Spitfire Mk. Ia, 1/48

[Barney1900]

Hi folks

 

I'm looking forward to build my first Eduard Spitfire and I picked the Mk. Ia of the weekend edition. For the moment life's still a bit in the way of my bench time but as autumn approaches this will be a nice little project. 

Planning to make it OOB, except the additional photo etch seat belts.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[LorenSharp]

Cool a Spit! Welcome to  festivities Barney!

[Barney1900]

The build is on. Slowly...

 

 

Yesterday evening I had half an hour of bench time. In the first couple of minutes I managed to loose the tiniest piece I had, "R65". So I spent the remaining time on a search and rescue mission on my knees zig zagging the floor, the room, the universe...

But after my 30 minutes I found it. Surprisingly my mood wasn't touched and I left the bench happy with the only achievement of recovering some 5mm of plastic.

If only I were always so easy to please😉

 

[Tigerausfb]

I always find other things when I'm on SAR below my desk! 'Oh, so there it is!'

 

Andrew

[LorenSharp]

On 9/17/2024 at 5:10 PM, Tigerausfb said:

I always find other things when I'm on SAR below my desk! 'Oh, so there it is!'

 

Andrew

Been there done that more times than I can count. You find some of the most interesting things that way.

[Barney1900]

Cockpit is done. Short before closing the fuselage.

 

 

Being a weekend edition, the instrument panel is just a decal. After the usual Micro Set and Sol I sprayed a matt varnish and was initially happy with the result. Only after closer examination, like here with a close up shot, I noticed the big silvering. Should have worked more with a knive around the dials...

 

[Barney1900]

After the fiddly Cockpit the rest of the build is straightforward and quick. 

 

[Barney1900]

And finally it looks like a Spitfire. 😀

 

 

 

 

almost perfect fit between the fuselage and the wing. 

[Barney1900]

And a week later it's a mean looking Spitfire😉   - Mr Surfacer 1500 is on.

[Milan Mynar]

Good work.

[shortCummins]

Spitfires always look good in black

 

rgds

John(shortCummins)

[Barney1900]

Underside is painted. Main color is Tamiya's Sky XF-21, blended with different greys and white.

 

 

On the upper side I sprayed some silver for the chipping.

And I will try to mask the "no walk" lines directly at this stage. Hope I can cut an fine enough masking line...

[81-er]

The underside looks superb there, very nicely modulated

 

James

[LorenSharp]

Beautiful paint work. keep it up!

[Geo1966]

Just caught up with this one. Nice work and looking great.

 

George

[Barney1900]

Thanks guys for your comments.

Painting is continuing and I am playing around with my new gadget: a splatter mask. Not sure how much of it will be seen later after gloss and matt coats. Maybe I'll use it again later on in the weathering stage. Learning by doing🙂

 

[Barney1900]

Ready for the dark green. 

 

[LorenSharp]

Looking Good. I like the splatter masks.

[Barney1900]

Basic painting completed.

Not yet satisfied with my attempt of chipping. On the green color it looks like only the darker green was scratched away.

 

 

[Barney1900]

Fighting with the Eduard decals...

I wanted to try this carrier film removal thing. Although I read on Eduards website that it really isn't necessary.

Initially I was really impressed how easy it went on the fin and on the big wing roundel. really impressive.

 

 

So I went ahead... But was stopped at my next best try on the fuselage after the letter "D". Don't know why it worked so easy on the roundel and went so wrong here.

 

 

 

 

[Barney1900]

After pushing the reply button and once again looking at my picture I see the problem. Obviously the decals are silvering over the raised rivets. And do not adhere to the surface. And if you try to remove the carrier film at these positions, it will just lift the entire decal...🤔

[Graham Boak]

Get a fine needle, poke holes into the silvering.  Add Microset (or was it Microsol)  and leave.  The decal will shrink down and the silvering disappear (or at least reduce).  Repeat as desired.  I suspect there are other decal solvents that will do as well.

[Barney1900]

On 15/11/2024 at 22:28, Graham Boak said:

Get a fine needle, poke holes into the silvering.  Add Microset (or was it Microsol)  and leave

Thank you. That's the way I try to solve this issue. And most probably I'll leave the carrier film for the rest of the decals as it is.

[Barney1900]

Final stretch.

Despite my slow building I'm confident that I'll finish it on time.

 

 

 

First time to experiment with pigments for the exhaust. It was a quite easy approach, just brushed different pigments on it and sealed it. Base color was airbrushed with a mix of black brown. I'm quite happy with the result, it looks better than my previous attempts with just airbrushing.

 

[LorenSharp]

I like the work with the pigments.