Aussie shark

[Torbjorn]

Looked at the GB calender today and remember I said I’d provide a Spitfire here. Hope it’s not too late to join.

 

The raw material:

Eduard’s Aussie Eight, probably the nicest kit I have laid my hands on.

 

Here are some of the 32 options:

 

Plenty of teeth on the decal sheet! 

With so many choices I might have to make the decision simple and use the one with the biggest mouth.

 

Started with painting and the cockpit. More to come later - will have to post separetely, since three times the miserable Iphone has erased my attempts to add more pictures and text.

 

Below the resin parts. The exhaust is from Quickboost - I figured the nice tyres and general level of detail warranted nicer exhaust pipes (drilling out non-circular pipes I am too lazy to do).

[Torbjorn]

 

 

From sprue A comes the cockpit sides and prop. Plus ordnance and several wheels that will not be used.

 

 

Started the wheel bay assembly. Several options available to enable building the different versions.

 

 

Again, lots of extra parts that won’t be used. Wonder what can be made with these?

 

Clear sprue, with the lights brush-painted.

 

 

 

The detail is nice and pretty, and although some will say the rivets are oversized you can only see them when the light comes from the right angles. I like them.

 

 

Finally, I started assembling the insides. The green is IDF Green from Vallejo - looks slightly more gray in reality. Canopy will be closed, so I will not add much detail, and use the decal for the instrument panels and keep the PE parts for an open-canopy model.

 

Edited August 16, 2019 by Torbjorn

[Corsairfoxfouruncle]

Great looking choice. 👍🏻 ... I hate to throw a 🔧 in the works here, but weren't Spitfire prop blades shaped wood, or wood composite ? If I'm wrong thats great, just thought i remembered reading that somewhere. 

[Torbjorn]

1 hour ago, Corsairfoxfouruncle said:

Great looking choice. 👍🏻 ... I hate to throw a   in the works here, but weren't Spitfire prop blades shaped wood, or wood composite ? If I'm wrong thats great, just thought i remembered reading that somewhere. 

Throw as many spanners as you like, I don’t mind reparations 🔨 The images in the reference book that comes with the kit show metal sheets protecting the leading edges, so yes I guess you are right. They do not appear to be painted, and I’ll try to replicate, but maybe it’s easier to paint over the aluminium with yellow and black and add it last instead.

Edited August 16, 2019 by Torbjorn

[Torbjorn]

 

A wash and partial overspray with thinned and lightened graygreen and the office is finished.

 

 

Closing the fuselage.

 

 

The wing lights are nicely done and are easy to get flush thanks to little guiding tabs. The spent cartridge ejection openings are actually openings, so I painted the inside of the wings black.

 

 

Edited August 17, 2019 by Torbjorn

[exdraken]

nice late entry!

[Torbjorn]

18 hours ago, exdraken said:

nice late entry!

Thanks!

 

 

Fuselage mated with wings. I had to remove some material from the aft three quarters at the wing roots on the fuselage side to make it fit.  

 

 

The engineering is clever, with several different options of cowlings available (not to speak of tail plane, rudder and wing tips). 

Edited August 18, 2019 by Torbjorn

[Torbjorn]

Sprayed some grey to check the seams. I can never get these good, despite the almost perfect fit. Hve tried Tamiya grey putty, which I find too hard to sand, and PPP, which although nice to fill in cracks with I can’t get to fill seams on convex surfaces. There is also a quite sizeable step on the aft edge of the top front cowling (about 1/3mm):

 

Eduard calls for a large array of colours: the usual late war RAF combo of Ocean grey and Dark green over Medium grey, but the tail section is supposed to be painted in RAAF dark sea grey and foliage green, and ”Light blue” on the underside. In addition to white leading edges and Id band and red spinner. I’m using Vallejo and have selected these so far:

 

RAF:

Medium grey: 71.050 Light grey

Ocean grey: the above + 1/5 black

Dark green: 71.016 US Dark green

Red: 70.957

RAAF:

Foliage green: 71.124 USAF green

RAAF DSG: 71.047 Grey

”Light blue”: 71.046 Pale grey blue

[Torbjorn]

After three rounds of filling I’m somewhat satisfied and painting can start. With 9 days and as many colour it was about time.

 

 

 

[Torbjorn]

The four greys have been painted. I’m not overly happy: the 71.050 as medium sea grey appears a bit dark to me, and the contrast between the ocean grey and RAAF dark sea gray is maybe too much (can be seen below the cockpit canopy). 

 

Anyhow, masked for the greens: Dark green up front and foliage green on the tail.

 

[Torbjorn]

Painting finished, masks off. Personal record with a tiny spot of overpaint on the tailplane. The contrast between the British and Australian paints may be a bit too much, but harmonisation will have to be made bu postprocessing: I sprayed gloss all over to prepare for the rest.

 

 

 

Circular masks for the upper wing roundel overpainting are provided in the kit by the way.

Edited August 27, 2019 by Torbjorn

[exdraken]

Very promising!!

 

[Torbjorn]

16 hours ago, exdraken said:

Very promising!!

 

Thanks, but time is getting scarce. This was not a pristine machine and I was hoping to have time for some postprocessing. Stickers on, we’ll see if I’ll manage weathering on time.

 

 

 

[Jabba]

Looking very good indeed.

[Torbjorn]

Done some weathering.

-fading the colours and adding some tonal variation by artists water colours white, green and yellow. 

-Painting the wing roots Vallejo silver where pictures show heavy scratching. Also around areas with heavy use, applying with a cheap brush with stiff bristles

-Oils, black and brown for shades, stains and general colour variation. No panel lines though, as I think that gives a toyish unrealistic look (between moving parts I added some).

 

The shark mouth went on without problems, but some parts folded while microsol was operating, which had to be cut and painted (black only, fortunately).

 

 

 

 

Now, if I only can remember where I put those exhaust pipes...

 

 

edit: doh, it’s missing the ”Grey Nurse”  name tag too

Edited September 1, 2019 by Torbjorn

[Torbjorn]

Found the exhausts but then I had a slight mishap while assembling:

 

 

 

The quickboost pipes are for another kit and are a fraction of a mm to large in the z-direction: enough to wedge away the top cowl if the modeller is too violent. Anyhow, I nibbled away s corresponding fraction of a mm on the lower side on the model: it’s so little it can’t be seen. 

 

As maybe can be seen on the photo, I painted the metal sheets protecting the leading edges on the prop blades, the. overpainted that black in a patchy fashion to simulate scratches. I’m afraid my phone camera won’t let me take good clear images (blame the equipment!). 

 

Next post will be in the gallery.

Edited September 1, 2019 by Torbjorn

[Corsairfoxfouruncle]

Great looking Nurse shark ! ... Impressive build for the time frame.