1:32 Spitfire Mk.IXc - Pierre Clostermann

[bigbadbadge]

10 minutes ago, Dunny said:

Thanks mate. That Tiggie was an absolute beauty. In fact you haven't put a foot wrong since then, so maybe 1:32 gave you a superpower?

Thanks Roger, that is kind of you, I have some big scale builds to do soon(ish). Once you have done this one,  I think another 32nd scaler will see if you have the bug!!!

Chris

[spitfire]

Looking just like a Spitfire, nice work.

 

Cheers

 

Dennis

[Dunny]

29 minutes ago, spitfire said:

Looking just like a Spitfire, nice work.

 

Cheers

 

Dennis

Thanks Dennis - most kind!

 

Cheers,

 

Roger

[Dunny]

Hi All,

 

I managed to get a quick hour at the bench in after work tonight (there are some benefits to a lockdown 😉). I wanted to see the back of the gloss coat, so started off with a Flory wash:

 

 

And with the wash removed:

 

 

The surface detail is simply superb, and it's popped out nicely thanks to Mr Flory! Finally here's the state of play following a flat coat:

 

 

I'm not displeased with that - the paint variations are subtle but clear to the naked eye. That'll be it until the weekend (or will it?!!)

 

Thanks for looking,

 

Roger

[corsaircorp]

Great looking Spitfire Roger !!

I'm also addicted to Flory washes...

Thank to @The Spadgent, really great stuff !!

CC

[Dunny]

19 minutes ago, corsaircorp said:

Great looking Spitfire Roger !!

I'm also addicted to Flory washes...

Thank to @The Spadgent, really great stuff !!

CC

Thanks for the kind words CC. They are awesome, but I can't order them direct here. When I do get them it's in bulk!

 

Cheers,

 

Roger

[bigbadbadge]

Oooooo that's looking gorgeous Roger.  I have never got on with the Flory washes that well, I just seem to drag it out of the panel lines, I think it's because I brush paint and too much paint is in the panel lines perhaps ???

Great work fella.

Chris

[Dunny]

4 hours ago, bigbadbadge said:

Oooooo that's looking gorgeous Roger.  I have never got on with the Flory washes that well, I just seem to drag it out of the panel lines, I think it's because I brush paint and too much paint is in the panel lines perhaps ???

Great work fella.

Chris

Thanks for the kind words Chris. With the washes, I believe @tonyot runs a scalpel blade through the panel lines after painting just to ensure they are there...

 

Cheers,

 

Roger

[bigbadbadge]

2 minutes ago, Dunny said:

Thanks for the kind words Chris. With the washes, I believe @tonyot runs a scalpel blade through the panel lines after painting just to ensure they are there...

 

Cheers,

 

Roger

Thanks Roger, yes you are right I remember he mentioned that now, will try and remember that!!!

 

Chris 

[Dunny]

Hi All,

 

A quick update. I've been looking at the Spit all week, and there's a couple of things that are bothering me. I belatedly realised that I'd incorrectly sprayed the wing walkway markings over the roundels. There's a good thread on this subject, which was kindly pointed out to me by @spitfire (thanks Dennis!). Here's the thread:

 

And here's the current state of play:

 

 

Every time I look at it it bothers me now, so it won't be too big a job to mask locally and overspray with blue. That's the first on taken care of! 

 

The next one that needs to be addressed is the kill tally:

 

 

It just isn't good enough - I might let it go on another build, but this one is shaping up very well and I want to lift my game in terms of the final finish! But what to do about it? I ummed and ahhhed about whether I could cut masks small enough, or whether a custom decal was justified. Of course, all I needed was the interweb! A quick search on 'kill tally decal' got me this:

 

 

It has all the required full and shared kill markings, so all old sausage fingers needs to do is make sure they're appropriately aligned. I've now ordered the 1/32 version from the big H, which is now wending its way through the vagaries of the global delivery portal. Again, I'll locally mask this panel, carefully sand it back and respray, along with another flat coat for the whole airframe (it's still looking a bit shiny to my eye). Anyway, that's tomorrow's job, along with kicking off the build of the mighty Merlin, which looks to be a whole kit in itself!

 

Thanks for looking,

 

Roger

[Dunny]

Hi All,

 

I've had a productive morning, making good the repairs to the roundel and kill tally. First up I masked up the roundels:

 

 

And then sprayed them with blue:

 

 

With the tape removed, there is a slight difference in texture, but I hope that'll settle down with another flat coat 

 

Next job was the kill tally. I masked around the panel, paying particular care to the canopy. I then lightly sanded the crosses away using 1000 grit paper and oversprayed the DG:

 

 

Unmasked you'd never know it had been there 🤩

 

 

Just need to wait for the decals to turn up now *drums fingers*

 

Next I gave the back of the aerial base a semi-transparent coat of black ('smoke' anyone?), and glued it in place with Krystal Kleer. 

