italieri's are side by side! On the other hand I may decide I don't have enough time to do all of the ones I mentioned in my previous post. We'll see.

Thank you again.

Kind regards,

Stix

[tbell]

Hi Tony. I'm sorry you had the same problem with the same part. Hopefully anyone reading this and making the same Spitfire will be be forewarned to be very gentle with it! The Airfix parts do seem like a reasonable replacement which is handy.

Thank you again for the advice about the fasteners - I will add the missing two next time I get chance to work on these - hopefully in a day or two.

How is your build going or is it finished now? I'm looking forward to seeing what you have done with it.

Kind regards,

Stix

Hi Stix,

Looks like I'm managing to stay just barely a half a step ahead of you. Both Spits are primed and ready for paint, and I've painted and shaded the undersides of the Tamiya kit. I've cut masks for all of the insignia and fuselage codes, so I'm hoping to at least get the roundels painted tonight.

It's our turn to host family for Christmas and I'm the one who does all of the holiday cooking, so I don't expect to get much modelling done over the next week. You'll probably pull ahead of me come the new year!

Cheers,

Tony

[Calum]

.

I then soaked the decal in Humbrol's DecalFix and this is how the decal looked after a few hours on the panel:

When I took the photo this evening it was starting to get dark, so it's quite difficult to see, but it has pulled down onto the raised panel detail pretty well. I have since applied some Pledge which I'm hoping will get it to settle even more.

I'm a bit of a fan of decals over raised detail for instrument panels and this is why -

Great work so far.

[Calum]

And nice save on that rear canopy - I've broken that exact same part on the Tamiya kit.

[Dan]

Awesome work! You have this modelling lark down to a fine art I'll be re-visiting this thread often I think next year when I plan to build a couple spits myself.

[geedubelyer]

Hi Stix and Happy Christmas.

Glad you found a workaround for the broken glazing. Good save that.

We've all had one of those days have n't we. Two steps forward and one step back. Luckily, it is n't all about speed and with a bit of patience things can often be retrieved.

I'm eager to see these progress.

Cheers.

[HOUSTON]

Hello Stix,

I Just red through from where I left off.

EXCELLENT progress to date. You certainly have worked tenaciously on this even though you are always loitering

about on train stations...

I want you to know I have enjoyed what I have seen so far, the work being most IMPRESSIVE..

now you need relax on these holidays..

Have a Good Christmas and a BEST wishes for 2015. ENJOY

{yes still worse...have gotten pneumonia on top of everything else.. }

[Biggles87]

I hope you don't mind me using your thread Stix to wish Houston a speedy recovery.

[(ex)Sgtrafman]

Merry Christmas mate and a happy and prosperous new year...Great build too!

Cheers

Iain and Family

[Pawel Szczudlyk]

Hello Stix

Merry christmas senior, I hope that santa was generous this year

[PlaStix]

Hi Stix,

Looks like I'm managing to stay just barely a half a step ahead of you. Both Spits are primed and ready for paint, and I've painted and shaded the undersides of the Tamiya kit. I've cut masks for all of the insignia and fuselage codes, so I'm hoping to at least get the roundels painted tonight.

It's our turn to host family for Christmas and I'm the one who does all of the holiday cooking, so I don't expect to get much modelling done over the next week. You'll probably pull ahead of me come the new year!

Cheers,

Tony

Hi Tony. Merry Christmas! I must admit I imagined yours to be almost complete by now. I am hopefully going to get a bit more time to work on these over the next week or so, so you might be right about me at least catching up with you!

I hope you have a great Christmas and that all the cooking goes well and is delicious! I'm sure the family will appreciate your efforts!

I'm a bit of a fan of decals over raised detail for instrument panels and this is why -Great work so far.

And nice save on that rear canopy - I've broken that exact same part on the Tamiya kit.

Hi Calum. Merry Christmas! Thank you for your comments and I agree - that Eduard decal on the Eduard IP came out really well. I think it helped that the Eduard decal was really well designed - the Airfix one wasn't as good. Thank you for letting me know you had the same problem with the Tamiya rear transparency as well. To me it just seemed too wide for the fuselage sides so the temptation was too great for me to see if it could be squeezed a little to fit better. Hopefully others reading this will realise not to do the same thing!

