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Spitfires Anonymous --- Airfix x3, Eduard x1 (so far)


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Builds contents kinda thing I guess:

Airfix Spitfire MkVa 1/72 - started post #1, finished post #48

Airfix Spitfire Mki two blade 1/72 -started post #17

Eduard Spitfire HF MK.VIII 1/72 - started post #21

Airfix Spitfire Mkia with aftermarket 1/72 - started post #46

 

 

Right, new project time! 

Aldi Airfix kits are cheap, I have loads of  spare parts and decals for Spitfires, why not buy another three...

I have 11 Spitfires now. I just can't stop building them. It's so addictive! They're so fun and so easy to do. And there's literally thousands of schemes I could choose. 

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All the kits look well moulded and nothing's missing. I raided my box of spitfire spares to get parts to make one MkVa and one MkI with a two bladed prop. Another will be done as FZ L, a regular prewar Mkia with a silver underside.

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This is the decal set I'll be using for two aircraft. I've previously build DL N after I messed up the canopy on a MkVa and rescued the build to make a Mki with two bladed prop. I'll be doing FZ L and K9795. 

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The MkVa will be this one, which I previously messed up. 

 

I'll probably get this started while I'm waiting for decals to arrive for my Vulcan B1a...

And an Eduard Spitfire may or may not join the build

Edited by Adam Poultney
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I did once attempt to model every mark of Me 109. I do think I got most of them from A to K even a H and 2 Avia 199s. Nowadays I like variety ( and arguably randomness) in my choice of subject but I did find that building up the progression and a themed collection was very satisfying at the time.  I do like the Spitfire but I think I’d get bored with all that dark earth and green.  (I have 1 in my current collection, and I think I’d like a griffin engined post war one but that’d be about it)

Edited by Marklo
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In with the first update of the project, I've assembled most of the major subassemblies on the MkVa. I like to build Spitfires in subassemblies before putting paint on. I find it much quicker and honestly for the detail you lose, which isn't much in this scale, it's worth it

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7 hours ago, Marklo said:

I did once attempt to model every mark of Me 109. I do think I got most of them from A to K even a H and 2 Avia 199s. Nowadays I like variety ( and arguably randomness) in my choice of subject but I did find that building up the progression and a themed collection was very satisfying at the time.  I do like the Spitfire but I think I’d get bored with all that dark earth and green.  (I have 1 in my current collection, and I think I’d like a griffin engined post war one but that’d be about it)

I have a lot of 109s, I like them even more than the Spitfire, but there's something about building a Spitfire in 1/72 that I just can't get enough of. 

I need to get a bubble top one in 1/72 as that's one of the major things missing from my collection, although I have the new 1/48 Airfix one in the stash... 

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Primed black, airbrushed Vallejo interior green and washed with a mix of Nuln Oil and Vallejo engine oil. Added a bit of chipping, using whatever silver I had to hand (Vallejo Model Air Steel I believe).

Just need to put the instrument panel decal on now and it'll be ready to seal up.

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Nice build.  I agree about sub assemblies but I break down the cockpit more as there's actually a lot more than just interior green - rear half silver, red seat (after mid 1940), black or dark green leather back rest and other details.  Allegedly for the early Supermarine production the interior is a lighter green than later aircraft.  Of course I do all that and then its virtually invisible through a closed cockpit in 1/72!

I look forward to seeing how it turns out.

Cheers 

Will

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I decided to put a bit of effort into the MkVa 

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Decal on, another wash and a bit of brown paint.

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Then I saw another opportunity on the tailplane. I have some suitable spare parts from an Eduard kit that will not be required. I want to reposition the elevators, and I may as well use the nice ones from the Eduard kit.

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Cuts were made

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Once the fuselage halves were together the rudder and modified elevators were attached, all slightly deflected.

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On 11/7/2019 at 9:40 AM, Adam Poultney said:

Another will be done as FZ L, a regular prewar Mkia with a silver underside.

