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Primed with Tamiya light grey primer. I painted the Sky loop around the rear fuselage, and masked it off. Then I painted the yellow bands at the leading edges of the outboard wings. After masking those, I sprayed the grey camouflage areas. After it dried, I free-handed with the airbrush to apply the green camouflage. Here's what it looks like before removing the tape:

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And after the tape is off. Not too bad so far. One thing I liked about this scheme is it has a different shape to the grey and green areas from most Spitfires.

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ALF

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Nice one

Martin H

Thanks Martin!

Now it's time to build the exhaust stacks. They come in several pieces. At first I took great care not to mix up the order of the 3 sub-assemblies, worried that they might not be put together in the right order.

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Then I realized that they only go together one way, due to the clever locator pins. This is not the right order!

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This IS the right order. Impossible to get this wrong. I like it! :thumbsup:

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Then I looked at the openings for the exhausts. This side looked a bit problematic. Sure enough, after some dry-fitting, I realized the pins would not seat into the engine properly, not allowing the exhausts to sit correctly.

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Solution? Chop off the pins on the right-side exhausts. The left side ones were OK with the two front pins. I painted them XF-53 (metallic grey), then dry-brushed with black and some red-brown. In-service exhausts were not rusted like present-day Spits' exhausts, but they had somewhat of a reddish hue to them at times.

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More soon! Thanks for stopping by.

ALF

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Here it is with some touchups done, and the tape removed.

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The prop is a multi-part affair. The kit includes both the Mk I and Mk V props. I sprayed the spinner Tamiya Sky.

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Exhausts installed. I have done some very light weathering; it consists of some silver dry-brushing of the fasteners around some panels (engine, etc).

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Time for decals. Thanks to my 1/32 build, I am paying close attention to the demarcation lines for the walkways. This particular scheme is the RCAF 401 Squadron one; some of the walkway markings differ between these versions. Piece of cake... NOT!

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Here is the problem. I installed the wing fences already, and the walkway lines should have gone under them. :bandhead2:

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I measured and trimmed the lines, making them into several pieces. Also, there is a problem with the wheels-up indicators that stick up just outboard of the fences. The decal must be cut to allow it to sit in that area.

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Not perfect, but at least it's sort of OK.

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Turned the beast over, and started doing the bottom decals. This part of the build will not see the light of day. You can see the total absence of landing gear well detail here. I never sweat that.

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Here's the bottom after decals are applied to it.

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More soon!

ALF

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With all that cutting and surgery ALF you should be a qualified Doctor by now :lol: ! Seriously though nice work and great job on fixing and documenting the kits fit issues. Your Spit is really looking great. Home stretch now!

:cheers:

Don.

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With all that cutting and surgery ALF you should be a qualified Doctor by now :lol:/> ! Seriously though nice work and great job on fixing and documenting the kits fit issues. Your Spit is really looking great. Home stretch now!

:cheers:/>

Don.

:wub:

Thanks Don!

Actually, I went to the Gene Simmons school: Doctor of Love... :lol:

It is a bit of an effort, but this kit is coming along better. Lots of TLC required. Hopefully some folks will learn from this what mistakes not to make.

This is one area where decaling order is important. I applied the "all versions" decals (like this W/T decal, whatever it means) first. After that goes the serial number in black, then last goes the YO in Sky. On my 1/32 build, this is one error I made, that resulted in the black serial being (incorrectly) on top of the Sky letters. Also note how the Sky colour (Tamiya acrylic) is fairly close to that of the decals. Happy about that.

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Just about done with decals.

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Now to look at the red tape over the gun ports. The decals are nice, but seem quite small to me. I think I will paint a bit of red over top of them.

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Next step a Future coat, followed by dull coat.

ALF

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Dull coat (Testors spray can) applied.

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You can see where I enlarged the red patches with paint. Next steps are the clear parts and the HF radio antenna wire.

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ALF

Edited by ALF18
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I just added the HF radio wire, and I'm calling this one done. Thanks to all who stopped by to comment.

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Here it is beside a 1/32 CF-18B. They are almost the same size in the two different scales.

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ALF

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Nicely done. Are you still planning on doing the Tamiya 1/32? Only a little over a month till the end of the GB....

Nick

Events have kind of overtaken me this summer... not sure, Nick!

I want to take my time on that kit, and rushing to get it done is not a good idea. In less than 3 weeks (on the 15th of August) I start teaching classes again; modelling time will not be my priority, unfortunately. I will have a close look at the one you're building, though. It's looking gorgeous.

ALF

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As much as I'd love another Spit for the GB I'd have to say you should hold off. It's such a nice kit that it would be a shame to blast through, especially if the second half out August is already spoken for. Which reminds me I haven't update my build thread in a while....

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As much as I'd love another Spit for the GB I'd have to say you should hold off. It's such a nice kit that it would be a shame to blast through, especially if the second half out August is already spoken for. Which reminds me I haven't update my build thread in a while....

Exactly my thoughts. I want to do that kit justice.

Wonderful job ALF! Your Spit looks just great :thumbsup:/> ! Thanks for the build blog...it will come in handy down the road.

:cheers:/>

Thanks Don! I like the look of this one on my shelf.

ALF

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