USAAF 4th Fighter Group Spitfire (Tamiya 1/48 Mk Vb) * FINISHED 30 NOV (+ few extra photo’s)*

[perdu]

Mmm nice.

[Brandy]

Beer, gin, whisky, and modelling all in one post.

What more could a man ask for!

 

Ian

[perdu]

2 hours ago, Brandy said:

Beer, gin, whisky, and modelling all in one post.

What more could a man ask for!

 

Ian

I could tell you

 

 

 

But

 

 

[Terry1954]

4 hours ago, Brandy said:

Beer, gin, whisky, and modelling all in one post.

What more could a man ask for!

 

 

1 hour ago, perdu said:

I could tell you

 

 

 

But

 

We are all thinking it but won't say of course ......................

 

What wonderful progress on this magnificent Spitfire Steve. Every update is a veritable feast of some of the finest modelling around. 🙂

 

Terry

[Fritag]

20 minutes ago, Terry1954 said:

Every update is a veritable feast

 

Ta muchly Terry.…but still time for that feast to become a Dog’s Breakfast….

 

 

 

On reflection I thought the Flory wash on spittie’s entry door was too dark and stark; looked more like black outlining of the structure rather than dirt/shadows.

 

I couldn’t remove anymore of the residual Flory - cos I’d left just about the minimum anyway.  It is what it is.  Anyway I’d already matt-coated it.

 

I like the ease of use of the Flory wash - but it ain’t always subtle…

 

 

So I toned it down by doing what was in effect a pin wash of very (very) thinned interior green over the Flory.

 

Before:

 

 

After:

 

 

Well it looks different to me!

 

Happier.  Much happier (little things please little minds n’all that ) 

 

 

Edited November 16, 2021 by Fritag

[hendie]

It's pure pleasure to watch this all coming together Steve. 

Attention to detail is breathtaking

 

[perdu]

The new version looks far 'real-er' than the older one too.

[giemme]

Excellent job on those tiny bits - they will make a difference on the final, overall look    

 

3 hours ago, perdu said:

I could tell you

What is it? (asks innocent me.... )

 

 

No, don't answer, I'm not that innocent.

 

In fact, I'm not innocent at all....   

 

Ciao

[Terry1954]

56 minutes ago, Fritag said:

but still time for that feast to become a Dog’s Breakfast…

but of course it is more likely to turn out to be the Dog's b******s!

 

43 minutes ago, perdu said:

The new version looks far 'real-er' than the older one too.

 

Totally agree

 

That's the thing with flory washes, once varnished they stick!

Still they are a safe way to do trial and error. before that at least. They are growing on me.

 

Terry

 

 

 

 

[Ex-FAAWAFU]

That wee adjustment (quiet in the cheap seats; he’s just back from Scottishland so will doubtless understand the McLingo) to Spittie’s entry door is excellent; all the little details add up to a fabulous overall impression.

[Fritag]

Ok so.

 

Finished step whatever-it-was of my oil-weathering plan (step 2 I think) by oil-filtering selected upper surface panels - basically the obviously removable ones - thus:

 

 

And sealed tops and bottoms with a thin semi-gloss coat.

 

Then diverted my attention to the prop blades.

 

Crisp @Ex-FAAWAFU will like this rather (and I think quite well known) excellent colour photo of a dashing FAA pilot and his Seafire.  

 

 

(Could be IWM but I found it on Etienne Du Plessis flickr)

 

Interesting that the gun camera port has a patch over it. Don’t know why - it’s not like a camera is going to blast through it in use.  P’raps they didn’t use the camera?  

 

For me the significance of it was that it was one of several (B&W and colour) that suggested that in service the black prop blades looked quite mottled black/less black finish.

 

My efforts at recreating the look involved mottling the painted blades with black/dark grey (actually Mig ‘Starship Filth’ oil brusher)/medium grey oils and then when dryish stippling back the contrast them with a brush moistened with sansadoor - thus:

 

 

 

Actually moderately pleased with that.

 

The result is quite subtle and I fear it might be lost a bit under a protective clear coat - but we’ll see.

 

I should say that the photo also shows how at 1:1 the surface sheen varies from matt to glossy - something IIRC Tony @TheBaron discussed on his Sea Vixen thread and which I might look to copy using both matt and semi-gloss clear coats.

 

Next I wanted to have a play with recreating that stained/mottled look you see in a lot of ww2 Spitfire photos on prominent areas such as the cowlings and wing upper surfaces.  This is what I mean:

 

Well known IWM photo:

 

 

IWM photo of quite a tired a 4th FG Spitfire (btw - look, no crow bar in the door and the tail wheel is offset slightly )

 

 

I think this is step 4 of my oil weathering plan.  Not sure what happened to step 3…..

 

Thought I’d better do a test section first;  so I applied small dabs of well thinned oil brusher ‘starship filth’ (which is a useful dirty medium-dark grey) to the port wing root area/leading edge just outboard of the cannon (so that both dark green and ocean grey areas were tested) let them dry somewhat and then - as with the prop blades - went over them with a soft brush moistened in sansadoor to soften the contrast.

 

Result of test:

 

 

Quite like that too.

 

Then I ran out of modelling time for the day - and that’s where Spittie is at the mo’.