Id love to have a set of those decals. Im a big fan of R.S.Tuck’s. I have his Mk.V ready to go. Need the Mk.I and his Hurricane to complete the set. I will do a Tuck build similar to my Priller build. I also will finish off my Boyington builds someday. 

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44 minutes ago, Corsairfoxfouruncle said:

Id love to have a set of those decals. Im a big fan of R.S.Tuck’s. I have his Mk.V ready to go. Need the Mk.I and his Hurricane to complete the set. I will do a Tuck build similar to my Priller build. I also will finish off my Boyington builds someday. 

https://www.hannants.co.uk/product/ILD72009

That's the set I'm using. It's good quality of a little thick if I remember rightly from my previous build using them (2 bladed DL N)

I've done Priller's Emil in 1/48

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Making a start on Spitfire #2, the early Mki with a two bladed prop. 

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And errr sudden Spitfire?

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The gear isn't glued on, the prop is blue tacked together and the canopy is masked with PVA as a bit of an experiment to see if that works. If not oh well, I have a spare canopy.

 

Must... build..... more.... Spitfires.....

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Oh and a rare look at my meteor which I really need to update the WIP thread for....

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4 hours ago, bigbadbadge said:

Very nice work and nice collection of Spits and of course you can never have too many Spitfires.

Keep up the good work

All the best

Chris

Thanks

I'll do a thread on RFI with them all in once this project is done. 

I just love building them and just have to have one in the stash at all times. I'm now eyeing up my new tool Airfix 1/48 bubble top Spitfire....

Although my shelf of Spitfires is full.... Guess I'll start another! 

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I was good and only bought one from Aldi but I have the mk II in the stash. I have used bits from the eduard mkviii (interior bits) although not accurate to replace the instrument panel in one of the my 1s and  I used the standard kit decal for the second one. However I agree this kit is a beautiful rendition of the spit. Just don’t forget to correct the wing dihedral! 

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It depends if you fit the interior correctly. My first one had zero dihedral until I sanded the instrument panel back. However to me it is the ultimate spitfire mk 1 in 1/72! The interior alone is lovely

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Primed on the Mki, for some reason my normally very reliable primer had an odd reaction on the plastic. I don't know why this is but it's never happened before.

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MkVa primed days later, a similar but weaker reaction happened on here as well. The masked canopy hasn't had the reaction and the Eduard elevators are largely unaffected. 

The spinner, prop and wheels need to be primed yet.

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Preshade by brush, just to be different. Might as well experiment a bit.

Actually because my airbrush was about to be taken to pieces for a much needed deep clean. 

I'm going to try and get it painted tonight.

Edited by Adam Poultney
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Airbrush cleaned out, I sprayed the underside Vallejo Air Pale Blue Grey and the upper side Vallejo Air Medium Sea Grey.

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While that dried off, I painted the interior of the first Mki. The rear of the cockpit should be silver and the green painted parts much lighter than later aircraft. My green is not correct as I forgot this detail and went back to correct it with a drybrush of lighter green and wash to make it less harsh.

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A better photo

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I used PVA again on the camouflage pattern, I like this as it's a lot easier than liquid latex masking products like maskol, being not so destructive to brushes.

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Masking complete, I sprayed the upper surfaces in Vallejo Air Dark Green. 

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And with the masking removed, I am very happy with the results. They are more reliable than blue tack or masking tape, but will need clean up as the PVA is awkward to remove without minor damage to the paint. Also PVA likes to leak everywhere so be prepared to clean that up. It works perfectly on the canopy and is no trouble to remove. This is probably the best Spitfire canopy I have done aside from one small mess up which was just my carelessness, but it's fixed(ish).

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The other side.

This aircraft had the mirrored camouflage to most Spitfires, which I am quite a fan of. 

