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1/72 Spitfire- where does adding detail end?


Antb

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Evening chaps 

 

Haven't built anything for a while mainly due to running out of display space and wanting to ease back into building, I've picked up a dirt cheap 1/72 Spitfire 1a. 

 

The gentleman's scale isn't something I've really tackled before with the exception of a couple of 4 engined bombers so question is just how far does one go with detailing single seat fighters in this scale? 

 

I've had a look at all the seats, IP's etc but wondering whether they're worth adding or not. 

 

Just how much detail is "worth" adding? I know it's subjective but would appreciate some opinions and thoughts if possible. 

 

Cheers 

Ant 

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Hi Ant,

 

It's totally up to you in my mind - add as much or as little as you want!

 

Here's a beautiful example of a massive amount of detail, looks excellent to me!

0.jpg?18945

 

And here's my effort I made a couple years back :)

25113795938_e5f5f9f725_b.jpg&key=d983957

 

To be honest, as "standard", I add seatbelts, gunsights and aerials (all made from scratch) for 1/72 models.

 

Cheers,

Ben

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3 minutes ago, wellsprop said:

Hi Ant,

 

It's totally up to you in my mind - add as much or as little as you want!

 

Here's a beautiful example of a massive amount of detail, looks excellent to me!

0.jpg?18945

 

And here's my effort I made a couple years back :)

25113795938_e5f5f9f725_b.jpg&key=d983957

 

To be honest, as "standard", I add seatbelts, gunsights and aerials (all made from scratch) for 1/72 models.

 

Cheers,

Ben

Thanks Ben Your spitfire is great. 

 

Really appreciate your comments. 

 

 

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I'm lucky if I hide the brushstrokes, dust and accumualted detritus from the main paintwork. 

Seriously though, isn't the level of detail down to your personal preference, your skills and the time available?

 

Me, I'm just easy to please, sloppy and lazy.

So what do I add for detail? 

Tape seat belts that may be visible viewed through a cloudy canopy.....

 

Personally, the fun is in the research.  the build is secondary.

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21 minutes ago, FatFlyHalf said:

I'm lucky if I hide the brushstrokes, dust and accumualted detritus from the main paintwork. 

Seriously though, isn't the level of detail down to your personal preference, your skills and the time available?

 

Me, I'm just easy to please, sloppy and lazy.

So what do I add for detail? 

Tape seat belts that may be visible viewed through a cloudy canopy.....

 

Personally, the fun is in the research.  the build is secondary.

Solidarity brother! Minimalism is the way (pretentious, superior, smug face ON)!!

 

:door:

 

Exit, stage left

 

DennisTheBear

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IMO, The Airfix kit is quite detailed straight OOB. Even if you are displaying the canopy open (which requires surgery or a vac replacement) you will just require some seat belts as the rest is faithfully reproduced. The two great examples above show what is possible in this scale, however as mentioned above this is down to personal skill and time. 

 

Cheers.. Dave

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Vac-form canopy (even if left closed) - just looks better, belts (now that you will be able to see through that nice clear canopy) and wheels, since they stand out on the completed model.  Maybe an etch instrument panel if you leave the canopy open?  From there, sky's the limit (no pun intended), based on your time, skill and budget. 

Edited by Jerry V
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1 hour ago, Antb said:

 

 

Just how much detail is "worth" adding? I know it's subjective but would appreciate some opinions and thoughts if possible. 

 

Airfix new-tool P-51...nothing added, apart from foil belts

 

AirfixP51cockpitdetail.jpg

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The scale is irrelevant.

1.  How small a detail can you work with?

2.  How small a detail do you want to work with?

 

We can't answer either of these questions - only you can.

Edited by Graham Boak
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1 hour ago, Max Headroom said:

Unless I have the cockpit open (rare), most of my effort is left to the exterior.

 

Trevor

Thanks Trevor. 

 

1 hour ago, FatFlyHalf said:

I'm lucky if I hide the brushstrokes, dust and accumualted detritus from the main paintwork. 

Seriously though, isn't the level of detail down to your personal preference, your skills and the time available?

 

Me, I'm just easy to please, sloppy and lazy.

So what do I add for detail? 

Tape seat belts that may be visible viewed through a cloudy canopy.....

