shortCummins Posted March 17, 2018 Share Posted March 17, 2018 For my next project I intend to build a Mk.VIII Spitfire. The Mk.VIII was the third most numerous with approx. 1,650+ built all of which served almost exclusively overseas in the Mediterranean with the Desert Air Force and the USAAF, in the Pacific, with the RAAF and with the RAF in the China-Burma-India theatre. The kit I’ve chosen is Eduard’s “weekend edition”, kit no. 84139. The kit has no PE, masks or resin and provides option for two markings one RAAF and one UASF. I want to portray the RAAF scheme, love the shark mouthA58-631, No. 457 Squadron, Morotai, Borneo, April 1945 As with all(?) aircraft builds I started with the cockpit. Opening the holes in the support frame adding the side detail I’ve added a connector, made from thin wire, to the oxygen bottles the flooring sub-assemble the pilot’s seat control column I’m using the provided instrument panel, no PE Now that I’ve put together the sub-assemblies I gave them a coat of black UMP/Stynylrez I used some lead wire to fashion some extra plumbing Next I’ll be making a start on painting the cockpit until next time as always, any suggestions or comments will be gratefully received. rgds John(shortCummins) 8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shortCummins Posted March 18, 2018 Author Share Posted March 18, 2018 To start the cockpit I sprayed Alkan BS:283 Aircraft Grey/Green. The backrest of the seat was masked and the main seat was sprayed with a mixture of Tamiya XF-64(3) + Hobby Color H3(1) The oxygen tanks were given a coat of Tamiya XF-80 Royal Light Gray Detail painting… I decided I didn’t like the ‘silver’ so I’ve since painted it black Next everything will get a coat of aqua gloss in preparation for some weathering until next time as always, any suggestions or comments will be gratefully received. rgds John(shortCummins) 8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shortCummins Posted March 19, 2018 Author Share Posted March 19, 2018 Weathering the cockpit After the aqua gloss had had a couple of hours to dry I used a Tamiya panel line accent color (dark brown) to define various detail within the cockpit. Once the panel line accent color had dried I gave everything a coat of vallejo matt acrylic varnish to protect everything and to give a base for some UMP pigment(s) I had planned on using the kit supplied decal for the IP however I think it was meant to be used on a flat surface so I dug out some generic WWII RAF airscale instrument dial decals (AS48 RAF) a drop of aqua gloss to simulate glass I also added some aqua gloss to the leather(?) on the seat back Whilst searching for the airscale decals I discovered that I had some generic Eduard RAF seatbelts so I thought I could use them rather than the kit supplied decals Assembling the cockpit[ Next I’ll be closing up the fuselage until next time as always, any suggestions or comments will be gratefully received. rgds John(shortCummins) 12 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shortCummins Posted March 19, 2018 Author Share Posted March 19, 2018 Closing the fuselage, the initial fit looks really good The exhaust were assembled and given a coat of UMP black primer …and glued into the fuselage As this was a really cheep kit (under £20) I decided that I’d splash out and try some of Eduard’s Brassin offerings, in this case their Spitfire Mk.VIII top cowl I’m a little disappointed that the cowl is a little too long, no biggy as a few swipes of the sanding stick brought it down to size but I’d hoped that it would have been the correct size to start with as its for their own kit? I put together the wheel wells and gave them a coat of UMP black primer I’ve painted the underwing lights Tamiya X-25 clear green and X-27 clear red …and joined the top and bottom wing halves wings, rear-stabilisers and rudder added lower cowl Next I’ll be adding the rest of the bits’n’pieces prior to getting some paint on her until next time as always, any suggestions or comments will be gratefully received. rgds John(shortCummins) 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christer A Posted March 21, 2018 Share Posted March 21, 2018 Who doesn't like an Aussie Sharkmouth? It seems that the problem with too long resin cowling still persists, I'm not impressed! Even more so when looking into the fastener details which doesn't match the rest of the engine panels.... I really like your work so far, keep it up! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevehnz Posted March 21, 2018 Share Posted March 21, 2018 Your progress on this so far is impressive, I'll be watching this to see how the master plies his trade. S Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shortCummins Posted March 21, 2018 Author Share Posted March 21, 2018 4 hours ago, Christer A said: Who doesn't like an Aussie Sharkmouth? It seems that the problem with too long resin cowling still persists, I'm not impressed! Even more so when looking into the fastener details which doesn't match the rest of the engine panels.... I really like your work so far, keep it up! I'm really disappointed with the overly long cowl, there can be no excuse, its a shame really because it makes me wonder about other Brassin products rgds John(shortCummins) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shortCummins Posted March 21, 2018 Author Share Posted March 21, 2018 1 hour ago, stevehnz said: Your progress on this so far is impressive, I'll be watching this to see how the master plies his trade. S thanks Steve but I'm no master, one day I'd like to be but thats a long, long way off rgds John(shortCummins) 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shortCummins Posted March 21, 2018 Author Share Posted March 21, 2018 Before I can prep’ for paint there are a few bits’n’pieces that need to be added, first the radiators(?) were given a coat of vallejo metal color Aluminium 77.701 which was then treated with Tamiya panel line accent color (black) these were then added to the underside of the wings next I attached the windscreen, rear canopy and masked them in preparation for paint as well as adding the wing cannons, I think I might live to regret that as would have been better off waiting until later in the paint process to add them? The navigation/recognition lights have also been masked After given everything a wipe over with some Sterets (isopropyl alcohol skin cleansing swabs) the airframe was given a coat of UMP/Stynylrez black primer I’ll let the UMP primer fully cure and then make a start on the camo’ until next time as always, any suggestions or comments will be gratefully received. rgds John(shortCummins) 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aidy Posted March 22, 2018 Share Posted March 22, 2018 Very nice work, John. I've been planning to get one of these myself, looks like a nice kit even without all the PE. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shortCummins Posted March 22, 2018 Author Share Posted March 22, 2018 8 hours ago, aidy said: Very nice work, John. I've been planning to get one of these myself, looks like a nice kit even without all the PE. The PE is a "nice to have" however most of it will be used in the cockpit, which won't be seen? and with a little bit of patience you can get reasonable results painting the IP, or use the excellent Yahu IP offering(s) so that leaves seat harnesses, I'm not really a fan of PE harnesses, even though I've used them in this build, I'd like to try the "fabric" versions, perhaps on my next build? The price difference between a ProfiPACK and Weekend kit urges you to buy the ProfiPACK as its better "value" than buying the kit and PE separately, the ProfiPACK will also offer a better(?) choice of markings. Either way these Eduard Spitfire are really nice kits, I just wish they'd do more variants, a Mk.I, Mk.V and Seafire spring immediately to mind rgds John(shortCummins) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aidy Posted March 22, 2018 Share Posted March 22, 2018 I'd be quite happy with the weekend kits as I'm just not a fan of anything PE. If I had a stack of decals I'd even buy their overtree kits. Anyway, looking forward to your next progress. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shortCummins Posted April 3, 2018 Author Share Posted April 3, 2018 I left UMP/Stynylrez black primer for 48 hours to fully cure, I’m sure this is “overkill” and I could have laid down paint far sooner but as I had other things to do I thought that it wouldn’t hurt to leave it alone? The initial primer showed a couple of places that needed some attention So after attacking them with Perfect Putty and/or spru-goo I gave them another coat of UMP black primer Now that all of the seams have been tided up it was time for the camo’ scheme. I started with the lightest colour first, in this instance the underside of the aircraft which Eduard reference as “medium sea grey”. The Eduard instructions call for Mr Color 335 however, as I don’t have any of this I’ve substituted Tamiya XF-80 Royal Light Grey. First thing to do was to apply a marble coat If your not sure if you should try “black basing” have a look at Doogsmodels video on preshading v black basinghttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=szgTh1-Y6zw Should you be worried about using “light colours” this should give you a