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

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Let the fun begin. Shook out all the parts for a good inspection and washed all the sprues in soapy water before launching into assembly.

Check of clear parts through the sealed bag: Sliding Canopy - check, closed canopy - check, windscreen - check, rear fixed canopy - :shock: WTF? Not there, and never was!

120604 Missing Part.jpg


So I might model this with the canopy closed but the other doable - and for me the more likely - option is to cut the piece from the closed canopy section and use that. Shouldn't be a problem.

Past experience with the ICM Spit kits has shown the need to fill a long sink mark just ahead of the aileron on each wing so I've assemble the wings together (no warpage evident thank God) and filled the trench with 2 brush applictations of Tamiya primer which now needs to be sanded down.

120605 Wings.jpg


Much more to come friends, with my sole focus being on this one build. Thanks for waiting.
 
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Up and running then Andy and what a bummer with the rear canopy, looking at the reseal bag and the vacant spot on the sprue, it could have been nicked somewhere along the line.
 
Naw, no worries Karl. I'll likely use the piece that's fused to the closed hood. Now if I screw that up, I may get back to you but thanks anyway.
 
Crappy weather today so got a fair amount done.

The wing tips are a pretty lousy fit so I added some card filler and concocted a mixture of liquid cement and plastic shavings to fill the big gap that was there so I could rescribe it. Below are two pics, before and after sanding. Rescribing has yet to be done.

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120609 Tip Repair.jpg


The kit supplied the tail end for the Mk IX and the panel lines around the retractable tail wheel are wrong so I proceeded to fill in the lines with thick primer. This area will then be sanded down and rescribed.

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To take advantage of the separate ailerons, I'll deflect these so, of course, the stick was cut and re-glued to reflect this.

120609 Stick.jpg


The armour plate, as on my Spit IX build, was replaced with a much thinner piece cut from card stock.

120609 Armour.jpg


The lightening holes in the frame and seat support were drilled out and I removed the headrest which was incorrectly supplied with the frame. The floor was drilled out and opened up then the scratch built armour plate was installed. This was followed by a coat of MM Interior Green and a dusting of the same colour slightly darkened. Then, some dry-brushed Interior Green mixed with a bit of white brought up the highlights. The armour plate edges then received a few "chips" made with a lead pencil.

120609 Seat Back.jpg


The cockpit sides received a similar treatment and here are two shots before the detail parts are painted black. A couple of bits have been scratch built here: the box at the top right of the throttle quadrant as well as the two cockpit lights that you can see angled in toward the instrument panel. The landing gear selector on the starboard wall was supplied with the handle in the "gear up" position so this was removed and re-installed in the down position.

120609 Port Pit.jpg

120609 StbdPit.jpg


So much for today's work. Should have more tomorrow as they're calling for more rain. Thanks for checking in.
 
Nice work overall Andy, and especially correcting that wing tip. Seems ICM haven't quite got the hang of this yet - both the Spit and '109F kits have the same problem, as you probably know.
 

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