Another Aussie Eight, A58-457 S/L Tom Trimble, 457 Squadron

[Christer A]

Well, the Sea Fury is rolling along and starts to get ready for primer (more on that in the proper thread), so I thought I could always go back to my original listing: A Spitfire VIII!

One can never have too many mk VIII:s.

So I pulled out my battered box to have a little rummage in it to see what's left in it.

Now, I have built this one:

and that one:

The box is a dual combo , so there shouldn't be anything left...

Somehow It looks like there are 4 sets of Overtrees and Weekend edition sprues in here!

I counted out 6 sets of PE as well, and one Brassin engine, a brassin cockpit and some other bits and bobs.

One of the extra kits was for sure bought used at a IPMS club meeting where the lovely chap had cut off all parts, cleaned the up and put them back in marked bags. That's the one I'll choose for this endeavour! It'll be a bit like a LEGO set, with the main drawback that I can't really identify the pieces except by basic shape...could be fun!

Also, this will be the scheme:

Heavy fuel staining? Wheels with sun screen? Azure blue, Dark Earth, Foliage Green, white markings, red spinner...what's not to like?
That'll be that engine cowl then but I have some resin ones is box somewhere.

Let's go!

[Corsairfoxfouruncle]

Welcome along to the build with my favorite Mk. of Merlin Spitfire. 

[Magpie22]

I love this choice. For a number of years Tom was my boss at ARL and we shared an office. Many an interesting lunchtime discussion!!

I got to know him quite well and was even able to help identify the pilot that shot him down. Tom always took a day off each year when that date came up.

He was fanatical about wooden boats and also built plastic aircraft models. He only ever built them wheels up and painted them overall grey, (including the transparencies). 

He was an aerodynamicist and what interested him the most was the shape of an aircraft. 

The thing about him I admired most was his 'command presence'. He could let you know how he judged your work without saying a word - just by his manner and facial expression.

On another occasion I went with him up to Cairns to do some trials with 'McHale's Navy' patrol boats, on which I had done some work. Tom loved the airport checks where the metal scanner always beeped when he passed through.

The operator then tried the hand scan over his body, pockets, legs, etc, and got nothing. They then indicated it must have been a scanner fault, at which Tom, grinning broadly, indicated they should scan his head. The scanner beeped

and Tom then explained that he had a metal plate in his skull as a result of his 'accident'.

 

Oh, and a cautionary note. Be careful about applying stencils. When the RAAF overpainted they generally did not re-apply stencils although, sometimes, they did mask off the original stencils. 

 

Looking forward to following this build,

Peter M

Edited May 6 by Magpie22

[Antoine]

Nice choice, well done!

 

I've this same box in my stash, and completely forgot about it!!!

 

[Christer A]

On 05/05/2025 at 23:30, Corsairfoxfouruncle said:

Welcome along to the build with my favorite Mk. of Merlin Spitfire. 

Thanks!

I absolutely agree to this being a favorite 🥰

 

23 hours ago, Magpie22 said:

I love this choice. For a number of years Tom was my boss at ARL and we shared an office. Many an interesting lunchtime discussion!!

I got to know him quite well and was even able to help identify the pilot that shot him down. Tom always took a day off each year when that date came up.

He was fanatical about wooden boats and also built plastic aircraft models. He only ever built them wheels up and painted them overall grey, (including the transparencies). 

He was an aerodynamicist and what interested him the most was the shape of an aircraft. 

The thing about him I admired most was his 'command presence'. He could let you know how he judged your work without saying a word - just by his manner and facial expression.

On another occasion I went with him up to Cairns to do some trials with 'McHale's Navy' patrol boats, on which I had done some work. Tom loved the airport checks where the metal scanner always beeped when he passed through.

The operator then tried the hand scan over his body, pockets, legs, etc, and got nothing. They then indicated it must have been a scanner fault, at which Tom, grinning broadly, indicated they should scan his head. The scanner beeped

and Tom then explained that he had a metal plate in his skull as a result of his 'accident'.

 

Oh, and a cautionary note. Be careful about applying stencils. When the RAAF overpainted they generally did not re-apply stencils although, sometimes, they did mask off the original stencils. 

 

Looking forward to following this build,

Peter M

It's small world! 

The pressure to do a decent job increased quite a lot.

 

Tom sounds like a decent fellow

22 hours ago, Antoine said:

Nice choice, well done!

 

I've this same box in my stash, and completely forgot about it!!!

 

It is a quite a big box....but it has room for a lot of Overtrees!

[Christer A]

Ok, let's get to work.

It's familiar grounds after all, so let's make the best of it.

I started with constructing the wings.

I very soon discovered that the helpful approach to cut of all parts and put them in sealed bags has some drawbacks! The previous owner did not cut each and every part so I'm missing a few bits, and cannot readily identify others.

But it's the wheel wells, and who's going to look in there to see if I've put the correct parts in or not?

One area that I always end up with some small issues with is the radiators. First time I test out to add some shims like above to get the "roof" at the correct height instead of sanding everything to fit.

 

To my knowledge this aircraft kept the Azure blue on the undersides, so that means most of the stencilling and so on will be added here later.

 

Then I went to the cockpit area to have look around.

Yes, most bits are still there, but a few of them were not. 

