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1/48 Spitfire XVIe 443 Sqn RCAF ***Finished***


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Here are some images for the kit and scheme I’ll be building. This will straight from the box and I’ll be finishing it in the markings of 443 Squadron RCAF. This is the machine on the box art and I’m looking forwards to getting started

Steve 

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756D036B-678F-44AB-96F1-3732CB0A43EE

 

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A bit more progress. Cockpit sidewalls constructed and main colours laid in. The first PE has been added as well for the headrest armour - looks a bit scruffy as much of the paint rubbed off when putting it together.

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The head armour is a 4 part PE assembly. A little fiddly but the resulting bracket looks quite nice. 
 

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A bit of dry brushing and detail painting next and then onto assembly of the cockpit!

 

 

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More progress on the cockpit. Photos are not great unfortunately, just using my phone camera and not helped being taken under artificial light. 
 

Pretty happy with how this is progressing. A few more bits of PE to complete tomorrow and then it’s time to join up the fuselage.

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EB39746D-519D-4AF3-8796-ECCEB521CB6C

 

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Still a few more small bits of PE (that won’t be seen 🧐) to fit in the cockpit, but I thought the time was right for a quick test fit.

 

Looks good, so any problems when I commit to glue are solely of my own making!

 

Once the fuselage main assembly is complete, I plan to turn my attention to the hi-back I’m building in parallel.

 

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That’s the cockpit finished and the fuselage closed up. It’s gone together nicely and seams should only require a quick polish. 
 

I’m really enjoying this kit. Couple more things to do and then I’ll bring the hi-back up to the same stage of construction.
 

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1C079FB8-792A-416C-BA27-C0B2814BC7C2

 

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Morning everyone!

 

I managed to make a little more progress yesterday and assembled the wheel wells and completed interior painting on the wings (for both XVIs). 
 

Shown here test fitted to the fuselage - the fit looks great again. I am really impressed with this kit so far, it’s such an enjoyable build.


I’m hoping to bring the high back to a similar point today so that I can complete both airframes ready for priming. I’m also taking full advantage of watching some of the other Eduard Spitfire builds to pick up hints and tips. 
 

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I have had to order some Vallejo paints online (one of those ‘I thought I had them’ moments) and they aren’t going to arrive until next week. I’m hopeful that I’ll be able to get the models primed and ready for paint this week. 

 

I’ve also recently bought an airbrush and compressor so this will be my first opportunity to use it. 

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Primer on with this one and although I’m pretty happy, there are some issues to address.

 

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There are seams in front of the canopy and along the spine to improve and I also need to remove and reposition the starboard wingtip.

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The cowling is looking ok. A bit of a touch up and also need to tidy up the primer coat as I accidentally flipped the cowlings for both builds over whilst they were still wet! 

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Last night addressed the seams I was unhappy with and removed and replaced the starboard wingtip which wasn’t sitting correctly (100% my error rather than the kit!)

 

I re-primed the model and this morning have polished the surface to remove any roughness. I’m much happier with how it’s looking now and it’s ready for the camouflage colours.

 

I’m going to let the primer fully cure for a couple of days and get the remaining sub-assemblies (undercarriage, prop, radiators and exhausts etc) completed so that I can pull it all together once painting is done.

 

Steve

 

49A31D3D-58B9-467C-8417-55D29D2A0A67

 

 

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42 minutes ago, Cookenbacher said:

Great work so far, and what a smooth primer coat you've achieved. What did you use to polish it down?

Thanks very much!

 

Nothing very high tech - I just used an old t-shirt to polish over the surfaces and added a little bit of toothpaste if there were any stubborn areas - so it’s smooth AND minty fresh! 😁

 

Steve

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Evening all! Some more progress and I have painted or primed all of the remaining sub-assemblies. I’m ready now for the main painting of the aircraft.

 

I think the exhausts have come up okay and have a bit of a metallic feel to them. 
 

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And all of the subassemblies!

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Steve

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  • 2 weeks later...

As for the other Spit I’ve tried to vary the finish before applying camo. It’s far from perfect, but hopefully it will add something when the top layers are painted. Very much at the bottom of the airbrush learning curve, so any advice welcomed!

 

Steve

 

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9EEB76C6-2116-4FB0-AAA8-FDB76E1515F0

 

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This evening I masked the yellow wing leading edges and painted the prop. I also painted the spiral on the spinner. There is a decal supplied with the kit, but I wanted to give painting it a go - it needs a bit of tidying up, but not too bad. Camo colours next!

 

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This is interesting. I do the wing leading edges and the sky band after the camouflage painting... this may be a better way, but I worry about masking such small areas. But Im relatively new to aircraft after a long (twenty year) hiatus, so I'm still finding my way... Airplanes are very different from ship modelling, which was what I was doing in the intervening years... painting comes in a completely different order. 

 

I'm very impressed with your exhausts...

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5 hours ago, Bill Livingston said:

This is interesting. I do the wing leading edges and the sky band after the camouflage painting... this may be a better way, but I worry about masking such small areas. But Im relatively new to aircraft after a long (twenty year) hiatus, so I'm still finding my way... Airplanes are very different from ship modelling, which was what I was doing in the intervening years... painting comes in a completely different order. 

 

I'm very impressed with your exhausts...

Thanks Bill.

 

I usually paint the sky band first and then mask up. I find it easier to correct if I make a mistake this way. This aircraft had the band overpainted, so I’m hopeful this may give some tonal variation to the camo.

 

I normally do the wing leading edges last as well - this is a bit of an experiment as I was a bit nervous about spraying yellow over the camo colours (I’m trying out a new airbrush). It will be interesting to see if it works!

 

Thanks for the comment about the exhausts. I just dry brushed some metallics (copper, bronze, steel and aluminium) over a black base - a bit of trial and error until I liked the look of them. 
 

Steve

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Don’t know how this passed me by! Excellent work. I’ve just started out on 1/48 Eduards, I want this kit next for Otto Smik’s version. Like the thread, definitely don’t leave doing yellow leading edges till last....ask me how I know 

 

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30 minutes ago, Valkyrie said:

Don’t know how this passed me by! Excellent work. I’ve just started out on 1/48 Eduards, I want this kit next for Otto Smik’s version. Like the thread, definitely don’t leave doing yellow leading edges till last....ask me how I know 

 

Thanks very much - I’m also building the high back version in parallel, coincidentally in the Smik scheme!

 

Steve

 

 

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