Supermarine Spitfire Mk I SH@S (serial unknown), No. 64 Sqn, Kenley, August 1940

[lasermonkey]

In for a penny......

 

Several years ago, whilst searching for photos of No 64 Squadron's Spitfires during my infamous one man BoB Spitfire Group Build, I stumbled across a Pathe newsreel which caused a lot of excitement chez Lasermonkey. There was some great footage of No. 64's Spitfires, which were otherwise notoriously camera-shy. Studying the footage, a few notable things stood out. Firstly, at least two of the Spitfires had roughly painted fuselage roundels and fin flashes with a considerably paler blue than the other aircraft in the squadron. Secondly, one of the aircraft had great, big fuselage roundels, obviously modified from the original 35" type A to 49" type A1 by adding the yellow ring. As far as I can tell, this is unique amongst No. 64's Spits.

 

I made some screen grabs and posted them on Britmodeller, as I thought they'd be useful. Certainly, there was some discussion about it at the time. Later, Fündekals released a sheet of 1/48 decals which included a couple of the 64 Sqn aircraft and while I don't claim that my screen grabs were the inspiration behind these choices, I was the one that pointed out the strange roundel colouring. By the way, it's still a source of irritation that they never released this sheet in The Gentleman's Scale. Jolly bad show!

 

Anyway, on to the aircraft in question. The size of the roundel is blindingly obvious here. Also of note is the smaller individual a/c letter, something common with No. 64 Sqn.

 

Another smaller photo:

 

Not from the newsreel, but of far better quality. Note the positioning of the squadron codes aft of the roundels, something often seen amongst ex-Blenheim squadrons. It also looks as if part of the serial number is still intact. I think I can see a P or an R just before the H. The red centre of the roundel looks a little smaller than it should be, so I'll have to deal with that.

 

I don't know the serial number, which was (mostly) overpainted. So apart from the aforementioned, it's in the B scheme and I can't see anything else out of the ordinary. I think that Sky undersides are most likely. I'd really like to do one of those weirdly marked aircraft mentioned earlier, but the roundels  and the unique style of the codes on  SH@Q aren't something I have in my stash or are available in 1/72. I'm not bitter. (I lied.)

 

 

On to the model. I'm using the later Airfix 1/72 Mk I. I bought a couple last year for about £3.50 each, just because they were cheap. I've already built some sixteen of this kit, so I think I'm aware of all the pitfalls. I got stuck in before I remembered to take any photos of the box or contents, but I'd be surprised if any of you don't know what's in there by now. When it first came out, I was overjoyed. I thought it looked so much better than the Tamiya kit and while some prefer the old Airfix Mk I, I think the newer kit looks much better around the nose. The panel lines are overdone and need attention. I was surprised on this particular kit that the moulds look like they've seen better days.

 

Anyway, I cut some parts off the sprues, cleaned them up and got glueing.

 

I also started flowing some diluted Mr Surfacer into the panel lines to hopefully take the edge off them.

 

I slapped some paint on the insides. Not much can be seen through the canopy, so I didn't waste a huge amount of effort.

I did add the seat armour though.

 

 

Wings were glued. This is the first time I used Tamiya Extra Thin on this kit and I got a much better finish as a result.

 

More progress with the seat.

 

The instrument panel has been glossed, ready for the decal which I hope to fit tonight. I'm off for a nap now, as I only managed ninety minutes of sleep last night and I'm feeling decidedly light-headed.

 

Cheers,

Mark.

Edited September 24, 2020 by lasermonkey
refreshed links

[Max Headroom]

Looking good. 16 of them?! You could repel the Luftwaffe all by yourself 😁

 

It’ll be interesting to see how filling in the panel lines works out. Personally I don’t think they are that bad but that’s just me.

 

Trevor

[lasermonkey]

Somehow, this happened.

 

I guess, what with this being my seventeenth new tool Airfix Spitfire Mk I, I knew where the pitfalls were. The locating holes were all drilled out (the holes are tapered and the pins don't fit properly as is) and, most importantly, the sides of the instrument panel/bulkhead and rear bulkhead were sanded back by a fair amount. This prevents the fuselage halves from being spread out. This is vital for a good wing-fuselage join and preservation of the dihedral. I still had to take around 0.25mm off the wing fillets, but once done, the wings fitted perfectly, with almost no filler required. This is actually the first time I've been happy with the wing-fuselage joint on this kit, so I hope I remember what I did for next time!

 

I applied some Mr Dissolved Putty to a few areas where the fit wasn't so great.

 

Once that's dried, I'll sand it down and get some primer on. So far, so good, and I'm happy with how quickly this one is coming together.

 

Cheers,

Mark.

[lasermonkey]

On 8/24/2020 at 1:09 PM, Max Headroom said:

Looking good. 16 of them?! You could repel the Luftwaffe all by yourself 😁

 

It’ll be interesting to see how filling in the panel lines works out. Personally I don’t think they are that bad but that’s just me.

 

Trevor

 

Er, about that....

 

The pic shows most of the Spitfires from my BoB build, plus a few earlier and later ones. It kinda got a bit out of hand!

 

Cheers,

Mark.

 

[Cookenbacher]

Now that's a Spitfire collection.

[Max Headroom]

5 hours ago, lasermonkey said:

The pic shows most of the Spitfires from my BoB build, plus a few earlier and later ones. It kinda got a bit out of hand!

