A Tale of Two Fires

[Dunny]

12 hours ago, Wlad said:

Hello Roger,

 

Nick is correct. Only the prototype Mk XV had the reinforcing strips, so you'll have to sand them off unfortunately.

 

I've built two SH Seafire XVs simultaneously so I have some more tips for you:

1. The propeller blades are too wide. I sanded mine down to size. Luckily I could check out the dimensions on a real Seafire XV. I don't have the size at hand now, though it seems to be the same width as the blades on a 5 blade setup.
2. The seat attachment to the rest of the cockpit is challenging. Be careful with the fine pieces holding the seat.
3. The landing gear is firm, though I could not get one of them to fit properly, so the wheel was toeing out. Happened on both kits.
4. Have fun with the torque links. They need to be carefully filed to fit together and have a lightening hole drilled.
5. The fuselage nose tip isn't perfectly round, and the spinner axle isn't perfectly centred, so I decided to glue the spinner on the fuselage rather than have the whole thing look wonky.
6. The canopy on mine was slightly narrower than the fuselage on both kits. 
7. I used the photo etched instrument panel, with the transparent film provided. I liked the effect. Just paint the back of the film white before attaching it to the photo etch, which should be painted beforehand as well.
8. The light which normally goes behind the antenna mast on a Spitfire, goes on the belly on a Seafire XV, slightly offset to one side. This is from observation of a full size airplane.

All and all, I enjoyed the builds and I'm happy on how they turned out. Not shake and bake, though definitely worth the effort.

 

Cheers,

Wlad

Thank you Wlad for that awesome feedback! I will certainly look out for those points - much appreciated,

 

Cheers,

 

Roger

[Dunny]

2 hours ago, Flight Line Media said:

Great start, Roger. I look forward to seeing this build completed.

Cheers FLM - good to have you aboard!

[Dunny]

Hi All,

 

Today has been a most pleasant painting session! After priming everything (well, almost!), I painted all the interior grey green and aluminium components, of which there are many! I briefly dallied with painting the Mk.I interior in Eau de Nil, but seeing as wot I didn't have none, I elected for the easy option of interior grey green (which I prefer anyway!). Here's the fuselage halves of each:

 

 

You can see that the Airfix fuselage has some rather prominent ejector pin marks, but they won't be visible so I've left them. I then turned my attention to the outside of the fuselage. As @Wlad kindly pointed out above (thanks Wlad!) the raised reinforcing strip was only fitted to the prototype Mk.XV. Here's the offending item:

 

 

I therefore masked around the strip to prevent losing too much detail:

 

 

And a few minutes later:

 

 

I'll polish that up and rescribe later down the line. I next turned my attention to the seats, which are remarkably different:

 

 

As you can see the Seafire seat on the left is considerably wider than the Mk.I's. I wasn't of a mind to do anything about it so I didn't! I do wonder whether FAA pilots required the more generous accommodations for any reason?! 🤣

 

Here's both seats following painting with Tamiya Red Brown, the cushions painting in Black, and dry brushing of the cushion in grey and the seat in Mid-Stone just to pop the detail:

 

 

Not looking too shabby! Here's both sets of exhausts looking rather spiffing:

 

 

And that's about the state of play at the moment! In another exciting development, look at what the internet decided to send me this week:

 

 

Now that's something to look forward to! 🤩

 

Thanks for looking,

 

Roger

[bigbadbadge]

Great work on the two Fires Roger, the seats look good fella as does the rest. Really looking forward to watching these develope. Now the Gladiator is a very pleasant surprise and look forward to that too.  Got a couple in the stash myself.

Chris

[Dunny]

25 minutes ago, bigbadbadge said:

Great work on the two Fires Roger, the seats look good fella as does the rest. Really looking forward to watching these develope. Now the Gladiator is a very pleasant surprise and look forward to that too.  Got a couple in the stash myself.

Chris

Thanks Chris,

 

The Internet has been very kind to me. I do seem to be making a habit of this 1:32 business - maybe The Internet might send me an SH Whirlwind too?!

