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1/48 Tamiya Mk.I : My First Spitfire - Finished


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Hi everybody, I'll not be getting to this one for a bit as I'm finishing a build for Nordic GB but let's put it up anyway so we (or rather, I) know it's for real and there's no getting out!

 

Many, many years ago I did build some aircraft, at least I seem to remember some wingy things but since all my builds back then fell apart rather quickly we'll never know for sure. So I'm not counting those, hence "My First Spitfire" actually means "My first Aircraft". Since my return to this lovely hobby, a little over 2 years ago, I've only built land dwelling vehicles and mostly trucks at that. 

 

But: since I like the concept of GB's very much (this will be my second GB), I like to read a lot, also about people flying Spitfires, I thought why not jump in the deep end and join this Spitfire GB. 

 

I chose Tamiya's 1/48 Mk.I, recently released, for the reason that I'm guessing Tamiya should provide me with a very decent kit, it's 1/48 so not too fiddly and it's a Mk.I which seems fitting since it's my first build. 

 

20200410200938-236ae73a-me.jpg

 

There are 3 versions in the box and I'll be building 610 Sqn from the Battle of Britain which seemed the obvious choice to me. It will be a strictly OOB build since I know nothing about building these things so I'll just be following the instructions. Of course, any tips will be greatly appreciated. I've been following the GB chat and am amazed at how much you all know about this iconic aircraft. 

 

I'm looking forward to starting it but I must show restraint and finish my Volvo first... 

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55 minutes ago, Davek72 said:

Looking forward to watching Jeroen.  I am building a 1/48 MK.I from Airfix in a similar scheme (602 Sq).  Will be interesting to compare.

 

Dave

That should be interesting indeed. I'll let you start first ok? 😉 

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Oi!!! what are you doing here!!! :fight:

 

This an't a diesel, it's got wings, and you have something you're meant to be finishing??

 

Nice model you've chosen...now back to your truck!

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12 minutes ago, trickyrich said:

Oi!!! what are you doing here!!! :fight:

 

This an't a diesel, it's got wings, and you have something you're meant to be finishing??

 

Nice model you've chosen...now back to your truck!

Aye Cap'n!

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7 hours ago, Johnson said:

Good place to start with Spits.

 

Best wishes for the build.

Thanks Charlie, somehow I do hope that I won't feel the urge to start all the other versions after I've done this one! 🙂 

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19 hours ago, trickyrich said:

Oi!!! what are you doing here!!! :fight:

 

This an't a diesel, it's got wings, and you have something you're meant to be finishing??

 

Nice model you've chosen...now back to your truck!

Don’t listen to him @JeroenS, this is what he does instead of finishing his own models, stalk the rest of us :whistle:

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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 3 weeks later...

Evening all! Well, @trickyrich has released me from his Nordic clutches so now I'm actually building a Spitfire. Parts have been cut, first glue has been applied. I'm doing 610 Squadron, with open canopy. 

 

20200511211321-55a1f152-me.jpg

 

Now, to break the ice I have a question for you, just so that I don't mess up in step 1 already! I haven't built that many Tamiya kits since I rebooted the hobby about 2,5 years ago (uhm, two to be precise) and I'm not very good at following instructions anyway... But, I've already noticed that I should really be paying attention for this build 🙂 

 

So I have this question about the Tamiya instructions, just to make sure my interpretation is correct. 

 

610 Squadron is version "A" and B and C are the other options. For the part at the bottom of the photo there are extra instructions to distinguish between these 3 versions.

 

 20200511211321-1e2d2e2a-me.jpg

 

If I understand correctly, they want you to cut the 3 knobs I've marked as "1" for options B and C, they'll have you cut the piece I've marked as "2" for all versions and then, for versions B and C they also want you to cut that highlighted thingy I've marked as "3". 

 

Would you agree with that assessment? 

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On 4/14/2020 at 1:52 PM, trickyrich said:

Oi!!! what are you doing here!!! :fight:

 

This an't a diesel, it's got wings, and you have something you're meant to be finishing??

 

Nice model you've chosen...now back to your truck!

 

I'm just waiting for @JeroenS to take the propeller, tail wheel and cockpit canopy and then scratch build an immaculate Spitfire around them.

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Great to see you spread your wings! :pilot:

 

That looks like a cracking kit, my dad got one too recently. Build wise it has some clever ideas, like getting right alignment for the landing gears easy.

