sroubos Posted December 23, 2014 Share Posted December 23, 2014 (edited) With Christmas just around the corner, it's time to relax a little, and what's true in real life is true in model building: I've spent most of the year on a rather tough build (which I hope to complete during the holidays as well), so it's time for something easy. I've been looking forward to building Airfix' new(ish) Mk.I for a while, especially after getting hold of the I/IIa boxing. Since I also have the Tamiya in my stash, I thought they would make a nice double build. I will build the kits mostly out of the box, with some minor alterations. The Airfix kit will be built as the early Mk.I that's included in the box, I just love the white/black wing paint job on it and the wooden prop. Since I'm not using the IIa specific parts, I will use these to convert the Tamiya to a IIa by adding the Coffman starter, the Rotol prop and the fishtail exhausts. I will be building this plane: This was the personal plane of Prince Bernhard of The Netherlands, husband to Queen Wilhelmina. When Holland was occupied by the Germans in May 1940, the royal family fled to Britain, where both Wilhelmina and Bernhard worked tirelessly to support the war effort against the Axis. Bernhard took a great interest in military matters and involved himself with soldiers and pilots that had fled to Britain as well, and he played a large part in creating the 322 (Dutch) squadron. He also had a reputation for being a playboy and he enjoyed driving sports cars and flying aeroplanes. This particular Spitfire Mk.IIa was his personal plane, and he must have flown it a number of times, though this little landing mishap seems to be someone else's fault. FlevoDecals have kindly issued a Dutch Spitfires set that includes this plane. The photo was apparently taken in spring 1942 so the plane will already have the ocean grey camo I think. It also seems to have fishtail exhausts. Box contents, in dark grey Tamiya, light grey Airfix. On first inspection, the differences are quite obvious. Airfix panel lines are not comparable to Tamiya's, being slighly too large for my taste, not as bad as on earlier kits but certainly not as good as their more recent efforts. Tamiya's on the other hand are so petite they may disappear under too much paint. We will see what looks best after completing the build! A word on accuracy: I am not a rivet counter but I have heard the Airfix is pretty much spot on. When comparing, I find the Tamiya kit is slightly narrower at the cockpit and tail and about 1,5 to 2mm shorter in the area behind the cockpit. For me it's not big deal but your mileage may vary. After market - after taking the picture I decided to skip the Eduard zoom set for the Tamiya kit in order to compare the kits more fairly. I have chosen to use the QB seat, which is lovely, on the Airfix kit. Initial construction of course starts with the cockpit. Pretty similar, with Airfix detail just slightly cruder than Tamiya and the former settling for a decal for the instrument panel where the big T supplies a moulded panel. The decal may actually be better visible after closing the fuselage. I drilled out the lightening holes in the rear oval bit, but used a diameter which was slightly too large, so the headrest area on the Airfix kit broke... Seats from left to right: QuickBoost, Airfix (not used), Tamiya. Tamiya's seems slightly too wide - maybe I should have used the QB item on that kit instead... Fooled around a bit with Photoshop as the pic was a bit too dark. I used gunze interior green with some black mixed in to create RAF interior green, followed by a dark wash and a drybrush with interior green, picking out the instruments with black and red. Both kits are very good in this respect. After a good few hours the fuselages go together. No issues at all on the Tamiya kit, which by the way also allows you to put the halves together and then install the cockpit from below. On the Airfix kit, I removed the upper locating pins to get a better fit, but I still need some filler in the area just in front on the cockpit. Apart from that, fit is pretty good. To be continued! Edited December 23, 2014 by sroubos 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alpha Delta 210 Posted December 23, 2014 Share Posted December 23, 2014 Great start and nice to see this comparison build. I look forward to the next instalment. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beard Posted December 23, 2014 Share Posted December 23, 2014 (edited) Nice work. When assembling the Airfix Spitfire, I always insert the cockpit, from below, after sticking the fuselage sides together. The instrument panel has to be trimmed a little so it doesn't force the fuselage parts apart. There's one other place to be careful, attaching the wings... I always glue the upper surfaces to the fuselage then the bottom piece, rather than sticking the wings together and attaching that to the fuselage. I find it stops trick-to-eleminate gaps at the wing root. (Of course, I accept no responsiblilty for things going wrong, if you choose to follow my, method.) Edit: to correct spelling. Edited December 23, 2014 by Beard 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cookenbacher Posted December 23, 2014 Share Posted December 23, 2014 I'm grateful for this side-by-side comparison build. Nice work, I'll be following along. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sroubos Posted December 23, 2014 Author Share Posted December 23, 2014 (edited) Nice work. When assembling the Airfix Spitfire, I always insert the cockpit, from below, after sticking the fuselage sides together. The instrument panel has to be trimmed a little so it doesn't force the fuselage parts apart. There's one other place to be careful, attaching the wings... I always glue the upper surfaces to the fuselage then the bottom piece, rather than sticking the wings together and attaching that to the fuselage. I find it stops trick-to-eleminate gaps at the wing root. (Of course, I accept no responsiblilty for things going wrong, if you choose to floow my, method.) Well, you are so right on both counts. Trimming the panel would have helped, but a bit of filler sorted it. When doing the wings, my usual way is to attach the lower wing, then the upper wings. On both these builds I chose to try a different method, to glue the wing pieces together and mate the entire wing to the fuselage. Risky, but I figured it would be ok on these kits. I did get a tiny gap on the Tamiya which i sorted with Perfect Plastic Putty (this stuff is true to its name, really nice to work with). The Airfix did give a small step, but I'm not too worried about it. I've never tried your way but I will do this on my next build. To be honest, fit is about the same on both kits, but the cruder detail on the Airfix makes it less nerve-wrecking to work with as it's easy to restore the panel lines. Both kits require quite a bit of work at the lower gull wing area, but it's almost impossible to do the work without destroying some detail on the Tamiya kit, whereas on the Airfix it's easy. With a bit of luck both kits are ready for primer tomorrow... fingers crossed Edited December 23, 2014 by sroubos Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tempestwulf Posted December 24, 2014 Share Posted December 24, 2014 Snappy build so far mate. The Airfix Mk.Ia is a little ripper and quick to build, perfect for en mass projects due to its similicity. The cockpits came up looking terrific and look forward to the paint job. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ArmouredSprue Posted December 25, 2014 Share Posted December 25, 2014 Great start! I'll be following for sure. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sroubos Posted December 25, 2014 Author Share Posted December 25, 2014 (edited) Some decent progress over the last two days, but both kits require slightly more effort than I had expected. The oil cooler on the centre line is not very good on either kit; they both consist of two parts and in both cases the parts do not fit very well together - or maybe I just misunderstood how they fit together! In any case, they required some filler. Installation on the fuselage was pretty good though. Some other comments: - Tamiya have molded the lower cowling as a separate part which allowed them to kit a V as well. I fitted this part after doing the wings, but this makes it very difficult to line it up perfectly with the fuselage and I had to cut off the alignment guides on the inside. I would recommend adding this part to the fuselage assembly before starting on the wings. - Airfix have chosen to mould part of this area with the wing. This resulted in a step with the lower cowling which I've sanded and filled twice now, but it's hard to get rid off. - The filler cap on the front cowling is just a hole on both kits, I've added a small cap on the Tamiya as the hole looked very rough, will do this on the Airfix as well. - I'm not too sure about the canopy on the Airfix, it seems too wide to me. It's also very thick. On the flipside, it fits so tight no glue is required. I did have a tiny hole in front on the canopy but that's easily filled. - The Tamiya canopy is very thin but also just slightly too narrow, which leaves a tiny step with the fuselage, although that may disappear after painting. Below some pics to show the areas that require more work before painting starts. Nothing major, the upper cowling on the Airfix kit is my own fault for not using enough glue and then forgetting to use filler. Edited December 25, 2014 by sroubos 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PlaStix Posted December 26, 2014 Share Posted December 26, 2014 Good to see another comparrison build on here and that it's Airfix and Tamiya as well. Following with interest. I've made the Airfix version but not the Tamiya one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sroubos Posted December 29, 2014 Author Share Posted December 29, 2014 Well, a few days of painting and masking (rather more of the latter than the former) and this is where I am. Quite happy with the result, although the preshading has disappeared almost completely on the underside of the MkIIa. I'm very happy with the result on the other areas, and I'm seriously considering not doing any panel line wash on either kit, apart from the underside of the MkII to compensate for the lack of preshading. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cookenbacher Posted December 29, 2014 Share Posted December 29, 2014 That's some great paint work. May I ask what paints were used? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sroubos Posted December 29, 2014 Author Share Posted December 29, 2014 Of course! MkI: Gunze acrylics RAF dark green and Dark brown for the upper surfaces. Lower surfaces are Tamiya black and flat aluminium. The white is decanted acrylics spray I got from a small automotive shop in my hometown in the Netherlands. Best white paint I've found so far. Need to look up the brand. MkII: Gunze dark green and Tamiya ocean gray upper surfaces. Tamiya Medium sea grey lower surfaces. Sky band on the fuselage and yellow leading edges both Gunze, the latter with an undercoat of aforementioned white. I can get you the numbers if you need them. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cookenbacher Posted December 30, 2014 Share Posted December 30, 2014 Thank you Sroubos, the numbers aren't necessary. I'm just beginning to build 1/72 props (been stuck on jets until now) and am trying to soak up as much info as possible. I'm following with interest! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sroubos Posted January 1, 2015 Author Share Posted January 1, 2015 Two more days of progress in between the end of year festivities. Most of it was spent on the decalling. The Airfix decals worked very well, as did the Tamiya ones but the FlevoDecals for the MkIIa were quite thick. As they had to settle over some lumps and bumps on the wings, this caused some issues. Even DACO medium setting solution, which is quite strong, required multiple applications and i'm still not quite happy with the result. The decals broke in places so will require minor touch up. My experience with FlevoDecals' newer sets is much better. I also realized I forgot to paint the underside of the stabilizers on the the MkI aluminum. Luckily I realized this before I applied decals to this area... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tempestwulf Posted January 3, 2015 Share Posted January 3, 2015 Brilliant job on two solid kits. The Airfix panel lines are rather deep but works well for a panel wash, I have two of them on the go atm with a Mk.I & Mk.II. Looking forward to more progress on your build. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sroubos Posted January 5, 2015 Author Share Posted January 5, 2015 (edited) The build is completed, and inside the holiday period as I set out to do! Topic is here: http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/234973935-spitfire-double-build-airfix-mkiia-vs-tamiya-mki/#entry1847352 Not much to report on the remaining work. I applied a dark wash to the Tamiya kit, which looks pretty good I think. I decided to limit the wash on the Airfix to the flaps and ailerons and I'm glad I did, it would be too heavy otherwise. The remaining bits and bobs: Landing gear is a bit more refined on the Tamiya kit with separate parts for doors and gear leg, and a more subtle rear wheel, but the Airfix parts look fine with a wash to give them some depth. In the end, a very pleasant, viceless build of both these kits. Conclusions in the RfI topic! Edited January 5, 2015 by sroubos 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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