Matt

This is the only link I have in my bookmarks from when I built mine. http://www.scottishaviation.com/Photos/default.htm There are probably some shots on Airliners.net as well. Cheers, Matt

Its always the way. The 'quick' projects end up hitting snags that turn them into a headache. On this build the serials drove me nuts. I knew I was going to have to cut them by hand from masking tape. That turned into a complete nightmare. I'de draw them out on the tape, cut away, and either ballock up the cut, or find them badly scaled. I think I must have done it 4 or 5 times and I still wasn't happy with the masks. In the end, I had a chat with a mate who's a CAD engineer. We drew them in his CAD app. and then scaled them around until they fit. Once we had them right, he printed me off a

Oh great, just after I had convinced myself to build something 'not a Spitfire' for a change .... Count me in. I have at least 3 ideas circling around. Cheers, Matt

Squadron codes are done. This wasn't as bad as I thought it could be, but didn't go as well as it could have done. I think if I did this again I would pay for some professionally cut masks. The basic steps were to draw out the letters and ink them in, then lay Tamiya tape over the top, trace the letters, transfer the tape to a cutting board then cut the masks. The problem I had was that the 70mm Tamiya tape was large enough and transparent enough, but after cutting out, it was far too flimsy, it was almost impossible to get the mask onto the fuselage straight. In the end I had to use multi

Thanks Randy, although it looks better at a distance and doesn't stand up to close scrutiny. I was surprised how well it went together. I was expecting to have to fight it with a bucket of bondo, but it really went together pretty easily. It reminds of the Airfix Lanc a bit. Despite being an aging kit and lacking in detail in some areas, it goes together pretty easily all things considered, and just plain looks right when its done. If I decided to build another one in this scale, I think I'de stick with the Airfix rather than the Trumpeter versions. Thanks. I wasn't able to hold the camera

I find Tamiya acylics are the most forgiving and easiest to work with. You can spray them quite thick for coverage (eg, for white gear bays), or thin them out and work in quite fine post shading with very low pressures. Thinned with Tamiya thinner I get nary a clog. You don't have to be overly precise with paint/thinner ratios, and you can dial in with air pressure quite easily. The big downside is that many colours have to be created using mixes. After that, for me, Xtracrylics and Polly Scale are neck and neck. I get a little less clogging with the Xtras, but I have to mail order them whil

Thanks for all the kind words. The decal sheet I have for this subject indicated that the fuselage was painted half black/half white as well. However, all the pictures I can find of 92nd Sqdn aircraft at this time clearly show the chin and rear fuselage are not painted half black, but at least half the carb intake is. In addition, the non-black colour looks too dark to be white and in tone is more likely to be sky. So, my 'take' here is that they went from a full sky underside, to painting just one wing in black up to the fuselage center line, but not forward or aft. I didn't get as much do

I've had a lot of good luck with Stoner Invisible Glass spray. Cheers, Matt

Its certainly the older Vb update to the even older Mk I, which, whilst they do have some detail issues, are still pretty good kits. I haven't seen that particular boxing, but my LHS has the older Mk I and Vb (Trop I think) on the shelf. (I was looking at them a few weeks ago as I quite fancy building a couple more) Cheers, Matt

There was an article on HS thats still around that touches on at least the Wasp based aircraft. http://hsfeatures.com/maltabluesse_1.htm The pictures there are clear to the point that there was some kind of repainting of the upper surfaces, and its a darker shade than the Azure undersides. What colour ? Well, there you get into guesswork and arguments aplenty. Beyond that there are a number of suggestions of 'Malta Blue' Spitfires outside of those flown off of the Wasp. Were they blue overall ? Just one of the camo colours replaced with a blue ? A thin blue overall which allowed the under

This has to be a first for me. A project that got shelved in disgust finally sees the light of day. I started this one soon after I got back into modelling. I originally thought I could be Mr Super-Detailer with it and started to scratch build an all new cockpit interior. Eventually my lack of talent and minimal reference material got the better of me and it got shelved in the 'someday' pile. After my techniques and references improved, I dug it back out, realized how badly I had done originally, and decided it was just too much work and shoved it back in the stash. Wind forward to the recen

How about re-creating a reality ,does that count ? Did that for the BoB group build a few years ago. Took a well know BoB photograph and built it Cheers, Matt

Thats what makes the Spitfire such fun, you can never say never. That particular build was PRXI PL775, which definitely appears to have the headrest. Good point on the harness though. I had thought they had come in earlier than that, so I SWAG'd it as ok for a later PR XI. Cheers, Matt

I admit I have a soft spot for ICM Spitfires. Whilst not Tamiya quality, with some care and attention (and a little Ultracast magic) they build up very nicely indeed. Having made a few of them now, I have some 'tricks' that help them to go together better. 1: Prepare for a tight fit. ICM Spits need a little care and attention to get a good seamless fit. Pretty much every mating surface needs a light sanding to remove any molding imperfections. This is especially true for the fuse halves and the upper/lower wing halves. I remove the locating pins and sand on a sheet of sandpaper on a flat sur

