Revell 1/48 Spitfire

[Big-Red-Bull]

Hey guys, This is my first attempt at airbrushing,washing, ect. Its not up to par with the work i see on the forum, but im proud of it. Im still learning techniques to make the models realistic, So any help would be apreciated! Dont be bashful as i want my work to improve with each kit i build.

Thanks Tom

[Jay Chladek]

Well, the Dark Earth color might be a little too light as it looks more tan than dark, but overall it seems to look fine. It could just be an artifact of the picture too as for all I know, in person the color might look just fine. The weathering I like as it seems to be just about right, not too heavy, not too light. One thing you might consider adding would be some black pastel streaks just behind the gun casing discharge chutes on the bottom of the wings. The chute openings themselves could also be colored to be completely black since they are totally open. Only other paint item I see is the gear struts themselves I believe should be a metallic color, not blue like the bottom of the plane (but that could be a picture artifact as well). I see you've done it as Douglas Bader's bird, very nice!

The decal application looks pretty good except the red squares should be right on the front of the wings, not above. They are red pieces of tape that armorers apply to the guns to indicate they are armed. The tape is actually there to keep the gun barrels from freezing as the RAF did not use gun heaters (but they are applied once the guns are fully loaded so the pilot can tell at a glance when he goes out to the plane). Once the guns fire, the tape breaks and the first few rounds heat up the gun barrels nice and well for the next few shots. One thing you could do if you can get the decal red squares off is to use the dimensions of one decal to make new squares out of Tamiya tape, paint them red and put them on the wings in the proper spots. You could also use a pin vise to open up holes in the wings for the gun ports so that the tape would fit over a slight recess.

I would say overall though if this is an OOB build of the old Revell tooling 1/48 Spitfire, you've done a cracking good job. The canopy is clean, alignment looks good and the subject is very pleasing to the eye. Some things in that kit can't really be corrected easily (such as the inverted gull shape on the wing trailing edge near the fuselage), but build it well, paint it well and you've got a nice looking model as a result. Congratulations.

[Fly-n-hi]

If this is your first airbrushing attempt I'd say it looks like you're off to a really good start. Nice job.

One thing I would say is don't settle. For example, in the second pic, I see that there are some light spots in the OD paint on the wings. I'd say go back over those spots with some OD even though it means that you have to mix paint, wait for it to dry and clean the airbrush again. What I mean is don't settle just because you want to get the kit done sooner or because you want to get to the decaling (the fun parts) sooner. You won't regret putting the extra time into it.

There are a couple of areas where the masking could have been a little tighter, too. In those cases don't be afraid to touch them up. Since you are using an airbrush now you can spray some tight lines. Practice on an old kit or a piece of cardboard if you aren't comfortable.

You don't need to drive yourself crazy but correct some of the more glaring mistakes as soon as you see them. You'll be glad you did.

[Big-Red-Bull]

Thanks very much for the input on the spit. Both of you guys helped alot. It is a OOB build and i went by the inst. as far as paint went. Im going to have to start using referancing, on the full scale planes. Example, plans called for sky blue bottom, so i used velero sky blue. as for the red gun covers that was just a dumb mistake on my part. Im going to try to do the things yall suggest and repost. I hope i can get the red decals off as they have Future and a matte coat over them. But i thank you for the critiques as it is very helpful.

Tom

[toniosky]

Nice one Tom Looks very good for the first time you use your airbrush. On your next project, try to fill the gaps between big parts with putty, like the 2 wing halves for example. You can use putty or cyano gel. That's the part I dont like about modelling - filling gaps- but that really makes a difference.

Cheers,

Antoine