Partisan Pair, 1/48 Hurricane + Spitfire. Spitfire done, Hurricane too!!!

[modelling minion]

Bit of a belated entry this, been busy with other builds and to be honest also couldn't make my mind up as to which subject to build as I have a fair few (too many according to my wife) to choose from and the MTO is one of my favourite areas of interest in WWII and has already been the subject of quite a few of my builds including a B-24D, P-39, P-38, Spitfire Vb Trop, Henschel HS-129, Bf-109 G-10 and Ju-87B/R.

So once again I've probably bitten off more than I can chew and am going to try a double build. I started the Spitfire 5 days ago and haven't taken any progress pictures of it until today (other than the in-box shots) as I wasn't sure I could find the markings I wanted so I was going to build it Turkish which is beyond the scope of this GB and I need to get it finished for Telford for my model club's display. I have however now found that I can build it in the markings I wanted originally which in case you haven't guessed is in Yugoslav partisan Air Force markings, namely 352 Sqn RAF. I am perfectly happy if the mods say it is too far gone to be included in the GB, here are the pictures.

Before....

 

 

And how she looks now....

 

And the second part of by build will be the Spitfire's predecessor, a Hurricane Mk.IIC Trop. This will be built from the Revell boxing of the Hasegawa kit and is being built from scratch which will start tomorrow. Anyway here are some pics of the kit box, contents and decals I will use.

 

 

 

 

The decals for the Hurricane are by Lift Here which is a Serbian company so no problems with authenticity and the quality is good as well, I used some of their decals on my Ju-87 which was finished as a machine captured by partisans and then used against the occupying Germans. I am very lucky to have a Serbian friend who sends me these decals (and other goodies), thanks Sasha you are a star.

I don't have any markings for the Spit as yet as it has taken me a while to confirm the Yugoslav's used Vb's as nearly all their Spits were Vc's (come on Airfix, hurry up with a Vc!) but I have found one confirmed example and it appears on a sheet by Balkan Models.

Oh and just to confirm their place in the GB geographically both the Spits and the Hurricanes before them were based in Italy and in the case of the Hurricanes in North Africa.

 

That's it for now, I hope you find my choices interesting and as usual all comments and criticisms are gratefully received.

 

Craig.

Edited November 23, 2016 by modelling minion

[modelling minion]

Had some spare time today so I've been continuing with the Spitfire build.

The fuselage is now more or less complete as you can see below.

 

On the whole I'm quite impressed with the fuselage assembly with the only areas of "interest" being the separate piece in front of the cockpit and the tail planes, which required an amount of filling and sanding as can be seen below.

 

The wings have now been assembled and they fit together very well indeed.

 

They just need the cannons and flaps adding and they are done. I've decided to fit the long range slipper fuel tank under the fuselage as they were often fitted to allow the aircraft to reach targets over their home of Yugoslavia from their bases in Italy. here is a picture showing the underside of the wings pre-drilled for the fitment of the tank.

 

Thanks for looking in, and as usual all comments and criticisms are gratefully received.

 

Craig.

[tonyot]

I`ve just built a 352 Sqn Spit if it is of any help or interest?; 

 

Good luck with your pair,......I like the Harvard too!

Cheers

         Tony

I`ve just built a 352 Sqn Spit if it is of any help or interest?; 

 

Good luck with your pair,......I like the Harvard too!

Cheers

         Tony

[modelling minion]

Thanks Tony, nice job on your 1/72 one she looks great.

I had the same query regarding your subject as to whether or not it is a Vb as it is difficult to tell from some photo's and the code was supposed to be for a Vc but as you say the wing, particularly the cannon bulges look a lot like a Vb. This link has some nice pictures of Yugoslav Spits and Hurricanes :-

http://www.mission4today.com/index.php?name=ForumsPro&file=viewtopic&t=15329&finish=15&start=15

I agree about the Harvard too, another one for the near future!

 

Craig.

