KP 1/72 Spitfire PR Mk.XI from a newbie

[Beardybloke]

After lurking on and off since lockdown, this GB was the final thing that persuaded me to sign up, as I've had a photoreconnaissance Spitfire on my wish list for a while. Hopefully I'm not too late to the party! I don't get a lot of time to do modelling as I've got two pretty busy jobs (one as an Army Reservist), and two young children, as well as trying to get a home office sorted for my other half and finish decorating and upgrading the house from the move two years ago. I do occasionally get some time when working from home and sat in on meetings where I need to listen more than contribute...

 

 

I've gone for a KP PR Mk.XI; it's my first experience of a KP kit and from first glance, I'm impressed. The mouldings are crisp and the shape looks good, confirmed through a quick comparison with an Airfix Mk.I, though I haven't measured it against a set of drawings - ultimately, it looks like a Spitfire without any major oddities like the slightly-too-fat Academy Mk.XIV. 

 

 

 

I'll probably be doing the 541 Sqn version with full invasion stripes as on the box art, although I may do the 400 Sqn RCAF version with underside stripes only.

 

First steps are going to be the initial painting of the interior parts, which I might be able to get done today...

 

[Chrisj2003]

@Beardybloke love the signature. And this GB has got more than 3 months to run still, so you've got plenty of time. I'm hoping to finish within the GB for the first time in 2 years. 😀 

 

Chris

[Beardybloke]

Thanks Chris - good luck with finishing yours!

 

I'm doing this one more or less straight out of the box, so should hopefully be in with a chance of finishing it.

 

I've got most of the interior paint done now thanks to a work meeting, I just need to decide whether the wheel wells should be aluminium or interior green.

 

Having seen a few others' notes on building KP Spitfires, I'll probably follow the approach of fixing the two fuselage halves together and then slot the bulkheads in from below to save trying (and failing) to get everything square.

[Beardybloke]

That's the initial painting done, plus the seat/armour/frame assembly built up and the camera apertures drilled out:

 

 

Apologies for the bad shot, lighting is particularly bad in my office this afternoon. No more will be getting done tonight, but next steps will be to fix the fuselage together and touch up paint where parts have been assembled. The black in the fuselage may also need overpainting again with green if it encroaches forward of the bulkhead (I should have checked first!).

 

[Mjwomack]

6 hours ago, Beardybloke said:

Hopefully I'm not too late to the party!

Welcome to the world of Group Builds! I'm told there's a world outside my front door and possibly elsewhere in Britmodeller, but like many folk nowadays I never leave the world of GB, its strangely addictive and I often enter things I was ignoring.

As for late to the party? You can start at 1 minute to the cut-off if you like, though if you do that it might be handy to know that in the autumn there is KUTA- the annual sweep up of the shelf of doom.

Enjoy the party, I always do

[Tbolt]

Nice start. I should really pick one of these up at some point. Just a small point but the crowbar was never red, normally they were a silver finish, though they could be grey-green or black as well.

[Beardybloke]

4 hours ago, Tbolt said:

Nice start. I should really pick one of these up at some point. Just a small point but the crowbar was never red, normally they were a silver finish, though they could be grey-green or black as well.

 

Thanks - that'll serve me right for following the instructions rather than checking first - especially as I could have checked against the two Eduard Mk.XVIs sat on the shelf!

 

I'd fixed the two fuselage halves together and fitted the instrument panel but not the seat frame assembly, so managed to get a 5/0 brush in with a touch of Vallejo chrome - job's a good 'un 🙂

[Col.]

Welcome to the party Steve, the GB section, and the forum in general. You're off to a good start with a lovely subject so hopefully you'll get sufficient time to enjoy this one during your busy schedule.

[MickE]

Good Start.

👍

 

TBolt - I didnt know that  - I have painted mine red as well. just hope I can repaint mine although I have just glued the fuselage together.

[Beardybloke]

Thanks chaps

 

I managed to get the cockpit assembled whilst listening to a gripping pair of lectures on the legal and commercial aspects of projects. The bits went together with little trouble, although the rudder pedal/floor assembly certainly isn't as long as shown in the instructions and doesn't go all the way back to the armour plate!

 

 

 

My other half is on nights this weekend, so after putting the kids to bed I put Where Eagles Dare on the telly and decided to have a go at making it look like a Spitfire.

 

The radiator grilles needed a little fettling to fit and the covers needed the bases (where they attach to the wings) thinning down a lot to get them flush, as they were about 0.5mm too high. The wings fitted in nicely with no fettling really necessary and no obvious gaps that will need filling, and I've fitted the camera blisters and the smaller blisters forward of the wheel wells. Out of curiosity, does anyone know what the latter are for?

 

 

The joints have all had an application of plastic weld and have now been left to cure overnight ready for sanding and filling - hopefully tomorrow night if I can tire the kids out during the day!

[Col.]

Nice progress Steve.

The small blisters were part of the transfer system from the leading edge fuel cells if my memory serves correctly.