Lesson learned. Never buy partially started kits unless you're prepared to use it as a parts donor...

So, I dug out my Brassin cockpit instead!

A whole bunch of resin goodness, crisply cast and little to cleanup to do, and it's a dropfit without the need to thin the fuselage to the last micron.

But....

The floor piece is very much too short!

This affects the spacing of all bulkheads and firewall throwing everything out of alignment.

Come on Eduard! That resin engine cowl is too long, and this floor is too short....Sure it's 10 years too old by now (almost) but it's still sloppy!

I'll probably cut off the part that is not interior grey green, and call it a day.

No plans to have the rear floor exposed in any case...

So, I started to paint it all in any case, adding some etch here and there

Also mixing and matching resin and plastic since some of the resin bits was too complicated to use (the seat for instance requires the upper firewall attachment to be fitted as a tiny etch bracket whereas the plastic one is in one piece)

In this scale I think I can get away with it though...

 

Still missing quite a few detail bits, and some weathering, but the weekend is almost upon us, so there is a chance that it will improve shortly 😀

[81-er]

I knew about the resin cowling being too long, I hadn't realised the dimensional issues stretched to the cockpit set as well. It's all looking very nice in there though, even with those problems

 

James

[Christer A]

That too long cowling is legendary 😁

 

It's very strange with the cockpit floor though. 

I mean , the cockpit sides are right there in the same box and they are still different lengths?

It could be due to resin shrinkages, since the sides are ok and they a different color and what feels like a slightly different material, and this light grey is uniformly shorter across the entire length.
Still, 3mm is quite a lot...

[Christer A]

Right. Where was I ?

Ah yes, cockpit...

I decided that the tiniest possible leavers in the cockpit wasn't making me any happier at all, so they were left on the etch sheet

 

With that decision behind me, the fuselage was closed up

 

I lost the rudder actuator part though, and had to make a replacement.

It might not be as pretty as the original, but at least it's there. Just needs a little rod to complete it, but that will come later.

Can't really say that I'm a fan of clipping all bits off and have them in separate bags. The risk of loosing parts are too big!

That's what you get when you're buying pre-owned sometimes!

 

As usual I didn't get a very neat joint where the wing meets the fuselage.

I've never built a Spitfire where this area was 100% trouble free and this kit is no exception.

Still, it turned out decent in the end.

 

Then it was off to the paint booth!

Azure blue (by Real Colors) for the bottom

and a start with primer and preshade for the top

My plan for today is to get the Dark Earth done in how many different shaded layers I need, and then get on with some more masking.

[Rabbit Leader]

With so many threads going on it’s unfortunately easy to miss some of this GB’s great builds. Apologies for not commenting sooner, this Spit is looking fantastic so far. 
 

Cheers and all the best.. Dave 

[Christer A]

Thanks Dave!

Yesterday I actually managed to paint the entire topside in a few sessions!

I started with Real Colors Dark Earth for a base coat, lightened it with some drops of Insignia white to get a more faded appearance:

Good thing about Real Colors (at lest the old Tamiya/Gunze type glass bottles) are their fast drying time!

A few hours after the initial painting I was masking up the wing walkways:

Why do this now? Well, it seems that the original Mid Stone paint was overpainted with Forest Green after delivery to RAAF, and the walkways and stenceling on those areas was lost.

Since I don't like masking over decals, I painted the lines.

Then I put on a nice podcast to listen to while I started on the top masking

That took some time. Decided for a hard edge pattern this time for no better reason that I liked it...

One nice Forest Green coat later (Gunze H302 as per Eduard Suggestions) and I had this:

Drying time is really fast during the summer! Later that night I removed the masking :

That turned out more or less as I wanted it! Now, time for more masking in front of all roundel painting...

[Rabbit Leader]

That’s turned out beautifully and the walkway lines are well portrayed by your technique. It’s well in its way to being a real winner! 
Cheers.. Dave 

[Christer A]

Thanks Dave!

Recently I bought one of these fancy DSPIAE  ball bearing circle cutters and used it to good effect on a Staqrfighter since I had mangled some decals real bad.

I thought that it would be an excellent choice here as well, since you know, roundels?

Ipso facto.

 

From Eduards painting diagram it's quite clear that the RAF roundels were over-painted with fresh paint, even for the brown areas.

The RAAF roundel is also a lot smaller and only two colors, which makes the entire enterprise quite manageable.

It does consume a lot of masking tape though...

Compared to eduards old-isch decals (these are from the time before you could peel off the carrier film) I think the painted ones are just as good looking, if not more so.

Leading edge of the wing also received a white ID stripe

Not 100% satisfied in the cannon / wing area, since there are a lot of shapes that meet up there and itäs trick to mask and paint it good enough.

Something to ponder on for a while.

But I must say that I'm very happy with the end result! 😊

 

[Christer A]

Hi everyone!

I sort of forgot all about this one....but in the last few weeks I have actually finished it!

 

Too late for the GB though, but one cannot have everything...

[Corsairfoxfouruncle]

1 hour ago, Christer A said:

Hi everyone!

I sort of forgot all about this one....but in the last few weeks I have actually finished it!

 

Too late for the GB though, but one cannot have everything...

It’s ok, we all get busy. She looks great though.