1/32 Tamiya Spitfire Mk XVIe with Quinta Studios cockpit decals and Above and Below decals

[ALF18]

Hey folks

After finishing my other 1/32 Tamiya Spit (the Mk IX kit) for my friend, I started my own, hoping to apply a few little lessons I learned and make it a faster build. This kit is still a huge challenge! It has so many tiny, detailed, parts, and so many options to pose panels open (that are held closed by tiny magnets).

This time the cockpit was easier because the kit part numbers actually matched the instructions. The other kit was a Mk IX, while the Quinta decals are Mk XVI. The two cockpits are almost identical, so the decals worked fine for both.

I'm going to skip ahead show the cockpit already glued into the right fuselage half. One huge difference with this Mark is the portion behind the seat. The large fuel tank, which I have painted cockpit green, is actually invisible inside the cockpit.

I love how the parts of the cockpit fit so beautifully together, and it fits positively into place on the fuselage side wall. No guessing, fiddling, or fixing required with this Tamiya kit.

[ALF18]

I decided not to have any of the control surfaces moveable. Those parts are so fiddly, and I don't go around changing control surface positions on the shelf. Made it much faster to put it all together. Flaps are up, as the gurus at Brit Modeller have made clear.

Next up, the engine. I can't get over the detail! I have sought legal advice to see if it would be a crime to have it hidden behind permanently glued-shut panels, instead of having them removable like the kit allows, with magnets to hold them in place.

 

[ALF18]

I never learn my lessons on some kits. Having not intended to display the engine, I should have simply ommitted it, and glued the frames and cowlings in place but n-o-o-o... I had to do the whole thing.

Here it is installed.

I ordered some decals from Above and Below Decals (which is the one who took over the business from CamMilAir). The roundels were super thick in the kit, and Andrew's decals are nice and thin. I chose the Buzz Beurling sheet.

 

[ALF18]

One trick to these decals is that the carrier film covers the whole sheet, so it's necessary to trim very close to the decal itself.

 

 

 

[ALF18]

I'm calling this one done. Not a masterpiece, but a good 3-footer next to the other (Hasegawa) Spit.

[phantom]

Looks great.

[ALF18]

On 7/20/2024 at 3:16 PM, phantom said:

Looks great.

Thanks Shawn! Always nice to hear from you.

ALF