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Here's the underside of the model, in Vallejo Air Pale Blue Grey. I only masked the edges on the fuselage, nose and underside of the tailplane as I've found that the rest is just a waste of time for me to mask as I should be able to avoid spraying anything under the wings. 

And yes, I know the oil cooler(?) (it's the one on the right under the wing) is the wrong one for MkVa, I used the right one on my last attempt to build this scheme which I messed up the canopy on and ended up with a two blade Mki instead (not complaining, I love that not quite finished but close model), attached below. The wrong part is underneath anyway, so not a big deal.

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Edited by Adam Poultney
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Because of my lack of control over starting kits, I dived into the stash and came across another 1/72 Spitfire (I wonder how that got there). An Eduard Profipack Spitfire HF Mk.VIII in 1/72. 

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This one has extended wingtips, my first one with them. This gives the model a wingspan slightly greater than that of a Boulton Paul Defiant and a bit less than a Junkers Ju87 Stuka. 

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Etch, glorious etch! I ------- hate it! 

It's only just looking at this photo that I realised that the pilot's seat was coming apart, this has been fixed. The same approach is used as with the Airfix ones, build it then paint it, but I'll need to do the instrument panel separately, being pre painted etch.

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Now the easy etch parts (if I could get the pieces on the right side of the model and not have to take them off and move them!) 

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Seriously though, I am very impressed with the kit and the level of detail Eduard squeezed in. For the £13 I spent on this kit I cannot complain at all. Well, maybe the box takes up a bit of space in the stash but shh we don't need to mention that.

 

In all I like Airfix's kit more due to its simplicity, I can easily knock one out in a weekend if I really want to, but I think the super detailed Eduard Profipack is a nice change.

Also, does anyone know if there were any clipped wing Mkii Spitfires or MkVa spitfires without cannons?

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I'd be somewhat surprised.  The wing tips were detachable, but no-one had considered removing them permanently until after the Mk.Vs were tangling with the Fw190s.  The Fw190 had a superb aileron response, so even if caught at a disadvantage they could roll, pull, and be away before the Spitfire could keep up.  Clipping the wings improved the Spitfire's roll rate making them more competitive,  I think that even the Mk.Va wasn't still in use by those squadrons based in the South-East and regularly facing the Fws,  However once kits were available there would be no reason why they couldn't be fitted, but equally no reason why they would.

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Thought I'd just post up some pictures of other Spitfires I've done:

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12 hour blitz build of a Spitfire S31/PRXIX (1/72 Airfix

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My first airbrushed build, back from about May/June 2018. Weathered rather a lot.

My other foray into Eduard profipacks and photoetch (and a multi-build thread with Airfix as well)

2 hours ago, Corsairfoxfouruncle said:

My memory says no but im not 100% positive. Im guessing that either @Graham Boak or @Troy Smith may know. 

1 hour ago, Graham Boak said:

I'd be somewhat surprised.  The wing tips were detachable, but no-one had considered removing them permanently until after the Mk.Vs were tangling with the Fw190s.  The Fw190 had a superb aileron response, so even if caught at a disadvantage they could roll, pull, and be away before the Spitfire could keep up.  Clipping the wings improved the Spitfire's roll rate making them more competitive,  I think that even the Mk.Va wasn't still in use by those squadrons based in the South-East and regularly facing the Fws,  However once kits were available there would be no reason why they couldn't be fitted, but equally no reason why they would.

Ah right so just a technically plausible idea but probably never happened. Ok.

Guess I'll just but some of Revell's MkVb Spits, the new one since the old one is well.... substandard. I built one and enjoyed it, ended up with a nice model but the kit is inaccurate and not great. 

I also need a bubble top in 1/72 so may as well do clipped wings on that as well (probably another Eduard one)

 

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Loving the build so far! That’s a lot of spitfires your cracking through, I can empathise with this, I however ran out of steam a bit with all mine. The current three are nearly finished and then I’ll probably rest there and just watch you complete your 😃

 

Rob

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