Steve 1602 Posted May 29, 2020 Share Posted May 29, 2020 Kit: Airfix 1/48 Spitfire Vb “Specialist Spitfires” Decals: Victory Productions “Aces of the Empire” Extras: Eduard harnesses I’m attempting another parallel build. The subject of this one is Spitfire Vb W3257 of 611 Squadron RAF based at Hornchurch in August 1941. This was the aircraft of Flt Lt Eric Lock; he was killed in action on 3 Aug flying W3257 on a “Rhubarb” mission. There are a couple of photos of Lock in this one, but it’s unclear if the aircraft was FY-E or FY-F. I’m going with ‘E’ I think, but I’d anyone has better information, please shout! Steve First, the box and sprue shot And a look at the profile 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve 1602 Posted May 31, 2020 Author Share Posted May 31, 2020 A start....! Sprues washed and Lightening holes drilled out. Hopefully I’ll get some paint on the cockpit this evening. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve 1602 Posted June 1, 2020 Author Share Posted June 1, 2020 I managed to get some paint on the cockpit assemblies last night, and put the seat together - I often feel that I need to physically put something together, even if it’s just a minor part to convince myself that a kit is underway! I’ll also be adding some Eduard seatbelts to this. Tonight I’ll be focusing on finishing painting the cockpit assemblies and hopefully starting to put these together. Steve 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve 1602 Posted June 2, 2020 Author Share Posted June 2, 2020 I noticed that the date this Spitfire was lost pre-dates when the wing reinforcing strips would have been fitted; so, out with the file.... and after some elbow grease, strips removed! Steve 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve 1602 Posted June 3, 2020 Author Share Posted June 3, 2020 This evening I spent a bit of time on the cockpit. It all Looks quite nice and whilst not as sharp as Eduard’s treatment of the Mk XVI cockpit, it looks perfectly fine with some paint. The cockpit itself goes together quite nicely, but I could have done with an extra hand when putting the tub together - it’s a little fiddly! As many others have noted on some of the newer Airfix kits, test fitting is essential and any mating surfaces need to be free of paint. I put the fuselage together and the seams all look reasonably good and should clean up well. I really like the separate fuel tank cover. It fits really snugly and avoids a seam in front of the cockpit - it’s just taped on for now in case I need to move things around a little bit when the wings go on. I had a test fit of the wings and the wing root joints don’t look great - I’ll tackle that another evening. I have to work out if there’s not enough dihedral in the lower wing causing the gap, or if I need to put a spreader inside the fuselage. I test fitted with and without the cockpit tub and the result was the same so I’m pretty confident it’s not something I’ve done wrong, but I’ll look at it all again tomorrow. Steve 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve 1602 Posted June 4, 2020 Author Share Posted June 4, 2020 So this was the wing to fuselage gap that I was presented with. It was worse last night but fitting the wheel well spars has improved it somewhat. The dihedral looks fine and tempting though it was to simply increase the dihedral to close the gap, it didn’t look right. I test fitted with and without the cockpit tub, and that was not causing the problem. As you can see, the gap is worse towards the leading edges of the wings. The trailing edges Close up well with a little bit of pressure. I decided to add a sprue spreader in the nose area to see if the fuselage was perhaps the issue . That seemed to work pretty well and when I added a small bit of pressure to the joins any remaining gaps largely closed up. one disappointment is the nose area; a sink mark that needs attention and a misaligned panel line that will require filling and rescribing. Every other panel line meets correctly both above and below the fuselage so I wonder if the sink mark has caused some deformation (this may also explain the wing root gap?) This arrived today as well - this aircraft should have a de Havilland spinner and prop and the one with the kit didn’t look right to me (although I think the kit one is fine for my other Vb which used the earlier ie non-pointy Rotol which the kit part seemed to represent). 