Spitfire Mk.IXe + Mk.IXc of 312 (Czechoslovakia) squadron RAF

[Wolwe82]

Hey guys, my first build for this gb (though it ll be more complicated one so i wont finish it first probably ) ll be post war Czechoslovakia spitfire, flown by Karel Pošta, who fought at WW2 as a member of 312 (Czechoslovak) squadron. Awarded by many honours (5x Czechoslovakian War Cross, 3x Czechoslovakian Medal of Valor, Czechoslovakian 1st Class Medal of Merit, CS Commemorative Medal Army, French Croix de Guerre, British DFC, The 1939-1945 Star with Battle of Britain Clasp, Air Crew Europe Star with France Germany Clasp, Atlantic Star, Defence Medal and War Medal - though i m not sure in which order), he came back to home after the war. Because of his amazing pilot skills he was flying acrobatics on his Spitfire on Airshows (also on his all around NMF spitfire with red lightning on fuselage - that one i ll try to make ).

Then the year 1948 and the f...ing comunists came to Czechoslovakia (sorry for swearing but i hate them from my deepest heart!). The pilots who were fighting for liberation of their country during the war at United Kingdom, France and such were persecuted, jailed, put to forced labor camps (some of these were in fact extermination camps, uranium mines and such) or killed.. (Dark blue world movie shows in few minutes how the comunists goverment acted to these brave guys and it is nice movie overall). Sure it was not only the pilots who were persecuted, it was quite dark age and just reading about it is bringing tears to my eyes and fills me with anger and hate to all who were standing behind this injustice.. Back to Karel Pošta - knowing what would happen to him if he stayed in Czechoslovakia, he sent his british wife and their daughter back to UK as fast as he could and he also escaped and joined them there later.

He then rejoined the RAF, in lower rank (Sergeant), but thanks to his pilot skills he was promoted over time up to Flight Lieutenant - they say it was also thanks to his brilliant display flying on Spitfire XVI at Farnborough Airshow at 1950. One of his home airfields during the next years was Acklington, at the time home of some Tempests, Masters, Oxfords, every now and then Meteors and Vampires, .. and also one Spitfire, which (by witnesses) was flown probably only by K.Pošta (if by any chance anyone had some info about code letters and such of this only home Spitfire at Acklington during 1950-51, it would be great! ). One of the members of the crew back then there said, everytime they did hear the sound of starting engine of that Spitfire, it was like signal for everyone to take the best spots and watch the exhibition

Well, i m sorry, i did let my thoughts go on free, but i think it is good to know who were the guys who fought for us all. So i would like to build this Spitfire as a memory to Karel Pošta and other Czechoslovakia pilots, who had to fight, even against their own country...

To the build - i m using Eduard´s Overtrees Spitfire Mk.IXe and a bit of goodies

- brassin Spitfire radio set

- brassin Spitfire IX cockpit set (i m not happy with this one at all as it is just replacing the kit parts and totaly ignoring the top half of the cockpit.. well, next time i ll go with Barracuda or Aires set)

- brassin Spitfire IX engine set

- Ultracast propeller + spinner

- brassin wheels

- rob taurus vacu canopy (at least the middle part)

- quickboost doors (i have used these at the XVI and they look so much better than the plastic ones!)

- i m also thinking about the PE flaps, but i ll see once i complete the fuselage together, if there is enough place under the brassin cockpit and radio well floor and also it depends how i ll be on it with time

- also i ll be doing a bit of scratch building, mainly to the cockpit upper areas and to the radio hatch - the brassin set contains just the VHF radio but not the IFF, which i believe should be there too, + many more instruments and cables which i mostly dont even know for what they are Obviously i do not have photos of the exact Spitfire i m building (well, just few outside shots), so i m using random Spitfire IX shots found by mr. Google

Some little progress so far, missing a lot of things yet and i have only just begun with the details painting. The green is a bit too much bright to me so i ll try to bring it down with some oils and filters. (blame me for not being patient, i have the Gunze H cockpit grey green which works quite good to me, mainly with some weathering, but i ran out of the thinner and i was lazy to go buy new one, so tried to make some mix of vallejo paints but i simply did bad job.. so hope the weathering ll help me to bring the tone down)

I have weekend at work, so i ll get back to this baby probably at sunday night

Edited February 11, 2016 by Wolwe82

[PlaStix]

Looking forward to seeing what you do with this Spitfire build!

Your work on the cockpit already looks amazing.

Kind regards,

Stix

[Basilisk]

Interesting background information on the pilot. Do you have a picture of the aircraft you are building?

I am looking forward to see your build progressing - a great start with lots of detail already in place.