heads-uphttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SqylDqL6J8k Once the marble coat has been applied I apply a number of ‘blend-coats’ of highly thinned Tamiya XF-80 (80% thinner - 20% paint) With the underside colour applied it was time to mask for the upper camo’ The upper camo’ is basically green and grey however, the RAAF would often over-paint RAF dark green with foliage green and RAF ocean grey with dark sea grey. I’ve followed Eduard’s instructions and painted the camo’ as a mixture of all four colours. Before the upper camo’ was applied I sprayed various areas with vallejo metal color Dull Aluminium 77.717 …and then as the Spitfire’s wing root especially gets “worn” I covered some of the aluminium with Humbrol Maskol, using a small brush and sponge, which will be removed once the camo’ colours have been applied to simulate chipping and wear and tear First colour of the top camo’ was the ocean grey Tamiya XF-82, marble coat… followed by a highly thinned ‘blend coat’ (80% thinner - 20% paint) There were a couple of dark sea grey areas, to make this colour I mixed XF-82 (90%) + XF-1 black (10%), once again highly thinned (80% thinner - 20% paint) Dark green was next, I masked the grey(s) with sausages of white tac and Tamiya tape then set about the marble coat using Tamiya XF-81 There appears to be one ‘strip’ of foliage green, for this I used Hobby Color H6, once again highly thinned (80% thinner - 20% paint) Next it’ll be the over-painted roundels, white wing strip and exhausts that get painted. until next time as always, any suggestions or comments will be gratefully received. rgds John(shortCummins) 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christer A Posted April 4, 2018 Share Posted April 4, 2018 Marblecoating sure works wonders! Your choice of Gunze H6 for the Foliage green looks very dark to my eyes, I used H302 myself IIRC Foliage green is another one of those colors that has about 20 different interpretations and more opinions than useful, so take this remark with a pinch of salt or three. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shortCummins Posted April 4, 2018 Author Share Posted April 4, 2018 4 hours ago, Christer A said: Marblecoating sure works wonders! Your choice of Gunze H6 for the Foliage green looks very dark to my eyes, I used H302 myself IIRC Foliage green is another one of those colors that has about 20 different interpretations and more opinions than useful, so take this remark with a pinch of salt or three. Hi Christer, I really liked your Aussie Spit and I agree about the colour however I don't have any H302 and P&P on a single pot of paint is just silly so I'll have to have a think about what to do rgds John(shortCummins) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Buzby061 Posted April 4, 2018 Share Posted April 4, 2018 Just picked up on this beauty. Never heard of the marbling technique, looking forward to see how it turns out. Re the resin cowling, I used the BarracudaCast version on mine, fits perfectly. Pete Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shortCummins Posted April 4, 2018 Author Share Posted April 4, 2018 Once the base colours for the camo’ had been applied the masking was removed, I also rubbed off the Maskol to show the aluminium ‘chipping’ [ Aussie Spits would often have the RAF roundels overpainted, to show this Eduard suggest darker mix for the grey and forest green for the green. I have some Montex masks, from a previous project, so I decided to use these to apply the overpainted roundels. Masking for the roundels darker grey and forest green added eventually the kit supplied decals will be added over these overpainted roundels CristerA suggested that the Mr Color H6 looked too dark for forest green, in truth I wasn’t happy with the colour. However the suggestion that I use H302 was a problem as I don’t have that colour, I know that the cost of the paint is only £2 or so but with P&P ordering a single pot doesn’t make economic sense. So I over sprayed the overspray with a highly diluted, 80% thinner 20% paint, Tamiya XF-13 I’m still not 100%, but it looks a lot better than it did. The wings require white identification bands. They were first masked using Tamiya masking tape for curves and Tamiya tape For the white I used Tamiya XF-2 I’ll now move onto the weathering. until next time as always, any suggestions or comments will be gratefully received. rgds John(shortCummins) 9 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Procopius Posted April 4, 2018 Share Posted April 4, 2018 Beautiful work, John. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christer A Posted April 4, 2018 Share Posted April 4, 2018 Yeah, the toning down worked wonders! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shortCummins Posted April 5, 2018 Author Share Posted April 5, 2018 The white wing ident’ stripes were sprayed over some Maskol that had been randomly applied by a sponge, this was then removed to show the camo’ underneath The exhaust was masked …and then given a coat of the excellent vallejo metal color 77.723 Exhaust Manifold The fabric control surfaces needed some attention, firstly I cut some Tamiya tape into thin strips and masked the ribs then sprayed some heavily diluted, 90% thinner 10% paint, Tamiya XF-69 NATO black to give a shadow effect for the underside I added a drop or two of Tamiya XF-68 NATO brown Now a couple of coats of aqua gloss in preparation for decals which will be next. until next time as always, any suggestions or comments will be gratefully received. rgds John(shortCummins) 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shortCummins Posted April 6, 2018 Author Share Posted April 6, 2018 So I left the aqua gloss to fully cure overnight and started with the “bigger” decals I’ve got to say that these decals are really good, any errors you can see are down to me, the decals are thin and really conform well with the use of micro set & sol Once the “big” decals had fully dried it was time for the stencils The 'walkway lines' were cut down to allow for the "overpainting" of the roundels Then everything was given a coat of aqua gloss and set aside to fully cure Next some more weathering and I’ll make a start on the propellor and undercarriage. until next time as always, any suggestions or comments will be gratefully received. rgds John(shortCummins) 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fewr9fkr9595 Posted April 6, 2018 Share Posted April 6, 2018 Something seems to have gone bad or reacted with the filler because there is a massive sink mark along the fuel tank join infront of windscreen. Also you opened up the holes on the front right of the nose but not added the bulge. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shortCummins Posted April 7, 2018 Author Share Posted April 7, 2018 16 hours ago, Tony Oliver said: Something seems to have gone bad or reacted with the filler because there is a massive sink mark along the fuel tank join infront of windscreen. Also you opened up the holes on the front right of the nose but not added the bulge. I'm not sure what happened with the filler, its a pain in the parts! I've added the bulge now, I hadn't forgotten honestly so thanks for pointing that out rgds John(shortCummins) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shortCummins Posted April 7, 2018 Author Share Posted April 7, 2018 I decided to add some definition to the panel lines by spaying a heavily diluted mix of Tamiya XF-68 NATO brown (90% thinner 10% paint) the underside looks far more subtile in real life The exhaust smoke was created by first spaying a diluted mix of XF-68 and then Tamiya XF-57 buff in the centre The gun-smoke was made with some oil paint other ‘streaks’ were also made with oil paints fuel spills were also created with oils and the wing roots were also ‘dirtied up’ with oils Then everything was given a coat of vallejo matt acrylic varnish Next I’ll make a start on the propellor and undercarriage. until next time as always, any suggestions or comments will be gratefully received. rgds John(shortCummins) 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shortCummins Posted April 8, 2018 Author Share Posted April 8, 2018 While I was waiting for the matt coat to fully cure I made a start on the propellor The spinner was given a coat of Alkan RLM:23 red then I used a HB pencil to make “wear” on the spinner it was given a coat of aqua gloss and the decals added The propellor was given a coat of UMP black primer and the tips were painted with Alkan RLM:04 chipping was added to the edges of the propellor with a sponge and vallejo acrylic metal color 77.701 aluminium after a coat of aqua gloss the decals were added the propellor and spinner were then assembled …and then given a matt coat The undercarriage was assembled as per the Eduard instructions undercarriage covers painted with Tamiya XF-80 and weathered with brown panel liner landing gear struts were first painted with vallejo metal color 77.701 aluminium and then black panel liner was used to highlight wheel hubs were also painted aluminium the tyres were painted with Alkan new rubber black-grey hubs added to the tyres landing gear assembled Final assembly is next. until next time as always, any suggestions or comments will be gratefully received. rgds John(shortCummins) 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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