1/32 Spitfire Mk.Vb - Defence of Britain/Atlantic.

Engraving on the tires! Now that's attention to detail! Nice work on the tires, Terry!

Thanks John. It's by no means perfect, and can only just be seen with the naked eye, but it shows there's something there, and looks sort of like the raised side-wall lettering which, on the real thing, can only be seen close up anyway.

I've now sprayed the first thin coat of Dark Green, but not without a few problems, one of which was my own fault.
A piece of tissue got caught in the air blast from the airbrush, flipped over, and landed on the freshly painted starboard wing root !
Using a paint brush soaked in thinners, I managed to dissolve the paper and pull it off, and also removed the paint and paper 'dust', but it will require a light sanding once the paint has fully hardened.
Whilst this was being one, I'd placed the airbrush into the integral holder on the front of the compressor, but the bl**dy thing spun around, inverted, dumping the paint all over the table !
No problem, just mix another batch and continue, I thought. But in my hasty enthusiasm, I slightly over-thinned the paint, and it 'pooled' in a couple of places, mainly the port wing tip !
Then, I noticed moisture in a couple of places on the fresh paint, which was in the atmosphere, as it's a very damp day here today. There was also water in the in-line moisture trap on the 'brush, which I've never seen before, so the compressor must be 'dragging it in' from the atmosphere. But at least the 'brush wasn't spraying this in the paint.
A blast of air from the 'brush dispersed this, but again, a light sanding will be required to even-out the areas affected.
One thing to remember when spraying this gloss paint, is that coverage is thinner, and drying time a lot longer, than matt enamels paint, so the spraying should be done evenly and smoothly, with no more than two passes of the 'brush, which will give a thin, almost translucent finish, and avoid 'ridges'.
When dry, or only just 'tacky' a further coat or two can be applied, and so on, building - up the colour gradually.
Although it has the advantage of being 'decal ready', with a high gloss finish, and avoiding the possible 'clogging' effects of multiple layers of paint and clear gloss varnish, it does take longer to apply, overall, and adding weathering effects or shading is a bit more time consuming, not as easy to see clearly, and again takes time to dry in order to see the effect and correct if needed.
The rather poor pics below show the model as it looks so far, and the 'damaged' areas. I've turned on some heating in the area where i spray, so with a bit of luck, I might be able to do the 'repairs' and spray another coat, later tonight.

Thanks again for your complimentary comments and continued interest.

Looks good Terry, though I know it isn't but the green looks brown on my screen !

Must admit I don't miss my enamel paints.

There's a slight brown tinge to the paint anyway Karl, and it does show a bit on my screen too, but the lighting was weird - a low, weak light filtered through rain clouds !
The close-up photo shows what appear to be 'lumps and bumps' above the damaged area, but this is mainly the effect of reflection off the wet paint. There are, however, a couple of rough areas, and a small 'sag', which need rubbing out with fine wet 'n dry, which I'll do when the paint has fully hardened.
I don't mind acrylics for some stuff, but I much prefer enamels for their versatility and hard, durable finish, although in general I prefer matt enamels for multi-colour camouflage finishes - the gloss is fine for a single-colour, overall finish though.
I only used the Xtracolor as I had it in stock, and had run out of matt grey and green.

Great work so far Terry!

Thanks very much Hugh !

