Steve's Spitfire Mk.IIa. Revell 1/32

[Neil Merryweather]

Maybe he's a 1/35 figure which is making him too small. In 1/32 he'd be about 5mm taller. Would that difference be enough to bring him up to the right size?

If he is 1/35 I'd like to know where he came from.
1/35 pilots are as rare as unicorn droppings

 

[stona]

Maybe he's a 1/35 figure which is making him too small. In 1/32 he'd be about 5mm taller. Would that difference be enough to bring him up to the right size?

I doubt it Dave, it's not so much his size as his proportions, which are normal. As I said we would need a gibbon

I've given him a cushion by cramming some Blutack under his arse with a selection of sculpting tools. It won't be seen and was a quick and easy fix. His head is high enough, his left hand is in the correct area, his right hand...isn't... I can't see his feet, but I guarantee that they are nowhere near the rudder pedals.

He'll look okay in the finished model.

 

[stona]

If he is 1/35 I'd like to know where he came from.
1/35 pilots are as rare as unicorn droppings

I think he may be from PJ Productions. I definitely bought a couple of Luftwaffe pilots from them and the guy in the Spitfire looks a LOT like this guy.



I'm 99% sure it's him, I mean how many people have produced WW2 RAF pilots wearing a jumper like this? As you can see, he purports to be 1/32. I remember adding the wires for his headphones and a flexible oxygen hose last time round.

 

[Neil Merryweather]

I think he may be from PJ Productions. I definitely bought a couple of Luftwaffe pilots from them and the guy in the Spitfire looks a LOT like this guy.


I'm 99% sure it's him, I mean how many people have produced WW2 RAF pilots wearing a jumper like this? As you can see, he purports to be 1/32. I remember adding the wires for his headphones and a flexible oxygen hose last time round.

He looks the part for sure. are you saying he's a bit small, or that the spitfire model is off?
or is it a combination of the 2?
I like the way you have dealt with the harness by the way

 

[stona]

He looks the part for sure. are you saying he's a bit small, or that the spitfire model is off?
or is it a combination of the 2?
I like the way you have dealt with the harness by the way

I thinks he's pretty good. It's the model that has some 'interesting ergonomic' design issues. It wouldn't matter if you didn't put a pilot in, but if you do......

It's not the only model I've had trouble fitting pilots.

Which brings me to the final job of the day, drilling and fixing a tube to make a socket for the acrylic rod on which the model will be posed. This is as far forward as it can be fitted without being visible or, worse, appearing in the cockpit!



This makes an interference fit with the rod, the size of which I can't remember. It's the same as this, though the Spitfire will be a lot lower than H-J Marseille's Bf 109.

 

[colin m]

OK, Revell might not be on your Christmas card list, but look at all those lovely recessed rivets, not too bad for £30.00 (ish) Or in other words, you haven't put me off getting one, yet..

 

[stona]

OK, Revell might not be on your Christmas card list, but look at all those lovely recessed rivets, not too bad for £30.00 (ish) Or in other words, you haven't put me off getting one, yet..

You get your money's worth.

It's obvious that you won't get the same detail and quality as you would in a kit costing four or five times the price. I wouldn't want to put anybody off, this is NOT a bad kit.

Before I finished I offered up the wings to the fuselage, which is often an area fraught with danger on aircraft models, and the fit is absolutely spot on. A bit of tape at the back and the wings stayed on. You certainly can't complain about that for thirty quid!

Cheers

Steve

 

[stona]

Here is that wing /fuselage join.

I've done nothing to this yet, it is as it appears when you glue together the two assemblies.



I would describe that as very good indeed. I've seen far, far worse on much more expensive kits.

Even this notoriously difficult join, seen on the underside of many aircraft kits, is very good.



Cheers

Steve

 

[stona]

'Stapme' now sits in something that looks a lot like a Spitfire, though I imagine he would be grateful for some more parts, control surfaces would be a good start



More tomorrow...hopefully.

 

[stona]

Slow progress, but 'Stapme' now has a largely complete Spitfire, if a bit breezy without a windscreen or canopy.



The underside took longer than expected. The oil cooler in particular needed a bit of effort (and effin' and jeffin') but it looks okay now. I've also been concentrating on those bits arrayed on cocktail sticks in the background.



I'm hoping to mask the canopy tomorrow. I forgot to give the clear parts the traditional dip in Klear, so I've only just done that and will have to leave them overnight. It's the Fuhrerin's birthday do this weekend, so that will well and truly put an end to proceedings until next week.

 

[papa 695]

Coming along very nicely Steve.