 

 

 

Edited November 17, 2021 by Fritag
typo.

[perdu]

Love it, that 4th Fighter Group picture shows a clear case of nature following art.

 

You weren't even born then but they copied your prop scheme to a tee.

 

Lovely working this model, I am learning mucho hints and tips, which I might never have the cojones to try but are secure in what is left of my memory.

 

That wing root treatment is sublime,

[perdu]

Camera port patch?

 

Has to be minimise form drag if not required, kinda like my mate taping his door gaps on track days.

[Paramedic]

Looking really good, great weathering as well!

[hendie]

I don't think I've ever seen so much filth in a single post.  Where's Ced when you need him?

Prop blades are perfectamundo indeed

[giemme]

Proper weathering going on - excellent job, Steve     

 

Ciao

[81-er]

That's a real masterclass in weathering. I really like the way the prop has turned out

 

James

[TheBaron]

You've definitely found your colour and tone groove of late Steve.

Truly (madly, deeply) excellent observational work. 👏

[Ex-FAAWAFU]

7 hours ago, Fritag said:

 

 Is it just me, or does the wing root of this machine show possible signs of there sometimes having been a patch over the wing root camera?  I can’t think of a reason why you’d do that any more than Steve can - and how would you remove it when you wanted your steely kill photos? - but there’s a square-ish patch of ?bare metal? around the camera port for some reason, and I can’t see why.

 

I am extremely glad that by the time I got to commit aviation for Her Majesty, we no longer did it in our No.5 uniform , whether with natty brown gloves or not.  Bonkers!

 

Your Spit is superb, obvs, Steve.

[Terry1954]

Excellent weathering Steve, but surely that's what we have come to expect from our resident Mud Mover.............

 

Re the gun camera opening I found this. As per Bill's @perdu suggestion above, the tenth response down suggests as the gun camera may not always have been fitted it was likely taped over when not? Sounds plausible.

 

 

Terry

[Cookenbacher]

On 11/17/2021 at 12:33 AM, Fritag said:

no crow bar in the door and the tail wheel is offset slightly

 

On 11/17/2021 at 12:56 AM, perdu said:

a clear case of nature following art

The IWM photo is not quite as realistic as Steve's work, but there was a war on.

[Fritag]

6 hours ago, Cookenbacher said:

The IWM photo is not quite as realistic as Steve's work, but there was a war on.

 

Awesome wit Cookie  (ignoring the kindly hyperbolic compliment).

 

As Oscar Wilde is reputed to have said:  "I wish I had said that.."

 

And to paraphrase Whistler's reputed riposte.....I (probably) will.... (note to self - before recycling it on one of my fav. modellers threads, allow just a bit of time to pass for memories of attributably to fade.....) 

[Fritag]

 

On 11/17/2021 at 4:19 PM, Ex-FAAWAFU said:

Is it just me, or does the wing root of this machine show possible signs of there sometimes having been a patch over the wing root camera?

 

I think you’re right.

 

On 11/17/2021 at 8:59 AM, perdu said:

Has to be minimise form drag if not required

 

On 11/17/2021 at 5:29 PM, Terry1954 said:

Re the gun camera opening I found this. As per Bill's @perdu suggestion above, the tenth response down suggests as the gun camera may not always have been fitted it was likely taped over when not? Sounds plausible.

 

Perfectly plausible.  Perfectly credible to think that for various supply etc. issues the camera may not always have been fitted.  As Cookie might say there was a war on…

 

Anyroadup.

 

Crawling towards the finish line.

 

Biggest concern right now is how long the windscreen and rear canopy section have been masked.  Will be unmasking with quite some trepidation ‘tis fair to say.

 

Since last I troubled the hive - with the probable exception of a few bits of oil spill and some slip stream staining on the moveable flying surfaces - I’m pretty well done with weathering.

 

I finished off with some dirty staining around the undersides of the engine compartment.

 

Oil on…

 

 

Oil off…

 

 

And some dark grey and light grey mottling on the nose to attempt to recreate the slightly speckled look from rain/sun exposure you see.

 

Dark grey.

 

 

Light grey

 

 

I took most of it off again.  I’m not looking to explore or exploit the outer margins of these oil techniques on this build.

 

Slightly unforgiving close(ish) to show the hopefully subtle result.

 

 

And a couple of more forgiving overview shots to basically show the position at the point I’ve more or less called a halt to the weathering.

 

 

 

 

It’s all a matter of taste so some of the hive will like..some of the hive will dislike…and the majority will be supremely indifferent 

 

[perdu]

Colour me sold on it.

 

I wish I was even remotely brave enough to give it a try.

 

Respect sir.

[Terry1954]

1 hour ago, Fritag said:

so some of the hive will like

 

I'm with that lot!

 

My personal view is that weathering (properly) is a very delicate but expert art, with subtlety being the key. Many strive to achieve it, few do actually achieve it.

 

I think you've nailed it on "Spittie" Steve!. 

 

BTW, if you are thinking of doing another (let's face it, we'd all love that, just saying) I hear very good things about Eduard's new 1/48 V series. Who knows, they might even release an early Seafire based on that. I would like that very much, and so I think would our resident naval aviator @Ex-FAAWAFU. Pure speculation on my part of course!

 

Terry