Spitfire Race 80 - DUN!

[Thom216]

So, this is my planned project for this GB. Airfix's Civilian Schemes Spitfire, this one being done as Race 80, as I much prefer the silver look of that racer.

Obligatory...

 

This will be a pretty straight forward build. The only PE will be the belts, otherwise the 'pit will be OOB and the canopy will be closed over.

 

Some additions...

 

 

New exhausts, wheels and the aforementioned PE belts. Those wheels are the second set, as the first pair I bought had no tread patter and I have a good pic of the real plane with the diamond tread.

Probably wouldn't make too much of a difference seeing as the plane could have worn them at some point, but the Ultracast ones were only $10 more!

 

And the scheme!

 

Model on!

Edited July 8, 2021 by Thom216

[Brad]

Great choice, will be watching as I have one in the stash too! Welcome.

[Thom216]

9 hours ago, Brad said:

Great choice, will be watching as I have one in the stash too! Welcome.

 

Thanks! Got inspired by watching Ariscale put together his 1/18 Race 80. Won't be anywhere as awesome as that, but I'll try for damn good!😉

[Thom216]

I'm at work, so no work on the model until later. But I did clean off the modelling table, putting the model front and center!

First step though, will be sanding down the gun bulges on the wings and closing up the ejector ports on the bottom side. It would have been nice of Airfix to supply the correct wing, but we shouldn't feel too coddled , I guess.😉 

[Thom216]

Okay, got started on the wings. Two ways to go about getting rid of the bulges, sand them down or cut the panels out. The bulges have cavities on the inside of the wing, so they would need to be filled before sanding. I chose to cut out the panels, using a sharp, new exacto blade.

 

The edges were neated and then scotch tape was placed over the opening and the opening traced onto it from the inside.

 

This was then placed into a piece of scrap styrene and cut out.

 

The new panels were then lightly sanded with a metal file, test-fitting as I went until they settled into the opening. Once they did, CA was used to anchor them from the bottom-side and Tamiya Extra thin cement was run along the edges on the top.

 

I think they'll need to be lightly sanded a 'little' bit, but until I get primer on them and see how bad they are, I'm happy with it.

 

For the bottoms, I chose to use Dissolved Putty, using tape to outline the area that will then be sanded flush.

 

More to come!

 

Thom

 

[Colin W]

Good technique with the tape. 

Colin 

[Thom216]

Next time, just sand...😉

 

Got the new panels in, then I went down the rabbit hole of sand, scribe, more CA, sand, scribe, slip, CA, sand, gouge, curse, more CA, sand... Ugh. I would have been better self-served to just sand the dang bulges down to start with, and I would for a next time! That being said, I hit them with some primer and they don't look that bad, Maybe a little more work with the rivets and neatening some panel lines. I'll see what they look like in the morning.

 

And if I ultimately decide to redo those, fortuitously, I had bought another Spit XIV just a few days ago on eBay, and it should be here middle of the week. Donor wings on the way!😃

 

I'll post pics in the morning.

 

Thom

[Thom216]

And it arrived early!

 

I tell you, if it had not, I would still be futzing with the original wings! I thought I might persevere with the first set, but this changed my mind!

 

So, onto what I should have done from the start! Or, 'How I Stopped Being a Ditz, and Loved the Grinder!'

 

First thing, fill in those bulge cavities. In this instance, CA was run into them and hit with accelerator to harden.

 

After I had framed the upper surface to keep any damage from happening with over-sanding.

 

Then, after lightly grinding with a dremel, and then some sanding sticks to clean up. Smooth as glass! (Almost...)

 

So, back to square one! I can look forward to tomorrow without digging a deep hole rather than building a good model!

 

The first set of wings are now in the new kit box. I'm thinking of doing '01' from that boxing which still has its guns, so I'll have to reinstate the bulges on those wings, which I can get from after-market. But that's a later build, somewhere further down the road.😅

 

Model on!

