The Killer Destroyer (1/72 Xtrakit Spitfire XII)

[Beard]

7 minutes ago, Procopius said:

 

I'm annoyed because this was some of my best work up until I started fffffffooling around with these stupid masks. Makes me think of one of my favourite Miranda July quotes: “What a terrible mistake to let go of something wonderful for something real.” Well, I went for realism and it screwed me badly because I was too dumb to check on how others had done it or to think it through logically myself, and here we are now. It's just a disappointment. 

 

We live and learn. I once dropped a jar of spice on a nearly finished Tamiya Stug IIIG - which taught me not to keep kits in the kitchen.

 

I have faith in your ability to sort-out the roundels. Unlike my inability to get the smell of cumin out of a partially destroyed 1/35th German AFV.

 

 

[Timmas]

28 minutes ago, Stew Dapple said:

I understand how you must feel, I think, but you have not reached the end yet; nothing is ruined and all is still to be played for,

 

Cheers,

 

Stew

I agree. You've come this far with some really good work and have got over all sorts of hurdles. You've got the skills...you can fix it 

[CedB]

What they said - have another go PC, nothing to lose, lots to gain…  

[John Masters]

On another note, this would be a great way to replicate convincing  weathering on any and all roundels, stars, crosses, etc...

[06/24]

You’ve built two beautiful models.

 

Will you succeed if you paint the markings again? Yes of course.

 

Will anyone mind if you revert to transfers/decals/stickers or leave them off altogether? Not in the slightest.

 

We do this ostensibly because we enjoy it. If we’re not enjoying it, we should stop, regroup, follow a different path to satisfaction.

 

You are a talented modeller, writer, social media maven etc etc. Do what makes you happy, or least discontented!

 

 

[stevehnz]

4 hours ago, Procopius said:

Those stupid white rings:

I'm with you on that, they're looking a bit disturbingly concentric, you got to watch the little buggers.

Steve.

[DJJunis]

Mr. P ,

 Just KEEP CALM and RESPRAY.  I think I saw that on a Tee shirt!

As I would say to one of my Designers after a screw up...Ah yes another lesson learned partially learned.  Because you don't really learn the lesson until you fix it.

They both look fantastic BTW. 

 

All the Best!

Don

[825]

I do feel for you but please remember the following three things

 

Nothing ventured, nothing gained

 

As the Spartans said, 'what doesn't kill you makes you stronger'

 

Close up photos make things look much worse. 

 

On the other hand these two Spits look quite excellent. Great work. 

[Seahawk]

7 hours ago, Beard said:

 I once dropped a jar of spice on a nearly finished Tamiya Stug IIIG - which taught me not to keep kits in the kitchen.

Pity it wasn't oregano: you could have claimed it was fallen leaves.

 

Tipped a jar of dirty paint thinners over a nearly complete 1/700 IJN Tama once.  Exploded into clean-up action, a bit of mopping and I eventually ended up with a weathered sun-bleached effect on the deck linoleum that I have never been able to recreate since.  Not that it's a technique I'd recommend. 

[Cookenbacher]

Oh the dreaded white rings. Yours are not too bad, and probably won't be noticed at normal viewing distances, you obviously are better at arranging tiny concentric circles than I am.

Plus, you have better luck - for some reason, my best looking painted roundels always end up being the unseen ones under the wing.

 

 

While fate saves the misshapen ones (and masking mishaps) for the fuselage.

 

Ooooh, a white ring and a blue(?) one.

 

Anyway, I'm sure your XII and XVI will both still be among the better Spitfires the web has to offer in no time.

[Tomoshenko]

I admire your spirit PC, displaying good old fashioned British pluck if I may be so bold. As the others have said it's good to have a go at these things, and more have come out well than not, plus with your attitude you will sort out the mishaps.

 

Also I think this looks the business:

 

On ‎10‎/‎23‎/‎2018 at 3:26 AM, Procopius said:

 

 

[Procopius]

Proverbs 26:11.

 

 

 

The Pmask fin flash needs a lot of trimming for one to be able to put it in the right position on the tail. 

 

[John Masters]

Looks good Pro!

[Timmas]

2 hours ago, Procopius said:

Proverbs 26:11.

 

Ezra 10:4  💪👍

 

 

 

[Col.]

Back on track with the XII PC and the XVI is looking grand.

[bigbadbadge]

They both do look fantastic.  You will I am sure, overcome the setback and end up with the amazing models at the end. 

I do like the polished nose on the XVII too. 

Keep up the good work. 

All the best

Chris 

[CedB]

Good man! Fingers crossed and positive vibes being transmitted  

[Procopius]

Once I unmaksed, I realized the roundels were too low on the wing, but I'm not doing it over again.

 

 

One fin flash is done, one to go:

 

 

Cookie's technique of painting the outermost colour first is by far the best method, if I'd tried it going in I'd definitely be much less frustrated.

 

As for the XVI, I'm packing it in on painting roundels this go-round and have glossed it prefatory to applying decals.

 

 

 

 

[CedB]

Good job Edward, they look good to me  

[Cookenbacher]

Nice save PC, those are a couple of great looking Spitfire there.

[Procopius]

Some more touch-up work on the XII and the decals done on the XVI. I should have sprayed the wing walk lines first, but it's too late now. 

 

 

The XII has gradually moved from one of my best to an average model, and the XVI is trending slightly in the other direction. The rivets make it look rougher than it is in person, where the finish is delightfully smooth. 

 

 

 

 

Lots of fussy little work to do now: radio mast, landing gear wheels and covers, exhaust stacks and so forth.

 

 

[Learstang]

PC, those models look great to me! Two of my favourite 'middle period' Spitfires. Sorry about all the travails with the roundels, but they look good. I do hope my XII looks as good as yours when I get around to finishing it (I've done quite a bit of work on it, but I still need to button the fuselage up, so I can lay it in the cellar for five years to 'age').

 

Regards,

 

Jason

[Courageous]

Both looking fine to Edward, I am particularly liking the XVI. 

 

Stuart

[azureglo]

Interesting to observe your experiences spraying roundels, I did this earlier this month on this beastie and found some nuances that you might find useful:

 

 

First off, the material Pmask use and I use for my homemade ones is Oracal 810, which  starts shrinking once its weeded. It works great for 2 colour or even one color but there seems to be an inordinate amount of skill required to line them up for multi color roundels. I swapped to kabuki and that was even more difficult as it deforms more readily and required endless lifting and re-positioning just to achieve a simple circle.  

 

I also noticed that if you lay down a white base for your roundel , the subsequent colors will lift and chip at the edges easily, thus revealing the lovely white under coat. A good workaround is to lay down an "edge" of the top colour first. Other than that I think as you will admit, the look of painted on markings is stunning and perhaps a skill that may take a decent amount of effort to master

 

Cheers

 

Anil

[Cookenbacher]

Your XII is probably still my favorite, but the finish on the silver XVI is amazing. The painted roundels definitely add to the look of both.