Cheers, Peter

[Col.]

Please do not feel you have to make any apology for posting a short history of what those brave men went through upon returning to their native country after fighting so hard to set it free. I for one am glad to hear their story being told and look forward to watching your model materialize.

[rob85]

Great back ground + a fantastic + extras + your skill.... This could be very special indeed!

Rob

[HOUSTON]

Wolve82,

your cockpit looks FLAWLESS and neat .. great start. keep it up.

I like historical backgrounds and tales when reading a build as it effectively gives it a human { as well as humane} angle to a build. More personable to the build. .

So Thank you

[Biggles87]

I'm in, I just can't resist one of your Spitfires.

John

[CliffB]

Looking forward to seeing more of your scratchbuilt detailing

Cliff

[Wolwe82]

Thanks guys for your interest and watching this thread I have done some progress + i have started another Spitfire - i have decided this year (2016) i ll be building only models which have something to do with Czech/Czechoslovakia - so in my case it ll be mostly planes in markings of Czech/Slovak pilots in RAF or planes of Czech/Czechoslovakia air force post 1945

Keeping this in mind, i ll build these two spitfires together, but i have not yet decided the markings One of them ll be the silver spitfire in Czechoslovakia post war marking:

The other one i m still chosing.. I have few options in mind, chosing between pilots O. Smik (DFC - his operational career was sadly short, from Jan 1943 to Nov 1944, he still managed to get 9 shot downs confirmed, 1 probable, 2 "shared" and also he did shot down 3x V-1. He has died at Nov 1944 as his plane was shot down), W/CDr T.Vybiral (DFC, DSO,...) or some Spitfire IXc in D-Day marking of some Czechoslovakia squadrons.

To the progress then Both cockpits are completed, one i did build straight from the box (just added the seatbelts)

The more detailed one is using the Brassin cockpit (but i m not happy with it - it has some nice details, but it just improves what is already in the basic kit.. it is totaly ignoring many more instruments and totaly ignoring the upper sidewalls....) + some scratchbuilding (mainly in the upper areas and behind the seat)

Back to work now, more progress in few days again

[PlaStix]

What can I say? As I was scrolling down this page I thought that first cockpit looks great and then I got to the second one and it was WOW! That is amazingly detailed!! Superb! It's a shame you've had to scratch build but it has certainly paid off!!

Kind regards,

Stix

[Wolwe82]

Thanks Stix Well the brassin set has some nice details, but as i said, it lacks the upper half of cockpit details completely.. but i dont mind some scratchbuilding

I was thinkikng about it yesterday and i think i found out what is my problém - as i was used to 1/72 scale and i was trying to add some details there, now as i moved to 1/48 (well, not fully but mostly ) i got the feeling like 1/48 is something super big and like i could do anything i want in that scale.. but obviously i cant as 1/48 is not that much bigger than 1/72 So i think i ll have to go for 1/32.. 1/24 seems to be way too big for our little appartment at this moment Though there is the 1/24 tiffie in the stash... sooo maybe..

[Cookenbacher]

That cockpit is amazing Wolwe. I'm so glad to have another one of your builds to follow.

[nick32]

Very nice work, you can't beat a good Spitfire build! I'll be very interested when you start the Brassin engine, i have one in the stash and some of the parts are tiny - I think it will look stunning but i'm unsure if my skill level is there yet....

The Brassin cockpit looks excellent, as does the radio - Well, all of it does really!

Nick

[Col.]

Stunning work on both cockpits

Glad you've chosen to do a double build, as seems to be the unwritten rule for this GB, it means we have twice as much marvellous work to enjoy.

[Wolwe82]

Thanks guys for your support And i m sorry, last two weeks i had night shifts so i could not do much of modelling. So at least a bit of progress here

I m still deciding which camouflage to paint - i m not sure i m good enough in surface preparation for NMF, so i ll change the subject of the OOB Spitfire - i have few options in mind :

a) Spitfire LF XVIe - UT-H flown by K.Posta as solo display at Farnborough 1950

Spitfire LF IXe - operation Velveta (Spitfires were sold from Czechoslovakia to Israel, from Czechoslovakia to Yugoslavia they were flown wearing Yugoslavian marking, there they repainted it to Israel marking, all the time the Spitfires were using two drop tanks mounted under wings, taken from Bf 109G)

c) Spitfire LF IXe - DU-K with Czechoslovakia markings, as it came home from UK after war

d) Spitfire LF IXe - DU-J from the war time, invason stripes and extra fuel tank (for this i would have to cut out the actual wing tips and add the longer ones)

The decision ll be made depending to what decals/masks can i get (main problem are the serial numbers)

So far just main parts together, polished surface and painted some silver paint in areas where i ll add some chipping later

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The other one got its seatbelts and i have completed the fuselage + wings - thanks to some of the Brassin parts were wrongly sized (bigger than it should be), the wing did not fit realy good in the bottom area, so i had to do a lot of grinding and use some putty and plastic card to fill the little holes..