Awesome work! You have this modelling lark down to a fine art I'll be re-visiting this thread often I think next year when I plan to build a couple spits myself.

Hi Dan. Merry Christmas! Thank you for your kind comments. I'm not sure I have it as sorted as as you suggest - most of the time I feel I'm making it up as I go along! Luckily it seems to turn out mostly okay as long as I haven't broken anything!

Hi Stix and Happy Christmas.

Glad you found a workaround for the broken glazing. Good save that.

We've all had one of those days have n't we. Two steps forward and one step back. Luckily, it is n't all about speed and with a bit of patience things can often be retrieved.

I'm eager to see these progress.

Cheers.

Hi geedubelyer. And a Merry Christmas to you too. Thank you for your comments. Yes I think I was very lucky that the Airfix glazing piece fitted as well as it did. I've managed to get it glued on this morning and I'll post some photos later. I must admit I had a bit of a lie in this morning so I didn't get as much done, but progress is progress!

Hello Stix,

I Just red through from where I left off.

EXCELLENT progress to date. You certainly have worked tenaciously on this even though you are always loitering

about on train stations...

I want you to know I have enjoyed what I have seen so far, the work being most IMPRESSIVE..

now you need relax on these holidays..

Have a Good Christmas and a BEST wishes for 2015. ENJOY

{yes still worse...have gotten pneumonia on top of everything else.. }

Hi Houston. I am so sorry you are not any better. I keep hoping that every time I'm writing replies to you that your response will be that you are feeling much better. You are not having any luck with your health at the moment. Please take care of yourself and I really hope you feel better soon!

With regards trains I now have a week off so that means no trains for a week!!

I wish you a Merry Christmas and hope that you are having the best day you can in these circumstances. And I also hope that the New Year starts and continues better for you than this year is ending!

Take care of yourself!

I hope you don't mind me using your thread Stix to wish Houston a speedy recovery.

Not a problem at all. I think we are all hoping that Houston gets better soon.

Merry Christmas mate and a happy and prosperous new year...Great build too!

Cheers

Iain and Family

Hi Iain and Family. Merry Christmas and a Happy And Prosperous New Year to you and your Family too.

Hope you are having a happy and relaxing time and that the stash has expanded!

Hello Stix

Merry christmas senior, I hope that santa was generous this year

Hi sdk_uk. Thank you and Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to you and yours too. Hope you are having a lovely time and that your stash has expanded too!

Thank you to everyone who has commented and helped with any of my builds this last year and I would like to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Kind regards,

Stix

As I mentioned above I did manage to get a bit of work done on these Spitfires and I'll try and post some photos later.

[somnas]

Merry Christmas to you too!

/Erik

[PlaStix]

Merry Christmas to you too!

/Erik

Hi /Erik. Thank you! And a Merry Christmas to you. Hope you are having a wonderful day!

Kind regards,

Stix

[tbell]

Hi Tony. Merry Christmas! I must admit I imagined yours to be almost complete by now. I am hopefully going to get a bit more time to work on these over the next week or so, so you might be right about me at least catching up with you!

I hope you have a great Christmas and that all the cooking goes well and is delicious! I'm sure the family will appreciate your efforts!.

Merry Christmas Stix (and to the rest of the folks in the thread)

Here's where the Tamiya Spit is at currently:

Gunze Sky plus about 10% white, post-shaded with a lighter shade and heavily thinned brown-black and then dialled back with a filter of the base colour.

The roundels are painted:

...and that's as far as it's gonna get for the next several days!

Cheers,

Tony

Edited December 25, 2014 by tbell

[PlaStix]

Hi Tony. Merry Christmas!

Wow! That is looking amazing! Great work on those roundels! It's all looking great - lovely shading! You are a very talented model builder!

With regards my two:

My Christmas morning was partially spent doing a little work on this project. I managed to glue on the fixed canopy parts:

Tamiya Spitfire - with the replacement Airfix rear transparency:

Airfix Spitfire:

There were some slight gaps around each clear part which will need some filler.

I also managed to add the two missing fasteners as mentioned by you:

I did start doing some of the filler work needed but nothing worth taking a photo of.

