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Airfix Mitchell Mk II - Getting back to the bench ***FINISHED***


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I’ve been busy the last month or so, and really missed working on a model. At the same time, I have been lacking inspiration as to what to build (or complete... like most I suspect,  have some half built kits hanging around). Picked this up last week and was almost enthused to start straight away, but decided to hold off for awhile. Now though I think I am ready, after looking at a few completed kits on this site (particularly @tonyot‘s collection - very inspiring).

 

First, a box shot and the sprues:

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I’m going to do it straight out of the box in these markings, as Dunsfold is not far from where my in-laws live.

 

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I am sorted for the top colour, I’m going to use Tamiya XF62 Olive Drab (I brush paint mostly Tamiya Acrylics). However the undersides is another matter - I realise neutral grey may be a bit of can of worms. Any suggestions for a closeish match in Tamiya (or Vallejo at a pinch) would be gratefully received. 

Edited by SimonL
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Here are some links to a colour pic of the real thing plus some info and a great b&w pic showing the weathering of the upper surfaces,...hope they help;

 

 

http://www.ossett.net/WW2/John_Palmerley.html

 

https://www.mediastorehouse.com/raf-museum/charles-brown-colour-photographs/north-american-mitchell-702039.html

 

https://ww2aircraft.net/forum/threads/raf-mitchell-ii-and-iii-pictures.50657/

 

https://www.pinterest.ch/pin/466263367665334195

 

 

 

 

Edited by tonyot
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21 minutes ago, SimonL said:

I am sorted for the top colour, I’m going to use Tamiya XF62 Olive Drab (I brush paint mostly Tamiya Acrylics). However the undersides is another matter - I realise neutral grey may be a bit of can of worms. Any suggestions for a closeish match in Tamiya (or Vallejo at a pinch) would be gratefully received. 

Simon, 

It may be best to use a few different shades here and there as these aircraft (and OD in particular) are very prone to fading. If your using Tamiya paints, I'd also be inclined to use / mix in XF51 Khaki to your XF62 for tonal variations here and there. Best to check reference photos (Tony's above) to get a good handle on what's going on. Tamiya also make a Neutral Gray (XF53 from memory) however it is quite dark straight out of the pot. A Little Sky Gray (XF19) might just be what you need to lighten it a bit. Fabric control surfaces tend to appear lighter than the main airframe paint and these always looks good when picked out in lighter colours. 

 

Cheers and I hope his helps.. Dave  

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@tonyot thanks, very helpful - although I doubt my (limited) skills are up to extreme weathering! I will perhaps go for a slightly cleaner representation.

 

@Rabbit Leader many thanks, very helpful on the colour front, although as alluded to

above, may not have the skills to make it look realistically patchy!

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Thanks Andre, that’s a spray can isn’t it? I usually prefer to brush paint, but I will take a look.

 

Any, made a start. Cockpit area came together pretty quickly.

 

32661991177_c754d71a49_b.jpg

 

Looks good dry fitted into the fuselage.

 

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A lick of paint to finish of the afternoon. I am going to build it with the bomb bay doors closed, so don’t need to worry about mid section. I’ve take the approach of a dark green for the cockpit area, and interior green elsewhere.

 

33727283988_43977f175b_b.jpg

 

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Hello Simon,

Yes, it is a spray can.

 

Tamiya also have two kind of olive drab as spray cans. One "greenish" and one more "weathered brown". Humbrol also have Hu 155 as spray can.

 

I usually use them when building P-51 Mustang's. An easy and fast way of painting 1/72 kits...

 

https://www.ipmsstockholm.se/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=9158&sid=3fa0a7ed2e087958cc4d0a79a6352ecc&start=20

 

Nice to se tour build started. I always wanted to build an Mitchell.

 

Cheers / André

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I shall be following your build, Simon. I have the first release of this Airfix kit in the stash. My one issue with this kit is the lack of a collar around the upper turret.