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On 5/11/2020 at 8:27 PM, JeroenS said:

Evening all! Well, @trickyrich has released me from his Nordic clutches so now I'm actually building a Spitfire. Parts have been cut, first glue has been applied. I'm doing 610 Squadron, with open canopy. 

 

20200511211321-55a1f152-me.jpg

 

Now, to break the ice I have a question for you, just so that I don't mess up in step 1 already! I haven't built that many Tamiya kits since I rebooted the hobby about 2,5 years ago (uhm, two to be precise) and I'm not very good at following instructions anyway... But, I've already noticed that I should really be paying attention for this build 🙂 

 

So I have this question about the Tamiya instructions, just to make sure my interpretation is correct. 

 

610 Squadron is version "A" and B and C are the other options. For the part at the bottom of the photo there are extra instructions to distinguish between these 3 versions.

 

 20200511211321-1e2d2e2a-me.jpg

 

If I understand correctly, they want you to cut the 3 knobs I've marked as "1" for options B and C, they'll have you cut the piece I've marked as "2" for all versions and then, for versions B and C they also want you to cut that highlighted thingy I've marked as "3". 

 

Would you agree with that assessment? 

I would agree with you. 

Nice to see some progress. 

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6 hours ago, Hockeyboy76 said:

I would agree with you. 

Thanks H!

 

Had some stuff to do the past 2 evenings but I'll be "on her tail" this evening!

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Not a whole lot to show but I did manage to get the fuselage halves ready. There are 2 parts per half, but the fit is so good that you'd never know.

 

20200514210206-30539c90-me.jpg

 

I got the insides done as well. added a bunch of small parts there. I'm lucky to have laminate flooring, no chance for the carpet monster although it may have a cousin because something does get lost every now and then. Not tonight though.

 

20200514205643-dff2f49c-me.jpg

 

I did spend a bit of time pondering whether I'd paint before assembly or not. Watched some vids on Youtube, looked at some of the builds here, before making up my mind. In the end the most important argument for me was that I'm just much more comfortable with painting after glueing than the other way around. I've tried it, but always I found parts needed extra cleanup, paint was damaged, glue didn't stick well enough, more paint was damaged... so in the end I spent more time touching up then painting. 

 

So I went ahead and assembled, gives a nice feeling of progress too. I'll make some more sub-assemblies and then paint the main colours, after which I'll fill in the details. 

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  • 3 weeks later...

Hi all, it's been a while since I did some work on the Mk I. I had inspiration to finish a build I'd started 2 years ago so that's what I did. Time to get back to this one. Not a whole lot to report but I did finish building 2 cockpit sub-assemblies. 

 

20200603212420-c5f6a09d-me.jpg

 

No problems so far, fit is excellent as was to be expected. I like building "something completely different". 

 

A lot of catching up to do now on the other builds!

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I've completed the cockpit, except for the seat harness. I first need to paint and assemble everything before I can install the harness because it links the rear ... thing, structure (see, I don't know the first thing about aircraft internals) with the seat. All the parts are still dryfitted now, I will paint the sub-assemblies first. 

 

20200604200744-5ec78a10-me.jpg

 

I've never built another plane so of course I have no reference, but the cockpit parts seem very nicely detailed to me. 

 

20200604200744-d5491b85-me.jpg

 

20200604202628-c4818b8b-me.jpg

 

20200604200743-fe0c884d-me.jpg

 

 

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

Thanks for the warning call @TEMPESTMK5! I've been totally engrossed in my Scania build lately and haven't paid much attention to the Spitfire. I've shot black primer and base colour cockpit green XF-71. I really like this colour, I didn't have it but purchased it for this build, along with some other colours. 

 

20200614202142-1315c2ee-me.jpg

 

Next up, detail painting, and the rear part of the cockpit should be some metal colour. I'll brush that on, using something from the Vallejo Metal range. 

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Real crappy weather tonight so really no excuse to not start in on the interior painting. I started with the metal parts first. Tamiya says AS-12 but I don't have that and I'm not going to buy a rattle can for a couple of square inches of paint. I looked in a paint colour conversion chart and it said Vallejo Model Colour Natural Steel is a match. I do have that but I don't really like it. I paint with Model Colour paints a lot and they are very good but the metallic ones not so much in my opinion. The Metal Colour range is very good though, so I made a mix of Aluminium with a little bit of Gun Metal and I think it created a nice steely colour, not too bright and a little bit darker than shiny. 

 

20200618082503-3af5340f-me.jpg

 

I made a start on the black parts as well. 

Edited by JeroenS
Replaced pic with one taken in natural light
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