 

 

That'll do! Here's a final shot of the roundel following a second flat coat:

 

 

I'm calling that a save! I'm now throwing around copious amounts of NATO Black, as I've made a start on the Merlin. Maybe more to come later,

 

Thanks for looking,

 

Roger

 

 

[Dunny]

Hi All,

 

Some more progress today! I started out by constructing the engine mount, which was then given a final coat of interior grey-green:

 

 

Here's another close-up with the detail painting, along with the cooling pipework:

 

 

I couldn't resist fitting it up again 

 

 

Finally, I painted all of the steel components, including the exhausts, fuel filler cap and cannon tips. Here's the filler cap:

 

 

I'm still in awe of the surface detail on this kit - just superb! On with the engine tomorrow, but that's all for now!

 

Thanks for looking,

 

Roger

[GRK]

Just caught up with the project. It’s looking great, can’t wait to see it finished. I need to try these montex  masks on my next build- the new eduard vc is calling!

Edited July 31, 2021 by GRK

[Dunny]

7 minutes ago, GRK said:

Just caught up with the project. It’s looking great, can’t wait to see it finished. I need to try these minted masks on my next build- the new eduard vc is calling!

Thanks for the kind words GRK! The masks are great - although fiddly they do add a level of finish you just don't get with decals,

 

Cheers,

 

Roger

[bigbadbadge]

Great save Roger the Roundels have come up well with the lines sprayed over and the Kill tally decals will look great when they arrive.   

Looking forward to seeing the engine too, are you doing all the plumbing etc?

Bearers look fab fella.

Great job 

Chris

[Dunny]

2 minutes ago, bigbadbadge said:

Great save Roger the Roundels have come up well with the lines sprayed over and the Kill tally decals will look great when they arrive.   

Looking forward to seeing the engine too, are you doing all the plumbing etc?

Bearers look fab fella.

Great job 

Chris

Thanks Chris - I'm glad I made the effort. With the engine I'll certainly add the ignition harness and will see about the rest,

 

Cheers,

 

Roger

[bigbadbadge]

30 minutes ago, Dunny said:

Thanks Chris - I'm glad I made the effort. With the engine I'll certainly add the ignition harness and will see about the rest,

 

Cheers,

 

Roger

They are quite busy areas what with all the pipework, hoses and wires etc . What ever you do will look good I'm sure. The Model is progressing very well now and looks awesome. 

Chris

[Dunny]

11 minutes ago, bigbadbadge said:

They are quite busy areas what with all the pipework, hoses and wires etc . What ever you do will look good I'm sure. The Model is progressing very well now and looks awesome. 

Chris

Thanks mate! As a bonus, I just realised I can repurpose the oxygen hose provided for the pilot by gently bending it, so might tackle that tomorrow,

 

Cheers,

 

Roger

[spitfire]

Looks great, I like the attention to detail, it really shows.

 

Cheers

 

Dennis

[Dunny]

18 minutes ago, spitfire said:

Looks great, I like the attention to detail, it really shows.

 

Cheers

 

Dennis

Many thanks Dennis - told you it wasn't too late! Appreciate the steer,

 

Cheers,

 

Roger

[Dunny]

Hi All,

 

Some progress on the Mk.IXc today. I'd previously sprayed a first coat of Nato Black on all of the engine components, so I started out by putting together the sub-assemblies and giving them a second coat. I then sprayed RLM66 from a high angle to give a bit of colour variation, and dry brushed with a mid grey. Here's the result:

 

 

Here's the result half way through final assembly:

 

 

And here's a final shot showing the engine assembly mated to the airframe:

 

 

 

 

You might notice that the glycol tank at the front of the engine came loose, so I'll need to sort that all out next time - not looking too bad though!

 

Thanks for looking,

 

Roger

[spitfire]

1 hour ago, Dunny said:

 not looking too bad though!

 

 

Looks good to me, just nice.

 

Cheers

 

Dennis

[bigbadbadge]

Looking good Roger, I like the colour variations fella. 

Great work .

Chris

[Dunny]

Hi All,

 

I had a terminal disaster on the 1:72 Intruder I was working on - the decals disintegrated on sight, and ruined the paintwork in the process 😭. With it and the Beaufort I recently ruined now residing in the bin, and several choice Anglo-Saxon epithets later, I decided to console myself by revitalising the Spit build by doing...

 

More fiddly decals. Hmmm - guaranteed to restore a flagging mojo .

 

Happily the kill tally decals which had arrived from the Big H (at considerable expense) behave perfectly, and this is the result:

 

 

That is a considerable improvement on my original painted attempt, and I think matches the original pretty well. Here's a shot of the lovely resin access door, along with its separate crowbar (please note not in red 🤣😞

 

 

One of the few downsides of this kit is the fiddly nature of the cowling pieces, but I managed to wrangle them into a semi-decent position:

 

 

The ventral panel isn't yet in position, but you get the idea. Finally here's a shot of the magnificent airscrew:

 

 

Onwards and upwards, leaving recent decal distasters (and the gentleman's scale) behind. May post a little more later, depending on if I manage to not up-b*gger this one too 

 

Thanks for looking,

 

Roger

 

 

[bigbadbadge]

Oh mate, I am sorry to hear of the decalling disaster on the Intruder, can this and the Beaufort be saved? Be a shame to throw them after all your hard work. 

The Spitfire looks gorgeous,  glad the kill tally decals went on well and engine and cowling panels look great, good to see this one on the go again. Great work Roger.

Chris