Soviet 1:48 Eduard Spitfire Mk.IXe

[shortCummins]

 

After priming the prop’ tips were masked and painted MRP-122 marking yellow.

 

White oil paint was dabbed onto the blades…

 

…and then blended.

 

 

Alkan BS:210 sky type “S” was used for the spinner and base plate.

 

The rear of the spinner had some grime added…

 

 

 

…and then the spinner and prop’ assembled.

 

Here it is placed onto the aircraft.

 

 

 

Next I’ll be re-visiting the exhaust stains.

 

until next time

as always, any suggestions, criticisms or comments will be gratefully received.

rgds

John(shortCummins)

[81-er]

Nice work with the pro, very fitting with the filthy nature of the rest of it

 

James

[HOUSTON]

John 

EXCEPTIONAL workmanship. 

Love it.

 

[bigbadbadge]

Nearly there now John  does look good. The spinner looks great with the staining coming from the joint and the prop blades.

 

Great work 

Chris

[shortCummins]

20 hours ago, 81-er said:

Nice work with the pro, very fitting with the filthy nature of the rest of it

 

James

thanks James

 

I know that I "over weather" my aircraft but I treat it as "artist licence" and I reason that these were hard used with their ground crews not having time or the resources to keep their machines in showroom conditions

 

18 hours ago, HOUSTON said:

John 

EXCEPTIONAL workmanship. 

Love it.

 

thank you

 

you're very kind, I've plenty of room for improvement but I'm enjoying myself and think that each model is an improvement on the last, trying new techniques is always a learning curve, even when they go wrong!

 

16 hours ago, bigbadbadge said:

Nearly there now John  does look good. The spinner looks great with the staining coming from the joint and the prop blades.

 

Great work 

Chris

thanks Chris

 

that spinner had virtually no paint on the brush, a lesson in "restraint" that I'll try to use in future builds

 

 

rgds

John(shortCummins)

[shortCummins]

 

Having left the oils to fully cure for a couple of days, I really should have left it longer but I’m far too impenitent, it was time to revisit the exhaust stains.

Chris suggested using weathering powders, I know I’ve got some somewhere but can I find them? I think my problem with the exhaust stain is that its too dark, so I’m going to try and create a lighter version.

Rather than oils, I don’t want to wait another few days if I need to tweak it, see I told you I was impenitent, so I’m going to airbrush the stain.

My previous mix was Tamiya XF-27 black green and XF-68 NATO brown, I think the XF-27 simply meant that the mix “melted” , colour wise, into the Russian green as its a darker hue on the same colour range, art lessons were a very long time ago so that could be total rubbish?

Anyhow I’ve made a “lighter” mix, one that’s not a darker version of the “base” colour, this time I’ve mixed XF-24 dark grey, XF-82 ocean grey and XF-68.

The mix was highly thinned with Mr Color thinner, not levelling thinner as I think levelling thinner makes a more satin finish, I used 95%, perhaps even a bit more thinner, and built up the statin in thin coats.

 

Once I was happy(er) with the base stain I applied heavily thinned, same ratio, of XF-57 buff to the centre of the stain…

 

 

My lesson learned here is: don’t use oils for exhaust stains without a lot more practice!

Using an airbrush gives (me) an easier, closer to what I’d envisaged, result providing I thin the paint mixture more than I think I need to, building the effect in layers is (my) way to go.

 

 

 

Next I’ll be adding the final bits’n’pieces.

 

until next time

as always, any suggestions, criticisms or comments will be gratefully received.

rgds

John(shortCummins)

[shortCummins]

 

The tyres and wheel wells were a bit too clean, compared to the rest of the aircraft so I “muddied” them with some pigments.

Many moons ago, when I came back into the hobby, any sort of weathering was a new idea to me, UMP had, still have, some clay based weathering washes, Flory also have similar products, that I used to highlight the panel lines. As “things” have moved-on, Tamiya panel liners, 502 Abteilung oils etc. I still have some of these clay washes sitting in my cupboard that I probably won’t be using for their “intended” purpose.

So rather than waste them I’ve “dried” some of them, in plastic shot glasses, by allowing the liquid to evaporate leaving the coloured clay(s). These can then be ground giving you a fine coloured powder that can be used as a dry pigment.

 

Three colours from these powders, dark dirt, light dirt and concrete, were stippled onto the landing gear and into the wheel bays.

 

 

 

Canopy masks removed, one of my favourite parts of any build…

 

…a little bit of touchup required.

 

Cockpit door nailed in place.

 

Landing gear attached.

 

Bubble canopy fixed in place with PVA glue.

 

Radio antenna and pitot tube added…

 

 

…and finally the propellor.

 

 

 

Next I’ll be taking some photo’s for the RFI board.

 

until next time

as always, any suggestions, criticisms or comments will be gratefully received.

rgds

John(shortCummins)

[bigbadbadge]

Looks great John , the paint effects and weathering have really made a difference.   Great work  fella.  Just got my Southern Star Eduard Mk.V boxing.  I hope to do another Spitfire soon.

 

Chris

[Bertie McBoatface]

On 1/25/2022 at 11:41 PM, shortCummins said:

I've used Stynylrez for years, the only "issue" is that its so thick, I used a .6 needle and have the pressure set to (at least) 2 bar/30psi, even then it can clog up if I've not shaken the bejesus out of it

 

I use it too, with good results. I use a .4mm nozzle and about the same pressure as you. I find that the best way to get it ready for use is to slip the bottle into my trouser pocket and take the dog for a long walk. I also have a coupe of agitator balls in each bottle to stir up the sludge at the bottom. The gentle heat and gentle agitation really gets it into the right mood to spray - no clogs, no runs.