[Beardybloke]

Thanks @Col. - it makes sense, I assumed that it was something to do with the 'D' wing, as I've not seen them on anything else so far.

 

Admittedly, my Spitfire repertoire so far is limited to Mk.I, Mk.II(LR) and two Mk.XVIs, plus this one (as well as two long since binned Airfix ones from teenage years).

 

I do have an Eduard Mk.IXe, AZ Mk.XIVe and Airfix F.Mk.22 in the stash; and a KP FR.Mk.IX on the way. The temptation to build one of each major variant across the range of marking schemes, including Seafires and an ASR one, is strong - if I can sneak them into the house...

[Tbolt]

20 hours ago, Beardybloke said:

Thanks chaps

 

I managed to get the cockpit assembled whilst listening to a gripping pair of lectures on the legal and commercial aspects of projects. The bits went together with little trouble, although the rudder pedal/floor assembly certainly isn't as long as shown in the instructions and doesn't go all the way back to the armour plate!

 

 

 

My other half is on nights this weekend, so after putting the kids to bed I put Where Eagles Dare on the telly and decided to have a go at making it look like a Spitfire.

 

The radiator grilles needed a little fettling to fit and the covers needed the bases (where they attach to the wings) thinning down a lot to get them flush, as they were about 0.5mm too high. The wings fitted in nicely with no fettling really necessary and no obvious gaps that will need filling, and I've fitted the camera blisters and the smaller blisters forward of the wheel wells. Out of curiosity, does anyone know what the latter are for?

 

 

The joints have all had an application of plastic weld and have now been left to cure overnight ready for sanding and filling - hopefully tomorrow night if I can tire the kids 

 

Looking very nice. Yes the blister fairings were for the fuel pumps for the wing tanks.

[Beardybloke]

It didn't need too much in the way of filler, thankfully - a couple of small swipes at the wing and horizontal stabiliser roots, a little along the fuselage joint and carburettor air intake, and a little around the port side canopy base where there was a gap.

 

 

The canopy is now masked ready for painting. I've only tried pre-shading once before and it didn't really work as the subsequent coats were too thick, but I'm going to try it again with the aim of creating a bit of a work-worn PR kite. Hopefully forewarned is forearmed in this case!

 

I've also accidentally bought an FR.Mk.XIc, so my first ever GB may turn into a double...

[Col.]

Going with a care-worn paint finish will add a lot of visual interest to this one.

 

5 minutes ago, Beardybloke said:

I've also accidentally bought an FR.Mk.XIc, so my first ever GB may turn into a double...

Oh dear, what a shame, never mind  

[Beardybloke]

6 minutes ago, Col. said:

Going with a care-worn paint finish will add a lot of visual interest to this one.

 

I just need to work out how to do it! Rusty steel and rotten wood I can do on railway wagons and locos, but I've not tried aircraft yet apart from gunmetal for exhaust and cordite staining.

 

I need to figure out how to do oil splatters too, as apparently the rule of thumb for a Merlin was 'if it isn't leaking oil, it's run out'!

 

[Col.]

It rather depends on which school of thought and style you wish to emulate but light fading and modulation of the main colour is usual. Some people prefer to put on a mottled base coat using different colours or black and white as underpainting then build up thin layers of the final colour until getting just enough of the pervious layers to show a subtle affect.

 

As for the Merlin oil leak pattern; find plenty reference photos of where they emanate from and streak back to on pretty much any Spitfire and have fun replicating that. I'd recommend using a very dark brown colour rather than pure glossy black.

[Beardybloke]

My lunch break and a little time after work before pickup from after school has left me in this state, after pre-shading the joints in black. The effect is quite subtle (and is essentially invisible in the poor lighting of these photos) and has all but vanished in some places as it got misted over a few too many times - but that may hopefully add to the overall weathering effect.

 

 

I tried doing the white first then masking it off to do the blue so that successive layers didn't end up burying the shading - it was only partial successful and a slight black line can be seen on one of the radiators. Next time I think I'll do initial shading, then the first colour, then mask and re-shade before the final coat to see if it enables the same effect without gaps between the colours.

 

 

I'm leaving it to harden overnight, then I'll mask and hopefully apply the black tomorrow. I should also be able to start sorting the detail paint such as the recess for the exhausts, wheel wells and tail wheel too.

 

This is actually coming together surprisingly quickly - it's amazing what doing an 'out of the box' one can do for your modelling pace, even when it's a short run kit!

Edited March 23, 2023 by Beardybloke
Forgot a photo!

[Tbolt]

Looking very nice.

 

Post shading is easier than messing around with preshading.

[Beardybloke]

1 hour ago, Tbolt said:

Looking very nice.

 

Post shading is easier than messing around with preshading.

Thanks

 

I might give post-shading a punt on the FR.Mk.IX. That said, I've got quite a lot of other candidates in the stash too...

