**** DONE: 1/48 Spitfire MkVIII - Home Country Modern Aircraft/Spitfire Marks GB

[Crimea_River]

Good stuff Terry, thanks. Yellow it is.

Now for an update. Before starting on the camo, the Chindit dragon emblem was masked and painted. As mentioned at the start of this thread, I did not get decals for this model but rather am trying some vinyl masks made by Ad Astra. As you can see by the pics below, they are nicely cut and should produce a sharp and delicate demarcation.

Then it was on to the underside paint. The initial shot of Medium Sea Gray was done and then sprayed over in a varying lines and patches of slightly darker and lighter versions of the base colour to result in a patchy appearance common to these very weather beaten SEAC aircraft.

Hope to get on with the topside initial coat tomorrow. Thanks again for all the input and interest guys.

 

[vikingBerserker]

That's going to look sweet!

 

[brucejscott]

Very nice with the mask Andy.

 

[fubar57]

Sweet looking build Andy.

Geo

 

[Wayne Little]

Lookin' good Andy!

 

[woody]

coming along nicely Andy.

 

[Airframes]

I'm liking that mask thingy! Nice work Andy, it's going to look the donkey's doodahs!

 

[Gnomey]

Coming along nicely Andy!

 

[Crimea_River]

Thanks all.

 

[rochie]

very nice Andy

 

[Wayne Little]

it's going to look the donkey's doodahs!

Well......that sorta sums it up I reckon!

 

[Catch22]

Nice work Andy.

 

[Crimea_River]

Cheers gents. Since last time, I've been preparing more masks and, since I'm new at working with insignia masks, I'm getting a bit out of sequence in spots.

The underside has been heavily masked up in preparation for the painting of the upper camo. The tape on the radiators is to prevent scuffing of the MSG which I've found to be an issue with frequent placing of the model onto the bench face up. You can also see that I've placed the mask for the SEAC markings and applied the light blue center colour. The mask in this case will stay in place to complete the outer dark blue ring. I could also have done the reverse of this process as described below, had I not applied the MSG already.

For the topsides, an area of white was painted for the squadron markings and aircraft s/n masks. Once cured, I applied the vinyl DG and R masks and sprayed a rough dot of the light blue between these marks and on the fin and wings. The masks on the wings are, in this case, only there to locate the circles. Note also that the red dragon has been masked in preparation for the camo overspray.

Here's a close-up of the rear fuselage for a better view of the letter masks. I'm quite impressed with their sharp cuts and the tackiness of the thin vinyl, which seems to be just right to lay down well whilst not endangering the paint underneath. Now the issue here is that the s/n codes are better done after the camo is applied as I realized after I painted the area white. That's because the numbers have a line through them that separates the various bits of mask and it would be a real b!tch to get all these pieces properly lined up over the white background. Some later pics will make this more evident.

After the light blue dries, the circular mask for the center dot and the rectangular fin flash bit will be applied and the dark blue over sprayed. Then the outer ring mask will be applied and the upper camo sprayed on. Thanks for checking this out guys.

 

[rochie]

looks great Andy

 

[Airframes]

Looking good there Andy. I never thought, I could have sent you a set if the correct size SEAC roundel decals. You mention a centre spot - what do you mean by this? Surely not a red centre?

 

[Aaron Brooks Wolters]

Excellent work Andy, you always make it look easy.

 

[Crimea_River]

Cheers guys.

Terry, by the "center dot", I meant the light blue that I had just finished painting. And thanks for the thought on the decals but no worries. I actually have a few from a Hurricane sheet as well but I was keen to try this mask technique and the roundels are included on the mask set. Here are the next steps:

The "center dot" masks are now placed over the light blue patches.....

...and the dark blue is now applied over these.

Here's how one of the underside roundels turned out.

I'm quite happy with how these are coming along so far. The dark blue I used is actually a gloss colour and once a dullcoat is applied it will give it a nice uniform look.

 

[A4K]

Great job Andy, some tricky work by the looks...

 

[Jayl]

Those Roundels do look good. Cool interesting scheme on this one.

 

[Airframes]

Thanks for the explanation Andy, and no problem re the decals (if you ever need more, just shout - got a whole, very large sheet of them in various sizes).
Got to say the painted roundels look the goat's gonads - very nicely done.