Spitfire XIV collective hysteria - FF-B on the bench

[Dave Slowbuild]

That painted figure is extraordinary - the face so realistic.  For 1/72 that’s incredibly great work!
 

Dave

[Markh-75]

2 hours ago, AdrianMF said:

The pilot is painted, so I can add him and get the fuselage halves together:

 

Then I can get back to the F-102!

Great job Adrian! Looks like a spitfire pilot now rather than just the 'grey man'! great idea with the yoke; I dont fit crew into my built kits as they all have landing gear down and in 'parked on the ground' pose! My die-casts have them though, I set them in flying mode!

[Winded Penguin]

2 hours ago, Dave Slowbuild said:

That painted figure is extraordinary - the face so realistic.  For 1/72 that’s incredibly great work!
 

Dave

What he said 👍

[Biggles87]

What he said he said.

 

John

 

🇺🇦

[AdrianMF]

Thanks all - he's a bit impressionistically painted because you won't see much below the neck through that canopy. That Airfix pilot figure (comes with the 1/72 Tiger Moth) is really pretty nicely moulded so he's actually a breeze to paint. The traditional "Archie" figure was wonderful back in the day but is well past his sell by date now and modern mouldings seem to have lost his nose. There is another modern figure (in the Hawker Typhoon) with legs akimbo - I'd hate to sit next to him on the Tube!

 

Regards,

Adrian

[Markh-75]

42 minutes ago, AdrianMF said:

I'd hate to sit next to him on the Tube!

 

IF there was any more room left to sit down!😂

[AdrianMF]

I’ve made the crude air intake scoop of the kit into an independent opening and I’ve made a bunch of new Griffon-size radiators. They look huge next to the kit part (too small even for a Merlin I suspect) but they were measured up from plans and agree with my reference photo:

 

I will be looking out for more pictures to check them against before I glue them on.
 

Why four radiators? You may well ask - I’ve just picked up another one of these for a fiver on eBay, to do in classic AP-D in V1-chasing format 🙄.

 

[edit] I’ve done some looking and it turns out they are a bit too long. I’m going to trim them down by a large millimetre and re-do the curved body sanding, making them a bit rounder too in profile and plan.

[bigbadbadge]

Wow, what a cracking job on those intakes Adrian. They certainly will beef up the Spitfire model suitably. Another one too, fantastic. 

Great work 

Chris

[Dunny]

Adrian,

 

Some lovely work going on here - pilot looks cracking!

 

Cheers,

 

Roger

[mark.au]

2 x 14 = Awesome.

 

I will definitely have to press “Buy Now” on my BNA order…

 

Nice work on the radiators, 

[AdrianMF]

1 hour ago, bigbadbadge said:

Another one too, fantastic. 

I’m beginning to get quite fond of the FROG one… wrong, I know!

 

45 minutes ago, Dunny said:

pilot

Luckily I have one of every 1/72 new Airfix Tiger Moth scheme (still need a successful build of the Australian one), so I have candidates a plenty to fly a V1 pursuit plane.

 

34 minutes ago, mark.au said:

2 x 14 = Awesome.

 

I will definitely have to press “Buy Now” on my BNA order

Awesome=28? (Sorry)

 

Press that button. Need to have more “grown up” builds!

 

Regards,

Adrian

[opus999]

Just caught up on this and the pilot looks fantastic!  The cockpit is nice too... it's always a shame when you can't see it.  I scratched an entire cockpit for my Tojo and that was wasted effort.  Still, we've got pictures!

[AdrianMF]

I realise I’ve got lots of vacation time to use up (a consequence of being hospitalised for a month earlier in the year) so I’ve got the day off. So, radiators are shortened by a generous millimetre and re-sanded to taper down again:

 

Not only do they look the right length now, they are also noticeably more rounded in plan and profile and look much more realistic.

[AdrianMF]

Retracted undercarriage in and wings together:

 

Nice of FROG to consider the retracted option back in 1969, although I guess most of them would have been built wheels up chasing the V1.

 

[edit: although I guess that with an exposed wheel in a thin wing, the real wheel won’t fit in the retracted position.]

[bigbadbadge]

Cracking work Adrian,  the radiators will look ace.

Chris

[Dunny]

Nice work on the radiators Adrian - you are certainly cranking along!

 

Cheers,

 

Roger

[AdrianMF]

Thanks chaps. I think next time (next time??) around I would use 60 thou for the roof/floor to get a bit more of a curve in profile. But hey, I t’s not the most inaccurate part of the kit…

 

Bit of a change of plan here. Now that I’ve bought another kit I can do both options. Obvs the one chasing a V-1 needs to be wheels up, so I’d like to do FF-B wheels down. Luckily there’s a Blitzbuild this weekend so that’s where I will build it. Even if I fail at the 24 hours I can still get most of it done. 
 