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve 1602 Posted June 4, 2020 Author Share Posted June 4, 2020 A productive evening and the airframe is together and ready for a bit of filler and for seams to be Sanded before primer. The wing to fuselage join is now looking much better. Steve 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Johnson Posted June 5, 2020 Share Posted June 5, 2020 Great work Steve, the cockpit looks superb. How did you do the instrument panel, was it the kit decal? Looks very effective. And good save with the wing root gap! Cheers, 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve 1602 Posted June 5, 2020 Author Share Posted June 5, 2020 21 minutes ago, Johnson said: Great work Steve, the cockpit looks superb. How did you do the instrument panel, was it the kit decal? Looks very effective. And good save with the wing root gap! Cheers, Thanks! The instrument panel was a decal from the Eduard MkXVI kits that I built for this group build. They came with a photo etched IP, so the decals were left over. I tried the Airfix supplied decals, but they didn’t look great, so I was pleased to find that the Eduard ones fitted almost exactly; they look far better. Steve 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill Livingston Posted June 5, 2020 Share Posted June 5, 2020 Well done, Steve... good to see you on another Spitfire... and you are getting to the fun part now, too... excellent. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve 1602 Posted June 5, 2020 Author Share Posted June 5, 2020 54 minutes ago, Bill Livingston said: Well done, Steve... good to see you on another Spitfire... and you are getting to the fun part now, too... excellent. Thanks Bill, nice to see you back 👍🏻 Should be ready to prime this one tomorrow and then start thinking about camouflage. The fun part indeed! Steve Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve 1602 Posted June 6, 2020 Author Share Posted June 6, 2020 A small bit of progress today. I held off priming as it was a very damp and cold day (It’s June in UK after all....🤔) and I wasn’t sure if that might affect How the paint went on. I drilled out the cannons, which improved the look of them enormously (even if my blurry photo doesn’t really capture them!) I also filled the sink mark on the nose, filled any remaining gaps and masked the canopy with Tamiya tape. I’ve finished off for the night and fitted the cannons (which I’m certain to knock off at some stage) and painted the canopy framing interior green. All set now for priming tomorrow to see how everything looks under a coat of paint. Steve 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve 1602 Posted June 7, 2020 Author Share Posted June 7, 2020 I got a first coat of primer on this morning which highlighted a couple of seams to tidy up. There followed a quick session with different grades of sanding pads and a fresh coat of primer. All that I think I still need to do is go over a couple of panel lines around the wing roots which have lost a bit of definition. I’ve polished the surface with an old t-shirt and it’s now ready to move onto painting. I may pause this one now and bring the Beurling Vb up to the same stage (or I might just press on and finish this first!). Something to be pondered over a cup of tea! Steve 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve 1602 Posted June 7, 2020 Author Share Posted June 7, 2020 Decision made.... I thought about bringing the Beurling Vb to the same stage, but then decided it would be more enjoyable to concentrate on the Lock Spitfire and get this completed first. As the two have very different camouflage schemes, there’s no economy of effort to be gained in painting them alongside one another. This evening I rescribed a few panel lines, completed some pre-shading and laid down an initial coat of sky. I’m enjoying this kit, it’s not as refined as the Eduard kits and it needs some additional work to make it look better, but it is still a nice kit and like the Eduard models, captures the lines of the Spitfire really well I think. Steve *edit - replaced image with one taken in daylight! 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill Livingston Posted June 7, 2020 Share Posted June 7, 2020 (edited) I agree, I thought I would do two in parallel, but like you, once you get to the primer stage they start to diverge... and its probably better to be totally focussed on one at a time. The primer looks great, so the build was very clean and sharp... congratulations Steve... I'm following these two closely as well... Edited June 8, 2020 by Bill Livingston 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve 1602 Posted June 8, 2020 Author Share Posted June 8, 2020 7 hours ago, Bill Livingston said: its probably better to be totally focussed on one at a time. It’s just a tacit acknowledgement of something my wife has claimed for years Bill.... I can’t multi-task! 😆 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill Livingston Posted June 8, 2020 Share Posted June 8, 2020 3 hours ago, Steve 1602 said: It’s just a tacit acknowledgement of something my wife has claimed for years Bill.... I can’t multi-task! 😆 My (almost) ex-wife used to say the same. I always countered with 'I would would rather do one thing properly than two things badly'. You can see why we didnt get on... 😉 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve 1602 Posted June 8, 2020 Author Share Posted June 8, 2020 Another small update. Tonight I started work on the quick boost resin prop and spinner. I’ve not used resin before so this was something of a first! All parts were separated from their casting blocks and primed and the spinner was painted in sky whilst the prop blades got some yellow tips. The resin looks very nice and I think is a worthwhile addition to the kit. I also added the radiator and oil cooler and finished the underside painting. Hopefully this will be ready to mask so that I can start the topside camouflage tomorrow. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill Livingston Posted June 8, 2020 Share Posted June 8, 2020 Damn... this is going fast Steve...! I like resin parts, they always looks sharper once painted. Very nice finish... that will be down to the work you put in earlier when you were putting the airframe together... 👍 Looking fabulous. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve 1602 Posted June 9, 2020 Author Share Posted June 9, 2020 Thanks Bill - I agree with you about the crispness of the resin, it does look very good, especially compared with the Kit option. One of the fringe benefits of current working from home restrictions is the opportunity for a quick spell of painting over a lunch break! Sky masked up and a couple of light coats of dark earth laid down. I should be able to mask off the camo pattern tonight and potentially get some dark green laid down. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve 1602 Posted June 9, 2020 Author Share Posted June 9, 2020 Masking complete, but I’ve lost the will to live...! I’ve used the Tamiya 1/48 camouflage pattern again to cut out templates. I like the method and the results, but I find the process a bit tortuous! Tempting though it is to lay down some dark green, I’ll hold off until tomorrow rather than rushing things this evening. Steve 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Johnson Posted June 9, 2020 Share Posted June 9, 2020 9 minutes ago, Steve 1602 said: I’ll hold off until tomorrow rather than rushing things this evening. Wise move! Much better light in the morning. Looks really good, don't want to spoil things by rushing a critical stage. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill Livingston Posted June 9, 2020 Share Posted June 9, 2020 23 minutes ago, Steve 1602 said: Masking complete, but I’ve lost the will to live...! I am so pleased I'm not the only one who gets like this... I agree with Charlie, a wise move. Its looking really good... the morning is a much better idea 🙂 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve 1602 Posted June 9, 2020 Author Share Posted June 9, 2020 Thanks both! I’m happy with how it’s starting to look and the green/brown/sky Scheme will contrast nicely with the two grey/green ones I’ve built. You are quite right about waiting for daylight, painting in the evening is never great - I must invest in a decent desk lamp! Steve 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill Livingston Posted June 9, 2020 Share Posted June 9, 2020 (edited) 13 hours ago, Steve 1602 said: I must invest in a decent desk lamp! The best thing I ever bought. (Well, along with an Optivisor, which I think is essential) I have one similar to this. Quite a lot less expensive than when I first bought one... so I think money very well spent. I have put in a 22w 6500K light craft bulb in it and its fine. I am sure you can do better nowadays, but this is OK and it does the job (at least for the moment). One thing I would absolutely not economise on though is an Optivisor. The optics on the genuine Optivisors are excellent, really good and you can buy spares and so on to keep them in perfect condition if you buy the genuine thing in the first place. Be warned, there are numerous Chinese copies of these and they look almost exactly the same... but cost about half as much. It is NOT worth the saving. A genuine Optivisor will set you back about £60. I have two, not because I'm particularly flash, but because after using it for a while and finding it absolutely indispensable, I lost it during a move. I couldn't do any modelling without it (that happens once you get used to using it all the time), you wonder how anyone can build anything without some sort of high quality magnification and decent light.. so I forked out for another one to replace it... and yes, you guessed it, I found the original one in a packing box months later! I now have a 5x lens set in one and a 3x lens set in the other. I think you need both. The 5x is great for really close work, but the depth of field is so narrow its not much good for anything else. The 3x is perfect for general assembly as you can get pretty close, a bit like being 18 again! But please, don't waste money on a cheap copy... a complete waste of money, even if they look exactly the same. Hope this helps... and its not cheating! 😄 Steve: I will delete this post once you have seen it... I should have sent it s a PM, but I didnt think until Charlie sent ME a PM asking about it. Apologies, I shouldn't post such huge pictures in your build thread... as I said, I will delete this to tidy your thread up again... just let me know (by PM, the way I should have in the first place!) Edited June 10, 2020 by Bill Livingston Add a note on the end... 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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