 

Thom

Edited April 20, 2021 by Thom216

[PattheCat]

Is it a bird, is it a plane ..... no, it's a SPITFIRE.

Thus I'll watch, even if there is no more free seat.

[TonyOD]

Nice work on those bulges. I'm no rivet-counter but it is a bit pants that a glaring inaccuracy like this is allowed to run by Airfix.

Edited April 20, 2021 by TonyOD

[Thom216]

11 hours ago, PattheCat said:

Is it a bird, is it a plane ..... no, it's a SPITFIRE.

Thus I'll watch, even if there is no more free seat.

The beauty of the internets is that everyone has a front row seat!😁 Hope you enjoy what you see. I'll try and keep futzes to a minimum!

 

8 hours ago, TonyOD said:

Nice work on those bulges. I'm no rivet-counter but it is a bit pants that a glaring inaccuracy like this is allowed to run by Airfix.

Run by or 'winked' at as it passed the committee..? I'm using an Academy kit for some other details, but they at least have separate gun covers. None without bulges, but it could have been something Airfix did to appease the masses.

 

And onto other things, with the help of Tamiya razor saws, I clipped the wings!

 

 

The black marks on the wings are just smears of black paint to look for any roughness in the sanding.

 

And I pulled out the Academy wings to check the positioning of the under wing marker lights. And I don't know if it is me or not, but those Academy wings look so much better detailed than the Airfix version. I was half tempted to switch kits!

 

After that I drilled some pilot holes, then got a larger bit and enlarged the hole. Only then realizing that the wider hole would (and did) hit the panel line to the right...🙄

 

So yeah, I had to repair that... I stuck some sprue into the hole, CA'd and sanded it and then moved slightly inward.

 

After that, I scrounged around to find my acrylic rod stock, all of which, thankfully, happen to be just.. the... right... diameter!

 

With its end sanded and polished, it slipped right in for a test fit.

 

A good thing about acrylic is that I can CA it in without fear of fogging. That will wait until just before the wings go together though.

 

I just really need to keep my fat fingers from those wee-little tabs! The one on the left is just hanging on!😬

 

More to come. Model on!

 

Thom

 

 

Edited April 20, 2021 by Thom216

[Thom216]

A little late night modelling,

 

I put some dissolved putty into the camera ports. They'll be sanded smooth and then glued into the fuselage sides.

 

And since I've decided to go with a closed canopy, there was very little reason to pay for a PE IP, but I still wanted to do something a little more detailed. So I spent a bit sanding down the back of the plastic IP and then drilled out the corresponding holes for the decal dials.

 

As you can see, it got a little too thin in spots... But that'll be fine. I'll put the decal on some white plastic and glue it to the back after the front has been painted up. Should look good under the canopy.

And if not, I'll just buy a PE one...

 

More to do, modelling on!

 

Thom

[Thom216]

Anyone have any idea where the color chart is on this kit? The ins are clearly pointing out colors to add, but there's no chart to look at. I have plenty of pics to help with that, but that would be helpful regardless.

[PattheCat]

What there is at Airfix: https://uk.airfix.com/products/supermarine-spitfire-mkxiv-civilian-schemes-a05139

[Thom216]

14 minutes ago, PattheCat said:

What there is at Airfix: https://uk.airfix.com/products/supermarine-spitfire-mkxiv-civilian-schemes-a05139

Thanks, that does help. Just odd how they don't have that in the ins.

[PattheCat]

You're welcome. Rather weird, indeed.

I was just busy searching for the Gunze or Tamiya paints equivalent to Revell ones for the Connie, .

[Thom216]

Some more work done on the 'pit. I built the sections up into some sub-assemblies. The detail there are pretty good straight out of the box, though if I was opening up the canopy, I'd probably see about adding a little more. Don't know if it'll be real noticeable, but I opened up the lightening holes on the framing.

 

Then today after work, I hit the parts with some nato black for a preshade and some deep green. I don't have any interior green, so I used as close as II have.

