1/72 Tamiya Mk.Vb Supermarine Spitfire - Spitfire Collection Expansion Project - Finished and in the Gallery - 16/05/16

[rob85]

Great to see you back at this one Stix, you're on quite a roll lately!

Says the reincarnation of castle Bromwich! 😃

Rob

[giemme]

That cockpit is looking ! Great start, Stix

Ciao

[PlaStix]

Great to see you back at this one Stix, you're on quite a roll lately!

Hi Cookie. Thank you. Yes I seem to be finishing a few bits and pieces at similar times at the moment.

Good to see you back at a spitfire stix, looking forward to seeing that etch set go in!

Rob

Thank you very much Rob and see below for some of the etch going in!

Says the reincarnation of castle Bromwich! 😃

Rob

He certainly is, isn't he!!

That cockpit is looking ! Great start, Stix

Ciao

Hi Giemme and thank you too.

I managed to get some more done on this yesterday, although progress has been a bit slow due to much fiddling about with PE!

First off - this is how the cockpit sides looked with the aluminium sections painted - I used Revell's Aluminium followed by a wash of Revell's Anthracite and then some dry-brushing with the Aluminium again:

Then it was onto some of the photoetch - foot pedals first - these were a pain! Got one fitted - came to fit the next and knocked off the first - (and because it's so small I lost it for a while!). Fitted the second one and then managed to break the first while trying to fit it again. Fitted the bulk of it onto the base and then fought to attach the piece I'd broken off!! I think I spent a good three quarters of an hour on these and they won't really be visible eventually!!:

The instrument panel was fairly straight forward to do and looks quite nice:

Then it was time to work on the seat. I painted the seat with Revell's rust - which seems a reasonable approximation for the red colour. The PE version of the seat doesn't have any representation of the padded back so I decided, therefore, to cut the back off the Tamiya seat off and then filed it to fit:

PE seat armour fitted:

PE seat folded to shape and fitted plus Tamiya seat back in place:

.....and then it was 'struggle with seat belts' time:

These were really fiddly to do.

Finally a photo of the detail PE parts on the cockpit walls:

It was only partway into working on all this PE that I realised why it all felt more fiddly this time - I've only used this type of cockpit PE on 1/48 aircraft before! Doh! Anyway I'm reasonably happy with it all so far!

Comments and suggestions welcome.

Kind regards,

stix

[giemme]

Great job with all those tiny metallic pieces, Stix!

The seat with all the goodies looks just amazing, I can hardly believe is in 1/72

Ciao

[Col.]

For all the faff and fiddle tiny photo-etch is you're mastering it fine Stix

[Biggles87]

It's sorcery!

[rob85]

That etch adds some excellent detail, nice work stix! It looks as good as your 1/48.

I don't know why I am surprised by that!

Rob

[TEMPESTMK5]

Good morning Stix

Very with the Pe parts

Patrice

[PlaStix]

Great job with all those tiny metallic pieces, Stix!

The seat with all the goodies looks just amazing, I can hardly believe is in 1/72

Ciao

Thank you Giemme. As I said above - when I was working on the PE bits and bobs - I had totally forgotten I was working in 1/72 instead of 1/48 and was wondering why everything seemed so much smaller and much more fiddly! Doh!

For all the faff and fiddle tiny photo-etch is you're mastering it fine Stix

Thank you very much Col.

It's sorcery!

It's certainly something!!

That etch adds some excellent detail, nice work stix! It looks as good as your 1/48.

I don't know why I am surprised by that!

Rob

Thank you Rob and you are way too kind!

Good morning Stix

Very with the Pe parts

Patrice

Thank you very much Patrice.

Saturday tomorrow!! Can't wait to get back to this project!

Kind regards,

Stix

Edited April 22, 2016 by PlaStix

[PlaStix]

This morning was one of those mornings when nothing seemed to go quite right. I dropped a fair few bits - luckily either Mrs PlaStix or I was able to find all of them. For some reason stuff didn't want to glue where it was supposed to but would stick instantly to anything else!! I couldn't even seem to get the photos I wanted to take. Anyway with lots of bad language and walks away to calm down I managed to make a small amount of progress.

