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Will's 1/72 Spitfire Vb - FINISHED


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This will be my first GB.  I'm going to build the classic Spitfire Vb, which is dated 1974 on the lovely blue plastic.  This was one of my favourite kits back in the day.  I built several and one in the terrible "photo on a blueprint" boxing was my daughter's first Airfix.

Here's the classic boxart by Roy Cross.

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The decals are a bit out of register so i may have to grab some C1s from the stash.  I may do a second version (wheels up?) from the many "Home Bargains" red boxes i picked up.

I'll put up some photos of the sprues later.

Cheers

Will

Edited by malpaso
Completed
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Great choice!

My favorite Spitfire, as it looks just right.

 

Another thread to follow!

JR

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Great choice Will everytime I see that box art it takes me back to happy times,six week school summer holiday's and Saturday at the dining table

puting the latest kit together!

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Here's some more photos of the base kit.  Looking forward to the start next weekend.

Open the box to find:

40600846340_384d6a2c1c_b.jpg

 

80p seems a lot.  I don't think this is a first issue as that would have the red new star on it.  no idea where Tuppens was, I got this in a sale at our IPMS.

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Here are the sprues in that lovely blue traditional for Spitfires.

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Easy to follow instructions.

42358734912_4989111e30_b.jpg42408918611_3f85a8b919_b.jpg

 

Decals seem in reasonable condition.  As noted in the first post, the red spots are a bit wayward so the roundels may have to come from the stash.

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Hooray, there's a stand!

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Looks like the kit's complete so I won't need this!

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I think I missed the boat for this club...

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That's all for this week!  Tune in after the 2nd of June to see the next exciting episode, when I'll be washing sprues and dipping the transparencies.

Cheers

Will

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Great photos of a real nostalgic time piece.

I'm currently building Tamiya's 1/72 Vb, however know that many modellers still rate this kit as the best 1/72 Vb shape wise.

The original 1974 blue plastic will be great to work with so good luck with this classic build.

 

Cheers.. Dave  

 

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14 hours ago, stevej60 said:

Great choice Will everytime I see that box art it takes me back to happy times,six week school summer holiday's and Saturday at the dining table

puting the latest kit together!

Where are the emoji's with the 'happy face with tears in the eyes', when I need one.....

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Cool! Not seen one of these built in a while.

 

Remember though that the elevator hinge line on the top wing needs rescribing as it’s too far forward as moulded. They got this right on their slightly later Ia.

 

Trevor

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15 minutes ago, Max Headroom said:

Remember though that the elevator hinge line on the top wing needs rescribing as it’s too far forward as moulded. They got this right on their slightly later Ia.

 

Trevor

Hmm, I'll try to remember, though whether I actually do anything about it is another matter!  I look on this as classic Airfix "Warts-n-all" GB!  I never really "warmed" to the AZ-H when it came out, probably cos' it came in the stupid small boxes that hung on the same display carousels as the excellent* blister-packs, so the boxes got holes in to leak out parts...or maybe just because it didn't have any cannon?

 

Cheers

Will

 

*excellent for looking after the parts before purchase, though even at ten or so we spotted the pocket-money-gouging arising from several kits moving up to boxes from Series 1.

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On 5/29/2018 at 4:46 AM, Rabbit Leader said:

 

however know that many modellers still rate this kit as the best 1/72 Vb shape wise.

 

 

Cheers.. Dave  

 

Hear, hear!!!

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  • 2 weeks later...

Well, as you can see I've been a bit laggardly in keeping this WIP up to date!  Never mind, I did actually start on the first day by washing my parts (ooh err missus).  Whether this does any good or not, I've done it on all kits since a Matchbox Strikemaster back in the day, which suffered horrendous crazing on the second camo colour - it seemed to happen a lot with Matchbox kits, maybe the plastic or the release oil they used?

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So here's the parts ready to go last Sunday

41812092264_d5df8fda2d_b.jpg

 

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And we were off a couple of days later!

To start with I was just going to go exactly as in the original.  But the seat didn't really look much like a Spitfire's so I added some plasticard sides - this and tape belts should suffice, I carefully painted different areas appropriately on my recent AZ Vb and the seat is pretty much all that can be seen on a closed cockpit model!

