Day 2
So, today, i started off with the interior of the fuselage and cockpit detail. First of all i gave the cockpit interior a coat of green, this is a colour i mixed myself for the Multi Terrain Pattern (MTP) camouflage the British soldiers are now wearing, but is also not too far away from the colour the Spitfire cockpits were painted, and i went with this. It is about 3 parts Khaki green, 2 parts yellow, 2 part white and 2 parts forrest green.
It was then given a dry brush of silver to pick out the metallic detail, and the canvas panels were re-painted using the green i mixed.
Next up was the interior struts for the engine bay. For this, i left the sprue dividers in, so it kept shape until i was ready for the final putting together of the fuselage.
After that came the cockpit detailing etc, quite straightforward really, it was just a case of cutting them from their sprue, giving them a going over with the file and sanding block and painting. The spade grip will be black, as will the cabling that runs down the front of the control column.
While they were drying, i concentrated on some of the smaller cockpit detail, the throttle levers, undercarriage retraction lever etc.
I researched as far as was possible, all the colours from pictures on the internet, there are quite a few colour photos of the inside of a Spitfire cockpit
here. Whether or not these are representative of operational Spitfires, i don't know, but its the only reference to the interior of a real Spitfire i could find, so went with the colours shown.
I was a little disappointed to find that the cockpit detail was slightly lacking in a lot of ways, but as this kit was released in the late 60's, i suppose its not a bad resemblance to the original. I decided to add a few bits myself, using of cuts of sprues and casting defects etc, but only where i could find a picture to support it. This will be ongoing work i feel in an attempt to make the cockpit as real as possible.
So, having let the instrument panel dry, i gave the clear instrument details a coat of black on the back, and a dry brush of white over the indicators, it doesn't look brilliant up close, but from the limited view you will get when the fuselage is together and the canopy on, i think it will look OK.
Next up, was the painting of the spade grip and cables, and the fitting of the rudder pedals, compass and the reflector gun sight, all fairly simple.
It was around this time, i realised my bucket seat was missing... Not sure if it was me being careless or the kit was without it when it was manufactured (i have to say that some of the parts had come away from their sprues when i received the kit, so its not impossible that it could have dropped off during packing) but whichever way, i'm now waiting on a replacement part to arrive so i can complete the cockpit construction. Knowing my luck, the replacement will arrive and i'll find the original!
More to come Tomorrow, stay posted!