 

Personally, the fun is in the research.  the build is secondary.

Thanks for the comments. I quite agree it's down to personal preference which for my 1/48 stuff I do add some extra bits. Just not so sure on the smaller scale stuff whether it's worth the effort. 

 

38 minutes ago, Rabbit Leader said:

IMO, The Airfix kit is quite detailed straight OOB. Even if you are displaying the canopy open (which requires surgery or a vac replacement) you will just require some seat belts as the rest is faithfully reproduced. The two great examples above show what is possible in this scale, however as mentioned above this is down to personal skill and time. 

 

Cheers.. Dave

Cheers Dave. I am considering a resin seat with belts but I haven't ever worked with vac form canopies before. Are they easy enough to get along with? 

 

I do like to display my cockpits with the canopy open so if this is an option I'm in. 

 

18 minutes ago, Jerry V said:

Vac-form canopy (even if left closed) - just looks better, belts (now that you will be able to see through that nice clear canopy) and wheels, since they stand out on the completed model.  Maybe an etch instrument panel if you leave the canopy open?  From there, sky's the limit (no pun intended), based on your time, skill and budget. 

Thanks Jerry. Sky's the limit indeed. It where it stops thats the problem..... 

 

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2 minutes ago, Graham Boak said:

The scale is irrelevant.

1.  How small a detail can you work with?

2.  How small a detail do you want to work with?

Thanks graham. Very interesting. Hadn't thought of it like that. 

 

I'm happy to have a bash with anything to be honest. Got to try different things to get the enjoyment out of the hobby. 

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I've seen details on 1/72 kits that would put a 1/32 kit to shame. I have to say the modeller who did it missed his vocation as a watchmaker or brain surgeon. But it's all wasted on someone like me who couldn't see it anymore. I speak as someone who used to paint pupils on 1/35th figures eyes without any magnification.

 

Having said that I would love to build a model in any scale with perfectly scaled parts. The perfect kit if you like. The holy grail of kits. 

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To my mind, capturing the basic shape, the "look and feel", is more important than the detail. It's not that the detail on other people's models isn't appreciated, it's just that it's of secondary importance to my eye. In other words, I'd rather an old Airfix Mk.I Spitfire over a Tamiya one because the former looks like a Spitfire and the latter falls short, even though it has lovely detail.

 

John.

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As a lifelong 1/72nd modeller, as other have said it is very much personal preference. I add belts to closed cockpit models and what I think will be visible. Open cockpit biplanes tend to get a lot more detail. Look at photos of the real thing and think  what characteristic of the plane, tank etc. stands out to you. When I recently built the Airfix JP3, it was the aerial fit that made the finished model to me (and the fact I got the Day-Glo decals in one pice and more or less in the right place. 

Modelling is a hobby and I believe should give some sense of achievement, but more importantly it should be diverting and a stress buster rather than creator. 

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I agree with Graham and in 1/72:

  How small can I work with - etch parts

  How small do I usually choose - not very

 

I usually am attempting to portray a particular aircraft and am more interested in the paint scheme and markings than how tiny I can get with details that will never be seen by anyone but me.

 

 

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Just as ejection seats are the focus in a jet cockpit, the seat in a WW II kit is usually the focus, so I go with etched belts and harness.  Eduard makes lap belt/shoulder harness sets that are specific to nationalities besides including them in aircraft specific sets.  I think the instrument panel is also worth spending time and money on, such as an Eduard or Yahu etched panel.  Past that, I find most other effort in the cockpit is barely visible and not worth MY time, obviously others will feel differently.  As mentioned above, replacement wheels (especially with well defined rims that make them easier to paint) can be a big help. 

 

Regards,

Murph

Edited by Murph
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4 hours ago, Antb said:

Thanks Jerry. Sky's the limit indeed. It where it stops thats the problem..... 

 

Have to say, modellers here are real big on building what pleases YOU!!!  Best advice you can give a modeller.  Have at it but keep it fun!!!