 

Cheers,

 

Roger

[bigbadbadge]

2 minutes ago, Dunny said:

Thanks Chris,

 

The Internet has been very kind to me. I do seem to be making a habit of this 1:32 business - maybe The Internet might send me an SH Whirlwind too?!

 

Cheers,

 

Roger

Oh mate, you just have to, it is a stunner. 

I am getting some builds done of some FAA machines I want to build but then may start some of my other models or I could just start a load of kits as I am itching to build quite a few. There are some nice extras such as the wheels and guns you can get for the Whirlwind  too.

Now press that button!!!

Although don't tell the Domestic authorities I told you to!!!

Chris

[Dunny]

1 minute ago, bigbadbadge said:

Oh mate, you just have to, it is a stunner. 

I am getting some builds done of some FAA machines I want to build but then may start some of my other models or I could just start a load of kits as I am itching to build quite a few. There are some nice extras such as the wheels and guns you can get for the Whirlwind  too.

Now press that button!!!

Although don't tell the Domestic authorities I told you to!!!

Chris

Now that is a delicate Stash Enhancement Negotiation! 🤣

[bigbadbadge]

5 minutes ago, Dunny said:

Now that is a delicate Stash Enhancement Negotiation! 🤣

Yes definitely   do you have any brownie points you can cash in ? If not I can donate some to you fella!!!

Good luck😉

Chris

[Dunny]

9 minutes ago, bigbadbadge said:

Yes definitely   do you have any brownie points you can cash in ? If not I can donate some to you fella!!!

Good luck😉

Chris

It is my birthday soon...

[bigbadbadge]

13 minutes ago, Dunny said:

It is my birthday soon...

Ace card played fella 😃😉 Great work!!!

Chris

[Dunny]

Hi All,

 

A little progress, mainly on the Seafire (it's Labour Day here in South Australia - a public holiday ). We're off on a houseboat on the River Murray tomorrow for the week, so only a little bench time today between piling and sorting! I started with painting the spinner. The scheme calls for a roundel blue spinner with a couple of thin white stripes. I therefore primed and laid down the white first, and masked off the stripes:

 

 

I then laid down the blue - here's the result after touching up both colours after some small runs:

 

 

Macro photography is most unkind but it'll do! I then turned my attention to the instrument panel. There are two paths availably here - a PE version with a plastic sheet with the instruments printed on, and the moulded component. I decided to try the PE first (it must be better, right?), so I sprayed the rear of the sheet white:

 

 

And here's the panel primed and sprayed black:

 

 

I then assembled the components, and the results were a little, well, meh.

 

I therefore decided to give the moulded version a go. This was sprayed black, drybrushed with white, the panel overpainted again in black, instrument dials picked out with gloss, and the colour details carefully added - phew! Here's both together:

 

 

To my eye the moulded version wins, so I'm going with it. Here's another one just for affirmation:

 

 

Yep, I'm going with that! That's all from me for a week or so,

 

Thanks for looking,

 

Roger

[Biggles87]

Good work on the IP.

Enjoy your time on the river.

John

[Dunny]

6 minutes ago, Biggles87 said:

Good work on the IP.

Enjoy your time on the river.

John

Thanks very much John - will do!

 

Cheers,

 

Roger

[bigbadbadge]

Hi Roger

The moulded one definitely wins hands down there because of your excellent painting fella, great job. 

Hope you have a wonderful trip too.

Stay safe

Chris

[Dunny]

9 hours ago, bigbadbadge said:

Hi Roger

The moulded one definitely wins hands down there because of your excellent painting fella, great job. 

Hope you have a wonderful trip too.

Stay safe

Chris

Thanks for the kind words Chris -looking forward to getting away for a few days!

 

Cheers,

 

Roger 

[jackroadkill]

Man, that IP looks fantastic - I'm going to shamelessly appropriate that technique for my next build!