First off I removed the cockpit parts from the sprues. This photo was taken after I had reattached the headrest armour which I managed to break off while cutting the frame from the sprue:

Then after some assembly:

Followed by a test fit on the starboard cockpit wall:

Before being glued to the port cockpit wall:

I decided not to follow the Tamiya instructions which suggest fitting the cockpit unit in after the fuselage sides are glued together - I think the way I did it is far easier to make sure everything is in place.

Finally today I glued the two fuselage sides together:

These only required holding together in a couple of places with Tamiya tape, although there were a couple of places where they wouldn't line up exactly - nothing a few passes with a file won't fix.

More tomorrow I hope.

Comments and suggestions welcome.

Kind regards,

Stix

[Col.]

Nice work in the 'pit Stix

[giemme]

I've probably already said that a few dozen times, but I struggle to believe this is 1/72!! It looks like you're building your 1/48 Tamiya Spit all over again

Ciao

Edited April 24, 2016 by giemme

[Giorgio N]

Fantastic cockpit and a great job on the PE parts.

Being a 72 scale modeler, I know well how fiddly these are and how often gluing them is a pain...

[PlaStix]

Nice work in the 'pit Stix

Thank you Col. One of my favorite parts of a build!

I've probably already said that a few dozen times, but I struggle to believe this is 1/72!! It looks like you're building your 1/48 Tamiya Spit all over again

Ciao

Thank you Giemme. You are the master at making 1/72 PE detailing look like it's in a much larger scale! As evidenced by your current project!

Fantastic cockpit and a great job on the PE parts.

Being a 72 scale modeler, I know well how fiddly these are and how often gluing them is a pain...

Thank you very much Giorgio. I've mostly used PE for 1/48 or larger builds before so this does seem exceedingly small at times.

First job yesterday was to get the elevators to be able to be displayed lowered - cuts along the angled end sections with the saw:

Then, following some scoring with a craft knife along the longer line:

Then it was onto the wings. If you've seen any of my previous builds you may have seen the way I sometimes join them to the fuselage - top sections first. The Tamiya instructions actually suggest gluing the upper wings to the lower wing unit and then attaching the whole lot to the fuselage. A couple of test fits suggested the join wasn't going to be spot on with these so I opted for my method - port upper wing section first:

In the photo above you can see I had remembered to paint the inside of the wheel well!

.........and this is the joint after it had had chance to set for a while:

Then it was time for the upper section of the starboard wing to be joined:

.....and this is the joint - not quite as good as some glue managed to ooze through in a couple of places - a bit of tidying up will be required:

After the upper wing sections had had chance to set properly I attached the lower wing unit:

.....and the stabilisers:

.....from below:

During the afternoon I did some bits and pieces - first off I looked at the exhausts - which, as usual, don't have hollowed out ends:

So after a bit of work with some micro drills and a small, blunt micro-screwdriver:

I also fitted the two PE radiator pieces - they were a bit difficult to photograph once in place:

Final job yesterday was to fit the two tiny PE locking units on the undercarriage legs:

I had an enjoyable day working on this project but now have to wait until next weekend to do any more.........

Comments and suggestions welcome.

Kind regards,

Stix

[vppelt68]

The forum software doesn´t allow me to add a "like" in your post as I have no more of them left today (!) so I have to do it by writing this - hope it´s accepted! I´m watching your build with interest as I have the same kit just waiting to be started, oob and with less skills of course

[giemme]

More great work Stix, excellent! :clap:

Painting stage approaching fast, now

Ciao

[Biggles87]

Superb wing /fuselage joint as usual, and simple undercarriage leg attachment. I hope Airfix go back to this method with their 1/48 Spitfires, I don't think that anything is gained by having separate pintles.

Cheers

John

Edited April 25, 2016 by Biggles87

[Cookenbacher]

I like your wing attachment method Stix, I'll have to give it a try soon. Thanks for showing it in detail.

[PlaStix]

The forum software doesn´t allow me to add a "like" in your post as I have no more of them left today (!) so I have to do it by writing this - hope it´s accepted! I´m watching your build with interest as I have the same kit just waiting to be started, oob and with less skills of course

Thank you vppelt - it is certainly accepted - and you are very kind. It is a really nice a kit and I hope you enjoy building it! And don't be so hard on yourself - you make great models! I will follow with great interest if you do a WIP for it.

