Hasegawa Spitfire MK IX

[Crane]

I like to have models in various states of the build process so I can choose what to work on. Here is another Spitfire start. Although the fit is acceptable, Hasegawa does not fit as well as the Tamiya. Also, I had to repair a tiny chunk missing out of the trailing edge from the center part of the canopy. I have zero intentions of building it with the box cover markings.

 

[Sea]

I don't blame you for not using the box art. It is a bit over the top. Sort of distracts the eye from the beautiful form of the Mk IX. The pilot of that plane must have been feeling lonely...

[Crane]

Synylrez white base with pre-shading completed.

White tail also complete, now it needs to be masked.

 

Below that is the canopy showing where the tiny missing chunk was located, it is still visible as a semicircle between the center and rear canopy, a little more filler and it will disappear completely.

 

 

[Biggles87]

Hi, I don't want to rain on your parade  but there should be a ' notch ' in the rear of the sliding canopy, it's where the canopy meets the aerial mast when fully open.

I like the pre-shading, was it done with a brush?

 

regards

 

John

[bigbadbadge]

Looking good so far

All the best 

Chris 

[Crane]

On 9/19/2018 at 3:08 AM, Biggles87 said:

Hi, I don't want to rain on your parade  but there should be a ' notch ' in the rear of the sliding canopy, it's where the canopy meets the aerial mast when fully open.

I like the pre-shading, was it done with a brush?

 

regards

 

John

It's not rain, it's knowledge and thank you for it. I believe I can conjure the notch back into existence. I was aware of a notch, but there is none indicated on the box art or in the instructions. It does appear however, in a picture of the tree which is very small and near the end of the instructions.

The pre-shading is all air brush - loosely following panel lines.

[Crane]

I'm letting the clear gloss coat dry on my Hellcat, so I had some time to get back into this build.

After spending lots of time mixing my own grey color, I made the mistake of airbrushing it onto a spare part that was painted blue. It looked great there! But on the Spitfire, it turned out looking different with the white base color.

Big lesson learned. Now I have to figure out how to rescue this grey coat - I'm not too happy with it.

 

[Wlad]

This grey may be useful for the lower fuselage colour. From the picture above it looks close to medium sea grey. You may want to mix some black on the original batch and spray it lightly to darken it.

 

My 2 cents.

Wlad

[Biggles87]

I think Wlad’s right it does look more like MSG in the photo.

 

John

[Crane]

Not exactly the color I wanted, but I lost a lot of the pre-shading and don't want to add another coat.

I got the color a bit darker with more of a blue tint and less red tint. This will have to do for now. 

 

 

 

Edited September 11, 2019 by Crane

[Crane]

 

once again, not the color I wanted but I might test a new technique if I can summon the courage....

 

 

 

 

[Crane]

Decals used to be fun when I was a child. The 'stickers' were fun to apply and added a lot of detail quickly.

Applying decals today scare me!

 

Reasons - 1.they are done when painting is almost complete and I don't want to have to redo any painting 2.I don't know how to remove them if things go wrong.

The decals were gifted to me by a fellow builder here Reini78 - thank you once again 🙂

 

I am building a 'what if', I have to, with my failed color mixing.

The decals are by AML and are very thin compared to the Academy decals I started off with my Hellcat builds.

I was thinking about adding a number but I have a blue '2' which looks awesome, but I feel is too distinctive of a certain Spitfire that actually existed. I am now mulling over cutting the '56' decals I have and making the plane number 5 or 6. The only thing stopping me is that the '56' decals are white, and it will not match the white paint on the tail of the plane. 

So here it is so far,,, it looks better in real life - the decals are into the panel lines but for some reason they look flat in this picture.

As a side note - I picked a new lens, soft light and umbrellas. My modelling hobby has also sparked my interest in photography. 

The colors in this picture are closer to the actual colors.   

 

Edited February 10, 2020 by Crane
typo

[Crane]

I went from working 12 hour days to not working at all. I spent a lot of time practicing with my camera and picked up 2 more lenses.

Got some work done on the Spitfire. Shouldn't take too much longer, although I'm in no rush and have other models mid-build. Plus extra cure time for clear coats is a good thing.

Stay safe everyone.