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Hey all.

I've been off the grid for quite some time as far as ARC is concerned. That's because I have taken on some new responsibilities at work, and my schedule for the last 3 months has been very hectic. It is finally slowing down, and I have some time to build.

Here's what I will be doing first:

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ALF

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This kit definitely shows its age. One thing I've never liked with this generation of Revell kits is the paint instructions. I have to clip this out and keep it handy throughout the build.

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Can you say FLASH?! There is flash all over this. Look at the main underwing part.

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The fit is also pretty terrible. Luckily I will be buttoning up the fuselage and not showing off this engine. It would require major work to get it looking OK.

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Great big gaps. Locator holes that needed to be scrubbed out with a knife.

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At least this part will hold the prop on.

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ALF

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More flash to contend with. Cockpit parts. I had to have a really close look at the instructions to know what to chop off, and what to keep, on many of these parts.

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Not the greatest detail on the seat, but good enough for my purposes. This is a warm-up build for a few other Spits that I have in mind.

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I started this kit on May 11th. Here is what it looked like out my window on that day. Even now summer is a long way off; we have had some cool, rainy weather for weeks now. Lucky for my hobby, it means that I wasn't wasting my non-working time doing silly things like gardening or cycling... :woot.gif:

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Even more flash. I used Tamiya acrylic cockpit green for these parts. More soon, tomorrow.

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ALF

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Glad you finally got a chance to join in. I had thought you were doing the newer Revell 1/32 Spitfire but apparently you're doing the classic kit. I haven't tried any of those - it'll be interesting to watch your progress.

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Glad you finally got a chance to join in. I had thought you were doing the newer Revell 1/32 Spitfire but apparently you're doing the classic kit. I haven't tried any of those - it'll be interesting to watch your progress.

I couldn't let you down, Nick.

Yup, the "classic" kit (code for old and not so great any more). :rolleyes:

ALF

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Photobucket is finally working for me again, after an outage of a couple days.

Some Tamiya cockpit green. TLAR to me. In retrospect, I have realized I should have painted the green on the inside of the lower wing half. It is visible after the whole thing is buttoned up.

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Gotta love that decal for the instruments. Low workload!

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Details on the side walls

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This old kit needed a lot of clamping and taping.

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ALF

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This underside will need some filler.

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I tried my technique of gluing the top halves of the wings to the fuselage before installing the lower wing part. Didn't work so well with this kit. One reason is that the surface where the upper wing halves mate with the fuselage is quite thin, and it's hard to get perfectly aligned. Second reason is that the dihedral is hard to get right. Another reason is that the lower halves did not mate well with the upper halves either. That doesn't mean that I will stop doing it this way; only that I won't do it with a similar kit in the future.

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Filler required anyway! :bandhead2:

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ALF

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Painting time. I used Tamiya acrylics over a Tamiya light grey primer coat. One thing I did wrong was over-thinning the brown. The Johnson's medical tape trick that my good buddy AX_365 taught me did not work well; this tape lifted up the brown (Dark Earth). I should have reduced its adherence by applying to jeans a couple times before installing, and I should not have over-thinned the paint.

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For the green, I used JA Green.

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Results soon! Now, I have to watch the Penguins win the Stanley Cup.

ALF

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Well...this is all unfortunate! Take solace in the fact that people who were building this kit when it was first issued had the same problems. Doesn't make it any better but you're not alone. The laying of the strip on the pants is a must to remove some of the extra adhesive. Only problem for me is that I spend more time trying to remove Golden Retriever hair from the tape than it takes to mask the plane. :deadhorse1:

Keep it up, chum. Repeat to yourself, "Silk purse...silk purse...silk purse..."

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Well...this is all unfortunate! Take solace in the fact that people who were building this kit when it was first issued had the same problems. Doesn't make it any better but you're not alone. The laying of the strip on the pants is a must to remove some of the extra adhesive. Only problem for me is that I spend more time trying to remove Golden Retriever hair from the tape than it takes to mask the plane. :deadhorse1:/>

Keep it up, chum. Repeat to yourself, "Silk purse...silk purse...silk purse..."

As usual, you're quite correct. I do remember you mentioning this critical step to me. I must have been distracted by the little Yorkie taking off with my slippers again... :rolleyes:

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

Nick, I do use Tamiya tape quite a bit, and it is very good for having the perfect adhesive. What I like about the 3M medical tape is that when cut into thin strips, it is quite malleable, and makes corners very nicely. For wavy camo patterns like the Spit, it's a god-send. As long as you remember to remove some of the tackiness! :bandhead2:

ALF

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Here's the green.

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Now, for the removal of the tape. You have already heard some of what happened with the lifting of the paint; it's noticeable, but a bit minor.