 

[stona]

I've got a bit of paint on the underside of the Spitfire, done with a combination of some pre-shading, and much more post shading. All done with Colourcoat enamels, the paints I know best and am most comfortable with. It's not overdone, and the subsequent varnishes will tone it down further. P7350 made it to No. 603 Squadron (from No. 6 MU) on 10/10/40, in time for the Battle, but was still almost brand new by the end.

The sharp eyed will notice that I forgot to spray the wing above the flaps and the wheel wells silver, which is a bit of a b*gger. I had already started on the Sky when I noticed! It means I will have to reverse mask them later.

 

[Neil Merryweather]

Nice and subtle, Steve

 

[KarlW]

I take it by the 'almost new' comment weathering will be subtle?

No doubt you're not the first and won't be the last to miss a step. Everytime I do it I feel like doing a checklist for each build, but it seems too much bother.
(Also stealing the diy stand, seems far more sensible than these laser cut mdf adjustable things I've seen lately.)

 

[stona]

I take it by the 'almost new' comment weathering will be subtle?

No doubt you're not the first and won't be the last to miss a step. Everytime I do it I feel like doing a checklist for each build, but it seems too much bother.
(Also stealing the diy stand, seems far more sensible than these laser cut mdf adjustable things I've seen lately.)

The weathering will be minimal. I never like to overdo it anyway, and an aircraft operating within a couple of weeks of arrival at the squadron would have limited time to deteriorate. The perception of The Battle of Britain is that there were almost constant non-stop operations everyday. It is true that there were periods of intense activity, squadrons mounting dozens of sorties and some pilots (and aircraft) flying several times in a day, but there were many other days when they didn't fly at all, often due to the weather. Any opportunity for maintenance would have been gladly accepted. I've been posting in the BoB diary thread, which illustrates exactly this point.

I actually do write a little list for the final stages, but it wouldn't have saved me today . At least spraying the silver isn't a major jostle, it's just easier to spray it first.

Yeah, that 'stand'. I've been using it for years. All I do is change the kitchen roll covering the pipe insulation every now and then! It works well 99% of the time, though sometimes you do wish you had a third hand

 

[stona]

'Problem' solved. Silver masked and sprayed. I've used Alclad aluminium as it was an aluminium paint that was used. I'll post shade it with some matt aluminium, tinted with black to matt it down a bit and hopefully make it look like metal and not plastic..

I'll make the point that the Sky is an enamel paint which I sprayed at about 09.00 this morning. I masked it about three hours later and sprayed the silver. Obviously it depends on the paint system, but I have often CAREFULLY masked Colourcoats 2-3 hours after spraying with no problem. The paint is still fragile and far from cured, you wouldn't want to try and sand it, but it won't come off.



Edit: I should say 'temporarily masked' as I did in this case. I won't mask up the lower/upper demarcation and the rest of the underside before the paint is properly dried, at least 8 hours, and usually overnight.

 

[spanner570]

Looking good, but forgetting to dip the canopy, then the wheel wells painting.

Promise us you'll buck up?!

Your Servants

Beverley Shenstone and Joseph Smith (Both Dec.)

 

[stona]

Looking good, but forgetting to dip the canopy, then the wheel wells painting.

Promise us you'll buck up?!

Your Servants

Beverley Shenstone and Joseph Smith (Both Dec.)

I'll do me best boss.

In mitigation, I plead that I did remember to fit the gun sight, something I've managed to forget on previous efforts.

It's a good job that Messrs. Shenstone, Smith and many more were better organised building the real thing, otherwise we really could have been in the poo-poo

 

[stona]

Basic camouflage painting is now complete.

I followed a Supermarine drawing rather than Revell's instructions. The instructions are not bad, but, for example, miss the Dark Earth at the base of the starboard horizontal stabiliser and have the antenna mast in a Dark Green area when in fact it just falls in a Dark Earth area. They also get that serpentine demarcation running down from the nose and under the starboard side of the cockpit, then down onto the wing, wrong. It was a demarcation characteristic of Castle Bromwich built aircraft like this one. It's no big deal, but I do wonder where Revell took their data, maybe a modern warbird?

 

[stona]

So, in the words of a Blues, 'I woke up this morning' and decided to give the paint a polish before a coat of Klear.

I nearly FORGOT the wing walkway lines!

Luckily, and in order to save myself from the wrath of Ron, I remembered in the nick of time I usually spray these, because those long thin decals are difficult to use and it is often hard to get all the carrier film to 'disappear' over the detail.

This is the correct arrangement for a Mk II.



The varnish will just have to wait a while. I might have a swing at making a representation of the flap actuator mechanisms.

The red painted decal paper in the background will be used to make the gun port patches.