The build has been slow in the last few days, as my head hasn't really been into it in the way it was when i first started, so i have mostly done little bits on it here and there, rather than a few sustained sessions.
First up, the exhausts.. stick em, together, stick em in place, nowt complicated there, so lets move on.
the wings were next, so i duly glued the wings together, and placed them onto the fuselage. This was tricky, as the kit isn't great and required a lot of modification just to get it to fit together. Even then, the kit was still a bad fit and required some further filling and smoothing off around the wing joints and beams. The engine cowlings and covers were then added.
The kit, has an option for these to be removable, however, due to the fact that to get the cowling cover to fit, i had to cut away the top strut, and indeed half of the engine banks, i had to glue them in place. This annoyed me greatly, as i had spent a lot of time on the engine that would now not be seen at all…
The flaps were again set in place, as the kit moulding was that bad, it was impossible to have them moving as intended, even after spending a fair amount of time filing and cutting away the mis-casts.
The beginning of the build initially presented no problems, but i'm less than impressed with the overall quality of the kit, as previously described, the 'ill fitting kit required much of the detail to be covered, and the detail is kinda the point of super scale, super detail models of this size… Even though i got the kit at a very cheap price, i expected a lot more from it, especially as it was an airfix kit.
Because i had decided to do a conversion, as opposed to straight from the kit, i had to change the camouflage colours from the standard green/brown scheme to the less well known sea grey/green colours, as the specific aircraft i'm doing was coloured this way. It was done in a standard RAF camouflage pattern, but in this instance, the colours are reversed (This was not a conscious decision, it was an accident, as the colours were masked of in reverse, as 316 Sqd had the B type camo scheme, and the one illustrated was an a type) Unfortunately, my brain didn't process this, and i coloured it the wrong way around. I couldn't find an photographic evidence to back up that it was an RAF variant, but as i have a fair few problems with this kit already, i really couldn't be bothered re-spraying it the right way around. Its lazy, i know, but this build has been far from straight forward, and to be honest, the problems with the kit moulding has taken the enjoyment out of it, to the point where i just want to get the thing finished off in honesty. So, backwards camo pattern it is then…
I masked off the bottom, and gave it a coat of primer, followed by (when it had dried of course!) Humbrol Sea Grey from a spray can (i don't own an airbrush as of yet, but its on my to do list!) I masked it up ready for the spraying of the green camouflage, i just used cheap, 2 inch masking tape, and just covered all bits i didn't want spraying.
for the tail stripe, i masked it off roughly, then straightened it up with Tamiya 6mm masking tape, and gave it a few light coats of Humbrol Beige-Green, the same colour i will be using for the underside. The spinner was also done in this colour as per 316 Sqd paint scheme.
I had gotten a little ahead of myself, and i sprayed the underside first, forgetting i still had the mods for the Vb to do, so i bought a pot of beige green paint, and touched up the mods. Unfortunately, the colours in the can, and the colours in the pots, are significantly different (even though they are labeled as the same colour, with same number) so i masked off the wheel wells and gave it a re-spray just to colour the add-ons and to go over the now two tones underside. Airfix and Humbrol have NOT enamoured themselves to me in this build so far…
So, after leaving it overnight to dry and set properly, i was now on the touching up. I had hoped that the difference in colours were down to a difference in batch, and that when i bought the sea grey and the green, that they would be consistent Alas, again, the pots were completely different colours to the cans, meaning i would have to use my best judgment and colour match to touch up the few bits where there had been a little bleeding through the masking tape.
After doing all this, it was time to add a little highlighting to the detailing. I used a personalised method i found whilst researching for this project, from another Mk Vb build, the blog can be found
Here. The blog states to use water colour black and a little washing up liquid, but in this instance, i used washing up liquid and a little of Citadel Baddab Black wash. The idea being that the washing up liquid changes the bond and allows it be wiped of the surface whilst leaving it stuck to the detail. The blog states that it must be left to dry then dry wiped with a paper towel, but as i had changed it slightly, i wasn't taking any chances, and wiped it off using a tea-towel whilst it was still wet. This did the job pretty nicely and highlights the detail a fair bit. I will use this technique again later after i have applied the decals to highlight it a bit more as i feel some of it may come off whilst im handling it. The left pic shows the highlighting in process, and the right is after the excess has been wiped off.
next came the exhausts, to get the rusty effect, i used the Verlinden method, whereby layers of differing colours are added using the dry-brushing technique to give it a toned, rusty effect. The colours i used on this for the base coat, was Humbrol RC402 Rust, the dry brushed layers were Citadels Snakebite leather, macharius solar orange and graveyard earth applied in differing thicknesses and strengths. I then applied a medium layers of Citadels Baddab black wash again just to give it a darker, burnt look, followed by a bit of Tamiya gun metal weathering powder to simulate the carbon marks.
From here, i started adding the small little details i didn't want to add before, as they are prone to being knocked off whilst handling and doing other bits. I had previously painted the Mk Vb cannons and applied these. Because they are after-market products, they required a little shaping to fit the wings, nothing major, i just cut a small v and used the round file to file a semi circle into it so it fitted the shape of the wings. When i fitted it, the glue made a natural filler for any gaps left over which were touched up once dry, leaving a natural looking fit to the wings. The cockpit hatch and the canopy, which i had painted earlier, were then added. The cockpit hatch, i think was designed to be closed, with the canopy also closed, but as i am choosing to display a static spitfire on the ground, as opposed to a in-flight spitfire, i had to add the hatch rail, by cutting down one of the spare machine guns barrel to size, painting it red and gluing it on. The result is a little crude, but it works. I then added a little wear to the wing roots, using silver acrylic and dry brushing it over the wing to simulate the paint erosion where the pilot would get in and out of the canopy.
finishing up for the night, i painted the yellow wings tabs, these required several coats, and have become pretty gloopy, but a rub with a bit of sandpaper, and a watered down coat or two tomorrow should fix that.
Thats all for the moment, stay tuned for more updates soon!