More great work Stix, excellent! :clap:

Painting stage approaching fast, now

Ciao

Hi giemme and thank you very much. Yes not long until the painting - a few bits and pieces, a bit of pre-shading and then some paint!

Superb wing /fuselage joint as usual, and simple undercarriage leg attachment. I hope Airfix go back to this method with their 1/48 Spitfires, I don't think that anything is gained by having separate pintles.

Cheers

John

Hi John and thank you. Yes I do like these straight forward undercarriage joints . I do not know what Airfix were thinking of with the new 1/48 kits.

I like your wing attachment method Stix, I'll have to give it a try soon. Thanks for showing it in detail.

Hi Cookie and thank you too. I've used this method before for making sure of a better upper wing root joint. It tends to be quite noticeable if it's not a good join. You need to use something like Revell's Contacta glue - it's holds reasonably quickly but allows some time to keep edging the parts about to make sure they are lined up as neatly as possible. I usually apply the glue to the inner edge of the joint so if the glue does ooze out it should be on the inside (on the starboard wing I managed to get some oozing out on the outside anyway - I think I moved the parts about a little too much trying to make sure they were lined up!) If you use an instant setting glue you won't be able to manoeuvre the parts until they're in the right place. I have to remember to also check the lower edges at the front and rear to make sure they are in the correct positions before setting it on one side to set.

Hope that's of some use! Let me know if I've not explained something well enough.

Kind regards,

Stix

[GREG DESTEC]

Lovely work on your latest Spitfire Stix. It makes me want to dig one out the stash and get going on it! Does the Tamiya kit have a good cockpit transparency? On the box top it looks rather thick. I'm looking forward to the next update at the weekend, Cheers Greg.

[Cookenbacher]

Thanks for the detailed wing join description Stix. Now, I just need to start another build.

[wimbledon99]

Just catching up here Stix. Looking as good as expected

[PlaStix]

Lovely work on your latest Spitfire Stix. It makes me want to dig one out the stash and get going on it! Does the Tamiya kit have a good cockpit transparency? On the box top it looks rather thick. I'm looking forward to the next update at the weekend, Cheers Greg.

Hi Greg and thank you. I haven't properly looked at the canopy yet. When I get chance I will take a couple of photos to let you see. I'm planning on having the canopy open but Tamiya don't provide an option for this so I'm going to have to get creative......somehow.......

Thanks for the detailed wing join description Stix. Now, I just need to start another build.

No problem Cookie - I hope it's of some use............and I'm sure it won't be long before another Spitfire reaches your work bench

Just catching up here Stix. Looking as good as expected

Thank you Nigel!!!!!!!

Only one day in the way until the weekend!

Kind regards,

Stix

Edited April 28, 2016 by PlaStix

[stevej60]

Just catching up Stix,excellent progress easy to forget the smaller scale given the quality of work.

[PlaStix]

Just catching up Stix,excellent progress easy to forget the smaller scale given the quality of work.

Thank you Steve you are way too kind!

First off, before today's update, I took some pictures for Greg to show the canopy parts - he was interested to see if they looked as thick as in the photo on the front of the box. I think, unfortunately, they are. The windscreen isn't too bad:

But the main canopy sections do seem a little thicker:

I'm hoping to have the canopy open, so this may not be an issue, but more on that below.

Today I seemed to be doing bits and pieces - work on the undercarriage including painting and adding some break cables from 0.2mm lead wire:

I fitted the windscreen:

The fit was a bit gappy in places and needed some filler.

I have also got the propeller parts painted and assembled:

.......and the exhausts weathered:

Then I started work on the canopy. I want to display it open so I began by cutting off the rear fixed section from one of the canopy parts I'm not using - Tamiya provide 3 in this kit - I have cleaned up the cut edge of the rear section in this photo:

Then with it fitted and painted with the internal cockpit green:

Next with the canopy I need to cut off the moveable section I need - that may be tomorrow.

Comments and suggestions welcome.

Kind regards,

Stix