 

(I'll do the same with any paint if I'm that forward thinking but mostly I forget.)

[Bertie McBoatface]

The Spitfire looks the business in Russian service. Odd with wings bare of roundels though.

 

I think you've done a good solid job on that kit. Well done!

[shortCummins]

31 minutes ago, bigbadbadge said:

Looks great John , the paint effects and weathering have really made a difference.   Great work  fella.  Just got my Southern Star Eduard Mk.V boxing.  I hope to do another Spitfire soon.

 

Chris

thanks Chris

 

I've just ordered an "overtrees" MkV from Eduard that I plan to build another "different" scheme, this time a night fighter, I really like the idea of an all black Spit!

I know you'll enjoy your build, the only "over complicated" parts were the wheel wells and exhaust stacks, the MkV stacks look far simpler and you can also add them towards the end of the build, the wheel wells still have too many pieces, in my opinion, however with care their not too much trouble.

 

24 minutes ago, Bertie Psmith said:

 

I use it too, with good results. I use a .4mm nozzle and about the same pressure as you. I find that the best way to get it ready for use is to slip the bottle into my trouser pocket and take the dog for a long walk. I also have a coupe of agitator balls in each bottle to stir up the sludge at the bottom. The gentle heat and gentle agitation really gets it into the right mood to spray - no clogs, no runs.

 

(I'll do the same with any paint if I'm that forward thinking but mostly I forget.)

thanks for the tip Bertie

 

Adding agitator balls is the first thing I do to Stynylrez, then shake the bottle for 20-30 seconds before use, someone suggested standing the bottle on a coffee warmer pad, as I don't have one of those your tip of a long dog walk will be put into action, Finn, my springer spaniel sends his thanks.

 

20 minutes ago, Bertie Psmith said:

The Spitfire looks the business in Russian service. Odd with wings bare of roundels though.

 

I think you've done a good solid job on that kit. Well done!

thanks Bertie

 

I agree no markings on the upper wing is very strange, I was really tempted to add a couple from the AML set as there's a few left over, glad I didn't now as she looks even more unusual?

 

rgds

John(shortCummins)

[Bertie McBoatface]

1 hour ago, shortCummins said:

Finn, my springer spaniel sends his thanks.

 

Tess, my Border Terrorist sends her regards! (Usually in the form of a growl!)

1 hour ago, shortCummins said:

even more unusual?

 

Unusual is always good, but especially with such a frequently modelled aircraft.

[Steve 1602]

Some really impressive paint effects John. A very good WIP thread 👍

 

Steve

[81-er]

A very nice end result John, a properly filthy and hard-used airframe. 

 

Re black spitfires: I was eyeing up the mkXVI on the Eduard site the other day and noticed that has an all-black scheme from the box, The Israeli spitfire boxing does as well, but is sadly discontinued.

 

James

[shortCummins]

12 hours ago, Steve 1602 said:

Some really impressive paint effects John. A very good WIP thread 👍

 

Steve

thanks Steve

 

I really like the Eduard Spitfires and I enjoy making the build logs, if only as a reminder on how I did "whatever", hopefully it shows others that you can recover from things that didn't quite go to plan?

 

2 hours ago, 81-er said:

A very nice end result John, a properly filthy and hard-used airframe. 

 

Re black spitfires: I was eyeing up the mkXVI on the Eduard site the other day and noticed that has an all-black scheme from the box, The Israeli spitfire boxing does as well, but is sadly discontinued.

 

James

thanks James

 

keep an eye on the kingkit site kingkit.co.uk as they specialise in unstarted 2nd hand kits, you never know they might acquire one soon?

 

rgds

John(shortCummins)

[shortCummins]

 

This Spitfire came together really quickly, for me, and was a very enjoyable build.

A few things didn’t work quite they way I though they might, using oils for exhaust stains!, fixing the cockpit to one side of the fuselage etc. lessons learned (probably) and extra skills picked up along the way.

 

Previously I’ve built Airfix, Tamiya and Eduard Spitfires, I’ve not built the “new” Tamiya MkI only a couple of their MkV’s, I’ve now built 5 Eduard Spitfires, a couple of MkIX’s, a couple of MkVIII’s and a MkXVI. The Tamiya kits are easier to build but lack "something", you'll need to add their provided pilot (not a bad thing) as their seat is very short (to allow for the pilot?) in my opinion the Eduard offerings are head and shoulders above, trickier to build but do have that "something".
As a side note when I built the Tamiya MkV’s Eduard didn’t have a MkV offering, I’ve now ordered an “overtrees” set from them as I’ve a plan for another “different” scheme, a night fighter, that I plan to build shortly.

I’ve also another MkIX along with some decals for G-IRTY, that I’ll get around to before too long, I just have to work out how to make it really shiny, I better at really dirty 😊

 

 

Anyhow if your interested you can see my RFI here…

 

 

Next for me is yet another Eduard Spitfire, did I mention I like them?, this time a MkI in Battle of Britain dress.

 

until next time

as always, any suggestions, criticisms or comments will be gratefully received.

rgds

John(shortCummins)