I did some touch-ups with a brush, to both the red and green. Looks kind of like a weathered WWII paint job... that's my story, anyway, if anybody asks! :woot.gif:

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Partway through touch-ups. Purists: look away! Now, it's just us girls... here is a problem I discovered. I failed to paint the inside surface of the lower wing. Shows a bit, but not much, especially when it's all finished with canopies installed.

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Very light application of a silver sharpie here and there, especially on the left wing root area. Also did some black dry-brushing along the engine exhaust pathways.

Clear coat applied.

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That's all for now. As it starts to take shape, I remember just how much I LOVE Spitfires. Their shape. Their colours. Everything about them.

ALF

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Close to the end of this one. It has been a good learning experience for me; I hadn't done a Spit in quite a long time. My next one will be better (at least that's what I keep telling myself). :woot.gif:

Something I really love about this kit are the decals for the gun port tape. There are two options: one with holes (i.e. black dots), and the other without (i.e. freshly-applied tape over gun ports).

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There is slight silvering here and there with these decals.

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The instructions show an optional yellow or grey diamond on the upper left wing. I picked yellow, because I liked the look of it. It is the first time I've ever noticed such a marking, but it looks cool. Accurate? No clue.

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Second coat of Future. Ready for dull coat.

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ALF

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Dull coat applied. Almost done now. I use Testors rattle cans for this.

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Time for the HF radio antenna. I used a little dab of crazy glue at each end to hold it. Waited until the rear one set before stretching it to attach the front, then chopped off the excess length. Not perfect, but works.

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And, we're done! This is a good 1-foot model. Doesn't pass close scrutiny, but looks a lot like a Spit. Here is a question for Spitfire experts. I know that DW-K is from 610 Squadron. I also think that those are the markings from the very first Spit I ever saw in person. It was in 1973, at our Canadian base in Germany (Baden-Soellingen). Is it possible that a variant with DW-K markings would have been there in the mid 70s? I have a dusty old photo somewhere, but it's buried away in an album I can't get at easily. Anyone know?

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Thanks for following along!

ALF

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OK, Purists - stop reading this thread!

For those who would like to learn from my mistakes, here are some things I did wrong, and would have done differently on a future kit. Given that this is the first of a few for this GB, I chose the kit I like the least to practise on (this one).

In the first pic, you can see that I have made a mistake with the black walkway line on the right wing. On this Mark of Spit, it should go all the way to the wing root. When I applied the decals to the left wing (under the roundel, of course), there was a small gap between the two segments of the line. On the right wing, the black lines overlapped under the roundel, which should have been a red flag to me. I remember dimly thinking that the line was different on the right wing, but when I applied the decals a few days later, I had forgotten that little tidbit.

You'll also note that the serial number on the left rear fuselage (N3029) is incorrectly applied. It should be underneath the DW.

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The controls all came poseable on this kit. They are supposed to be installed with no glue, but I glued them in position. One area I got wrong is the elevators. They should droop a lot more. Also, the ailerons are slightly off, but that only shows underneath (where nobody is allowed to look!). The silvering on the decals is pretty bad. Perhaps I should have used more setting solution; I think it was glossy enough prior to application. Sigh.

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The decal instructions showed the door decal on top of the DW. I suspect that is incorrect. I think it should have gone on the inside of the cockpit, not over top of the DW.

Another problem is the red decals for the gun ports. Notice how the roundel covers them on each wing. I think the red should slightly overlap on top of the roundel; they would have applied the tape over top multiple times, leading to overlap on top of the roundel.

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The canopy slides if properly glued in place. I made it permanently stuck, so I wouldn't lose it if it got loose.

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The tailwheel is a weak part in this kit. I managed to bend it multiple times, and finally ended up snapping it off. To remedy the situation, I glued a bunch of sprue bits in place, but got lazy and didn't even trim off the part number on one of them. I like to call this an Easter Egg; it is my little treasure to be found by those who care to look hard enough. I also had a really hard time painting the tire vs rim demarcation. The kit moulding is so poor that they kind of blend into each other. I just gave up and free-handed all of them. Don't look too closely at any of the wheels.

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I already mentioned forgetting to paint the cockpit bottom on the lower wing part. The other observation is that there is probably supposed to be a mirror on the windscreen, but I didn't add one.

Hopefully, those wishing to build good Spits can learn from my corner-cutting. I am really impressed with some of the models I'm seeing in this GB! :thumbsup:/>

ALF

Edited by ALF18
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ALF,

It's done and it looks like a Spitfire and that's all that matters. Excrement occurs (that's the PC way of saying **** happens!) and if life hands you a turdburger at least make sure it's on your favourite type of bun. I know you won't make the same errors on your next Spitfire build - the one I'm going to check right now!

Mike

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