Matt

I had to completely rebuild the computer at home, so I haven't been able to post regular updates to this build so its moved on quite a ways. All the major construction is pretty much done. The Merlin is done. It was actually painted a very dark grey, but after a gloss coat to let a wash work its magic in all the detail, it ended up pretty much black. I did do a thin dark brown wash just to make it look a little dirty. The detail painting of the fittings is somewhat fanciful just to give it some 'pop'. The ignition harnesses are scratch built and fought me all the way. If I did this

I'm building the same kit right now. I haven't used the Eduard set either. The plug wires are one of the more noticeable elements on the engine detail that Tamiya just plain left off. I'm not sure P.E is the best way to represent it either, too flat. I'm just adding detail as I go from styrene rod, various diameter wire and soft solder. These are my ignition harnesses from styrene and solder. They still need the cable that leads back to the Magnetos. There's a lot of other wiring and pipework that isn't there either. It becomes a bit of a rat hole. The more you look at reference pictures,

Looking good so far. The only question would be if you've dry fitted the instrument panel and its frame in yet ? In both sidewall shots you've got parts that are quite far forward (undercarriage control on the starboard, control box on the port side) that look like they might interfere with the IP when it goes in. Cheers, Matt

I do oils stains with oil paints. I mix up a black/brown combination and thin it out. I place small dots and then streak it back in the airflow with a soft fan brush. The effect is controllable by how much you 'wipe' the stain , how thin the mix is and how many times you repeat the process. Cheers, Matt

Cockpit is done. PollyScale British Interior Green and Citadel Silver. Oil wash over a semi gloss coat. I ended up doing some dry brushing with the base colour and then a light touch of Tamiya Sky to get the details to pop a bit. Detail painting is all Citadels. I ended up having to not use the pilot figure. It just didn't fit right, so I had to use the PE seatbelts which I hate, I can never make them look realistic. Cheers, Matt

Yet another 1/32 Tamiya Spitfire. Originally this was going to be a straight OOB build just to see how good it is, and to plan out a PRXI conversion for down the road. However, after getting into it I couldn't help but add various bits and pieces that Tamiya left out. I don't know yet exactly which specific aircraft I'm going to build. Unless I have a epiphany before I get that point, it will be the in box JE.J. Various cockpit parts. (just dry fitted. There is still some cleaning up to do here and there.) Control column was missing the pneumatic lines for the gun operation. Tamiya pr

To be honest, you would probably have been better off making the the Tamiya Mk I a Va than trying to backdate the Vb. All the right canopy parts are in the Mk I kit already. The only differences would have been the exhausts , oil cooler and probably the prop, all of which are available aftermarket, and adding seat/headrest armour , which is easily scratch built, or comes with most PE sets for the Spitfire. Alternatively, you can cross kit the MkI and Vb kits to give you a Va and a Ib. If you want to continue with backdating these Vb wings, then you'll need to, (off the top of my head, and I

Maybe you are thinking about this backwards ? I just built that same subject (the PR XIX right ?) Spray the upper light grey first, then mask that off , then paint the darker grey over the rest of the fuselage. I did mine with the 6mm Tamiya tape, you use hardly any on a subject like that in 1/72. Lay a strip down somewhere clean and cut it lengthwise into 2 3mm strips, use those to mask the edges (as it gets very narrow towards the tail, so you don't need the full 6mm) then fill in anything that remains with small bits. I doubt I used more than about 6 inches of the 6mm tape to mask that

Both. For most jobs I'll mix in a separate 3oz dixie cup then transfer smaller amounts to the paint cup as I work. If I have to shoot a small amount of a certain colour (say for a touch up, or to paint one small part that is a different colour than everything else) then I will mix in the cup. I drop in a small amount of thinner first, then the paint, then mix with an old paintbrush, adding more thinner if necessary, then shoot onto scrap until the spray is consistent. Cheers, Matt

It sounds like what you want is to get the crown cap accessory to replace the regular cap. Alternatively, a lot of airbrush artists will work without that cap at all and trust themselves not to jam the needle into the work. Making sure you star the airflow before pulling the trigger back to start the paint flow will help a lot with this. Alternatively, you can always pause every now and again and swab it out with a thinner moistened Qtip (draw the needle back first). Cheers, Matt

Finished. About how I was hoping it would come out. I was concerned the paint work was still not subtle enough, but after the gloss and flat coats, if anything its too subtle and it all got lost a bit. Anyway, Thanks for the kind words and for looking. Cheers, Matt

Thanks Guys. Quick update. Wear and chipping. Citadel Boltgun Metal stippled on with a old brush cut down to about 1/8" Oil stains. Black and Brown oil paint, thinned down. Applied as dots and then streaks with an old fan brush. Getting closer to the end. Cheers, Matt

It probably depends on exactly what you are looking for and what your definition of 'accurate' is. Some folks will consider 'detailed' as part of 'accurate'. In addition, not all marks are represented by multiple manufacturers, so if you really want a Mk XIV in an out of the box styrene kit, then Academy is your only choice, and you'll have to live with the various issues. Here's my 2c based on what I've actually held in my hand and actually compared to pictures and drawings Airfix kits are generally the most accurate in overall shape, although they give up some in terms of detail to their

Exactly. I always paint mine the underside colour 'cos I'm too lazy take the extra time to mask and paint separately.

