nickdanger

Engine is just about done. What amazing engineering. Some people will add wiring but for me that would be gilding the lily.

Some subassembly construction before painting In the spray booth Building the parts up With a little detail painting and future for gloss Starting to look like a Merlin

Wow! That is a great looking Spitfire. I really like the overpainted roundels. The flat finish and weathering really brought them out.

Time to begin the Merlin: A model in itself.

It's time to cross the wing root hurdle. These are just dry fit pictures but I can say that hands down this kit is the best fit of any Spitfire at any scale that I've done. I've built them in 1/72, 1/48, and 1/32 and done Airfix, Academy, Tamiya, Hasegawa, ICM, Hobbyboss, and Eduard. Look at that wing root join ! No rubber bands or weights or clamps Even the underside join (which can be treacherous) is bang on (sorry - little out of focus) Love this kit. Yes it's pricey but wow, the quality just shines through.

You're brave putting the pitot tube on before everything is all done ! I always seem to snap off antennas and such if they aren't the very last thing I do.

You are all about the big classic kits. Where are you going to keep all these behemoths? Or will they get blown up too?

More axles and PE hinges for the horizontal stabilizers: Hanging nicely: Gear bays in progress: Painted: Wings are coming together

Nice recovery on the dorsal light. Looks bang on. Like the idea of the captured Spit - curious how it will turn out. Was the camo redone or just the roundels? I have a strange unwritten rule that I don't build any "bad guy" planes. Yes, I know, it depends which side you're on, but for me I just would feel uncomfortable putting swastikas or hinamarus on something I built. Soviet stars are a little different since they were good guys until they weren't. So WWII Soviet planes are ok for me to do but haven't done a Cold War plane. Nevertheless, there are so many great models out there of Luftw

The vertical stabilizer is poseable due to some interior metal parts and fancy engineering. Not too tricky but delicate work nevertheless. Makes for a nice look when added to the fuselage

Shame to hide all that awesome detail but next step is closing up the fuselage: Just completed the first step that includes ploy-caps which allows the final model to be flexibly displayed. Really speaks to the top-notch engineering that Tamiya built into this kit.

Wow, I'm loving this kit. Really top notch engineering makes it a super detailed yet very straightforward build. Cockpit completes:

They seem big but it looks like they're correct. Apparently there was a miscommunication about marking sizes between bomber and fighter squadrons....

He's back ! Nice progress.

@Tomcat - Tell me about it. What an insanely great kit. Painted the belt details but didn't install yet. First did a quick shadow wash on the cockpit parts.

@Thommo - Made little divots in the underside of the top wing and attached all the wires. Predrilled the bottom wing with holes all the way through. Mated the top and bottom wings. Then pulled the EZ-line through, gave it a dab of CA, and trimmed and painted the repair. All documented in horrible detail here ;)

Alcohol. I'm not kidding. I almost always enjoy some beer and/or wine after work and so I've have had a chance to unwind before starting in on the night's modeling. After a couple drinks you don't sweat all the small stuff that slows you down. Not exactly the right color? Whatever ! Decal slightly askew? Who cares ?!? Lost some panel or rivet detail? Bah !

Thanks Martin. Cockpit is just about ready to go together (just dry-fitted in the pics). I'm thinking this will be a "factory fresh" build but nevertheless I'll do a oil wash to bring out some shadows before I assemble. Got the PE harness painted so next up will be picking out details and installing

Why not use Tamiya tape? I've never had any problem with it pulling up even 10 minute old paint.

On a bit of a stay-cation so getting extra time in on modeling. Added some future to cockpit parts and banged out some detail painting. Especially happy with the metal bands on the oxygen bottles.

I second EZ-Line. No way I could've pulled off this without it: Very easy to work with.

Incremental progress on cockpit

Airbrush is back up and running. Painted most of the interior green parts: Started in on the detail panting and reverse mounted decals for the instrument panel.

Cockpit parts are preshaded. Been a bit slow off of the blocks due to hectic work schedule and airbrush failure. Went to the graphics supply store today so should be up and running this evening.

I know the one you're talking about. I like the version you did better. The other, bigger one looks borderline goofy. I also noticed that you had your Aces of Spades upside down and I thought that you had made a mistake. But it turns out I did when I built my Grey Nurse with the cards facing upright (below).