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Focus man, focus...must try harder.

 

I also trimmed off the locating "shelf" at the back of the canopy - see top side versus bottom here

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In response to @Max Headroom 's comment I decided to have a go at the ailerons using a Tamiya scriber and squadron green stuff

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Here I've scribe in the lost panel lines with y trusty dissection pin, a splash of grey paint shows that its worked, I think.

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Latest update in a minute or two.

 

Cheers

Will

Edited by malpaso
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At the weekend I painted up the seat and interior

41872389215_7d677cafb3_b.jpg

I should point out I'm building a Supermodell Cant Airone alongside this.  The Spitfire is for light relief!

I forgot to photo the belts before installation.   Hopefully you can see them in the 'pit.  I also drilled for the fuel filler - omitted in the kit.

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I'd already stuck the wings together so then it was a case of bringing the fuselage to the party.  One wing root turned out perfect, the other will need some filler.

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  The tape was to ensure dihedral as it looked a bit flat, even though the fuse is not pushing on the upper wing halves.  However when I took the tape off this morning it still seems a bit flat or that there's a slight curve in the outer panels flattening it out in a front view.

 

May have to tidy up a bit before continuing!

Cheers

Will

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Good progress on this kit Will. The small additions and corrections always go a long way, so keep it up as it will end up a better model in the end. Must agree with you on what one can see under a closed 1/72 canopy - not a heck of a lot, but what you’ve done is more than enough. 

 

Cheers.. Dave 

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This is really a great kit and you are on your way to achieving something special.

I built it shortly after it came out and it is still a kit I remember very fondly. I have a newer boxing with the Mk Vc wing... Everybody in the know tells me to trash that wing... I don't really care, because all I want to build is another Vb... Possibly Trop, if I feel adventurous, and obviously not the Zubach's plane, but it shall be built again!

 

In the meantime, have a lot of fun!

 

JR.

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Good progress. It still scrubs up well after all these years and yours being an early production moulding should fall together nicely.

 

As it’s such a nice kit I wonder if Airfix would consider it for a ‘classic’ release in the future?

 

There is one other mod I remember from when I built one. As I recall, the windscreen depicts the framing as a very thick lip with the screen itself as a recess within. I sanded the frame back and gave it a good polishing. 

 

Looking forward to the the next instalment.

 

Trevor

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  • 1 month later...

Yes, getting the wing dihedral right (is it 5 degrees?) can be a pain - either the bottom or top wing root join always seems to need filling afterwards. Anyway, looking forward to seeing this little cracker fly on. 

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  • 2 weeks later...

Oh dear, I haven’t been very diligent with this WIP, although RFD has progressed occasionally between real life, holidays and the Z506.

 

A quick check of what the scribing around the amended ailerons looks like under paint.

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Fuel filler is a plasticard plate under a drilled hole in the fuselage joint, a smaller hole drilled in the card and a tapered bit at the end of stretch sprue inserted.  Left to dry then trimmed level.  I remembered this time, otherwise (i.e. if after fitting the mainplanes) I just drill a countersink and paint it “dark iron”…

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Primed along with yellow and sky recognition areas.

Primed and recognition markings sprayed

 

No this is not the winter camouflaged version!  Both greys now complete and camouflage set out with Poundland white-tack and copydex (latex glue) infil.

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Fun part of the copydex method is the “Ethan Hunt” moment of removal.  The white-tack is now “cactus”, as they say, but 2 Spits and a Sunderland have only consumed a third of one of the five sticks in the pack…

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Painting complete and minor oversprays tidied up.

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There’s one coat of Klear now on and the second probably tonight, ready for decaling.

Cheers

Will

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  • 3 weeks later...

Another stuttering progress report.  Decals are now on and a coat of gloss (Klear) over to tie together.  As the original roundels were slightly out of register, I used a combination of original squadron codes, serial and badges, national markings spare from the KP tropical Vb and the stencils from the latest Airfix iteration of this kit.

43397299344_960a6d27a0_b.jpg43397298964_1ac3c08057_b.jpg44115970671_24c0f69a58_b.jpg

You will be glad to know I tidied (started, anyway) the workspace yesterday...

 

Cheers

Will

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