BoB Group Build - Andrew's 1/72 Airfix Spitfire and 109 'Dogfight Doubles'

[adt70hk]

That's a sweet looking "emil"! For a first attempt I would venture to say you "Nailed" it Andy. Looking forward to seeing this one completed. Rick H.

Thanks Rick, much appreciated. Although I'd have a word with your optician if I was you

ATB

Andrew

 

[rtfoe]

Hi Andrew, I just had a look through your build and well done on your first try... AB and all.

Practise on the canopy and approach it the next time like you have done with the camo masking. The peeling you're experiencing is because of the nature of acrylics as they dry like a rubbery skin. To combat that I either immediately remove the masking after spraying or run a sharp blade over the edges of the mask when paint is cured before removing the mask. Don't lift it but fold as you pull like you do with a large carpet. This action avoids lifting the paint from the frames.
The other trick is not to have too heavy a coat of paint on canopies and to avoid the transparent look of the frames is to apply 3 thin coats of paint...black, primer and top coat.
Have you tried dipping the clear canopies in Future before painting? It helps clear scratches or blemishes.

Also I won't worry about the MGs as if I can recall they were fitted staggered because of the breech and magazine mounts.

Good bit of scratchery on the exhaust and as Ralph has said I admire your tenacity to stick with it and correct failures.

Cheers,
Richard

 

[Tim Marlow]

Nice job on these Andrew. Both are coming out really well, with sharp jobs on the camo. The transfers (my favourite bit of an aircraft build) will bring them to life.

 

[adt70hk]

Hi Andrew, I just had a look through your build and well done on your first try... AB and all.

Practise on the canopy and approach it the next time like you have done with the camo masking. The peeling you're experiencing is because of the nature of acrylics as they dry like a rubbery skin. To combat that I either immediately remove the masking after spraying or run a sharp blade over the edges of the mask when paint is cured before removing the mask. Don't lift it but fold as you pull like you do with a large carpet. This action avoids lifting the paint from the frames.
The other trick is not to have too heavy a coat of paint on canopies and to avoid the transparent look of the frames is to apply 3 thin coats of paint...black, primer and top coat.
Have you tried dipping the clear canopies in Future before painting? It helps clear scratches or blemishes.

Also I won't worry about the MGs as if I can recall they were fitted staggered because of the breech and magazine mounts.

Good bit of scratchery on the exhaust and as Ralph has said I admire your tenacity to stick with it and correct failures.

Cheers,
Richard

Richard

Thank you very much for the very kinds words.

The idea of using a knife to cut the paint before lifting the mask occurred to me about 30 seconds after lifting the last piece and going &^%&$£&$! We live and learn. And thanks for the tip of black paint on the canopy as a base layer. I had struggled with the transparency of the plastic, so I'll give that a whirl on the next build.

Thanks for the info on the guns - I'll send a letter of apology now to Airfix for dissing their mould!

I am really pleased with the effect of the exhausts. As I said it's an affect I stumbled across years ago that I've been refining ever since. Sometimes it works better than others and this is definitely one of the better efforts. I might do a short thread on it some time.

As for 'Future' I've heard about it but never tried it, although I see it's now called Pledge Revive It Floor Gloss. How does the process actually work? Hold with tweezers in one corner, dip and out, let the excess run off and then put down somewhere to dry? Or is more involved. The Spit canopy as you will have seen is really very good to my eye but the 109 canopy could definitely have benefitted from it.

Thank you again,

Andrew

 

[adt70hk]

Nice job on these Andrew. Both are coming out really well, with sharp jobs on the camo. The transfers (my favourite bit of an aircraft build) will bring them to life.

Hi Tim

Thanks Tim. All in all whilst I fully recognise they are far from perfect, I'm pretty pleased with them. I've also started on the next wingy thing. I had the AB out for the varnish yesterday and so primed the innards of that one at the same time.

And yes you're right about the decals, I get the same feeling with AFVs when the decals go on.

Thanks again.

Andrew

 

[Deleted member 4539]

Coming along well Andrew .

 

[rtfoe]

Yes Andrew, regarding the use of Future that's the way I would do it and place the bottom edge on a sheet of tissue to absorb any Future that is running off then let it dry in a dust free area or you could put it in a tupperware or box.

Cheers,
Richard

 

[adt70hk]

Coming along well Andrew .

Ralph

Thanks. Much appreciated. Decals have now started going on the Spitfire I think I've done 13 so far. Only in about 40 more to go.....

ATB

Andrew

 

[adt70hk]

Yes Andrew, regarding the use of Future that's the way I would do it and place the bottom edge on a sheet of tissue to absorb any Future that is running off then let it dry in a dust free area or you could put it in a tupperware or box.

Cheers,
Richard

Thanks Richard. Much appreciated, although with one teen and one near teen in the house there is a lot of to and fro so will definitely have to use a box!

Thanks.

Andrew

 

[adt70hk]

Hi all

So the Spitfire is all decaled up..

