Model in a Month (or so) .. Can I do it?

One of the results of my modelling skills progressing is that I've become more and more anal about the kits I build. 

This is good in some respect as the kits do look good when done. But he big downside is that the builds seem to drag on for ever, this combined with the fact that the last 5 builds have been jets, which as a general rule are much more complicated than a  prop  has kinda reduced my interest in the work bench.

So once I finished the F-2 I decided the next aircraft kit would be something small and simple. I considered the Italeri T-6 Texan (to be done as RNZAF Harvard) but as I'm about to be away from the bench for 2 months I thought I'd go for something even simpler. What better than a Tamiya Spitfire VB. 

 

 

 

I built that one back in 2006 and it ended up with the guys who flew back in WW2, Sqn Ldr John Pattison.

He wrote me a great letter, which I still have,  thanking me for the model. Unfortunately John passed away in 2009, but shortly after I got an email from his daughter saying the family still have the model and keep as a reminder

If you're interested in more photos of that build then check out the build article on my web site.

Anyway, But back to this build.

Although I want to start and finish this build in about 5 weeks I can't resist just a little bit of after-market. I've got a Ultracast resin seat and exhaust, A Eduard PE Zoom set and the Red Roo Decal Sheet "The Away Team Part II 457 Sqn RAAF Spitfires in the UK"

Those that know me might be surprised to see me doing a RAAF aircraft. Being  kiwi (although living in Australia) RAAF subjects unsurprisingly hold little interest for me.

But one of the subjects on this sheet is of interest to a Kiwi, and even more so to me. It's this guy.

A member of the RNZAF, a namesake although not a relation and the only fighter pilot to have flown combat sorties in the Battle of France (flying Hurricanes), Battle of Britain (again Hurricanes) , the Pacific (2 tours flying Kittyhawks, and 1 flying Corsairs in the Solomons) and the European Theatre (no 80 Sqn flying Tempests) . He is credited with 15 kills, 14 German and 1 Japanese. His post war life seems pretty interesting as well (wiki link). 

A final bonus is that this Spitfire has a nice bit of Donald Duck nose art

As usual the build started with the Cockpit . The Eduard PE set is a cheap way to dress up the cockpit and instrument panel. I do prefer the Ultracast resin seat over the PE belts and kit seat (which is probably the weakest part of this kit)

I started by assembling the cockpit, instrument panel and adding the PE and plastic parts to the fuselage halves. Everything except the panel was then primed with Tamiya Flat Black, once this dried a light-ish coat of Tamiya XF71 Cockpit Green IJN was sprayed over the black, trying to leave a bit of shadow. The XF71 is supposed to be a good match for RAF interior green. I'm not convinced, particularly over black. It looks a little dark to my eye.

 

The silver is Tamiya AS12 decanted from the can. and the details were picked out with various Vallejo Acrylics. A clear coat of Tamiya X22 was applied and once this dried I used the new Tamiya Enamel black wash to add some more shadows. A flat coat of Gunze Flat was used tie everything together. Finally a some dry brushing was done with Humbrol 120 for the green and some light grey for the darker  parts.

As usual I broke off the resin seatbelt piece on the seat that goes through the armour plate. I used a thin strip of tape to repair this and add a bit of length to it.

Next I closed the fuselage halves up. I used CA fill the seams and then primed the seam with Mr Surfacer sprayed through the airbrush. The same method was used to fill the seams in the leading edge of the wings. It took a couple of attempts to get rid of all trace of the seams.

 Next the wings were fitted to the fuselage. Tamiya's engineering here is excellent (especially considering the age of the kit) ensuring a good secure join and the correct wing dihedral. I did have a bit of clean up on the trailing edge of the wing where it curve sand joins the fuselage.

Finally I primed the entire model with Mr Surfacer (again sprayed through the airbrush) to check for any flaws. None were obvious so I used some 8000 Micromesh cloth to smooth the rough surface of the Mr Surfacer prior to paint.

Well if you've got this far, thanks for reading. Hopefully more to follow in the next week or so.