 

Edited September 23, 2016 by modelling minion

[CliffB]

Extra marks for chosing a Yugoslav machine Craig

[modelling minion]

Thanks Cliff, much appreciated.

Time for a quick update. The Spitfires tail feathers are now complete and have been set at slight angles to give a bit more interest.

 

The wings are also now complete with the cannons fitted. These have had to have a fair amount of filler applied as they just did not fit well at all, this kit really is a bit of a curates egg in that there is some very nice detailing but some of the parts just do not fit well at all. As you will see in the picture below I have also removed the moulded on strengthening strips from the tops of the wings as they are not present in any of the pictures of Yugoslav Spitfires I have seen.

 

Best of all I have managed to get hold of the decals I need (thanks Brian) and they look fantastic, I can see a Vc being built later to join the Vb.

 

I have also made a start on the Hurricane. The Hasegawa Hurricane comes with a separate forward fuselage so that different marks could be made and I did wonder if the fit would give me some problems but I am pleasantly surprised as they fit very well indeed, here's a couple of pics of the completed fuselage halves and a close up of the joint area on the nose.

 

The main wing assembly has also been started and this also went together without any problems with just a small amount of filler required on the leading edge in a couple of places.

 

 

The large gaps are for the inserts for the 20mm cannon which will be added later, another example of Hasegawa getting the most out of their molds.

The parts for the cockpit interior have also been started and the main cockpit floor parts have been assembled and are ready for paint.

 

Hopefully today I will get the cockpit interior painted and the majority of the detailing done on the inside.

 

That's how they stand at the moment, might be another update this evening. Thanks for looking in and as usual all comments and criticisms are gratefully received.

 

Craig.

[modelling minion]

As promised here is the update for the end of play today.

The Spitfire has had the wings and fuselage joined together and the tropical filter fitted as well, the wings fitted really quite well with only a small amount of filler required and the same can be said of the filter. This is how she looks at the minute.

 

After I had done with the Spit (until the filler hardens) I carried on with the Hurricane. The interior parts were all painted and have now been assembled, the fit of parts has been very good so far with nothing to worry the modeller at all, the only additions I have made are a set of seat belts and to be honest once the fuselage halves are joined together not a lot can be seen anyway. Below are some pictures of how she is at the minute, showing the assembled cockpit framework and the inside of the fuselage halves which have also been painted and had the small parts fitted.

 

 

 

Whilst waiting for paint to dry etc I have carried on with the wings and fitted the inserts for the 20mm cannon. These are the worst fitting parts so far, which does not mean they are a very bad fit just that everything else has fitted better, and require a small amount of filler to fill some gaps.

 

That's it for today, I'm off to join the fuselage halves together!

Thanks for looking in and as usual all comments and criticisms are gratefully received.

 

Craig.

[modelling minion]

Quick update before I do a bit more work on them.

The Spitfire has the front and rear cockpit canopy parts fitted and the gap between then masked off. Now that all the airframe parts have been assembled she is ready for a coat of primer, now if any of you have seen any of my builds before you will know that when I am priming an aircraft which will be weathered I cheat a bit and use an aluminium paint for my primer and my paint of choice is the new range of Vallejo acrylic metal colours as they go on fantastically and dry quickly and make a good base for future weathering. the Spitfire is no exception and has received the same treatment and this is how she looks now.

 

Shiny isn't she! Well she is about to get a bit shinier as I am going to give her a polish with some micro-mesh to produce a nice smooth surface ready for the first of the main colours. But before I apply any more paint I will do some pre-shading of the panel lines, but not with the airbrush, I cheat and use a marker pen. I've used it before and it works quite well.

 

The Hurricane has also been assembled and had some primer aluminium added but she needs a fair bit of cleaning up of joints and another coat in places, no pictures of her as yet, maybe later in the week as I need to concentrate on the Spit first.

 

Thanks for looking in and as usual all comments and criticisms are gratefully received.

 

Craig.

[PlaStix]

Excellent progress Craig. I do like the cockpits - especially the one for the Hurricane.

[modelling minion]

Thanks Stix, much appreciated.

