Spitfire Mk VI trop, Egypt 1942

[stevehnz]

I'm going to have a go at building the Mk VI kit that came with my Brengun Spitfitre Vb floatplane, it seemed a shame to use it for that when I can use one of the several Airfix Spitfire Vbs in my stock with the floatplane bits. I'll combine it with the decals for this from the Rising decals sheet for MTO Spitfires, seemed custom made for this thread. Prestart piccies in a day ior three. I'm off to night shift shortly.

Steve.

[tonyot]

I look forward to this one Steve,......have you got some reference pics to work from?  I`ve seen pics of one with a Vokes filter and one with an Aboukir filter and they look great in desert camo. They were later converted for PR use over Crete and the Aegean. 

 

Cheers

           Tony

[stevehnz]

Hi Tony, I've a couple of photos I plucked off the net of BR124, A (iirc) which is the same airframe as the Rising Decals portray so I'm going to be happy with that. It just so happens that the kit includes all the right parts as far as I can tell so I'm hoping for a relatively straight forward build. I'm guessing that these would have shipped out in Tropical trim with Vokes filter & also ME camo so would have had the likes of walkway stencil stripes etc.ex factory or at least UK based MU. I don't tend to go too crazy on stencils but the main ones like some wing trestle markings etc help to give it some realism to my eye.

Steve.

[Giorgio N]

Steve, it should be BS124, BR124 was a Mk.V (that served over Malta...)

These aircrafts likely reached Egypt with all the correct stencils, although none is visible in the couple of pictures I know of this aircraft. As Spitfire stencils are rarely visible anyway, this doesn't help much.

The other Mk.VIs in Egypt were BS106, BS133, BS134 and BS149

 

This is a very interesting subject, will keep watching your build !

Edited October 13, 2016 by Giorgio N

[stevehnz]

On 13/10/2016 at 9:14 PM, Giorgio N said:

Steve, it should be BS124, BR124 was a Mk.V (that served over Malta...)

 

I knew that.   There I go relying on memory again & I fear its getting less reliable all the time, I'll just say I was confusing the serial with BR114 the highly much modded Vc which did the job on the Ju86Rs.  Thanks for that other info Giorgio, BR124, is the only one I've seen photos of & the one that Rising has included in their decal set possibly for that reason. I'll try & do the subject justice.

Steve.

Edited October 15, 2016 by stevehnz
speeling

[Beard]

I'll be following, for two reasons:

1) it's a Spitfire

2) I once dropped a jar of Liquid Poly on an AZ Spitfire VI and have been unable to start another.

 

I doubt I'll be able to add much to the proceedings other than moral support.

[stevehnz]

Oh help, where does time go, a day or three has become a day or 17 since that 1st post & still no sprue shot, so to rectify that.

 

there has been a little progress besides, my least favourite bit, the insides or cockpit. Spot the deliberate mistake in the next progress photo, though on its way to being rectified. Whilst doing some research on the net as to whether or not these aircraft had pilots head rests, I reckon I can see one to the left of the shoulder of the chappy on the wing in this shot, I realise there was a bit very pertinent to a Mk VI that the kit omitted, namely the pressure bulkhead behind the cockpit.

 

So the silver paint becomes a bit redundant & the bulkhead quickly carved from a piece of card, a couple of bits of slightly stretched sprue with vaguely rounded ends became oxy bottles & a couple of smaller bits on the back of the frame behind the pilots head became voltage regulators. When the cockpit module is in place, there will be the brace from behind the pilots head back to the top of the fuselage frame.

 

 

Once thats done & some blanking bits behind the exhaust slots are done I can button it up & join it onto the wings. I think I'll do the wing tip swap before that, also fill in the canopy slide rails.Shouldn't take more than a couple of weeks.

Steve.

[tonyot]

Good effort Steve and well done with the bulkhead,.....why don`t you apply a watercolour wash to highlight the side wall detail? It would look great.

 

I`d forgotten that actual Spitfire was on the sheet, that is good to know. I`ve got the bottom one, BQ-S planned to do in 48th scale soon, having done it already in 72nd scale.

 

Cheers

           Tony

[stevehnz]

Watercolour wash, now where would I be getting one of those? There is certainly some detail to be picked out yet & a bit of dry brushing to do what you suggested,  but if you"ve an easy way of doing a watercolour wash I'm all ears (or eyes).  

Steve

[tonyot]

28 minutes ago, stevehnz said:

Watercolour wash, now where would I be getting one of those? There is certainly some detail to be picked out yet & a bit of dry brushing to do what you suggested,  but if you"ve an easy way of doing a watercolour wash I'm all ears (or eyes).  

Steve

Hiya Steve,.....for a watercolour wash you can just use some black and brown from a kiddies watercolour set,......brush it all over the interior,....wait until it is almost dry and tacky and then wipe and dab it away with a moist paper towel,.........some paint will be left inside the recesses and help it to look more weathered and 3D. If you don`t like it,.....just run it under the tap and it will all disappear. Give it a go and when you get more proficient you can buy tubes of paint which last for ages,.....just stick to watercolour though and don`t use acrylics or oils as they don`t wipe away!

This set costs £2.99,....just mix the paint fairly glupy and not too wishy washy,.....I use this for my external panel lines too;

Good luck mate

                        Tony

Edited October 30, 2016 by tonyot

[stevehnz]

Thanks Tony, I reckon I could manage that OK.

Steve.