So I’ve added the yellow leading edges to this one, which is now “airframe complete”, just lacking prop, pitot tube and whip aerial (AP-D didn’t seem to have a Rebecca aerial either):

 

So I will mask the bands and it’s into the paint shop!

 

[Winded Penguin]

Bit of a Spit XIV fest today and I'm enjoying all of the builds.

I've got nothing new to show so this and the other threads is a nice way to pass the time. 

 

Funny thing is, for me seeing the prop painted up with yellow tips in the picture is already starting to bring the model alive.

[AdrianMF]

Paint provided by a mix of Humbrol, Vallejo and AK:

 

Im going to hope that the best set of FROG decals works, paint the canopy and finish up. Hoping to do my other one tomorrow in SEAC colours in the Blitzbuild!

[Markh-75]

Looking good Adrian! Nice job.👍

[AdrianMF]

1 hour ago, AdrianMF said:

I’m going to hope that the best set of FROG decals works

Hahahahahaha

 

hahahaha

 

ha

 

no.

 

They are mis-registered in both white and yellow, and the yellow looks pretty lemony too:

 

Never mind, I have Xtradecals aplenty:

 

I had the right letters in the right sizes and the right size fuselage C1 (last one in that size) and underwing C roundels but no B roundels of anything like the right size. So:

I trimmed the white border off the fin flash, the serial number was fine(!) and I’ve used an older FROG decal without a white crescent for the B roundel. I’m just hoping the rippled pie crust edges settle - I’ve hit that decal with Decalfix, Decalsoft and Microsol, so I’m hoping that it does what it’s meant to!

I know it’s impossible to keep everyone happy with sheets of decals and you always run out of the ones you want while ending up with a draw full of Bristol Bombay overwing A1 roundels. I’d love to see a sheet designed for the modeller who makes small RAF aircraft from kits with terrible transfers. But then someone would complain that it doesn’t have Bombay transfers on it…

 

All this palaver (and the time - where did today go?) has made me think that another FROG Spitfire might be a step too far for the Blitzbuild, but I’m going to start it tomorrow anyway, next to a different victim candidate…

 

[John]

I think, back in the halcyon days of the FROG Group Build, we came to the tentative conclusion that there may have been a retooling of the clear sprue at some point in the production process as at least 2 of the builds seemed to feature canopies of different sizes.

For me, I always loved the open option even if it's almost impossible to paint. 

John 

[Markh-75]

54 minutes ago, AdrianMF said:

Hahahahahaha

 

hahahaha

 

ha

 

no.

 

They are mis-registered in both white and yellow, and the yellow looks pretty lemony too:

 

Never mind, I have Xtradecals aplenty:

 

I had the right letters in the right sizes and the right size fuselage C1 (last one in that size) and underwing C roundels but no B roundels of anything like the right size. So:

I trimmed the white border off the fin flash, the serial number was fine(!) and I’ve used an older FROG decal without a white crescent for the B roundel. I’m just hoping the rippled pie crust edges settle - I’ve hit that decal with Decalfix, Decalsoft and Microsol, so I’m hoping that it does what it’s meant to!

I know it’s impossible to keep everyone happy with sheets of decals and you always run out of the ones you want while ending up with a draw full of Bristol Bombay overwing A1 roundels. I’d love to see a sheet designed for the modeller who makes small RAF aircraft from kits with terrible transfers. But then someone would complain that it doesn’t have Bombay transfers on it…

 

All this palaver (and the time - where did today go?) has made me think that another FROG Spitfire might be a step too far for the Blitzbuild, but I’m going to start it tomorrow anyway, next to a different victim candidate…

 

Decals can be such an emotive subject! When I had decals do this I use Microset and sol and just leave it on for a bit until nearly all dried up; dip a cotton bud in sol and gently roll the bud from the centre outwards to the edges. I will have coated the whole model in Klear first though to give the decal a nice surface to bed on, I also have waited until it dried and then gently brushed Klear over it and around the edges making sure some went under the edges to help it to stick down.

I wont tell you how to suck eggs as you have more than likely done far more than I have, I'm just saying what I do in this situation. I also make sure I have replacements to hand just in case. I have had a fair few nightmares with decals myself and when they decide to 'elevate the toes' it can hurt my confidence with them. I have never really had any issues since I started using Microset and Microsol but if the odd one does wanna play 'silly persons' its not a problem really if I have a spare decal to hand. I used to use Decalfix but found it wasnt as good as micro Industries stuff.

 

Model is looking good Adrian! very nice! (I know I've already said!😉).

 

[AdrianMF]

The overwing decals fell off when I gave them a poke so I’ve replaced them with some from the old Airfix Mosquito, 19mm not 20mm, but I’m not telling:

 

Happy now. Those decals were as tough as old boots and are better off in the bin!

 

The propeller is mounted and spins, and is also removable so I can take it out for the finishing off stage.

[mark.au]

That a really fine looking Spitfire Adrian, you’re really wrestling a great result out of Frog