Thread: Finished - my topical Spitfire

Evening all!

At last i've finished off my Tamiya Supermarine MK 5b Tropical. I got it as a Christmas present from the 'rents back home and was initially unsure about the plane (usually build armour) but even more so with the colour. I thought if i were to build a Spitfire, i'd want the green/brown camo pattern. But in fact this tropical colour combination grew on me. Thanks to Stone aka Steve, i was able to get the right colours for it.

Tamiya models are always pretty straight forward and this was no exception. I spent a while painting the cockpit adding details meticulously only to notice now that you can barely see it. But at least i feel better knowing i din't cut any corners. The plane went together like a dream thank God because i feared having to use filler for all those gaps along the fuselage.

Thanks to my airbrush and Tamiya masking tape being the best thing after Chocolate Hob-Nobs, the paint and camo went down pretty well. I did struggle with masking the canopy. I tried the technique where i cover the canopy then cut out the required shape. However, i scratched the canopy to **** but luckily had a spare in the box for a different Spitfire version. With everything going relatively smoothly, i came across my first cock-up - decals!!! I used some decal fix solution but with all the raised edges on the wing, the RAF symbols didn't sit down too well. On the underside of the wing, you can see where a piece of a decal ripped off in my tweezers. Those where the only issues really.

As for weathering. i didn't want it to be too dirty like my armour. I added two washes and used some pigment to simunlate a little exhaust dirt as well as a little dirt that had built up over time on and under the wings and along the fuselage.

I've posted a few pics here so i hiop you'll enjoy them. In fact I really did like building this and i'm relatively happy with the outcome especially considering this is the FIRST EVER plane i've built.

If Patrick sees this, yes, the Mossie is comong along but at snails pace. I've got nowhere to put it when it's done until i move house soon :))))

Cheers

Paul

PS, sorry about the quality of the pics, the camera really doesn't do the Spit much justice like my other models... again :))

Looks great, shame about the decals though man, it sucks when that happens...

Its a nice 'un!

Mike

Cheers Mike

Yeah, it's a pain in the **** when the decals rip especially when i don't have any others :) Thanks for the compliments mate :)

Paul

Paul this is beautiful very nice paint job indeed, have to say you plane guys are making me want to try something like this, i love it keep up the good work sir.
scott

Stunning mate!

I have a particular soft spot for the North Africa spits as my gnand dad was a mac on them during WW2 and then over to Sisily with the SAAF.

Interesting how the air filter ,although extremely ugly by spit standards, extended the engine'slife from a handfull of hours to a few hunderd hours in the sand!

Well done

Theuns

Nice Spit, I'm glad (and relieved) that those colours have come out looking really good.The Azure underside is spot on. Theuns there is a theory involving all sorts of convoluted mis-painting of serials (BR for ER I think) and altered codes etc that AN-V came to the Canadians via one of the South African squadrons.
More aircraft ,including Mossie,to come I hope.
A tip for next time is you can make a good roundel blue (to touch up decals) by adding a little of a light blue colour to black and fiddling with the ratios. I know 'cos I've done exactly the same thing getting those underside decals to conform!
Cheers
Steve

Thanks lads!

Actually Scott I'm not a plane guy as it's my first one. I've done this Spitfire, will finish my Mossie sometime in the future but will focus on armour. But i did enjoy making the plane and there's a nice rewarding feeling once having completed a plane.

Theuns, that's interesting stuff. I opted for the ugly air filter just ebcause for my eyes it was unusual :) But yeah, it's amazing how it extended the engine's life :) What i mainly like about this Spit is the blue colour on the underside. unsusal but nice :)

Cheers

Paul

Cheers Steve and again thanks for your help. I'll give that ago next time when adding the decals on the underside.

Cheers

Paul

Cheers Patrick.

I used oils for the washes and it worked out quite well... at least in my opinion :) For the heavy grit between panels, i added a little more oil to the thinners than i usually would do for tanks. Then i cleaned off the excess with a tissue lightly dipped in enamel thinners. Surprisingly, i didn't add much to the underside because the pre-shading worked out better than i had hoped.

Paul