Louise Posted May 11, 2011 Share Posted May 11, 2011 (edited) I confess I've never built a Spitfire but my current interest in Middle East air forces has forced me into picking up some examples. So here I'm building the Xtrakit Mk.22 1/72 using the Mark 1 decal options for the REAF, a/c 699 of No. 2 (FB) Sq. Al Arish Air Base 1950. Also have on the work bench a Sword Models Mk. Vc Trop which I'd started last week and is a little more than 25% done so you can't see the detail inside the cockpit. I don't think anyone else here is currently building one of these fine Sword kits, so I thought I'd attach photos and build info anyway. I'm using the Capena decal sheet 7210A "Exotic Spitfires #1" to model #C-JK195 of 107 M.U., Kasfareet, Egypt, 1947. Here's the box/decal/sprue details for the Sword Kit. ...and for the Xtrakit The Sword kit has a superb level of raised cockpit and wheel well detail for this scale and would benefit having the cockpit door opened and a replacement vac-form canopy to show the details. My current build opted not to do that. Assembling the fuselage sides and wings posed no problems with alignment and a minimal amount of work was done to hide the seams (CA and Mr Surfacer 500). Fixing the wing to fuselage was no more problematic than most short run kits; test fit, test again and again. I ended up with a step between the wing and fuselage on one side I think more due to not applying enough pressure to conform the wing profile while the glue was setting, so filler applied here. Attaching the wing assembly was done by spot gluing the rear with CA (25 sec setting time), then running Tamiya extra thin glue along the seam, clamping, leaving a while, then moving to the front edge and repeating the process. Finally I glued the seam along the wing top and fuselage, ran tape from wing tip to wing tip for the dihedral - but as noted I should have clamped the starboard wing down at the same time. The lower cowling went on without a hitch and the canopy needed a little adjusting to fit.... Today I'll be working on the Mk.22 and post some photos this evening as well as sanding the seams down on the Vc. Edited May 23, 2011 by Louise Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deon Posted May 11, 2011 Share Posted May 11, 2011 Great stuff, I much prefer the more interesting schemes for the spit, the usual green, brown and sky BoB scheme leaves me cold! Good Luck Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Louise Posted May 12, 2011 Author Share Posted May 12, 2011 Moving along but hampered by some faults and breakages. The Xtrakit Mk.22 cockpit was quickly put together painted and weathered with a wash of Vallejo umber, nothing fancy, just enough to convey depth as the side door on this kit is provided separately. I added pre-painted seat belts. You'll see on one of the photos that the seat was not attached when the bulkheads were glued into the fuselage. I found after testing that the rear bulkhead with the seat attached wouldn't let me arrange things. The fuselage went together without a hitch as did the wings after building up the nice recessed u/c bays (painted Aluminum with a dark gray wash). Adding wing to fuselage was pleasantly hassle free, only a minor amount of CA and a quick sand. Then things went downhill. It took 40 mins to get the prop blades, prop and rear plate to fit. Neither bits are sized for the other! Out with the dremel, blades, filler and sanding. As this is supposed to be painted silver, I couldn't sit back on this bit. I was contemplating using the CMR resin prop instead but thought better of it. Anyway, it's done now. As there was no real detail molded on the parts, there was nothing to loose. Next pain-in-the-bottom bit was the rudder...... made up of three bits, except that the lower rudder component is 2 mm shorter than the main rudder..... is this what the Seafires rudder would have? I checked my other Xtrakit Mk.22 and it's got the same problem. So out with some thick Evergreen plastic, glue, let set and then sand to shape. Now that's sorted. Then... oh yeah then while removing the sliding canopy from the fret I noticed it had a hairline crack running along the top. Oh crap. Right, dumped it in some future and left overnight. Next day, the crack is only visible in a certain angle in a certain light.... I'll make do. I masked it, stuck it on a stick for painting and forgot that it had a crack and split the darn thing in two! Anyone tell me if the canopy of the Mk. 22 is the same as either the XIV or XVI bubbles? I've got a notion I could use the Squadron vac-form.... meantime, the 2nd kit has just lost it's canopy. Another poor item in my kit were both cannons. They were warped and curved in profile elliptically, so were replaced with Master's brass turned cannons...which are really, really very nice and worth the price of a bottle of beer. Phew, right it's now sanded, polished and has two coats of Alclad black primer/filler which went on a bit gritty as the temp and humidity went up today.... I see I'll have to sit and recalibrate my paint/air/pressure rates for the new season. The surface as you'll see needs another rub down after this second coat. Last pictures also show the Vc Trop with the wing root cleaned up, with it's white theater band and some pre-shading since there was still paint in the airbrush. Of note, the kit comes with resin cannons, but the smaller ones are sized exactly to length and they disappeared with a twinge of the tweezers! So I've used some spare Master brass stubs and added CA to the front to form the rounded ends. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wellzy Posted May 13, 2011 Share Posted May 13, 2011 Looking good so far wellzy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Louise Posted May 15, 2011 Author Share Posted May 15, 2011 A busy weekend, some issues, but at least I've now got both the Mk.22 and Vc painted. With the Mk.22, I've completed the entire build prior to decaling - the paint (Floquil Antique Silver, thinned with Testors) is still not fully cured, so no chance to decal yet. I choose this Antique Silver as it looks just like..ergh..aluminum, well go figure, but this paint goes on smooth thinned 50:50 @15psi and is more forgiving on surface imperfections than using Alclad. Of course this isn't supposed to be ANM anyway but is aluminum paint. Anyway I think it looks like the surface in the Mark 1 book photos. I've to sort out the port exhaust alignment as the rear half have fallen down a tadge - I had to remove most of the casting stub for the exhausts to fit into the recess on the fuselage, which worked fine on the starboard side, but not the port. As mentioned earlier the cannons are now Master brass replacements, everything else is from the box. I left off that lower fuselage antenna fairing in the kit as I can't see these in any photo in the Mark 1 book. Once I've decaled I'll add the whip antenna behind the cockpit and weather the a/c with sand/oil/grime. Oh I did add 3 hatches for the fuel/oil in front of the cockpit with "E-Z Masks" vinyl Aluminum circles. This product is superb as these can be painted, they are self adhesive, I find them easier than trying to make a nice circular scribe. The Vc is also basically built up and waiting for the paint to fully cure before decals. The sand is Xtracrylic thinned about 30%, while the earth brown is Vallejo Air - a range new to me and I LOVE 'EM.... The Azur Blue is also Xtracrylic. I used masks the size of the wing/fuselage roundels over the sand before doing the earth freehand (50:50 ratio, 10psi) to represent the REAF over painting the RAF insignia. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Iain Ogilvie Posted May 15, 2011 Share Posted May 15, 2011 Both look great Louise - the colours on both look spot on to my eye... Iain Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shamael Posted May 16, 2011 Share Posted May 16, 2011 Hi All, nice builds so far... The Vc is also basically built up and waiting for the paint to fully cure before decals. The sand is Xtracrylic thinned about 30%, while the earth brown is Vallejo Air - a range new to me and I LOVE 'EM.... The Azur Blue is also Xtracrylic. I used masks the size of the wing/fuselage roundels over the sand before doing the earth freehand (50:50 ratio, 10psi) to represent the REAF over painting the RAF insignia. Can I ask what Valleyo paint you used for earth brown? Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Louise Posted May 16, 2011 Author Share Posted May 16, 2011 Can I ask what Valleyo paint you used for earth brown?Thanks It's from their Air range and it is conveniently called Dark Earth #71029. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
diamond9 Posted May 16, 2011 Share Posted May 16, 2011 Nice to see something different on a spitfire. I'm going to be starting a Syrian one hopefully this week using the airfix 22/24 kit. Gary... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Louise Posted May 16, 2011 Author Share Posted May 16, 2011 Nice to see something different on a spitfire. I'm going to be starting a Syrian one hopefully this week using the airfix 22/24 kit. Gary... So am I, I picked up the Eduard boxing of this kit last month. It will be the first 1/48 Spitfire to touch my hands. It was either the silver Syrian, Egyptian or camo Egyptian on my list of "things to do". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Louise Posted May 18, 2011 Author Share Posted May 18, 2011 Working through the decals on the Vc, tomorrow a dull coat and then to weathering. The Mk.22 is decaled but I made a right stupid booboo..... there are 6 roundels, 4 small and 2 larger. I put the two larger on the fuselage.... oops, they should have gone on the upper wings. Really good decals, glued down so well I can't get 'em off..... so whatever... photos tomorrow. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Louise Posted May 19, 2011 Author Share Posted May 19, 2011 Finished both off today. 1. The Mk.22 decal issue was tackled; on the sheet I'd swear 2 of the decals are slightly larger than the other 4, they are, in this scale it's obvious on the flat sheet. When applied, I'd put the 2 larger on the fuselage, the 4 smaller on the wings. Well, the larger ones look too large on the fuselage compared to the book drawings so I decided to remove them. That wasn't easy as these Mark 1 decals are very good at adhering to the surface - very good , that I ended up tearing one of them when removing. So, the larger are on the wing tops now and what the heck, the smaller ones on the fuselage look as large as the larger ones...?????????..... blast, it must be an optical illusion with the curves. So now one of my roundels is damaged - hah hah hah weathering! I over sprayed very lightly the entire model with very thin antique silver again including the decals to give a worn, sun bleached effect. Alclad burnt metal and Tamiya smoke was used for exhaust stains followed by some grimy black pastels. I didn't seal the model with another varnish coat as I liked the sheen I had and the decals are so well attached. Here's some photos of the Mk 22..... Now for the Vc Trop. After decals applied, I put another light coat of Future, then using Vallejo Wash Sepia filled in some of the panel lines. A coat of Satin and then some weathering pastels to add grime around the place including exhaust stains which also received an airbrush of Alclad burnt metal and Tamiya smoke. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deon Posted May 19, 2011 Share Posted May 19, 2011 Lovely schemes both, great to see something a little different. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Royster Posted May 19, 2011 Share Posted May 19, 2011 They look really good, great skills too Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Louise Posted May 19, 2011 Author Share Posted May 19, 2011 They look really good, great skills too Thanks for the comment, it's appreciated as I never show my work! Lovely schemes both, great to see something a little different. I've now got 21 Spitfire kits.... couldn't bear the thought of them all looking the same! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Killingholme Posted May 20, 2011 Share Posted May 20, 2011 Thanks for posting really detailed build reports. Very useful. Will Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tempestwulf Posted June 5, 2011 Share Posted June 5, 2011 Sweet looking Mk Vc there Louise. I have that kit and agree it's a beauty, they also produce the none trop version so I'm likely to pick up the latter some time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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