This is a topic that get discussed in the Props section quite a bit for both Spitfires and Hurricanes. If I recall, the last discussion lent towards the factory being Interior Grey/Green for the wells and door inside faces, and Aluminium for the legs and wheels. After that, repaints at Squadron or MU level (and early Spitfire undersides changed colour a lot leading up to the BoB) quite probably painted the wells and doors the underside colour and possibly the legs and wheels in certain cases as well. Without photographic evidence to the contrary for your particular subject, any combination o

Very interesting. I have a couple of 1/32 and 1/24th Spitfire projects coming up in the pipeline for later this year and I plan on masking and painting the markings rather than using decals. I'm usually okay making my own masks for Roundels and Flashes, but the Squadron codes are trickier and the serials a pain. Any plans for generic codes and serials letter/number packs rather than for specific machines ? Cheers, Matt

For some reason, Decals are the bane of my modeling existence. No matter what I do they always fight me something cruel. For this build I'm using a set from Aeromaster, and even these fought me. They went on fine. Nice and flat, no tears, no wrinkles, but even after 2 shots of Micro Sol they still sat there like vinyl stickers, no attempt to nestle down into the details. By contrast, I had cut the gun port patches from the kit decals (from the tail fin stripes) and these were settling down fine. After 4 separate coats of Solvaset you could just start to make out the panel lines. As I didn'

Quick update. Paint work is finished. Next stop, a gloss coat and then decals. Cheers, Matt

After letting the underside dry nicely we can move on to the upper colours. The AeroMaster paint diagram for this subject indicates that the demarcation on the nose should be lower down on the chin rather than the panel line. The only photo I can find of this subject is a little grainy and from a distance but it looks like it was painted on the panel line to me, so thats what I went with. Again, I was just noodling around trying for a patchy weathered look. AS with the undersides, about 4 shades of the base colour followed by a very thin filter to tie it all together. Tamiya don't do a

I was able to grab a couple hours to start on the paint job. For this build I'm trying something a little different, using different shades from dark through light in more of an overall disruptive 'patchy' look than the more usually panel lines and highlights. The base coat was about 90% Tamiya Sky and 10% Tamiya Nato Black. The shading was 3-4 shades of Tamiya Sky and Sky/White mixes followed by a very very thin filter of straight Sky to blend it in a bit. Its probably a little more overdone that I was looking for, but this should tone down more with the gloss and flat coats. I also tr

Moving rapidly along, as these Tamiya Spits have a tendency to do, pretty much ready for paint, just needs a final sanding and clean up. I had some grief with the rear canopy, as the kit item split right in half removing it from the sprue. Fortunately, I had some left over Vac canopies that I didn't use this part from, so I was able to cut a replacement from those. I like to give my Spitfires a little personality, and part of that is cutting the tail wheel and fitting it back at an angle as if the aircraft was swung to rest. I drill through the kit part from below, cut the wheel off, CA

Thanks Guys. Small update. Seat is done and cockpit is together. A few small touchups and it will be ready to go. The Eduard rudder pedals didn't go together well, and to be honest, you can't see them when everything is together and canopy is on, so skipping those. Cheers Matt

Spitfire Mk II P7531 coded L.Z I Flown with 421 Flight. Tamiya 1/48th Mk I with Eduard Colour Zoom set, Ultracast Prop, seat and exhausts, Aeromaster decals. This is going to be a quick and fun build. Typical Tamiya and recent generation Eduard, everything goes together pretty quickly. Interior parts. Although the Eduard etch is coloured, I chose to repaint them as Interior Green colour was off and looked grainy. Fuselage Interiors. Rather than mess around with washes, I did some post shading with highly thinned acrylics in shades of browns and blacks. Unfortunately the flash has was

Sometimes, no matter how much you try, they are just wrinkled. I had one set do this to me. This was after may days poking and slitting and many many applications of various setting solutions. I never did figure out why it went like this. The best I could guess at was that I put them down into a puddle of solution and I suspect that may have left them slightly deformed and with many airpockets as they evaporated. I pulled them off with tape and put down a fresh set. Cheers, Matt

Ultracast do the blunt Rotol Spinner seen on the Mk II and comes with the blister for the Coffman starter. http://www.ultracast.ca/products/48/113/default.htm Depending on which subject you were thinking of, I'm never going to use QJ.W / N3029 (Mk I) and DL.M/ P8194 (Mk II) from that sheet if you want them. Cheers, Matt