Both cockpits are straight out of the box with the exception of the seatbelts, both kits cockpits are quite good from the box and just need a bit of detail painting and dry-brushing to show the details.

Hopefully I will get some paint on the undersurfaces later this evening.

[modelling minion]

I did indeed get the time to put some paint on her!

But before that here are a couple of shots of her with the "pre-shading" done with a marker pen, the sun was actually very strong when I took these earlier so apologies for the shadows.

 

 

For the undersides I have used Gunze medium sea grey, I love these paints as they cover very well and leave a nice smooth finish. The paint has been applied gradually with a lighter coat in the centre of panels but a bit darker over the panel lines and the marker pen giving a quite pleasing overall effect which you can hopefully see below.

 

And here's a closer shot which shows the pre-shaded lines a bit better.

 

Hopefully I will be able to mask the undersides tomorrow and apply the first colour to the upper surfaces.

 

As usual thanks for looking in and all comments and criticisms are gratefully received.

 

Craig.

[TEMPESTMK5]

Good afternoon Craig

  so far

Patrice

[stevej60]

Cracking choice Craig and a great start on these two will follow with interest I,m building the black Spitfire from the club kit at the moment

I love the idea of the marker pen looks like a nice result,what pen are you using as I would'nt mind giving it a go!

[modelling minion]

Thanks Patrice and Steve.

 

Steve the pens I use are Staedler markers, they come in both fine and medium sizes which is useful for doing more intricate bits. I'm at work at the minute but I will post a pic of them later when I hopefully do a proper update.

[stevej60]

3 hours ago, modelling minion said:

Thanks Patrice and Steve.

 

Steve the pens I use are Staedler markers, they come in both fine and medium sizes which is useful for doing more intricate bits. I'm at work at the minute but I will post a pic of them later when I hopefully do a proper update.

Cheer's Craig I'm off this weekend so will be picking one up

[modelling minion]

Quick update of today's progress so far.

I have roughly masked the uppersurfaces with blutack sausages so that I can apply the Ocean Grey to them without completely covering all the aircraft so that both camo colours will only have one layer which makes weathering better and also ensures that the e pre-shading still shows through. Here's an overall pic of how she looks at the minute.

 

And a closer one which hopefully shows the pre-shading.

 

And just for Steve here's a pic of the pens I use for the pre-shading.

 

Next step is to mask off the Ocean Grey in preparation for the Dark Green, whether that gets done this evening or tomorrow I'm not sure.

Thanks for looking in.

 

Craig.

[PlaStix]

Looking very good Craig and I like the idea of using permanent marker pens for pre-shading too! Great idea! 

Kind regards,

Stix

[Kahunaminor]

A couple of nice builds there Craig,

 

Cool idea using the permanent marker, I am not normally in the "pre shade" camp but that looks quite good and simple too!

 

Regards,

[Troy Smith]

Neat work Craig

 

a few points.

I got some Lift Here decals, I was not impressed at the colours, the Yugoslav squadrons were part of the RAF, and so would have used RAF colours,  so the blue and  red are too bright.   They do look like post war Yugoslav colours  though.

The Balkan decals look much better colour wise.

 

The fuel tank on Spitfires has thin layer of armour, so is slightly proud,  the Airfix Spitfire has incredibly fine tolerances,  even a coat of paint  can throw off alignment.

The UC leg attachment is weak, pre drilling the top of the UC attachment seems to be a good idea.

Wing strengthening strips were only seen on A and B winged Spitfires,   and were a retrofitted items, the C wing didn't need them, there are thread here on this...

 

One thing that is a pig is the Hase Hurricane under fuselage joint, as it's in the fabric area,  and  the stringer  lines do not line up..

I  took the fabric bit off the wing, split it, and attached to each fuselage half, and even then it looked cak,  if you want the fabric  lines it maybe better to sand flat, and add a sheet of scored  5 thou card later, if that makes sense.

 

great progress and great subjects

 

cheers

T

 

 

[Greg in OK]

I have got to say Fantastic Work done on that cockpit!

