SimonL Posted February 7, 2015 Share Posted February 7, 2015 (edited) My next project will be the Airfix 1/72 Typhoon 1B which I have been planning to build for a while. I wasn't feeling very inspired by the kit supplied schemes, but then came across the intriguing "Silver Bullet" while browsing through the Airfix Model World supplement on the Typhoon. This was MN666, which after being damaged during the Normandy campaign after D-Day was shipped back to Britain, fixed up, stripped of its paint, except for the rudder, and then used by instructors at the Fighter Leader School. I got some very helpful background from Chris Thomas (http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/234975412-advice-needed-typhoon-silver-bullet/?hl=%2Bsilver+%2Bbullet), and a dig in the decal bank found enough letters and numbers to make up the serial so it looks like I am off to the races. I am going to complete her as she may have looked in late 1944, with no bombs/rockets under the wings, type B roundels above the wings, type C below and type C1 on the fuselage. I am going to try a few new things as well. I have never tried pre-dipping the canopies in floor polish, which seems to be very much the recommended thing, so I will give that a go. I will also try to paint as much as possible on the sprue. First task after washing the sprues in warm soapy water was to take the canopies, remove them from the sprue, clean up the edges and then dip them in the floor polish. I then left them on some kitchen roll in a covered container and put to one side. I am not sure how long I need to leave them for before masking for painting, I am assuming the longer the better. One item was left on the transparency, the underside fuselage light which fitted snugly into place, secured with some Clearfix. I cut a tint scrap of aluminium kitchen foil and stuck that on to the rear side of the light, shiny side down. Then on to the instrument panel. Strange item this. Airfix supplies a decal that appears to cover the whole panel, but only has markings for the flat part of the panel, while the "wings" of the panel have raised detail, but no detail on the decal. The decal to my eye also looks to big to fit on the panel. First I painted the whole panel Tamiya X1 Gloss Black. Then I carefully cut up the decal. and then carefully applied to only the flat part of the panel. Not perfect, but certainly better than just applying the whole decal in one piece. Once I have let them dry I will put some matt varnish over to seal them in and dry brush the raised detail on the "wings" of the panel. Edited February 14, 2015 by SimonL 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
06/24 Posted February 7, 2015 Share Posted February 7, 2015 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SimonL Posted February 7, 2015 Author Share Posted February 7, 2015 Next, the issue of the cockpit colours. I have in front of me the instructions, the July 2013 issue of AMW with the build of this model when released and the AMW supplement that coincided with the release of the 1/24 kit. Clearly I needed to do some quick research. A browse through the collected wisdom on these forums, and a few other places on the web had me decide to do the cockpit black near the top, with aluminium framing and the normal cockpit grey green lower down. I used Tamiya XF69 Nato Black, with some of the detail picked out in X1 Gloss Black, XF16 Flat Aluminium and XF71 Cockpit Green. Here the cockpit is prior to any weathering. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SimonL Posted February 7, 2015 Author Share Posted February 7, 2015 (edited) Cockpit sides made a bit grubby with a wash of raw umber acrylic diluted with floor polish and then dry brushed with some light grey Tamiya acrylic. I painted the radiator XF56 metallic grey, dry brushed with XF16 flat aluminium. The separate central part of the radiator (filter?) was painted XF16 and then was just a press fit into the main part of the radiator - no need for glue. I gloss coated the whole assembly with some Tamiya clear gloss and then made it mucky by slapping on a thick sludge of water colour and soapy water. When this had dried a bit I wiped of the excess with a cotton bud. The bottom part of the cockpit on top of the wheel wells was painted and then given a wash of the raw umber acrylic in the floor polish. Close up of the seat, which was painted XF16 flat aluminium with the seat pad painted a sort of brownish colour (a mix I had to hand made up of the dregs of whole bunch of different acrylic paints). This was also received the raw umber acrylic wash. I can't believe I have done so much, and so far not a whiff of Tamiya Thin Cement! Instrument panel done, may need to tidy up the dry brushed detail a bit (although it won't be easy to see in the cockpit) Edited February 7, 2015 by SimonL 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SimonL Posted February 7, 2015 Author Share Posted February 7, 2015 Started assembling. First the rudder pedals and control stick into the bottom part of the cockpit. Then the seat was attached to the amour plate back. I used some Tamiya tape stripes painted a light buff colour for the seat belts, with bit more of the raw umber wash. Then it was glued into one side of the cockpit. Sorry for the rotten photos - not much light in the kitchen at nighttime. Thats it for the day. 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
06/24 Posted February 7, 2015 Share Posted February 7, 2015 Can't remember seeing more convincing Tamiya tape belts, very nice work indeed. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PlaStix Posted February 7, 2015 Share Posted February 7, 2015 Excellent start Simon! It's a great little kit. I enjoyed building mine for the D-Day GB and bought another to build in future. Looking forward to seeing what you do with yours. It looks great so far. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SimonL Posted February 7, 2015 Author Share Posted February 7, 2015 (edited) Can't remember seeing more convincing Tamiya tape belts, very nice work indeed. Why, thank you, kind of you to say so :-) Excellent start Simon! It's a great little kit. I enjoyed building mine for the D-Day GB and bought another to build in future. Looking forward to seeing what you do with yours. It looks great so far.Thanks. Yes, it is a great kit. I have the feeling it will go together very quickly. Edited February 7, 2015 by SimonL Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sean Posted February 7, 2015 Share Posted February 7, 2015 Nice start Simon, building this at the minute myself. It goes together very well. Look forward to seeing how your's comes along Sean 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spookytooth Posted February 7, 2015 Share Posted February 7, 2015 Having built this kit myself I know how good a fit parts are. But beware of the wing to fuselage fitting. The u/c section that fits into the fuselage has to be spot on to allow alignment of the wings. You are doing a great job of this kit, nd the seatbelts are magic. Simon. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SimonL Posted February 7, 2015 Author Share Posted February 7, 2015 (edited) Thanks Simon. Just starting gluing this morning, while everyone else in the house is still in bed. First a bit of a fiddle to get the section with wheel wells into the fuselage without breaking off anything. I used a blob of blu-tack to keep everything straight while glueing (so hopefully avoiding the problems you indicate). Plenty of dry fitting before hand. Then once that had set, I glued the fuselage halves together. What a wonderful fit! Just a bit of trouble with the underside of the radiator bath but otherwise I think I am going to get away from using any filler, a bit of a first for me in a while. Clamped it all together firmly and left to one side. In the meantime, as I wasn't intending to open up the hatches above the cannons I glued them into the top halves of the wings. Time for some breakfast! Edited February 8, 2015 by SimonL 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SimonL Posted February 8, 2015 Author Share Posted February 8, 2015 (edited) Thinking ahead. Considering this aircraft was stripped of all its paint, should I use any of the stencils when I put the decals on? Or the walkways on the wings? Anyone have any ideas? Edited February 8, 2015 by SimonL Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SimonL Posted February 8, 2015 Author Share Posted February 8, 2015 Construction was fairly rapid, wings went on just fine. Just needed a smidgen of filler at the wing roots. In no time at all I had cleaned up the seams and then brush painted on some flat aluminium as a primer and to see whether there was anything that needed cleaning up. Now normally I use a rattle can for metal finishes (Tamiya TS17 Polished Aluminium), and that had been my intent here. But I don't know, I wonder whether it may be just OK to put another thin coat of brush painted flat aluminium? 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
06/24 Posted February 8, 2015 Share Posted February 8, 2015 Looks to me like another brushed coat would do the job. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FZ6 Posted February 8, 2015 Share Posted February 8, 2015 Looking really well. I like this scheme. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hamden Posted February 8, 2015 Share Posted February 8, 2015 Thats really coming together well. Not hundred percent sure but would think that stencilling would have been applied to bare metal/silver finishes(they are one Spitfires) Roger 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alpha Delta 210 Posted February 8, 2015 Share Posted February 8, 2015 Looking really sweet Simon! She's going to look great with the decals on. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SimonL Posted February 8, 2015 Author Share Posted February 8, 2015 Looks to me like another brushed coat would do the job. Yep, I agree. No messing about with trying to mask the cockpit. may add some variation as well, which would be in line with what the finish is thought to have been Looking really well. I like this scheme. Yes, it is kind of special I think. Thanks Thats really coming together well. Not hundred percent sure but would think that stencilling would have been applied to bare metal/silver finishes(they are one Spitfires) Roger Yes, I am going with that as well so as to add a bit extra interest. I figure if they have time to paint the roundels, then some stencils wouldn't be beyond them. They were back in the UK, rather than being close to the frontline in France. Looking really sweet Simon! She's going to look great with the decals on. Thanks :-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SimonL Posted February 8, 2015 Author Share Posted February 8, 2015 (edited) And a second brushed on coat of flat aluminium, and thats it for the weekend. Edited February 8, 2015 by SimonL 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SimonL Posted February 14, 2015 Author Share Posted February 14, 2015 Well after a pig of a week, its the weekend again - hooray! On the last stretch. I wasn't intending this to be a quick build, but its ended up that way. Just doing the bits and bobs and first coat of floor polish on the airframe. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SimonL Posted February 14, 2015 Author Share Posted February 14, 2015 Decals on. Took a surprisingly long time to do. Had some problems getting the serial numbers to line up nicely. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alpha Delta 210 Posted February 14, 2015 Share Posted February 14, 2015 She's coming along beautifully, Simon. Looking forward to seeing her in all her glory! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SimonL Posted February 14, 2015 Author Share Posted February 14, 2015 (edited) Thank you. And she's finished (well some of the paint is still a bit wet). Made her a little grubby with some water colours, but not too dirty. I was guessing that if she was the instructors' aircraft she may have been kept reasonably clean. Had a nasty turn towards the end. Started brushing on some Humbrol Mattcote, and it appeared to start lifting the aluminium paint. Never had that happen before. Stopped before I went too far, some quick work to wipe off some of the paint running on the decals and then once it had all dried used some Italeri Acryl flat. It looked a little too flat, so I put on a single coat of floor polish on the bare metal parts. Added an aerial using a bristle from a shoe brush and all done. I will post some extra pics in Ready for Inspection. Thanks for all the kind comments during the build - very much appreciated. Edited February 14, 2015 by SimonL 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hamden Posted February 14, 2015 Share Posted February 14, 2015 That looks very nice Stunning build! Roger 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PlaStix Posted February 14, 2015 Share Posted February 14, 2015 Wow! Fantastic! And quick! Well done. Lovely job. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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