I hope to get some more done tomorrow.

Comments and suggestions welcome.

I hope everyone is having a great Christmas Day.

Kind regards,

Stix

[BerndM]

- Again clean modelling in an examplary manner

- Tony s painted roundels are impressive as well his shading

-great modelling here !

-a nice (rest)merry Christmas

[PlaStix]

Hi Bernd. Thank you are you a definitely right about Tony's work.

This morning's session revolved mostly around doing some filling, sanding and starting work on the wheels.

The first four photos here show where I've started filling around the fixed canopy parts. I can see from the photos where I need to do some more work with the filler!

Airfix:

Tamiya:

I also did some work with the filler in a couple of other places on both kits. I thought I'd let the filler properly set before starting work on the pre-shading.

Next I decided to start work on preparing for finding a way to get a better join with the undercarriage on the Airfix kit.

Here's how the Airfix pair look still with the tiny joint block in place:

The joining blocks themselves are on the bottom right of each part in the above photo.

I then cut the blocks away and this is what's left:

And the cut away blocks have now been glued in place on the opposite halves in the wheel-wells where they are supposed to be:

My idea is to let these two set properly for a day and then I am going to drill a hole in the centre of these and also in the corresponding ends of the legs, so that I can use some metal rod to strengthen the join. Looking at the glueing area of these parts and feeling the weight of the, as yet, unfinished aircraft, I really don't know why Airfix thought this method of joining was such a good idea!

Following this I then began work on the rest of the parts associated with the wheels on both kits. They all have some paint on but I didn't get chance to take any photos.

More tomorrow.

Comments and suggestions welcome.

Kind regards,

Stix

Edited December 26, 2014 by PlaStix

[giemme]

Metal rod inside the wheel legs sounds definitely a good idea! Very tidy work overall, keep going.

Ciao

[BerndM]

Good work with the windshields, its a good idea to install the fixed clear parts at this stage.

Its also a good idea to make the undercarriage legs stronger, good luck with that.

For my Spit i will maybe go with metal legs, depends on the price.

Happy Modelling

Bernd

[Troy Smith]

Next I decided to start work on preparing for finding a way to get a better join with the undercarriage on the Airfix kit.

Here's how the Airfix pair look still with the tiny joint block in place:

The joining blocks themselves are on the bottom right of each part in the above photo.

I then cut the blocks away and this is what's left:

And the cut away blocks have now been glued in place on the opposite halves in the wheel-wells where they are supposed to be:

My idea is to let these two set properly for a day and then I am going to drill a hole in the centre of these and also in the corresponding ends of the legs, so that I can use some metal rod to strengthen the join. Looking at the glueing area of these parts and feeling the weight of the, as yet, unfinished aircraft, I really don't know why Airfix thought this method of joining was such a good idea!

Not fully appreciated the method of UC joining.

Looking at the sprues, while too late for you, I'd suggest joining the two parts before assembly of wing, drilling through from the bottom of the pivot part, and the cutting them, so you know the metal rod will line up neatly.

I have used steel moulding pins for this before,

easy to cut down and thinner than paper clips.

one thing that is of use, is to try test holes in some plastic card to get a good fit for the pins/drill bit size, though I note in the product spec http://www.frankshaw.co.uk/25mm-Moulding-Veneer-Pins-11006.html

they are 1mm diameter...

HTH

[tbell]

Looking at the sprues, while too late for you, I'd suggest joining the two parts before assembly of wing, drilling through from the bottom of the pivot part, and the cutting them, so you know the metal rod will line up neatly.

That's exactly how I did mine.

[philip1958]

^{Are you going to have the same issue with the wheel hubs having a lateral load on the joint? Great work by the way.}

[PlaStix]

That's exactly how I did mine.

Thank you Troy and Tony.

Wish I'd know that earlier! Oh well..........next one!

I think it will be do-able!

Philip.......maybe.........

Thank you for your comment.

Edited December 26, 2014 by PlaStix

[Gremlin56]

Good morning Stix,

nice progress on the Spitfire twins

Airfix doesn't seem to be too worried by wobbly aircraft undercarriage legs. Their 1/24 Typhoon is a fine example of puny legs