Spitfire FR Mk.XIVe - NH909 of 273S RAF, Saigon Jan 1946. ++++ Finished + RFI ++++

[bigbadbadge]

Looks lovely Mark, nice and subtle work.

Chris

[Ngantek]

Always in awe of how flawless and sharp you get those finishes; and that after many layers to give depth.

[Dunny]

Mark

 

Crikey - at this rate you'll be done before I've fully started! Undersides are looking superb - I do like that idea of mixing in the gloss coat. Must give that a try,

 

Cheers,

 

Roger

[mark.au]

2 hours ago, Ngantek said:

Always in awe of how flawless and sharp you get those finishes; and that after many layers to give depth.

Thank you. Many layers, but all very light.  The technique is one of gradually building the texture and variation.  I don’t have the patience or skill to do the intricate marbelling pre-shade that others use.

 

2 hours ago, Dunny said:

Mark

 

Crikey - at this rate you'll be done before I've fully started! Undersides are looking superb - I do like that idea of mixing in the gloss coat. Must give that a try,

 

Cheers,

 

Roger

 

My money’s on @AdrianMF for line honours on the Spit-14 Hysteria [unofficial] GB!

 

I carried right along on the underside markings this evening.  After designing and cutting the masks, I started with the painted-over original roundels.

 

 

These masks are not perfect circles, they’re designed to represent a hand brushed painted cover up.  Next, the theatre markings.  Masked and then a pre-shade to build texture in the white. I’m modelling this airframe as a bit tired and grubby but not beaten up, it had only seen five months duty in January 1946.
 

 

…then the white bands themselves.

 

 

Then, the roundels.  I didn’t take in-progress pics, y’all have seen me do this more than once.

 

 

With the roundels done I applied a bit more clear gloss over the new paint to seal and protect.  Then I remembered @Troy Smith mentioned in one of the other Spit-14 threads that the inner gear well was likely grey-green and not metal at this stage of Spitfire production so I masked and splashed some paint there too.

 

 

The contrast between the base MSG and the overpainted roundels is a little too stark at he moment, I believe it’ll tone down under subsequent treatments but I’ll keep an eye on that, I didn’t want it that stark.

 

Cheers.

[hendie]

lovely paintwork Mark.

[Dunny]

6 minutes ago, mark.au said:

The contrast between the base MSG and the overpainted roundels is a little too stark at he moment,

A temporary situation I'm sure - this is coming together superbly

[AliGauld]

Super paintwork again,

I'm sure it'll all come out in the wash. 

 

Cheers,

Alistair

[bigbadbadge]

Oooooooo looks great Mark, fab paintwork. 

Chris

[Biggles87]

As above, I especially like the ‘ scale ‘ white of the ID bands.

 

John. 

[mark.au]

On 8/17/2022 at 9:19 PM, AliGauld said:

Super paintwork again,

I'm sure it'll all come out in the wash. 

 

Cheers,

Alistair

I see what you did there…

 

22 hours ago, Biggles87 said:

As above, I especially like the ‘ scale ‘ white of the ID bands.

 

John. 

Thanks for noticing, John.  I always paint white markings on top of the base paint, it gives more leeway in modulating the finish, in addition to the pre-shade. Also, I usually don’t clean the pot perfectly before painting white so it becomes a little dirty white instead of pristine.

 

On 8/17/2022 at 9:16 PM, hendie said:

lovely paintwork Mark.

 

On 8/17/2022 at 9:44 PM, bigbadbadge said:

Oooooooo looks great Mark, fab paintwork. 

Chris

 

On 8/17/2022 at 9:18 PM, Dunny said:

A temporary situation I'm sure - this is coming together superbly

 

Thank you gents, very kind comments.

 

I worked on the uppers tonight.  Standard process previously described.  Started with a darker version of the base colour on top of a pre-shade.

 

Then the mayhem begins with varying shades to get to this…

 

 

 

The slightly exaggerated post-shade effect will ameliorate under subsequent treatments.  For now I’ve protected that finish with a limit Future mixed in the last misted coat.  Tomorrow I’ll mask for the green with tape this time, the reference photo shows the camo with a hard edge.

 

Cheers.

 

 

[Dunny]

Lovely job Mark - what do you use for your Ocean Grey? Asking for a friend...

[mark.au]

3 minutes ago, Dunny said:

Lovely job Mark - what do you use for your Ocean Grey? Asking for a friend...

Thanks Roger.  It hard to answer without it sounding a bit flip, but it was a varying mix of black and white artists acrylic paint.  I used a dab of Hataka on the bench as a reference shade but I’m constantly mixing the acrylics in the pot through multiple passes.  The final coat is a very thin blending filter based largely on the Hataka and the remnants of the previous mixes.

[bigbadbadge]

Looks good Mark, can't wait for the DG to go on.

Great paintwork. 

Chris

[mark.au]

23 hours ago, bigbadbadge said:

Looks good Mark, can't wait for the DG to go on.

Great paintwork. 

Chris

Thanks Chris.  Wait no longer…

 

I ended up masking with blutack instead of tape.  I just needed to make sure and press the edges down and spray into them to ensure a hard edge to the finish.

 

 

By the way, the tape isn’t for masking, it’s to make sure I don’t spray in the wrong segment!

 

After some careful work, including the previously described random shade process, I had this.

 

 

…which became this after some careful unmasking.  