[Dunny]

Hi All,

 

Some good progress on both 'Fires today! As I'd forged ahead with the Mk.XV, I decided to bring the Mk.I up to a similar stage. Here's all of the cockpit sub-assemblies:

 

 

I had procured Eduard's etch set for the Mk.I, so you can see that the IP has been applied (self-adhesive, donchaknow!). Here's another shot, as there was a bit of glare in the above photo:

 

 

Doesn't look too bad! This is where the Mk.XV is up to:

 

 

The two kits are very different in their approach to the cockpit assembly. Airfix have you build up the cockpit tub thus:

 

 

You can see that I'm halfway through assembling the Sutton harness. As many have noted before the tolerances on the cockpit tub are hellishly tight, so proceed with caution! Here's another shot showing the IP in position:

 

 

And here's another showing the completed harness:

 

 

I then buttoned up the fuselage:

 

 

I had a few odds and ends to complete on the Mk.XV (harness, drybrushing etc.), so here she is just prior to buttoning up:

 

 

You may notice that I've done an oil wash on both cockpits. Finally, here's a shot of both fuselages together:

 

 

I'm rather enjoying this! 

 

Thanks for looking,

 

Roger

[bigbadbadge]

Hi Roger

 

Hope you had a lovely break away on the river. Good to see you back on these and cockpits look great . It's good to see the side by side comparison of the two and how the different approaches build up.  

Great work fella .

Chris 

[Dunny]

1 minute ago, bigbadbadge said:

Hi Roger

 

Hope you had a lovely break away on the river. Good to see you back on these and cockpits look great . It's good to see the side by side comparison of the two and how the different approaches build up.  

Great work fella .

Chris 

Thanks Chris,

 

Had a lovely family holiday, but a big week at work put paid to stress-free! It is interesting to see the differences between the 2, and I have to say this is one of SH's better offerings - remarkably benign (so far!),

 

Cheers,

 

Roger

[bigbadbadge]

1 minute ago, Dunny said:

Thanks Chris,

 

Had a lovely family holiday, but a big week at work put paid to stress-free! It is interesting to see the differences between the 2, and I have to say this is one of SH's better offerings - remarkably benign (so far!),

 

Cheers,

 

Roger

Glad you had a good break.  Yes work tends to make you forget you had a great holiday with a few days of returning!!!

It's good to know re the SH kit and fingers crossed it carries on in that form. The Sirfix Spitfires are great and build up to a wonderful model. Looking forward to their progress.

 

Chris

[Dunny]

Hi All,

 

Life has been very busy lately, so not too much time at the bench! Building up of the wing assemblies was pretty straightforward, and completed with little hullaballoo (you'll have to take my word for it, as I forgot to take any photos ). I'll pick up the thread with primer in place on both, and preshading under way. I've used Nato Black for the majority of the preshading, with Ocean Grey on the (to be) white starboard wing of the Mk.I, to reduce the bleed-through. You can also see that I've covered the port wing (which will stay black) and the fuselage (which will later receive a coat of Vallejo Aluminium). 

 

 

Once that was dry I masked up the port wing of the Mk.I, and applied some mist coats of Sky to the Mk.XV:

 

 

I then applied the white to the starboard wing of the Mk.I, which I also forgot to photograph (I am not doing well here, am I?!). So here's the result after the next stage of masking applied:

 

 

Here's a shot with the aluminium applied:

 

 

This is the first time I've sprayed Vallejo Aluminium, and I definitely prefer it to previous aqueous acrylics I've tried (Tamiya, AK Interactive). Here's a final shot of both together:

 

 

Not looking too bad! I might get a couple of hours to start the camo this weekend, although I'm busy redecorating my eldest daughter's 1:1 bedroom in time for her 13th birthday. No rest for the wicked...

 

Thanks for looking,

 

Roger

[bigbadbadge]

Great to see these two again,  great job on the paint so far fella. Looking forward to the camouflage going on.

Good luck with the decorating to Roger.  

 

Chris