 

33654335758_a30eee12a3_c.jpg

 

47531052241_7841ae9310_c.jpg

 

 

 

Chris

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Hmm, that’s a bit of a challenge.

 

Not much done today. Just some minor detail painting in the cockpit and an approximation of seatbelts with some painted strips of Tamiya tape. Decals added to the instrument panel.

 

47613594291_89f886b205_b.jpg

 

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Managed to get a bit of time in this evening. Gave the cockpit a dirty wash made up if raw umber acrylic diluted with floor polish (an Australian Future substitute), followed by a dry brush with some medium grey acrylic. I crammed in lead fishing weights, which were held in place with blutack and fitted cockpit and other innards into one side of the fuselage. Pretty good fit.

 

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Then it was time to close up the fuselage. Went together very neatly. I'll leave it overnight before doing anything else.

 

32693447197_544ac35721_b.jpg

 

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After a bit of work on the fuselage seams, I added the remain panels to the fuselage, they dropped in very neatly.

 

33762773438_de4739a469_b.jpg

 

Then on to the wings. I followed the instructions to the letter, adding the upper wing half first to the spars followed by the lower wing. Seemed to work very well.

 

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On with the main landing gear, again following the instructions to the letter.  Left it to set for the recommended 60 min 😁.

 

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I dry fitted the tail part and engine nacelles. Stuffed a whole lot of lead and blutak into the nacelles, and it looks like it should be enough. Really happy with how this is going - a really fun build so far.

 

47641693441_9967b7af5b_b.jpg

 

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She’s looking brilliant, and your work is rather speedy! Very jealous!

 

I’m a big fan of American twins, especially with roundels on and especially the b-25. I have one which I would love to get built! Looking forward to yours!

 

as for the patchy finish, once your overall coat has dried mask off some panels a brush paint on some thinned shades of the other colours, works nicely. Or you could use pastels and cotton wool. Worth a go just to see.

 

Rob 

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Thanks @CedB and @rob85. Things will slow down a bit from here - off overseas for a quick business trip tomorrow night. 

 

As for the patchy look - I have something in mind. For the time being, work continued on the engines and engine nacelles. Not sure what I did, but they needed a bit of filler 🤔.

 

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Stuffed the front of the nacelles with blutak and fishing weights.

 

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So far not a tail sitter (I also stuffed some weight into the bomb bay).

 

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So here is where I am at this evening. Some tidying up of seams to do, but I may leave that for when I get back. Perhaps have a go at doing the gun turrets tomorrow.

 

40699996423_1661073dbc_b.jpg

 

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Looking good Simon: you've reminded me that I’ve got one of these stalled waiting for nose weights.

I hate to have to tell you this but your beautifully-filled seam running aft from the main wheel leg opening should be there. Airfix have moulded it thus to represent the slight gap between the closed main doors which are only normally open when the undercarriage is travelling.

Edited by stever219
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On 4/14/2019 at 8:40 PM, dogsbody said:

I shall be following your build, Simon. I have the first release of this Airfix kit in the stash. My one issue with this kit is the lack of a collar around the upper turret.

 

33654335758_a30eee12a3_c.jpg

 

47531052241_7841ae9310_c.jpg

 

 

 

Chris

Could you not just paint a collar in?

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17 minutes ago, Steve27752 said:

Could you not just paint a collar in?

 

Yes, that's what I would do. Mask off the top and then paint the lower part with the upper surface colour.

 

 

Chris

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On ‎4‎/‎14‎/‎2019 at 1:40 PM, dogsbody said:

I shall be following your build, Simon. I have the first release of this Airfix kit in the stash. My one issue with this kit is the lack of a collar around the upper turret.

 

33654335758_a30eee12a3_c.jpg

 

47531052241_7841ae9310_c.jpg

 

 

 

Chris

 

As pointed out to me on another forum, early marks didn't have that fuselage-mounted collar around the turret, as shown above, but there was still the metal turret structure under the plexi turret dome. This can be easily masked and painted the upper fuselage colour.