Erm....hate to tell you this but the props have all fallen off! 😉

 

Trevor

[Newbie(kinda)]

And most of them have landed gear up. Just saying!🤣 😂

[lasermonkey]

It's been a while since the last update. Unfortunately, work had to take priority over the past week or so and now that I'm more or less caught up, I can spend a bit more time modelling.

 

The Spitfire has come along a bit further. It's been filled, sanded, and primed and ready to spray some paint onto. Speaking of paint, the obligatory shot of the main colours:

 

 

Colourcoats, natch. Although, saying that, I used a newer tin of Humbrol No. 90 to lay down a base coat. It's much closer to Sky than it used to be, and I think I'll use that for the fabric covered control surfaces, as it's a but less saturated than the Colourcoats paint.

 

I'll probably add some pastel shading and stains before applying the Sky. My attempts to lessen the impact of those panel lines with several applications of thinned Mr Surfacer probably weren't worth the effort, as I don't think it did anything but take up valuable time! Not sure I'll bother next time. Although they're not terrible, you only have to compare with those on the Arma Hurricane to see how well it could have been done.

 

I should get around to ordering the paint masks for the canopy, as it won't be long before I'm ready to spray the uppers!

 

Cheers,

Mark.

 

 

p.s. I have recently been made aware that some of the earlier pics aren't showing any more. It seems that Facebook puts a time limit on the links. If there's anything you'd like me to re-up, let me know and I'll refresh the links.

 

I'll obviously have to find an alternative for the gallery pics, but am struggling to know what to do. I am running an eleven-year old iMac with Snow Leopard 10.6.8 (and I'm stuck with that, as it's the most stable OS for my DAW software) and that isn't compatible with any of the hosting sites I have tried. I can't even log into my Flickr account now! Any advice gratefully received.

 

[lasermonkey]

I tried masking off the fabric covered control surfaces, spraying the remainder Colourcoats Sky.

 

I thought the difference was too stark, the Humbrol No. 90 being paler and bluer. Not quite what I'd hoped, so I have the whole underside a further squirt of Colourcoats.

 

That'll do, I think. Now  need to attach the canopy and add some masking.

 

Cheers,

Mark.

[lasermonkey]

I got somewhat carried away, neglecting to take any photos.

 

The undersurfaces were masked with Tamiya tape, whilst the squiggly bits were done with Blu Tac sausages (speaking of which, I've left the grill on!) with tape infill. I have got reasonably quick at Blu Tac masking now.

 

As per usual, I managed to get some bleed through. I hate it when that happens!

 

Most of my Colourcoats stash is from the White Ensign days, but the Dark Green is Sovereign and I think it's better in terms of colour and coverage. Anyway, once I have tidied the paintwork, I'll squirt some gloss over the whole thing. Although I started this one last, I have a feeling it'll be the first one finished.

 

Cheers,

Mark.

[Stew Dapple]

That's an excellent representation of the camo pattern; what puts me off using Blu-tack sausages (apart from the taste ) is that I find it too hard to follow the pattern properly - yours looks really good  

 

Cheers,

 

Stew

[lasermonkey]

5 hours ago, Stew Dapple said:

That's an excellent representation of the camo pattern; what puts me off using Blu-tack sausages (apart from the taste ) is that I find it too hard to follow the pattern properly - yours looks really good  

 

Cheers,

 

Stew

I have to admit, having seen your Hurricanes, I've been tempted to get hold of some of those camouflage masking patterns! May I ask how you found them to use? I've been putting it off as I'm a little concerned about the adhesive properties- whether any residue is left behind or whether it lifts off any paint.

 

Regarding the pattern, I used the thinnest "sausages" I could get away with and compared frequently to a 1/72 drawing. The trick is to get the basic pattern down and then  coax that into shape using a cocktail stick or similar. It's not always easy, as I find the Blu Tac wants to stick to whatever I'm using to hold or guide it, rather than the model itself. How does it know?

[Stew Dapple]

9 minutes ago, lasermonkey said:

May I ask how you found them to use? I've been putting it off as I'm a little concerned about the adhesive properties- whether any residue is left behind or whether it lifts off any paint.

 

They were good; quite sticky but I gave them a bit of reinforcement with tape here and there where I felt they might lift, didn't leave any residue or lift any paint (I can't guarantee that wouldn't happen with acrylics but that's not our problem ) The fact that they seem to be re-usable was a bonus, not sure of the value so much if you were going for single-use.

 

Cheers,

 

Stew

[lasermonkey]

Sorry again about the lack of updates. I have to confess that I'm really struggling to find any kind of enthusiasm for, well, anything right now. Although I have made a start with the decals, they're not going particularly well, my usually successful methods not coming through for me this time. I'm really not happy with the small S decal, which I had to make out of two Ss (cut into three parts) from a Modeldecal sheet. Nothing else I had (and I have pretty much every Medium Sea Grey code decal sheet made) was close. I just keep looking at the model, sighing and then walk away. I haven't touched the other models for almost two weeks.

 

I just don't think my heart is in this, or anything else for that matter, any more.

 

 

[Corsairfoxfouruncle]

Hang in there we all have troubles. If you need to shelve the build then do it. The plastic wont expire, please if you need talk to we’re all good listeners.   

Edited October 13, 2020 by Corsairfoxfouruncle

[Stew Dapple]

Take a breather mate, there's still plenty of time to go and if you can't get re-motivated... well really, it's not the end of the world.

 

Cheers,

 

Stew