The 'damaged' areas have now been repaired, although a little more still needs to be done to the starboard wing root trailing edge. Another coat of Dark Green has been applied and, when dry (it dried quicker this time) the masking and tissue in the wheel wells, radiator etc, was removed.
Some re-touching and slight corrections are needed here and there, as expected, but overall it's turned out fine. The gloss paint makes it appear slightly 'crinkled' in the photos, but once it's settled down (like the Ocean Grey), and had a matt clear coat applied, it should look 'normal'.
Some further work has also been carried out on the undercarriage legs and doors, and a start made on the prop.
PICS 1 to 3 show how the model looks to date. The leading edge yellow stripes will be added next, before starting on some weathering and paint wear.
PIC 4. The prop blades were trimmed at the roots, to fit the added bulges on the spinner, then painted and assembled - a bit tricky to align, as the instructions call for this to be done on the prop shaft on the nose of the model.
The spinner needs to be cleaned up, and some detail painting and weathering carried out, and the prop blades have yet to have the yellow tips added. I was going to hand-paint the 'Rotol' winged logo and the pitch data, but I couldn't find any evidence of these being present at the period being portrayed. The only markings seem to be the circular datum marks, at each prop root, and these will be added from the 'HGW' decal sheet.
PICS 5 and 6. The gear legs were cleaned-up and fitted to the doors, which have had the moulded rivets picked out on the inner faces. The outer faces had lines of rivets embossed, working from one of the reference pics I took at Duxford, and then these were marked in pencil. They have yet to be 'washed off', hopefully leaving feint marks in the embossed rivets. The strut pressure setting stencils have also been drawn onto the top of each door 'leg', deliberately 'raggy', to simulate the feint, broken stencils of the real aircraft.

I might be able to get a bit more done tomorrow night, although with time drawing near for the BoB weekend at Duxford, I still have some stuff to prepare, so I might not get any more done until after I return from the airshow.

Turned out nicely, despite the trials. Should be another cracker when done.

As is usual, some great things going on here Terry, very impressive and I'm so pleased your treatment is having good effect.

Thanks very much chaps !
There's a chance I might be able to get a little detail painting done tonight, as I've almost caught up on all the things to be done before going to Duxford. Got to go for another monitoring blood test either today or tomorrow, which can mean waiting for an hour, and get a new battery fitted to the van - little things which seem to disrupt a whole day !

great progress Dogsbody

Thanks Red Two !

NICE!!

Wish I could have gone to Dux with you guys...

Thanks Wayne.
Shame you can't get over here for the BoB show at DX - but we'll have a beer (or three) on your behalf !

Ten Four! Just catching up on some threads here before leaving for the airport in an hour.

Fantastic mods Terry.




Geo

Thanks chaps !
I got a little bit of work done on some underside panel lines last night, as well as painting the yellow wing stripes and prop tips, and some paint corrections and touch-up.
I'll try to post some pics later tonight - dashing off to get the blood test done, and pick up some bits and pieces.

Looks great so far Terry!

Thanks very much Hugh.

Apart from the work described in the last post, I've now done a little bit more in the way of dirt, shading, panel lines, and general wear and tear. Although the aircraft was over three years old, and would no doubt show signs of wear and tear, the 'weathering' has been kept relatively light, rather than 'overdo things' and make it look too worn.
Once the decals are on, and the first matt clear coat applied, some further light panel line and 'weathering' will be carried out on the upper surfaces - the gloss finish prevents some techniques being used successfully.

PICS 1 to 3 Show how the model looks so far. The Dark Green, as mentioned previously, caused a few minor problems, resulting in an uneven and streaky appearance in some areas, but I'm confident that it will look OK under a matt clear coat. Some minor retouching is still to be done around some areas, such as the fuel filler and tank vents. The surrounds to the mg ports have been painted in bare aluminium, and torn 'fabric patches' willl be added later, using the thin tissue that covers kit decal sheets.
PIC 4. The underside has had more in the way of restrained weathering and panel lines, using various wartime photos as reference, and is now ready for a couple of coats of Humbrol 'Clear' acrylic gloss varnish, to prepare for the decals. The I.D. lamp will be painted and glazed after the matt clear coat has been applied.
PIC 5. A general view of some of the 'paint wear' around the wing roots, simulating scuffed and dirty paint, with the 'factory primer' showing feintly through the camouflage paint. This will tone-down slightly once the matt clear has been applied. Some detail, in the way of rivets and the tank cap, has yet to be added to the fuel filler opening and vents, and the area around the circumference of both needs to be retouched.

I doubt I'll get any more done before setting off for Duxford, so the next up-date will probably be when I get back on Tuesday.
Once again, thank you all for your compliments and continued interest.