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Of course the answer depends very much on each modeller's taste, personally I believe that it's important to focus on those details that are most noticeable and most characteristic of each aircraft. The Spitfire had a small cockpit and not much is visible with a closed canopy. Yet even in this configuration there are some areas that attract the eye: seat belts are definitely noticeable and I would add them. The head armour area is also quite noticeable, may not require replacement but I'm personally not happy with just leaving a thick slab of plastic there. The gunsight is not too prominent in a Spitfire but still I feel that adding it is a good thing if the kit does not supply one. Quickboost have several types of gunsights that will do for many models.

With an open canopy things change as now some more areas become visible. The seat on most Spitfire kits is a bit too thick, there are resin replacements that are more realistic and woun't break the bank. Throttle levers may be a good addition too. And then there's the instrument panel...

I don't like decals for panels, I feel that, with very few exceptions, they don't look realistic enough. The best option is replacing with PE parts and here the best solution was IMHO the old Eduard zoom series. Early Zoom sheets included all the basic parts like belts, panels and a few levers. They used to cost very little and with a couple of £ it was possible to improve the cockpit quite a lot. Of course there are also resin cockpits that can bring the level of detail to another planet, but I'm focusing on a minimum here.

Moving to the exterior, one area I like to improve are the exhausts: hollowed exhaust tubes make quite a difference and in some subjects this is simply a matter of drilling a few holes, in others thing are more complicated. The fishtail exhausts used on some Spitfire variants are a clear case, they are very hard to reproduce but there are resin parts that are cheap enough. Wheels have been mentioned, I may add that on the Spitfire the radiator matrix is quite visible. Many old Zoom sets also included these, however I don't think there's any such sheet for the Airfix kit. More recent Zoom sets are more expensive, often prepainted (not a big fan here) and even self adhesive... good for many modellers but I feel that they kind of lost the spirit that brought these to the market.

 

I've focused on the Spitfire here, other subjects may feature details that are more likely to catch the eye. A Bf-109G for example has several coloured pipes in the cockpit, most German aircrafts have prominent trim wheels, the pedals in the same aircrafts are of a very characteristic shape that would be nice to reproduce correctly, Italian fighters had very characteristic seats...

Same for other areas, the wheel wells of a Spitfire rarely need much but the gun barrels running through the wells of the Fw.190 are a detail that is so typical of this aircraft to warrant some attention while the wells of the Macchi fighters were so unique and full of detail that it's worth adding at least something....

 

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An example of how far you can go is in the new Eduard 1/72 spitfire kits that come with etched parts. I've in the process of doing a batch of these and the Eduard pretty much hits my limit.

 

That said, if you don't want an open cockpit, there's a limit to how much detail you can apply to a Spitfire. I personally never do the dropped flaps and then there's not much to do.

 

With an open cockpit it's a entirely different ballgame, as most kits (Eduard the exception) has the cockpit lower wall follow the wing fillet, which just screams for a fix.

 

HTH

Finn A

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I returned to modelling about 9 years ago with a Tamiya 1/72 Spitfire Mk. I, and being ambitious decided to add a resign cockpit. I regret that now! I also used the US interior green. See:

It was a complete nightmare to get it to fit (sanding the fuselage and resin side walls down to see-through thinness to get the fuselage to close). And even with the canopy and side access panel open, it is so dark in there it is all hidden. It also spread the wing root fairings so that they no longer fit to the tops of the wings, and I needed to bodge it together with lots of filler and a rescribing attempt.

 

If you are new to small 1/72 models, I would concentrate on the exterior. Scratch building more-to-scale versions of things like pitot tubes, and aerial wire of super-thin invisible mending thread will reduce the number of give-aways that the model is small-scale. During the build really work on eliminating all signs of part joint seams, which are more prominent in smaller scales/subjects.

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Depends on the sharpness of your eyes and the steadiness of your hand.  I'm still sporting L plates as a builder so I don't try too hard for detail, I'm still practicing the basics.  Most of what goes in the cockpit is lost anyway, especially if you put a pilot in there.  I did figure I could get the pilot AND the interior if I simply put the pilot outside of the plane.  So I made him a deck chair and he's relaxing with his feet up on his parachute waiting for the scramble order.  But I draw the line at attempting facial features!

 

Pilot 2

 

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Each to the own, but for me on WW II fighters, generally Seat Belts, Resin Exhausts and Resin wheels.  

If the Canopy is going to be open I would try to get an Eduard Cockpit set for a decent IP.  If closed, I do not bother. 

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