Airfix 1/48th Spitfire Vb

[spitfire23bc]

This is my current baby - Airfix's 1/48th Spitfire Vb. I'm making it in the 92 Squadron desert scheme. The basic kit is just that - very basic in fact - so I decided to set myself a challenge and spruce it up a bit.

This kit also represents several "firsts" for me - the first kit I'll paint with an airbrush, the first time I've used aftermarket bits and my first use of the Promodeller washes.

This is the state the model is in currently, nearly ready for the fuselage to be closed up (mustn't forget that tail wheel...). Cockpit is a mixture of modified kit parts, Eduard Zoom set and scratchbuilt parts. The PE was insanely fiddly and I'm mortified that a few bits are a millimetre out Once the two halves are glued I've made the radio shelf and aerial anchor. I may add some control cables if they'll be visible.

Anyway, pictures:

Cheers for looking

Dan

Edited April 10, 2010 by spitfire23bc

[ollieholmes]

It all looks fine to me. I look forward to seing more on this as ive finished one recantly. The biggest problem i had was the decals, they silverd badly.

[spitfire23bc]

I've finally made some progress. I got a bit bored of this one after spending goodness knows how long sanding bits of it. It's still far from perfect but I was so fed up I decided to just get on and do something more fun. Some of the rescribing I did is a mess as well, but mostly underneath. So, while I'm waiting for the water to dry off, here she is, primed with silver (Humbrol 191), salted up and nearly ready for the first camo coat.

Ollie, cheers for the heads up about the decals; I shall attack them with Klear.

Cheers for looking

Dan

[zero]

Ollie, cheers for the heads up about the decals; I shall attack them with Klear.

Cheers for looking

Dan

Hi Dan

Nice work on the Pit. Lovely Spitty build in progress.

Decals Silver when air is trapped under the carrier film and the decal doesn't make full contact with the paint, therefore it's best to have a Gloss surface to decal on to and then make it matt afterwards.

I think these two pictures should help you. here's my Mk 1 being decaled note the high gloss finish on the black whilst adding decals.

And then After I've finished the decals I've sealed the paint with a Klear/tamiya flat mix to matt the paint down and seal the decals.

and the finished Item,

Note that klear also pulls down decals in to panel lines as well, so they look more realistic, if you decal this way you should lose the carrier film totally and the decals should look much better.

Good Luck

Dave

Edited February 10, 2010 by zero

[spitfire23bc]

Cheers Dave, very nice Spit!

Yep, that's pretty much the plan with the Klear.

Dan

[Work In Progress]

Dan

Nice job you are doing there.

What's the deal with the salt? That's a new one on me.

[spitfire23bc]

What's the deal with the salt? That's a new one on me.

To make it taste better.

Or, if you're not hungry, the salt gets brushed off after painting to reveal the silver underneath as a way of simulating paint chips. Starflyer recently posted a rather nice build using this technique (here). It's the first time I've tried this, so it's a bit experimental.

Dan

[FZ6]

The salt idea sounds interesting. I use artists masking fluid dabbed onto the aircraft with a small piece of sponge to get the same effect but it looks like you can also get a great random effect using salt.

[spitfire23bc]

Topside camo painted; I'm pretty happy with it, although there are a few places with uneven overspray. I'm tempted to try to fix some of them; not others (I know how likely I am to mess it up and have to start again...).

When I was removing the mask, the blu-tack pulled off some of the salt (not a problem) which, in turn, lifted a few large areas of paint (problem).

I'll resalt, remask and respray these bits.

Is blu-tack prone to doing this, or did I rush things and not give the light brown enough time to set properly?

Cheers

Dan

[M4rk]

I'm not expert at this so someone else may be able to shed more light on the problem, but in my experience using bluetac for masking has never resulted in lifting paint, even when pressed quite firmly down and/or leaving in-situ for a few weeks. My guess is it is something to do with the silver undercoat not being as effective a primer for the top coats, as metallic paint does not have as rough and/or porous a surface as the usual matt paints used as primers, which help provide a key for the colour coats. I would be surprised if it was directly linked to your use of salt for localised masking, but I have never tried the salt-chipping technique so can't speak on great authority!

[spitfire23bc]

Right, this has been on the back burner for a while. Time to crack on. I resprayed the upper surface, fixed all most of the paint peeling, brush painted the rest to tidy it up and sprayed with a lot of Klear to fix it in. Here it is blutacked up, ready for the azure blue.

And here, after a couple of coats of blue (2:1 ratio of Humbrol 89 and 157).

It's actually slightly lighter than the picture shows. Once it's finished I'll take some decent pictures!

Dan

Edited April 4, 2010 by spitfire23bc

[spitfire23bc]

Decals are on. I love doing vintage aircraft - so little stencilling compared to a modern jet! Next step will be to matt the finish down a bit, add some exhaust/smoke stains, paint the canvas gun covers, add exhausts, prop, wires, wheels, elevators, lights, finished!

Yeah, I just want to get this one finished...

I used Klear as a setting solution for all the decals aside from the roundels on the bottom, which took LOTS of Micro Sol before they settled down.

Cheers for looking

Dan

[spitfire23bc]

Finished at last. I airbrushed a mixture of Klear and Tamiya Flat Base (about 70/30) to matt the finish down, then liberally applied a Promodeller sand wash. I wasn't too worried about the panel lines, but wanted the overall appearance to be a bit worn and grubby. Exhaust/gun stains were done with a mixture of black and brown chalk pastel, applied with a soft brush. I misted another Klear/matt coat over the top to seal it in.

For the undercarriage indicators, I drilled out a hold in each wing, superglued a length of wire in, bent it to suit, snipped it off and painted it.

IFF aerials are invisible thread. The light on top was made from a bit of clear sprue, since the kit light was molded into the fuselage.

In hindsight, the prop hub looks a little bright compared to the rest of the airframe, so maybe I should have mixed in a little Brick Red. There are also a few thumbprints in the pastels

Here's one pic; more in Ready for Inspection.

Dan

Edited April 10, 2010 by spitfire23bc