 

 

 

As you can see, I also painted the overpainted roundels with different tones of OG and DG.  The reference pic shows that the camp was restored in this overpainting so I did the same.  I left a small error in the starboard fuselage overpaint because I felt it added a little realism.  Finally, I added just a smidge of post shading (which looks more stark in these pics than in life) which will tone down later, and then a sealing coat of clear gloss.

 

After a visit with my daughter and granddaughter, and then a family dinner of my world famous cooked-from-scratch chicken korma(sp?) I masked and painted the major markings.

 

 

 

 

 

At this point I offered up the masks for the squadron markings and serial number but found that the sizing was off.  I’ll need to fix those masks and recut them before further work but as my mojo ran out for the day, I’ll save that task for tomorrow. 

 

 Thanks for following along, cheers.

 

 

 

 

[Ngantek]

Phwoaaarr! looking amazing, the overpainted roundels are really cool!

[Biggles87]

Strewth ( isn’t that what you Australian fellows say? ) but that’s a beauty.

Good idea using tape to mark the segments to be left unpainted, how many of us have got half way or more through the camouflage to discover we’re painting the wrong ones! I last did it on a Mirage F1 a couple of years ago.

 

Nearly there.

 

John. 

[AdrianMF]

Lovely paint job!

 

Regards,

Adrian

[heloman1]

On 8/16/2022 at 1:08 PM, hendie said:

see?  I told you so!

I understand the principals of CAD and 3D printing, however, it frightens me then being logical isn't in my vocabulary! I'll continue to carve what I need...

 

Colin

[heloman1]

Excellent paintwork as usual Mark, the overpainted areas have come out particularly well. Shame about purchasing AM parts that aren't up to scratch.

I've just purchased some Reskit parts for my RH-53 Sea Dragon, (not on the horizon as yet) they are superb.

 

Colin

[bigbadbadge]

Oh wow it looks absolutely stunning Mark, great work.  I see what you mean about the overprint error on the stb fuselage it certainly does add to it.

Lovely painting. 

Chris

[Winded Penguin]

Looking really sharp on the bench 

[AliGauld]

Oh Mark that is utterly stunning.

Wow.

 

Cheers,

Alistair

[hendie]

Your skills with an airbrush are up there with the best of them Mark. Truly wonderful paint job

[mark.au]

21 hours ago, Ngantek said:

Phwoaaarr! looking amazing, the overpainted roundels are really cool!

Thanks mate, they came out sufficiently almost perfect to look like a field mod.  
 

20 hours ago, Biggles87 said:

Strewth ( isn’t that what you Australian fellows say? ) but that’s a beauty.

Good idea using tape to mark the segments to be left unpainted, how many of us have got half way or more through the camouflage to discover we’re painting the wrong ones! I last did it on a Mirage F1 a couple of years ago.

 

Nearly there.

 

John. 

Strewth indeed, though that’s what the more polite Aussies might say, the rest of us are generally more blunt.  I have splashed plenty of paint in the wrong direction to not try and mitigate my clutz-ness somehow.
 

 

20 hours ago, AdrianMF said:

Lovely paint job!

 

Regards,

Adrian

Thanks Adrian, it’s shaped up well this time.

 

19 hours ago, heloman1 said:

Excellent paintwork as usual Mark, the overpainted areas have come out particularly well. Shame about purchasing AM parts that aren't up to scratch.

I've just purchased some Reskit parts for my RH-53 Sea Dragon, (not on the horizon as yet) they are superb.

 

Colin

Reskit make great product, you’ll go well with it Colin, I’m sure.

 

18 hours ago, bigbadbadge said:

Oh wow it looks absolutely stunning Mark, great work.  I see what you mean about the overprint error on the stb fuselage it certainly does add to it.

Lovely painting. 

Chris

Thanks Chris, it’s the imperfections that sometimes make the overall effect gel.  That’s what I tell myself.

 

13 hours ago, Winded Penguin said:

Looking really sharp on the bench 

A cluttered background to misdirect the eye of the beholder

 

10 hours ago, AliGauld said:

Oh Mark that is utterly stunning.

Wow.

 

Cheers,

Alistair

Very kind Alistair, thanks.

 

9 hours ago, hendie said:

Your skills with an airbrush are up there with the best of them Mark. Truly wonderful paint job

Even kinder, bordering on hyperbole but much appreciated nonetheless.

 

A reminder of what the subject is…

 

 

State of play;

 

 

Today’s jobs were the the squadron codes, serial number and wing walk lines.  
 

The wing walk lines would have be a bit easier if I’d done them before the theatre markings and roundels - I needed to mask off for those under the expectation that they wouldn’t have been replaced when painted over.

 

The observant reader will see I used pale blue  for the codes.  Looking at the reference photo I don’t think they are white, they’re clearly a different tone than the white on the fin for example.  If not white, then grey or pale blue - I went with pale blue as it’s a little different, and I’ve read somewhere that it may well have been used.

 

Converting the image to black and white...

 

 

 

It’s a pickem for the grey or light blue, I like that the blue is just a bit different, it suits my approach.

 

Next on my Spit is the stencil decals, contemporary pics tend to show them present and as this isn’t a repainted airframe it should be more or less factory spec for the stencils.

 

That’ll do for my weekend’s Spitfirery, looking forward to seeing everyone else’s weekend progress.

 

Cheers.

[bigbadbadge]

Whstva beauty Mark,  looks flippin awesome! Great work on the serials and markings , I would have thought the MSG for the squadron codes, but liking the blue and it's your model (rule number one applies), fella.  Loving the way this is turning out and always like your photo enterpretation and your paint and effects layering too. Brilliant stuff.

Chris