 

Greg in OK

[modelling minion]

On 10/1/2016 at 0:32 AM, Kahunaminor said:

A couple of nice builds there Craig,

 

Cool idea using the permanent marker, I am not normally in the "pre shade" camp but that looks quite good and simple too!

 

Regards,

Thanks for the interest Stix and Kahunaminor, I am new to the pre-shading idea myself and the pens simply make it easier and quicker and they seem to get the same results.

On 9/30/2016 at 6:52 PM, PlaStix said:

Looking very good Craig and I like the idea of using permanent marker pens for pre-shading too! Great idea! 

Kind regards,

Stix

On 10/1/2016 at 1:10 AM, Troy Smith said:

Neat work Craig

 

a few points.

I got some Lift Here decals, I was not impressed at the colours, the Yugoslav squadrons were part of the RAF, and so would have used RAF colours,  so the blue and  red are too bright.   They do look like post war Yugoslav colours  though.

The Balkan decals look much better colour wise.

 

The fuel tank on Spitfires has thin layer of armour, so is slightly proud,  the Airfix Spitfire has incredibly fine tolerances,  even a coat of paint  can throw off alignment.

The UC leg attachment is weak, pre drilling the top of the UC attachment seems to be a good idea.ng strengthening strips were only seen on A and B winged Spitfires,   and were a retrofitted items, the C wing didn't need them, there are thread here on this...

 

One thing that is a pig is the Hase Hurricane under fuselage joint, as it's in the fabric area,  and  the stringer  lines do not line up..

I  took the fabric bit off the wing, split it, and attached to each fuselage half, and even then it looked cak,  if you want the fabric  lines it maybe better to sand flat, and add a sheet of scored  5 thou card later, if that makes sense.

 

great progress and great subjects

 

cheers

T

 

 

Thanks Troy,

The Balkan Decals are very good colour wise. I agree that that Lift Here ones might look a little washed out but I can chalk that up to fading in the bright sun in the desert and Italy.

I'm aware of the fun that can be had with the Spits undercarriage, as you suggest I am considering drilling and pinning the joint for extra strength.

I've had the same issue with the Hurricane's under fuselage joint, I have filled it and will try to recreate the fabric effect with a needle file. 

On 10/1/2016 at 4:30 AM, Greg in OK said:

I have got to say Fantastic Work done on that cockpit!

 

Greg in OK

Thanks Greg, much appreciated.

[modelling minion]

Now for a proper update.

The Dark Green was added yesterday but after I removed the masking there were a couple of areas that needed touching up, hardly a new experience for me. I did a bit more masking this morning and touched in the areas that needed work and this is how she looked afterwards.

I'm quite happy with how she is looking so far.

During the course of the day I have applied 3 coats of klear by brush which gave a nice glossy finish and by this evening I was ready to start decalling. I haven't got them all on but I have got all the stencils from the Airfix decal sheet on as well as the Sky fuselage band from the Balkan sheet ( because I got carried away and forgot to mask and paint it!) which went on a treat and bodes well for the rest  of the decals. This is how she looks at the minute.

 

No more decals tonight, might get to put some on in the morning before I have to go to work.

 

Thanks for looking in, and as usual all comments and criticisms are gratefully received.

 

Craig.

[modelling minion]

Well the decalling is now complete and I have to say I think she looks quite smart with those big red stars in place of the usual roundels.

 

 

The decals from both the kit and the Balkan sheet performed very well indeed and have settled into the recessed details of the kit very nicely as you can hopefully see in the picture below.

 

 

With this stage of modelling out of the way I can make a start on the weathering process over the weekend, hopefully I will be able to get the airframe completed and a flat coat applied but we will see.

Thanks for looking in and as usual all comments and criticisms are gratefully received.

 

Craig.

[TEMPESTMK5]

Good morning Craig

 She is looking great with the decals on

Patrice

[modelling minion]

Thanks Patrice.

They make quite a big difference don't they, and they are quite colourful.