 

The IP painted with nato black.

 

And the seat. I can no longer remember the provenance of the red. 😁

 

I'll start doing some detail painting tomorrow, seal it and start doing some weathering.

 

Model on!

 

Thom

 

 

Edited April 23, 2021 by Thom216

[Thom216]

Hah, I do have cockpit green! Just found the bottle. So that first green with be a darker preshade and I'll hit the parts again. Which is good, as I need another paint session to hit the control column and seat lever that I missed last time...🙄

[Thom216]

And the cockpit has reached completion! I hit it with the Tamiya cockpit green, did a little detail painting and some scratching with some pencils. Then I hit it with clear gloss. before a dirty wash and then a flat coat.

 

The IP is also done. I put the dial decal onto some blank, thin stryene and then glued that to the back, making sure the dials and holes lined up, of course.

 

A little on the rough side, but not bad for something seen through a closed canopy. That was then added to the front cockpit framing. (Yes, it is a little off, but no one is going to see that outside of this pic!

 

And all going together.

 

PE belts added to the seat. Those with an Eagle's Eye may notice one strap is on backwards...

 

With that done, the covers for the camera ports were filled and sanded, and then added.

 

And then I finished the lights for the under side of the wings. The acrylic rod was super glued in, then (gently!) trimmed with a cutting wheel on the inside before sanding them to a shine.

 

Those will be painted silver on the inside before the wings are closed up. But before that, the fuselage is close to going together! Stay tuned!

 

Model on!

 

Thom

 

 

Edited April 28, 2021 by Thom216

[PattheCat]

Nice pit. I particularly like the IP.

Pat

[Thom216]

@PattheCat Thanks. I almost bought a PE replacement, but decided this way was perfectly fine for my needs here.

 

Finished the insides of the fuselage last night.

 

 

And went ahead and closed it up.

 

 

Once that's dry, I'll hit the seams and then fix the detail on the fuel panel. I'll have to complete that circle.

 

Model on!

 

Thom

Edited April 29, 2021 by Thom216

[Thom216]

I filled the incomplete circle with superglue and hit it with accelerator to dry it quick. Then I sanded the area smooth, before using a circle template and a scriber to make a new one.

 

Thom

[Adam Poultney]

Looking good so far, I built one of these as an RAF aircraft about this time last year. Looks like you're putting a lot more effort into this one than I did mine

[Thom216]

@Adam Poultney And that could be double-edged, as I usually end up making more trouble for myself.😅

 

So, fitting the tank cover, and I really wish this part had been integral to the fuselage halves. Putting it in place showed a gap on the right side and a slight step on both sides.

 

Between the two, I'm less concerned about the slight step, so I concentrated on the gap. I traced the shape onto some thin styrene and glued it in place as a filler.

 

And it was hit with some dark paint to check how it looks.

 

And according to the ins, the next step was the gear wells. They come in four parts, the two for the tire wells and the front and back walls.

 

I also took some wire and stretched sprue and made some hoses.

 

Then I got out the Tamiya flat aluminum to paint them up, and I was not happy. It came out looking like silver with metal flake, which is not the look I was going for! I switched to Model Master acrylic for some aluminum, but it didn't seem to cover the flake. Weird. When sprayed on the upper wings however, it came out looking great and certainly is a good contender for the main airframe color.

So, out came a rattle can of Tamiya Silver Leaf.

 

I'll let that dry and then paint the hoses and put a little spot of wash into there before the wings go on to the main body.

 

And now I have a fever...

I just got my second Moderna shot yesterday. The first one I only got a sore shoulder. Now there is a sore shoulder, fever and chills... Maybe I can take tommorow off...🤔

 

Stay healthy. Socially distance - still, and model on!

 

Thom

[Thom216]

No pics at the moment. But as I was test-fitting the lower wings to the fuselage, I found the need to redirect the piping in the gear wells. Always got to be careful when you add things to areas that will have things going through them...😅