1/48 Airfix Supermarine Spitfire Mk.I "in flight"

[sunray]

Merry Christmas everyone.  Here is my effort in building Airfix's 1/48 Spitfire Mk.I hopefully in a flying display.  The finish article is for my brother in-law so I hope he likes it.  This is a straight out of the box build apart from the home stand.  So here it is.















With making this as a flying display the problem I had was where to drill in the lower fuselage.  I could use an Airfix stand but I think I will make my own as I have done before.  The detail in the cockpit prevented me from drilling the hole in the centre of the fuselage and wings as I didn't want to take a chance of it being seen.  So after so thinking I decided to drill the hole for the stand a few centimetres behind the wing root and just behind where the cockpit assembly will be located.  The diameter of the hole was determined by size of bolt and brass rod that I am going to use.



I used a 3.5mm drill bit in a hand chuck and just took my time drilling the hole so it made a clean cut.  Once done I test fitted which showed me that the head of the brass bolt was just too big and required a bit of filing with a flat needle file.



The good thing about using brass bolts is that they are easy to file but a steel bolt would do the job.  I used brass bolts just because they were to hand, thats all.



Once again I test fitted to see if I had filed enough off.



Also because the lower fuselage has a curve to it and the base of the head of the bolt was flat, I filed the head of the bolt at the base to seat the bolt a bit better in the fuselage.



Once I was happy I attached the bolt with epoxy.  When the epoxy had cured I then test fitted the cockpit half to make sure there was enough room, which there wasn't so I just filed and sanded the epoxy so it all fits nicely.







Now I started to build the cockpit which was straight forward following the new instruction layout from Airfix.







I was going to use Eduard's photo etch set for the instrument panel but I thought I would give the kit decals ago.  What I did was using a punch set which I have had for a few years, I punch out the dials and placed them on the black painted panel and I think it worked rather well for a first attempt.  The only thing I should have done before I started was make a note of what dial went where.  Oh well lesson learned for the next time.







I also drilled out a few holes in the ribs and painted the rest of the fuselage.











I then gave the cockpit a coat of Klear to seal the paint and I gave the cockpit an oil wash.  I didn't paint the top of the control stick as it wasn't added until I was happy with the position of the pilot then I glued it in.











With the pilot added it blocks out some of the added detail but this doesn't bother me, as I would hate it if on the finished article you could see an unpainted part of the cockpit that I had missed.

[sunray]

I decided to use the kit supplied pilot as its not too bad.  So I glued the arms so they fitted over the control stick and throttles.  I then drilled a small hole in his rear to enable me to fit a cocktail stick to him making the pilot easier to handle.  It sounds painful I know but I can assure you that no plastic figures suffered any pain during this operation. 







I primed him with Tamiya XF1 Black.



Then I just painted him using Citadel, Vallejo Model Color and Panzer Aces (also from Vallejo).  Once dry I use Citadel washes to weather him down a touch.





Next job was to seat him in the cockpit and once I was happy with the position of the pilot I applied a touch of glue to keep him there.













With all the cockpit finished apart from the HUD I attached the cockpit assemble to a fuselage half ensuring it was lined up correctly with Tamiya glue.  Once cured I then attached the other fuselage, cowling, wings, etc as per the instructions.  All were a good fit giving no problems.







For the exhausts I did think about getting resin ones but I changed my mind and decided to drill out the kit ones.



To drill out the exhausts I use a pin vice with a small drill bit.



For the rear exhaust as it was a narrower pipe than the other two I just drilled one hole in the centre.  For the other two as they were wider I drilled two holes in each pipe.



Then using a slightly larger drill bit I enlarged the rear most pipe by slowly working the drill bit so I made the hole larger by using the sides of the drill bit to cut the plastic and not drill into it.  I did the same exercise on each hole in the other two pipes so that the holes joined up to make an oval hole.



Here are the two sets of drilled out exhausts.



I assembled the prop, tail plane and ailerons which were easy and had no fit issues.







And in went the exhausts.



Then I attached a few air intakes.



I assembled the wing air intake and I painted the interior of it before it was attached.







To finish the cockpit off I attached the HUD.



The canopy had two scratches on the front and rear but they were easily polished out.



I painted the HUD and then I attached the front canopy with PVA glue.  Once that had cured I stuck on the rear facing mirror.  Due to its size this was a bit awkward and then on went the rear canopy again attached with PVA.  The last job of the day was to attach the tear drop nav light.








 

[stevej60]

Great start Ian,love the pilot too.

[sunray]

Thanks Steve.  The next job I did on the Spitfire was to mask off the canopy using thin masking tape and masking fluid.













Then came the nav light and landing light.





Before I primed the kit I inserted small pieces of foam/sponge packing in the radiator intake and outtake under the wing to cover the already painted radiators.  The sponge fills the gap nicely preventing any egress of any unwanted paint.  Now I just sprayed on the primer and added a bit of black as pre-shading.









For the camouflage I decided to use the colours from the Vallejo Model Air "Battle of Britain" set which went down quite well.  I sprayed the underside first then I added the masking tape once the paint had dried ready for the camouflage.  I didn't use stencils, etc, for the camouflage I just sprayed the pattern freehand.

[SimonT]

Looking very tidy!

[sunray]

Thanks Simon.  I gave the Spitfire a few coats of Tamiya X22 Clear slightly sanding between coats and then on went the decals.











I used Micro Sol on the decals to settle them down.  While that was doing its stuff I moved my attention to the antenna and pitot tube.  For the antenna I decided to make one from scrap photo etch sprue just cut into shape and filed down to finish.  I used the kit part as a template and I attached it with CA glue.









I made the pitot tube the same way using a piece of small brass tubing as well.



To attach the tube to the photo etch I taped the parts to a piece of MDF to hold and align them.  Them I joined them with solder.





Then I attached the pitot tube with CA glue as before.





They took less than 10 minutes to make and they were made from just stuff knocking around my bench.  I proceeded to hand paint them, I attached the prop and then gave the Spitfire another coat of clear to seal everything.













I made up an oil wash and I added it to the panel lines.










 

[Christer A]

Now that is a nice looking Spit!

Great job on those metal parts!

[sunray]

Thanks mate and I am happy to say that it is finished!  I added a touch of exhaust smoke and a bit of dry brushing then a coat of satin varnish to seal and tone down the finish.  I then added the aerial cable and made the stand.




 

[SkippyNZ]

Really cool, especially the aerial, pitot head, and mirror.  I hope mine turns out half as well.  What's the consensus on Vallejo Dark Green?

[SimonT]

Great build, it's come out beautifully!

[Janremco]

Great Spitfire. Nice to see one in flight.

 

Jan Rdmco

[sunray]

Thanks chaps.

 

2 hours ago, SkippyNZ said:

Really cool, especially the aerial, pitot head, and mirror.  I hope mine turns out half as well.  What's the consensus on Vallejo Dark Green?

Thanks Skip.  The Vallejo Dark Green works quite well but I still would add a drop of flow improver  to you colour cup on your airbrush to keep the needle clean.  As for the colour, here are a few photo's I took at Duxford last year so you can compare.