This was a big departure from doing the quick-build the tanks my son and I normally build. It went something like this:

• Decals seemed to be of a decent quality (not that I would really know) and generally went down very well, even the long thin ones I was really worried about. In some cases though they almost went down too well, as you'll see.
• The roundels proved a bit tricky because, as you'll also see, there was a raised surface detail in just the wrong place. But with the help of a fine needle and Humbrol Decalfix I managed to get them sit down ok.
• The big combined squadron ID, plane ID and roundel decals gave me a few heart stopping moments as their size meant they had a lot of 'cling'. I did managed to tear one even before getting it off the sheet as I wasn't paying attention but manged to slot it in almost invisibly.
• I really struggled with the red MG gun port covers though and even managed to lose one at point. Any advise on how best to apply these would be welcome (I know some people paint them on).
• As I said the decals went down very well but that unfortunately highlighted the biggest problem - the issues I had in redoing the green camo left small ridgelines in places. I was clearly a bit heavy handed but I'm still learning with an AB and I know where I went wrong. The 109 doesn't appear to have the same issues, so I know I can get it right - at least sometimes.

The big question I do have though is.......are 53 decals really necessary????!!!?? and some where smaller than a pinhead.!! My quick- build wargaming British tanks have 8 and that includes an Allied star which I don't always use - I know which I prefer!!

As usual please pass comment - positive or otherwise.

Whilst I know it's far from perfect and very average at best, I have nonetheless enjoyed getting it to this point despite all the faults and issues.

ATB

Andrew

-----------------------------------------------------------

Looks ok(ish) with these......









....but now for the embarrassing shot.....
The re-camo ridgeline. This actually looks worse from another angle and there are a few other spots like this but I can't do anything about it now......

 

[Deleted member 4539]

Looking good with the decals .

 

[spanner570]

Now't wrong with that Andrew.

Don't fall for the trap of beating yourself up over your model(s) You have learned how to avoid making the same mistakes again.
Us modellers will keep making mistakes until our toes curl up.

As for the 'ridges', unless you are what I call a 'Zoom Merchant' who likes to get in close to spot a fault, I doubt few would even notice, much less care about it.

Be happy with what you have achieved and here's to the next....

Here endeth the sermon. Please leave a generous donation on your way out (No foreign coins)

Your Servant.
Pastor R. Suppards

 

[adt70hk]

Looking good with the decals .

Thanks Ralph. Adding decals does bring them to life!

ATB

Andrew

 

[stillp]

Looks good to me Andrew!
I keep getting those ridges too.
Pete

 

[adt70hk]

Now't wrong with that Andrew.

Don't fall for the trap of beating yourself up over your model(s) You have learned how to avoid making the same mistakes again.
Us modellers will keep making mistakes until our toes curl up.

As for the 'ridges', unless you are what I call a 'Zoom Merchant' who likes to get in close to spot a fault, I doubt few would even notice, much less care about it.

Be happy with what you have achieved and here's to the next....

Here endeth the sermon. Please leave a generous donation on your way out (No foreign coins)

Your Servant.
Pastor R. Suppards

Ron

Consider myself suitably chastised!! .

And actually you make a good point about 'zoom' views.

As my eyes aren't up to what they used to be, or to be honest have not been for about 30 years, I have to use an optivisor for more detailed work. This of course really emphasises even the slightest error. I was standing looking at it the other day thinking about the errors and then wondered actually how far I was looking at it from a scale perspective.

The answer according to my laser measure was 5ft, so in one-to-one scale 360ft (110m). So as you say those little errors I see under optivisor would not be visible.

Thank you again for stopping buy.

ATB

Andrew

 

[Archetype]

You should be rightly pleased with that. Nothing wrong with it at all. You even managed to keep the aerial mast intact, which many of us who've built spitfires would never confess to having snapped off....

 

[adt70hk]

Looks good to me Andrew!
I keep getting those ridges too.
Pete

Thanks Pete. Glad to know I'm in good company. As I said the accompanying 109 is fine, so I know I can do it.

ATB

Andrew

 

[spanner570]

Consider myself suitably chastised!! .

I was standing looking at it the other day thinking about the errors and then wondered actually how far I was looking at it from a scale perspective.

The answer according to my laser measure was 5ft, so in one-to-one scale 360ft (110m). So as you say those little errors I see under optivisor would not be visible.

Thank you again for stopping buy.

ATB

Andrew

Exactly!
Figures are the same. Why some folks insist on looking at them close up I'll never understand. Hey Ho.

 

[colin m]

Evenon my little kindle I can see two brilliant aircraft being built here. Exhausts are funny things. I seem to try something different every time. Sometimes I like the result, other times, it's ok. Maybe I need a standard approach like you.

 

[Si Benson]

Well done Andrew
The world of wingy things can be trickier than armour but youve made the leap admirably

As for imperfections....I have to agree that the smaller your model, the further it should be viewed from.

For example.....I‘m building a 1 72 truck which looks a bit naff up close, but when viewed from next doors shed, it looks excellent .....