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Spitfire I and 21 - and now an XVIII


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In some ways these are the best kinds of builds. Ups and downs, trials and tribulations and all that. When these guys are finished the smile on your face will be bigger than if it was some shake and bake stuff you knocked together in a fortnight ;)

 

I'll be watching this with gusto.

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On 10/30/2018 at 7:45 PM, Beard said:

May I suggest a 91 Squadron plane? They were the only squadron to use them in Combat.

That's a good idea. I wonder if I can backdate my previous effort at LA223 to its 91 Squadron guise. I think it was DL-Y.

 

Justin

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8 hours ago, Courageous said:

Excellent work Bedders.

Forgive my ignorance but what scale are these builds?

 

Stuart

Hi Stuart,

 

It's 1/72. Haven't got space (or talent) for anything bigger...

 

Justin

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  • 2 months later...

Happy New Year folks, and here's a quick update on these Spitfires. The 21 is properly back from the dead and has just come out of the paint shop. Xtracrylix have replaced the Xtracolour enamels from last time around and we're in a decent place I think. The light is a bit rubbish for the pictures but the blutack sausages again worked well for me:

 

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I've also got the XVIII together and primed (I'm going to call it '18' from now on to save my sanity with Roman numerals). The ventral camera ports are an approximation based on several reference drawings which are all different, and in the absence of any photos that show a similar or different arrangement to the XIX (photos of which there are many).

 

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I'm unsure which airframe to model: either TP378 which was NMF (not High Speed Silver) and had Type C/C1 roundels whilst serving in Hong Kong, or TZ203 which had the 'Desert' scheme whilst with 208 Squadron. The former is a bit different but will require Alclad which I'm not sure will look great on my model's rather blemished surface; the latter is arguably the classic Mk 18 livery, unique to this variant. I have decals for both, so decisions decisions. Any preference from the BM Massiv?

 

Justin

Edited by Bedders
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Wonderful stuff as always Justin, you're really starting 2019 off right.

Is the Mk 18, the Sword kit with Freightdog tail? It looks great. I cheated on the underside camera ports on my 18's and just scribed circles using a metal punch after reading somewhere on BM that the ports had retractable covers on them to protect them from debris when on the ground.

You can't go wrong with either scheme, but for the sake of consensus, I'll vote for the desert scheme too, it's a real eye catcher.

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1 hour ago, Cookenbacher said:

Is the Mk 18, the Sword kit with Freightdog tail?

Hi Cookie, the kit is indeed the Sword including the tail which I moved slightly to get the alignment of the rudder line properly vertical. The rudder itself was requisitioned from my previous (Airfix 22 + IX + XIX) attempt at an 18 - that used a spare - and reshaped - Special Hobby rudder which I quite liked as I'd created the Z-type trim tab and didn't want to do that operation a second time. Basic components below.

 

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You and Beard make compelling arguments for the Desert scheme so that's what it'll be.

 

Justin

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I read that you already have two silver Spits in your collection and that the two other gents have suggested the desert scheme otherwise

I would've suggested this fabulous beast in it's current 28 Sqn scheme:

 

http://www.platinumfighters.com/spitfiresm845

 

Note that as presently rebuilt,she has no camera ports either in oblique positions on the fuselage sides or vertical ports underneath.

The vertical camera positions on the FR.XVIII/18 were fitted but it seems that the C of G position was then moved onto the rear limits

due to the weight of the camera units,therefore were not a popular operational fit.

 

300 XVIII's were produced,200 of which were FR variants.

Fuel capacity was also sacrificed to carry the cameras.

Edited by DaveWilko
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  • 2 weeks later...

I agree Dave that SM845 looks gorgeous, and when I first saw her emerge from restoration she really took my breath away. I read somewhere that she is painted to resemble TP378 which is one of my two options for this build, though the restorers of SM845 took the liberty of adding the black anti-glare panel and went for the later roundels too. The Freightdog markings I have are really nice and very tempting:

428f622f-e036-4530-ab32-7eb20ec67341.jpg

 

but given both my 22 and 24 are silver and I want some colour in my Spitfire collection, I think I'm going for the Desert scheme.

 

Justin

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I must have neglected to press 'submit' on the post above as I've just found it a week after I wrote it, still waiting and ready to go. Anyway between then and now I've made some good progress on the 18. I've decided to model TZ203 from 208 Squadron based in Egypt in 1949, using the Freightdog decal set.

 

There are not many photos of the Desert scheme but the ones that I've found have been helpful: 

http://www.naval8-208-association.com/Spit-Hurr1949-51Gallery.html

http://www.strijdbewijs.nl/birds/spitfire/latespit.htm

 

Also the survival of a genuine Desert scheme cowling has persuaded me that the camouflage colours set out in a number of publications should actually be reversed, as reflected in the photo in this link:

 

So here's where we've got to: the Light Slate Grey and the Medium Sea Grey are Xtracrylix, but I added a good bit of white to the Light Slate Grey to lighten it up a bit. I find the Xtracrylix Dark Earth also a bit too dark, so instead I used Mr Hobby H72. Blutack sausages helped achieve a soft edge between the top two colours. I tried to make the paint-job look like it had been applied by the unit rather than in the factory, so a rather simplified version of the standard pattern, albeit the 'mirrored' version as often used on a number of the very early marks of Spitfire. Once dry I brushed on some Alclad Aqua Gloss, and then went ahead with the decals. 

 

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After some reflection I chose to use Xtradecal roundels rather than the Frieghtdog ones, as a) I found I could get a size for the over-wing markings that looks closer to those in the photos I've seen, and b) I wouldn't have to worry about getting the separate red centres properly located. I didn't apply the walkway lines or over/underwing stencils, as I doubted they would have been reapplied in the field. But I did use one or two maintenance, access- and safety-related notices from the spares box. These also reflect what I can make out in the reference photo I'm using of TZ203 above.  

 

Must say that I found the Freightdog three-part 208 Sqn crests for the nose absolutely exquisite (though my iphone photo is not):

 

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I've now given the decals a further thin coat of Alclad Aqua Gloss to protect them, and will soon start on the weathering. In the meantime I've given the 21 a coat of Aqua Gloss, ready for decals:

 

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The radiator baths are just blutacked on. I also need to paint the wheel-wells, some kind of cockpit green if I remember correctly.

 

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With any luck I'll get some more done over the weekend.

 

Justin

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Well, I've got the stickers on the 21 and it's finally back to the stage it was at about three years ago - only slightly better, I think. I've gone for the well-known LA328 of 600 Sqn, using the codes, serials and squadron crests from Freightdog and the roundels and stencils from the Airfix 22.

 

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They're both looking pretty OK now:

 

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On the 18 I've done a pin wash and tried to pick out the panel lines in the outer wings to show the external differences with the XIV. I'm not planning to do a huge amount of weathering though these machines did look quite heavily used, so i'll try to reflect a bit of that if I can.

 

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Justin

Edited by Bedders
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  • 3 weeks later...

Well I'm on the home run with these now. Got the final coat of varnish on and am working on the canopies and fiddly bits. Here's the 18:

 

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The Cristal Clear camera windows are still drying. Meanwhile the 21 is also ready for its gunsight and canopy

 

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A few bits of tidying up around the lights and maybe a few paint chips here and there, and they should be finished in the next couple of days. The Mark I that also started this build morphed into a replica of the Batttle of Britain Flight's Mark II P7350, and I hope to finish that too before long.

 

Justin

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