Tim’s Airfix 1/48 Spitfire XII

[Tim Marlow]

OK, we’ve moved on a touch……
Stripes are done…….

Here are the legs of the Zebra……..


….and here is the airframe……no bleed or overspray so I’m well chuffed…..mind you…


It took this much masking tape……

There are decals in the kit, but I went with the mask and spray because I thought it would look better….. As an aside, Airfix helpfully give dimensions for the stripes on the decal and painting sheet.

Trouble is, they say each wing stripe set covers 135mm…..with stripes about an inch wide…….and they are about one fifth of the wingspan over all. The model wingspan is just over 200mm….wtf? Dimensions taken from the 1/24 version Perhaps? I just took dimensions from the decals
Anyway, just the prop tips and leading edge yellow and I’m up to detail painting and varnishing…..

See you soon…..

 

[Mark1]

Taking shape very nicely

 

[Allen Dewire]

Excellent job Mr. Marlow!!! The stripes came out really well and good to see you included the landing wheel covers. I would have totally forgotten those myself......Is that normal masking tape you've used??? I would imagine you took some of the tackiness out of it first or it would have pulled up some paint too. Getting to the finish line now, huh Tim..........

Prost
Allen

 

[Tim Marlow]

Taking shape very nicely

Cheers Mark. Kind of you.

 

[Tim Marlow]

Excellent job Mr. Marlow!!! The stripes came out really well and good to see you included the landing wheel covers. I would have totally forgotten those myself......Is that normal masking tape you've used??? I would imagine you took some of the tackiness out of it first or it would have pulled up some paint too. Getting to the finish line now, huh Tim..........

Prost
Allen

Hi Allen
i had to keep reminding myself about the legs or I would have forgotten them as well
As to the tape, it’s straight Tamiya yellow Kabuki. I never bother removing tackiness because I’ve never had a problem with it removing paint. I just stick a length to a piece of picture frame glass and cut it into the lengths or widths required with a scalpel and straight edge then place it on the model using tweezers and fingers. Cutting on the glass gives a cleaner edge. The lack of paint lift is possibly an advantage from using Tamiya paint. It sticks much better than water based acrylics in my experience, and I’ve almost never had any lift doing it this way.
Finish line still a little way off…..yellow leading edges to do, detail paint to do, gloss varnish, decals, final varnish, weathering…..the list is getting smaller though.

 

[Allen Dewire]

Thanks Tim. It looked like normal masking tape in the pic. I use various tapes and still have a bit Tamiya maskings from my old RC car bodies, that I use. It definitely works real well when needed...

 

[The Smythe Meister]

Looking excellent Tim,
I did notice the discrepancy with the Stripe`s measurements on the instruction sheet there.... i worked mine out at about 8.5 mm wide?!
Looking forward to seeing the Decals going on,great stuff mate.

 

[Tim Marlow]

Thanks Tim. It looked like normal masking tape in the pic. I use various tapes and still have a bit Tamiya maskings from my old RC car bodies, that I use. It definitely works real well when needed...

Best on the market I think Allen.

 

[Tim Marlow]

Looking excellent Tim,
I did notice the discrepancy with the Stripe`s measurements on the instruction sheet there.... i worked mine out at about 8.5 mm wide?!
Looking forward to seeing the Decals going on,great stuff mate.

Cheers Andy. I never measured them, so am not sure how wide they are. I just used a pair of spring dividers to set the width from the decals and cut the tape accordingly.

 

[stillp]

The stripes were supposed to be 18 inches wide on single-engined aircraft, so 18 / 48 = 0.375 inches (3/8 in old money) * 25.4 = 9.525 millimetres.

Pete

 

[Tim Marlow]

The stripes were supposed to be 18 inches wide on single-engined aircraft, so 18 / 48 = 0.375 inches (3/8 in old money) * 25.4 = 9.525 millimetres.

Pete

Sounds about right Pete. I cut a very thin sliver, around half a mil, from my ten mil tape to mask the stripes.

 

[yak face]

Stripes look superb tim , the measurements on the sheet are really baffling though , even for 1/24 they seem too big ?

 

[Tim Marlow]

Stripes look superb tim , the measurements on the sheet are really baffling though , even for 1/24 they seem too big ?

Cheers Tony, very kind of you. Using Peter’s info, the dimensions scale out at about 1/17 ??? Not a modelling scale that I’m aware of

 

[Jim R]

Those stripes have come out really well. Regardless of measurements they just look right. Having just done the stripes on my Mossie I know what a great moment it is when the tape comes off and all's ok.

 

[Tim Marlow]

Those stripes have come out really well. Regardless of measurements they just look right. Having just done the stripes on my Mossie I know what a great moment it is when the tape comes off and all's ok.

Cheers Jim. It’s a big smile moment. No doubt about it

 

[Geoffers]

Looks great Tim, nice work on the invasion stripes

Geoff.

 

[adt70hk]

Coming on nicely Tim!! Loving the stripes.

I've got some Tiffies in the stash and plan to mask the stripes too instead of using the kit decals.... In my case I got lucky in that they're 6mm wide..... Exactly the same as one of Tamiya's standard sizes!

Keep up the great work.

ATB.

Andrew

 

[Tim Marlow]

Looks great Tim, nice work on the invasion stripes

Geoff.

Cheers Geoff, appreciate the support.

 

[Tim Marlow]

Coming on nicely Tim!! Loving the stripes.

I've got some Tiffies in the stash and plan to mask the stripes too instead of using the kit decals.... In my case I got lucky in that they're 6mm wide..... Exactly the same as one of Tamiya's standard sizes!

Keep up the great work.

ATB.

Andrew

Cheers Andrew. Glad you like them.
As to your tiffies, Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but 6mm will only work if the kits are 1/76 scale. If they are 1/72 (as I suspect) the stripes should be about 6.4 mm wide, or they will look slightly under scale.

 

[tr1ckey66]

Excellent work Tim. The invasion stripes look brilliant. Seems like you’re on the home straight now. I’m looking forward to seeing this Mk.XII complete.
All the best
Paul