Edited March 23, 2023 by Beardybloke
Typo

[Beardybloke]

Well, that looks pretty reasonable to me:

 

 

Time to do some gloss varnish for the decals next, I think - and whilst that's hardening, start digging out photos of realistic wear-and-tear on prop leading edges, wing roots etc....

 

[arfa1983]

Oooh that looks nice!

[Troy Smith]

41 minutes ago, Beardybloke said:

start digging out photos of realistic wear-and-tear on prop leading edges, wing roots etc....

Prop.  compressed wood, with usually brass leading edges.  Props wear on the back  not front, due to airflow.  I can post pics of the same F4U with black front and bare metal back if you wish.

As with anything, study photos, fortunately @Etiennedup  has a Flickr of WW2 colour,  which is great resource, and has  some great PR XI images as well

full album here

https://www.flickr.com/search/?text=spitfire&user_id=8270787%40N07&view_all=1

 

 

PR Spitfire just faded,  they don't seem to have many chip and dangs

 

you can just see small  blade dings here

Spitfire PR mk. XI's by Etienne du Plessis, on Flickr

 

due to light you can see the brass strip and ding here very well, a XIV but same blade construction

Spitfire XIVE by Etienne du Plessis, on Flickr

 

note the outer wheel well is the underside colour, and the PRU Blue gear legs

Spitfire P R Mk. XI by Etienne du Plessis, on Flickr

 

This is a tatty and faded PR Xi in Italy, note the USAAF Beaufighter in the background.

Supermarine Spitfire P.R.XI, Italy.  1944. by Etienne du Plessis, on Flickr

 

fading and wear, over painted AEAF stripes

Spitfire 1944 by Etienne du Plessis, on Flickr

 

P.R. Spitfire         1944. by Etienne du Plessis, on Flickr

 

Spitfire PR XI   Nov. 1943. by Etienne du Plessis, on Flickr

 

these are from 1945 with the 2nd TAF, hence C1 type roundels

 

SpitfirePR Mk. XI, 1944. by Etienne du Plessis, on Flickr

 

Spitfire P R mk.XI, 1944 by Etienne du Plessis, on Flickr

 

Spitfire PR mk.XI, 1944. by Etienne du Plessis, on Flickr

 

Spitfire PR XI,   1945. by Etienne du Plessis, on Flickr

 

Spitfire PR mk. XI  , 1945. by Etienne du Plessis, on Flickr

 

here's a very rare PR.X (16 made, note the fighter windscreen)  having stripes applied

Applying Invasion stripes, 4 June 1944. by Etienne du Plessis, on Flickr

 

HTH

 

[Troy Smith]

FWIW  I really like using artist oils diluted with lighter fuel for washes,   very thin, very seeking,  flashes off in seconds, can be scrubbed about and off with a clean brush dipped in LF,  it is really easy way to break up and modulate a finish quite subtly.  

 

Kleered and decals

 

and then a dirty grey oil wash (Burnt umber, black, white in lighter fuel) wiped off with tissue in airflow, which takes most of it off, but modulates the tone a bit, and a darker wash on the control surfaces lines. 

Also ties in decals, you remove mots of the wash, just the small amount that remains catches on/in small imperfections and just makes the finish less monotone

 

matt varnished

 

before wash

after, again, dirty grey

 

 

from

https://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/235052380-hurricane-airfix-72nd-fabric-wing-mki-oob/

 

you may find the oil and exhaust stains on page 3 of interest. 

oil stains, with oil paint, raw umber and black, applied again with lighter fuel,  and then streaked and removed with a brush soaked/washed out in lighter fuel.   I pleased with the effect,  in the flesh it has an oily sheen. 

  My suggestion is to apply these over the final varnish coat, as this then maintains their different sheens,  exhaust is dead matt, oil glistens.   Not always clear in photos,  but is noticeable in person. 

 

Finally, study photos of the real thing carefully, note the patterns of staining and fading,  and less is usually more.  But Merlins leaked a lot of oil...

 

I hope the pics are not too much clutter,  just they (hopefully) show what I mean. 

 

But, as my sig says, it what works for you. 

 

one final point

the raised line below

 

 

is a fuel expansion dump pipe by the wing tip, as the entire leading edge of the bowser wing was fuel,  it expanded when heated up, so a dump valve was installed,  visible here on your model,  and as a summer model,  a little fuel streaking maybe a neat detail to add.   I have seen extensive staing on SEAC PR XI, but they got a lot hotter! 

 

HTH

[Beardybloke]

Thanks @Troy Smith that's incredibly helpful - particularly the brass on the props as I'd have just gone with a silver colour and made a fool of myself!

 

I'd seen a few of those shots on earlier forays through the forum, and have yet to make my way through more than a few of Etienne's photos - but will certainly be doing so this evening. As it's already in faded blue, I might just go with some relatively heavy exhaust staining and some chipped paint around the wing roots and access panels - but nothing overdone, just the sort of thing it might get from heavy use immediately after D-Day.

 

I'd be very interested to see the F4U prop photos too