John Masters Posted August 15, 2018 Share Posted August 15, 2018 This will be the other half of my 'Double Group Build' and as part of my non-smoking cessation plan. I seem to have a lot of time on my hands without my little white death sticks. I noticed that there are a few different Spitfires here but nothing from Greece. Seeing as I live here in Greece, I figured, why not? So as I work on this, I will also work on the Hawker Hunter in the NATO/WarPact 1960 GB. I hope this is allowed. --John 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Masters Posted August 16, 2018 Author Share Posted August 16, 2018 Some cockpit work. The deal for the dash went down really well with a healthy dose of solvent. The interior is nicely detailed and dos up well with a little paint and some dry-brushing. I am using Vallejo paints (Air and otherwise). I'll close it up this afternoon. --John 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Giorgio N Posted August 16, 2018 Share Posted August 16, 2018 Welcome to the GB John ! Of course working on two kits in parallel is allowed, and you can bet that a Greek Spitfire is very welcome ! Since you live there, it only makes sense to build one 🙂 Good work on the cockpit, the KP/AZ kit is indeed very well detailed out of the box Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Masters Posted August 16, 2018 Author Share Posted August 16, 2018 Thanks Giorgio. I have built one of these before, an Egyptian Spitfire, and I found the same to be true. A nice kit. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Masters Posted August 17, 2018 Author Share Posted August 17, 2018 Closed up the fuselage and assembled the wing halves. Nice and clean fit all around with only a few very small gaps. Test fit of the wing/fuselage showed larger gaps at the wing roots. I'll have to use some milliput. Very little, though. And a smidge along the top of the fuselage. --John 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Masters Posted August 17, 2018 Author Share Posted August 17, 2018 A little more work. The wings have been assembled and attached to the fuselage. For the most part it is a clean fit with only two very even gaps running along the wing roots. I have used Milliput to fill them. I am not fond of Milliput yet, finding it not squeezable enough for these small gaps but I will get used to it in time. Maybe I am using the wrong set? I am using the yellow/grey packet. Is there another? The thing is that I don't want to overfill and then have to sand down the fine detail. One side filled for comparison... And both sides... --John 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Masters Posted August 18, 2018 Author Share Posted August 18, 2018 This non-smoking thing is going very well. It's almost a week now and all is good. Last night's labours...stabilizers, rudder, some air intakes, and even some small painting jobs! Nose cone, already painted dark blue, get's a light blue tip... Looks good! And the prop is ready to be masked and painted black... Tires and wheels...Both Spitfire and Hunter...masked and painted and finished. They'll get some weathering before attachment. That's it from last night! have great weekend all! --John 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Col. Posted August 18, 2018 Share Posted August 18, 2018 Nice work on the Spitfire John and congratulations on giving up the smoking. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Masters Posted August 18, 2018 Author Share Posted August 18, 2018 Thanks Col! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Masters Posted August 18, 2018 Author Share Posted August 18, 2018 Prop masked and sprayed flat black. ...and all assembled. I'll give the prop and the cone a layer of satin to give it a better scale look. The canopy is masked and adhered to the fuselage. I did not forget attach the gunsight before I glued the canopy! Well...it feels like it is time for a bit of primer! I'll attach the guns after. I am one to snap them them off of I glue them in at this point. --John 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Masters Posted August 19, 2018 Author Share Posted August 19, 2018 Masked and ready for primer! I am going to attempt the 'salt weathering' technique, so I have added some aluminum which is beneath the tape. And after. I have actually added some more aluminum along the edges of the control surfaces and around the access to the cowling. I will try to be careful and not over do it! And the colours. The red will be for the mouth. The toothy decal is included, but not the open maw... --John 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beard Posted August 19, 2018 Share Posted August 19, 2018 Nice work John and to answer your question about Milliput, there are five types and this explains: https://www.milliput.com/products.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Masters Posted August 19, 2018 Author Share Posted August 19, 2018 Thanks on both counts Beard. It seems it is the grey/yellow or the fine white for me! I'll keep at it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Masters Posted August 19, 2018 Author Share Posted August 19, 2018 First colours...Light Gull Grey over the Salt... After the salt had dried I carefully brushed off parts if it so it wouldn't be too overpowering. Since this is my first attempt at this, I started with the belly. I can fix that easier than the wing roots and upper fuselage if needed. And with some paint... I'll wait a couple of hours and brush off the salt...very excited! --John 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Giorgio N Posted August 20, 2018 Share Posted August 20, 2018 Very good progress here ! Some gaps in the wing-fuselage join are unfortunately quite common on most Spitfire kits. Some modellers try to avoid these by gluing the upper wing halves to the fuselage first, personally I never had much success but I've seen others doing it very effectively. Curious to see how the salt weathering technique will work for you, I've seen some great examples of this in the past but never dared trying it. Oh, and of course, well done with your quitting smoking ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Masters Posted August 20, 2018 Author Share Posted August 20, 2018 Thank you Giorgio. Almost a week now with no butts...lots of energy, sleeping well and my flat is much cleaner! I have filled the gaps as best I can at the moment. When I'm in Athens I'll look into more malleable filler for these small spaces. I am beginning to find them annoying. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Masters Posted August 20, 2018 Author Share Posted August 20, 2018 Ready for a bit of seasoning along the wing roots and then some dark sea grey on the top. On second thought, I'll add the red mouth first, re-mask the nose, and continue from there... --John 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Giorgio N Posted August 20, 2018 Share Posted August 20, 2018 John, are you sure it's Dark Sea Grey on top ? I'd have expected these aircraft to retain the wartime ocean grey/dark green scheme Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Masters Posted August 20, 2018 Author Share Posted August 20, 2018 Sorry Giorgio...that would be a Medium Sea Grey... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Masters Posted August 20, 2018 Author Share Posted August 20, 2018 And the salted Spitfire receives some Medium Sea Grey... --John 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Masters Posted August 21, 2018 Author Share Posted August 21, 2018 A wee bit of camouflage... It looks brighter than it is. The red mouth will be obscured on the edges when I apply the 'teeth' decal. I will be able to do a lot of work today, but I am off-island from tomorrow until Saturday so the rest will have to wait... --John 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Masters Posted August 22, 2018 Author Share Posted August 22, 2018 I finished her up last night. The decals went on very smoothly and with no indication via the instructions on stencils or warning lines, so I left those out. Other builds in the kit did have them marked, but not this aircraft. I weathered with Light Sand Flory Wash. I think it really added a lovely, well-used, surplus patina to the fuselage and picked out the panel lines beautifully. Plus, knowing the weather as I do around here, it was pretty dusty anywhere this aircraft flew--even in winter. The rest of the images are in the gallery. --John 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Corsairfoxfouruncle Posted August 22, 2018 Share Posted August 22, 2018 Beautiful ... Ive loved this spitfire from the first time i saw photo's of that gaping maw. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Masters Posted August 22, 2018 Author Share Posted August 22, 2018 Thanks Dennis. Me too. Those blue/white roundels are different as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Giorgio N Posted August 24, 2018 Share Posted August 24, 2018 Beautiful model, well done ! I agree on the finish, looks very realistic, well weathered as pictures of these aircraft show Your use of a light sand wash reminds me of how often we think of darker colours for weathering but actualy using lighter ones can lead to more realistic results. Afterall paints suffer quite a lot in the mediterranean sun and applying a lighter coat on top can do wonder in reproducing this effect Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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