 

 

Chris

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Don't know how much tolerance there is between the turret and fuselage opening but could a piece of thin plasticard be bent around the turret from the required height with the bottom lower than the 'dip' and  then blended with the fuselage?

Unless you want the turret to traverse gluing to both shouldn't be a problem.

Tom

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2 hours ago, Modelholic said:

Don't know how much tolerance there is between the turret and fuselage opening but could a piece of thin plasticard be bent around the turret from the required height with the bottom lower than the 'dip' and  then blended with the fuselage?

Unless you want the turret to traverse gluing to both shouldn't be a problem.

Tom

I'm not sure. I haven't examined my kit that closely yet.

 

 

Chris

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  • 2 months later...
On 4/22/2019 at 8:34 PM, stever219 said:

I hate to have to tell you this but your veaytufully-filled seam running aft from the main wheel leg opening should be there. Airfix have moulded it thus to represent the slight gap between the closed main doors which are only normally open when the undercarriage is travelling.

Thanks for heads up @stever219. Easily fixed with a quick bit of work with a scribing tool.

 

48277231036_bea4c8b00f_b.jpg

 

On 4/22/2019 at 11:55 PM, dogsbody said:

 

Yes, that's what I would do. Mask off the top and then paint the lower part with the upper surface colour.

 

 

Chris

And that is what I will attempt to do 😁

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I’ve just rediscovered this thread and, whilst enjoying the image of the attractive young lady posted by Dogsbody in post 9, I noticed a couple of things that had slipped past me earlier.  I hope you’re going to be able to post another update soon Simon; I’ve been enjoying watching your progress whilst wishing that I could get on with mine.

 

Firstly she’s on top of a factory-fresh aeroplane but already the paintwork on the fuselage spine is marked, but by something (dust, sand, dried mud) lighter in tone then the camouflage paint and almost certainly deposited from the boots and shoes of production workers and flight preparation and test staff.

 

Secondly that factory fresh paintwork on the port inboard flap doesn’t look very special; poor preparation and application or a quick fix for damage incurred during production?

 

The interior metalwork visible through the open beam gun window appears almost ochre or khaki rather than a true green: is this  an example of the tinted zinc chromate primer that I’ve read of but never knowingly seen?  It’s quite a way from the Humbrol 81 and 226 that my American aircraft interiors normally get daubed with.  I know that copies of copies of seventy-something year-old prints can be unreliable witnesses for colours, but looking at that young lady’s shirt and the red border of the national markings suggests that this image is acceptably close to reality.

 

Finally the exposed metalwork in and of the turret, e.g. the draught suppressors through which the gun barrels pass, is finished in a colour that very closely matches the Olive Drab of the aeroplane’s camouflage rather than one of the “Interior Green” colours that I’d expect and have used on my models in the past.  Thankfully my still-stalled Mitchell should be able to take advantage of this discovery.

 

Now back for another wistfull look at that young lady.......❤️🙄

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  • 5 months later...

Well after leaving this one on the shelf awhile ago I thought I would have a good go at finishing it by the end of the year. Needed some filling on the seams, which from what I have read may be more down to my abilities than the fit of the model 😞. then on with the engines and ere it is ready for paint.

 

49280116508_1cab5da280_b.jpg

 

A couple of coats of brushed on Tamiya acrylic XF-62 for the top, and XF-53 Neutral Grey underneath.

 

49280116513_bd31910533_b.jpg

 

Some detail painting and fuselage windows added and masked. A couple of coats of floor polish and I’ll leave her overnight before having a go with the decals. 
 

49291079713_f846f06a57_b.jpg


Paintwork looks a bit patchy in places, it is a very old pot of Tamiya acrylic - but the instructions said they had a worn and patchy look, so not too fussed. Probably disappear once I start with the oil washes anyway. For the first time I have invested in an Eduard Masking set - fingers crossed.

Edited by SimonL
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