[stevehnz]

Not quite two weeks but then again, not far off it, it been progress in little dribs & drabs but that was the kind of jobs to be done, so there have been changes. I lashed out & bought a watercolour paint set as per Tony's suggestion, mine only cost $2.99 but then it hasn't as many colours in it as does Tony's set.

I tried it on the cockpit walls & was pleased enough with the effect but then promptly forgot to take a piccy before I joined the fuselage halves so this is as good as it gets, a bit too bright from the flash. I can see this being a useful technique with more experience. Thanks Tony.

 

Another job was replacing of the wing tips with the pointy high altitude ones. That was harder than I wanted it to be. One was too thin & took a heap of filling before I was happy, while the other was too thick, & took a heap of sanding...etc etc I've now mated the wings & fuselage, the wing root join wasn't too awful but the rest of the centre section to fuselage join was a stinker & needed lots of filling & probably won't be quite the lovely sharp cease along the rear of the wing fillet I'd like but will hopefully not be too bad, the mating surfaces for this part & the Vokes filter appeared to have been drafted by seperate teams & didn't seem to want to come together at a face. , so lots more filling & fettling but I'm feeling its not too far off now, maybe looking at some paint on my next break.

 

Steve.

 

[Beard]

Despite your troubles with it, it's looking very nice. 

[Col.]

The deep chin and pointy wingtips make for an unusual look to this Spitfire. Nice choice of subject 

[stevehnz]

Thanks Simon & Col, I 'spose it is a short run kit so I must expect to have to do some remedial work, its somewhat reminiscent of the Ventura Seafire XV I converted to a Spitfire XII earlier in the year, I keep seeing parallels in the work required on each, though not quite as much with the AZ Spitfire.

Steve.

[Col.]

Fair point Steve, although I've seen as much care and fettling required in some mainstream manufacturers kits, you are getting a great result out of it so clearly you're skills are a match for the kit's quirks

[tonyot]

Hiya Steve,

              Like Simon and Col I like the combination of Vokes filter and pointy wings and with the 4 blader prop it will look even better still!  Enjoy experimenting with the watercolours,......if you run across the line that you want to accentuate with a craft knife then it sits inside bette as it has something to grip onto. Same with rivet holes,....just dab them with a pointy instrument too like a needle point tool. 

 

Looking forward to seeing it progress,

Cheers

            Tony

[stevehnz]

Hi Tony thanks for the tip, I've got some paint on now, will put some photos up soonish. As I've said, kicking for touch on the Mustang GB, too much going on around here just now but I think I can bring this one in.

Steve.

[maltadefender]

Really pretty subject, Steve. Can't wait to see more.

[tonyot]

Hiya Steve,

                 I`ve found this pic and thought that it might be of interest, the caption says;

IDKU, EGYPT, 1943. PILOT OFFICER J. K. "KIRK" BANN AND "KEN" WATTS, OF 451 SQUADRON RAAF, POSE AGAINST THE SQUADRON'S SPECIAL SUPERMARINE SPITFIRE AIRCRAFT, WHICH MADE A RECORD ALTITUDE OF 49,000 FEET OVER ALEXANDRIA

 

Cheers

             Tony

[stevehnz]

Great find Tony, I wonder if this is before or after she wore her code letter B? One to file away for when I do this one. I had a wee panic before I realised it was the 103MU modified Vb, I've filled the canopy rails on my VI & for a moment I thought I'd stuffed up. Phew!

Steve.

[stevehnz]

Quick progress report, I've got some colour on now, I was going to say underneath colour all done & then, as I snapped a photo of same, it hit me between the eyes, no radiator or oil cooler yet, maybe says something about what this time of the year does to me. Any way, I've sorted them though yet to fix, I've also got the Mid Stone & first coat of Dark Earth on, so there have been steps forward, though one step back, I've also put together the prop, seperate prop blades with no locating lugs, yeeecch, the blades are a bit lacking in twist but they are what they are. I'm not happy with the filling on the starboard wing root, I might have to look at something other than Taimya body putty,  my Mk XII was also a trial in this area, still trying to decide whether I can live with it. Some photos later in the week.

Now inserted, later the week after.

 

Steve.

Edited December 21, 2016 by stevehnz
Insert the photos that should've been in here before

[Beard]

I've just started painting the undersides of my Spitfire VC and done the same... no oil cooler or radiator.

 

I look forward to seeing your progress.

[stevehnz]

Somehow I got too busy to manage progress reports & the last couple of days have been a mad rush to get this done amidst packing to go away for Christmas. Like, I really want to go away for Christmas, with the in-laws.

so, here it is, done for now, though even as I resized these I could see some little bits needing attention, nothing major though & it still needs a panel wash in a couple of areas, time to try out Tony's method from above, after Christmas though.

 

A few of observations about it, the Rising decals roundels are a bit bright, especially the red bits but I went with what I had, the paints used were Hu94 & 110 for the uppers which I think work well for a slightly faded Desert Air Force scheme with HU157, the new version, underneath. The fit of bits like the U/C gave me all sorts of grief toward the end, one side is held on by dint of a short bit of paper clip & superglue pinning the join. I found Revell contacta which I've just started using was too hot for the U/C legs, softened up the whole join. In typical GB fashioned I had to hurry bits I'd rather not have but at least it got done rather than laguishing on the shelf of shame. All in all, I'm happy enough with it, I quite like the look of it, an unusual combo of colours & type. More photos in the gallery

Steve.

 

Edited December 21, 2016 by stevehnz
Took out most of the photos & put them in the gallery where they should have been.

[vppelt68]

She's just beautiful, Steve! Have a nice Christmas 🎅 regardless of the family extension 😁. V-P