As Mickey says, its generally not a problem. I just use the round piece to hold the 4 parts together at the front (top, both sides and the chin) and add blanking plates for the exhaust to attach to from scrap styrene. I don't use the thin 'frame' parts, which can result in a bit of a gap between the chin and the sides, which has to be taken care of. I just attach the prop directly to the front of the nose, so I don't have to worry about a mounting setup there. Sure, you can't spin the prop and make appropriate Merlin engine noises, but then you don't get any 'droop' or gaps. "Here's one I p

I mix Tamiya and Xtracrylics all the time. Mostly Tamiya Black/White/Tans to base Xtracrylic colours to make shading changes for post shading. Having said that, I would still try it out on scrap first before committing to a work in progress. I have not tried using any of the Tamiya 'clear' colours in a mix, so if thats what you are thinking, then definitely need to test. Cheers, Matt

Mostly just plain tap water, sometimes with a little dish soap, sometimes a 50/50 mix with Windex (some acrylics can dry really quickly and can be a bear to get off). If you get really desperate, use Winsor Newton Acrylic brush cleaner. I wouldn't use it for everyday use, and you have to be careful as it will melt the laquer on the brush handles, but it will remove even the worst dried on Acrylic. Cleans out Airbrushes a treat as well. Cheers, Matt.

Not specifically, however, I've been trying to use different thinner/retarder combinations with Xtracrylics for the last couple of builds and I've found that, for me at least, they do not like liquid retarders much. They seem to suffer from surface tension issues, leading to the paint retreating into 'spots' rather than as a smooth coat, a bit like water on oil. Its not surface prep issues, I've even had the same issue on top of a Tamiya acrylic base coat. In the end I got the best results using the proper Xtracrylics thinners and not worrying about retarders. Other folks may have different e

As I have a shelf full of 'em I guess I should present one mans view on this one. First of, this is for the 1/48th versions. My opinions might be different if I was building in 1/72nd. Why do I build Tamiya MkI/MkVb's rather than Airfix Mk1/Vbs. ? Availability. I still prefer to head out to my local LHS and pick something from a shelf. I use mailorder/internet ordering less for my hobby purposes unless its something I need that my LHS doesn't carry. My LHS carries both Airfix and Tamiya, but I've yet to see the Airfix 1/48th Mk1 here, and the Vb hasn't been on the shelves for a long while.

I haven't used the Tamiya system specifically, but I've used Mig Pigments and chalk pastels, which are similar. You don't *have* to seal them if you aren't planning on touching the model much after they are applied. This is probably okay for final weathering and touchups. If you feel the need to seal, lay down your flat coat in very very light 'mist' coats, allowing them to tack up before the next pass. If you flood the clear on it will definitely interact with the pastels. You may still find that the flat coat tones down the effect you had somewhat. You can either apply a little more after,

To inject some additional data to the discussion. First off, I'm not an aero-engineer, I haven't got any plans, I don't have a real Lanc to measure, and so far all I've done is offer up the Airfix and Revell wings for comparison, but I've not measured them. Because of the concern over the outer plan diherdral, I did do some research when I got my Revell Lanc. Specifically, I went to the republished Lancaster Manual (A.P.2062A &C Vol 1). I can't speak for the accuracy of the data contained within, but here it is for the sake of discussion. Dihedral, outer plane, on datum.... 7 degrees D

Well, there's the obvious answer, which is to mask for the blue, re-apply the pre-shade over the gray and then apply the blue. Or you can post-shade (apply shading/tonal variety after applying each base colour) Cheers, Matt.

I suspect you are onto something with that. I use the same laptop, and pretty much always access ARC working from home via my cable provider, never had an issue with login. Yesterday I actually had to drag myself into the office, so I accessed ARC from the corporate network. Same laptop, browser, cookie jar etc, but to your end it would have come up as a different IP. Had to login the first time, then I was fine all day. Back home this morning, back on my usual connection, had to log in again first thing. Hope this Helps, Matt

Like most 1/48th Spits, the cockpit can use an Eduard PE set, either the Zoom or the Full PE, and an Ultracast seat. Assuming you don't have any short-shot parts that must be replaced, when I build ICM IXs I nearly always order Ultracast Spinner/Prop, Wheels and Exhausts. If you are doing an open door, the Ultracast doors are nice. Ultracast also do replacement cannon bay covers and flight control surfaces. I would rate those as 'nice to have' unless you need a specific style of cannon bay cover that isn't in your kit boxing, other wise you'll end up with a $10 kit and $70 of aftermarket. If

Ditto, which I came to realise *after* I painted the bodies. Oh well, brush painting works just as well.