So far this is where i m now Also started to work on the Brassin engine, added a bit of details, more ll be added after painting

This weekend i m off, so more progress in few days

[Biggles87]

That looks like a really smooth silver finish, what did you use? I think that the majority of post war " natural metal " finishes were in fact painted or lacquered, rather than bare metal.

I agree with Stix on the cockpits, and knowing your scratch building ability and attention to detail, I'm sure that the Brassin engine will look fantastic when you've finished it.

Looking forward to more over the weekend.

Cheers

John

[Davek72]

Fascinating background history and I love the cockpit detail. I can only aspire to that kind of craftsmanship. I shall follow with interest.

Dave

[Blastvader]

How did I miss a Wolwe build? Brilliant (and irritatingly speedy) work as always and a fascinating background story.

[Cookenbacher]

Looking good Wolwe. I'd say that if you don't have good enough surface preparation skills for NMF, then no one does.

[Wolwe82]

Thanks guys, you have always been too nice and kind to my builds, i realy appreciate your support so much!

John, i guess overall you are right about the silver laquer, but if i chose the Czechoslovakia Spitfire, it would have to be NMF - all the CS Spitfires were delivered in the DG/OG camo and this one was later stripped down to bare metal. At least this is info what i get from guy who has quite deep knowledge about the CS Spitfires

Sadly, this weekend i m not at home, so all i can do is checking BM on the phone But i hope later you wont be disapointed from the engine

Dave i always said, whatever i can do, anyone can;)

Blasty, i m not surprised yiu have missed my build, i have much less time for building and posting on BM these months so it is easy to miss the one post per week

Cookie, thanks, but this is my biggest weaknes - clean building phase.. i have to get way way better at this and under the NMF or gloss paint every little scratch or misperfection is visible a lot so i realy need to practice and learn to work much more clean

[Wolwe82]

Aaaand i forgot - John, the silver paint (just base for future scratching) is Agama spirit based Silver on polished surfacer primer. I love the agama spirit based paints, but i dont have many shades

[whitestar12chris]

This is looking awesome, the cockpit is just out of this world, well done.

All the best Chris

[PlaStix]

Lovely progress Wolwe.......now where's the next update?

[Artie]

Amazing work so far........and, of course, I really love the story behind.....I've always found that film (Dark Blue World) an excellent history lesson.

Best regards....

[Wolwe82]

Hey again guys, finaly i have a bit of time to show some progress - i had some sick days during last weeks and was too busy with another stuff So i m progressing only on the second build - and i have changed the subject to be one of the Spitfires of 312 (Czechoslovak) fighter squadron RAF.

I wanted to try something, so i chosed this kit to be some sort of test bed - in short, i was adding layers of various shades of the camo colours, while using mascol or salt to create some textures and chipping fluid to show the metal base. As it looks now, i m not exactly happy with the result overal (i have used too different shades on the grey colour from darker grey to light bluegrey, which does not look so good), but on some areas i m quite happy with it (wing tips, roundels, some areas of wings), but i believe when i learn to control it and use on the right areas with right colour shades in combination with more techniques for rest of the airframe, it can bring realy nice results.

Anyway, the progress then

First, the chipping fluid + basic camo colours (used Gunze C RAF colours, the grey is too dark and without any blue tint:( )

Next, another chipping fluid coat, when dry used mascol to cover random patches around followed by medium green shade. Then the mascol got removed and i used salt masking for next layer, followed by light green shade. Once salt was removed, this was the result. Next time i ll have to better plan the areas and the colours used (+ the colours order).

Next step was to use some light layer of the camo colours, to dull down the effect a bit. I have then used wet soft sandpaper and removed a bit of the top layer here and there. It was a bit overdone, but as i said, this is test bed, so overdoing the steps should help me to find the line for next builds After the top layer was dry enough (another day) i have painted the roundels and code letters with Montex masks and treated them in same way as the camouflage - it was all day work (spent a lot of time waiting for all the colou layers to dry)

Btw sorry for the quality of the photos, i m taking it on the night shift

As next step i have faded the surface with oils.

Next i ll be working on exhaust staining (which i want to do pretty extended like i saw on some shots of 1944 spitfires) and then paint the invasion stripes - in this order, because on one photo i saw the stripes were painted over the exhaust staining, which looked quite good and interesting So lets see