Kallisti Posted October 27, 2011 Author Share Posted October 27, 2011 Been a bit of a gap in the progress on this as time has been spent on the Thunderbirds Firefly, but progress has been, um progressing. I've been painting and weathering: The flat earth was brush painted while the RAF green was sprayed from the Tamiya AS-30 rattle can after appropriate masking. I like using the oil paint and cloth method of highlighting the panel lines. I've tried dark washes but never been very happy so its on with the oil pant and rub off with a cloth. I do this before I've "Klear"d it so that the paint gets grubby as well as I like this look. The downside to this method though is of course the drying time for the oil pant and making sure you remove any residue from the surface before applying the Klear otherwise it won't adhere properly. This was left for almost a week before I did any more work on it to allow the oil paint to set. It then got a gentle wipe down with a cloth with some white spirit on to clean the surface but no affect the panel lines. Some extra dirt was added using washes, particularly around the radiators. The other big job was sorting out a fixing point for the stand. So I'm using 3mm brass rod as the support so drilled a hole at a steep angle behind the pilot to accept the rod. By lucky chance, I ordered a set of 5mm, 4mm and 3mm brass tubes for the Bablyon 5 Starfury guns modification that I'll be doing after this and the Firefly are done. This meant I could adapt a short section of 4mm dia brass tube to act as a collar for a joint so rather than have to worry about permanently fixing the Spitfire to the base, I could attach a short piece of rod into the Spitfire that then fitted into the collar. You can see this in the next photo The rod has been fixed using Araldite, which is great because it gives a very good solid bond while not reacting with the plastic (unless it gets TOO hot that is!) The flash has blotted out most of the panel lines from the underside sadly. Since this was taken I've tidied up the area where the rod enters fuselage. Also, the cannon nozzels and covers have been added to the wings. Its getting there! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kallisti Posted October 28, 2011 Author Share Posted October 28, 2011 Small bit of progress yesterday, Klear has been applied to the upper surfaces and tonight the underside will get the Klear. I've also changed my mind about adding to the landing gear and included some hydraulic lines with lead wire: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bertie McBoatface Posted October 28, 2011 Share Posted October 28, 2011 That's a lovely pair of legs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Gibson Posted October 29, 2011 Share Posted October 29, 2011 (edited) Do you know that the tailwheel supplied with the ICM kit is the fixed one, seen on the IX? Dave Edited October 29, 2011 by Dave Gibson Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kallisti Posted October 29, 2011 Author Share Posted October 29, 2011 No I hadn't even thought about it How much difference is there? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Gibson Posted October 29, 2011 Share Posted October 29, 2011 There's quite a bit of difference as the retractable leg comes down vertically. There's a good diagram here: http://spitfireforums.com/index.php?topic=363.0 HTH, Dave. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oldhouse Posted October 29, 2011 Share Posted October 29, 2011 Hi Kallisti, nice progress so far ! original idea on the turning Prop !! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kallisti Posted October 30, 2011 Author Share Posted October 30, 2011 Oh bugger thats a considerable difference, dammit! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Gibson Posted October 30, 2011 Share Posted October 30, 2011 Oh bugger thats a considerable difference, dammit! The Hase VIII/IX has both styles of tailwheel. If you ask around here, I'm sure someone will let you have a spare. Dave Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kallisti Posted October 30, 2011 Author Share Posted October 30, 2011 I worked out a way of scratching it up using the existing wheels and some plastic tube, so watch this space Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kallisti Posted November 1, 2011 Author Share Posted November 1, 2011 (edited) So here is the solution to the bad rear wheel... First fill the gap in the bay so that it will support a vertical leg Next get the original tail wheel and chop of the angled leg. Replace with a piece of 2mm dia plastic tube them add a 3mm dia plastic ring to represent the rubber sleeve (the red is just a bit of dye on the plastic tube that came off with a quick bit of sanding) I made some incisions around the larger diam ring to represent the creases in the rubber sleeve. When the green stuff was dry I then drilled a hole to accept the wheel and voila! I'll include pictures of the finished tail wheel in place later... Edited November 1, 2011 by Kallisti Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bertie McBoatface Posted November 1, 2011 Share Posted November 1, 2011 That's much better. Excellent work. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kallisti Posted November 1, 2011 Author Share Posted November 1, 2011 As promised, first form the underside and now as it looks side on... As you can see there has been some progress on the rest of the model as well, decals and weather have been applied and in fact the model is now finished! I just need to take some good photos of the completed build to put in the gallery... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kallisti Posted November 1, 2011 Author Share Posted November 1, 2011 (edited) So here are the finished build pictures JF 835/ UM-T from Squadron 152, FO Paul "Gus" Ardeline, Palel, Burma, September 1944 - monsoon weather! I've updated the photos with better ones! This is one very dirty Spitfire! Monsoon mud everywhere! Edited November 2, 2011 by Kallisti Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jaffe284 Posted November 1, 2011 Share Posted November 1, 2011 Very cool! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kallisti Posted November 2, 2011 Author Share Posted November 2, 2011 I've updated the photos in the above post with better ones! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris FFZ Posted November 2, 2011 Share Posted November 2, 2011 Very nice action takeoff! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bertie McBoatface Posted November 2, 2011 Share Posted November 2, 2011 Such a dynamic pose, hanging on the big prop and clawing its way into the air. Very dramatic. Well done. A suggestion though, the brass stand is an element that the viewer mentally edits out of the scene. Its 'not really there' in India and it seems incongruous to me that it is weathered. Would it be better polished up? Same thoughts apply to the frame. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kallisti Posted November 2, 2011 Author Share Posted November 2, 2011 You may have a point there - by weathering the rod, it draws more attention to it. I think you are right, I'll clean it off. Since I'm working from home this morning, I might take the model out into the garden and photograph it in natural light to see if it looks better than these photos which I'm still not totally happy about... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rowmk9 Posted November 2, 2011 Share Posted November 2, 2011 Hey only just caught this one (I've been away ok!). Very nice work on the model and dynamic pose. What I really love about it is the dirty mud and weathering on the aircraft. You've done well to capture that rough 'in the field' look that pacific warbirds had. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kallisti Posted November 2, 2011 Author Share Posted November 2, 2011 Thanks Rowan Yes that was my intention to show just how mucky these things got out in the monsoon mud! My Dad was RAF groundcrew during the war and was out in Burma and he always said that when it wasn't clinging mud, there was choking dust! I took the opportunity from working at home this morning to get out in The garden and try some photos under natural light as I wasn't at all happy with the previous photos so here are the results. I'll update the "finished" gallery with the best 4 of these... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bertie McBoatface Posted November 7, 2011 Share Posted November 7, 2011 Photographed in strong sunlight (when did THAT happen?) the acetate prop appears quite dark. I'd like to see it in the flesh to properly evaluate the result. Were you pleased with the outcome of the experiment? Would you do it again considering how much hassle it gave you? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kallisti Posted November 7, 2011 Author Share Posted November 7, 2011 (edited) Now that I have worked out the best way to cut this stuff using the circular cutter I bought yes I'd do it again. The problem was with the cutter - it has too much play in the cutting arm so if I wasn't careful it would score different sized arcs. The best method I found was to rotate the material and keep the cutter still rather than rotate the cutter itself. The plastic I found appears to have some kind of polarizing layer so yes if you look at the wrong angle it becomes opaque. If I had a decent air brush I might have been able to coat some clear acetate or perhaps find some already prepared acetate with the right colour. Now that I've discovered that my Father was with 81 Squadron in Burma, working on Spitfire VIII I will be making another one of these in the near future, but this time I might have it static with a fitter (my Dad) working on it or maybe I might get the Tamiya 1/32 and some 1/35 scale figures to pose with it. The Mini-Art British Jeep Crew, British Tank Riders and a coupel of British Armoured Car Crew are in Khaki shorts so would be good as a starting point for some RAF fitters in Burma especailly if I can use some forced perspective to account for the difference in scale! Edited November 7, 2011 by Kallisti Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bertie McBoatface Posted November 7, 2011 Share Posted November 7, 2011 Now that I've discovered that my Father was with 81 Squadron in Burma, working on Spitfire VIII I will be making another one of these in the near future, but this time I might have it static with a fitter (my Dad) working on it or maybe I might get the Tamiya 1/32 and some 1/35 scale figures to pose with it. The Mini-Art British Jeep Crew, British Tank Riders and a coupel of British Armoured Car Crew are in Khaki shorts so would be good as a starting point for some RAF fitters in Burma especailly if I can use some forced perspective to account for the difference in scale! Oooooooooooooooh! Nice idea! Can we have a WIP on that project please! I'm glad you liked the prop disc in the end. Next time will be dead easy for you, I guess. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Miggers Posted August 31, 2012 Share Posted August 31, 2012 That is one helluva nice Spit. The action is very tangible,the retraction sequence just about right. Can I just point out a couple of slight things though please? The retractable tailwheel should up and doors closed really. It tended to go up very quickly one the selector was moved. The other thing is the rudder. You needed to put right rudder on with the trim tab also to the right. Merlin propellers turn to the right,so you use right rudder trim and right rudder on take off to counteract the prop torque swing to the left Other than that I love it,it looks superb. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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