**** DONE: GB-45 1/72 Spitfire Mk Ia - BoB/Foreign Service

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PlasticHero

Senior Airman
463
975
Jul 31, 2019
Pennsylvania, USA
Username: PlasticHero
First name: Alan
Category: Beginner
Scale: 1/72
Manufacturer: Tamiya 60748
Aftermarket: Xtradecal 72224

Take 2 of my Spitfire build will be PR-J flown by F/Lt Frank Howell of 609 flying out of Middle Wallop.
Looking for a history of Lt Howell, I found this photo and profile which must have been taken sometime in August by counting the victories in the article here.
Battle of Britain Week: Frank Howell's Battle | Britain at War
Why the kill marks appear to be 6 pointed stars is beyond me but I hope someone will have an explanation. (Just spotted) The decal sheet does in fact have markings 27 and 28 which are a split yellow circle and four 6 pointed stars with swastikas but are not called out anywhere.


I'd also like to mention this site
World War Photos |
which I spent a good hour looking only at the Spitfires. I have in mind a few improvements to make over my last build, in particular, I want to replicate the red gun patches; how I'm to do that, I'm not sure yet, but is is such a distinctive marking, it should be included.
 
Last edited:
PlasticHero said:
I want to replicate the red gun patches; how I'm to do that, I'm not sure yet, but is is such a distinctive marking, it should be included.
Click to expand...

At 1/72 scale the easiest way to replicate the fabric patches is with some small squares of red decal.
 
I have the cockpit together, added the seatbelt decal this time even though no one will see it after the canopy is installed.
Looking into the gun patches, I saw that many pictures show smooth covers. I found one with protruding guns which was from K9793 which might be an early production. The picture I got it from had the serial under the starboard wing. The kit does have protruding guns in that position, the next to outermost gun bay. The outermost bay shows a barrel flush with the surface. It's a tiny detail, but they look like a barrel in a hole.
This group is really making me examine every detail and checking sources. Love it!!
 
What you are seeing is the flash suppressors fitted to the machine guns in the earliest Spitfires. These protruded from the leading edge of the wing in the No.3 position.

You can just about see this here.



The suppressors were deleted very early, I don't have the date to hand, but certainly before the BoB period.
 
I have progressed to the point of basic painting, assembly and decals done. Here is take 2 in all it's glory.
Having a spare airframe to use as practice and tests has me daring to add some paint wear, stains and weathering.
You can see the protruding flash suppressor that should be removed from the 3rd gun for anything but the early spits. The patch is..... cigarette paper. I tried the paper that came with the decal, but it was a little too stiff. This is 8 by 8 scale inches. Sprayed with a mix of red and black enamel and glued on with canopy glue. I then when over the wing leading edge, removable panels, and the wing next to the cockpit with a very light wash of silver acrylic. I wanted individual grains to settle in the lines and on the surface to be the paint wearing off to the metal below. On top of that is a very thin wash of black and brown for powder residue and oils. It looked good so I did some on the new build which can be seen in the top photo. After all the decals are on, I'll go over it a again. The ideal order would be camo paints, clear, decals, clear, silver, dark wash and clear to finish. If I feel daring, I'll try to blend the stripes across the rudder leading edge, they don't quite come together.

Now that I'm back into plastic, I got a lifetime supply of decal solutions. That first bottle is near 30 years old but still worked fine.
 
Wow, that was quick. Sounds lke you got the order for finishing right. Just make sure you go easy on the weathering, just doing a little at a time and adding until you are happy. Not a time to be overzealous.
 
Very quick build. Usually by Post #11 I still haven't decide which color to paint the seat. 1.50$ for Microsol. How old is that??? Add another 0 and its still less than the postage to Canada
 
Looking good.
Don't know if the decal sheet included it, but the aircraft of this Squadron usually had the individual code letter repeated under the nose, in black.
 
Well ready to do the 'official stencils' and ratz.

It looks like the don't step line went on before the roundel. In my role as 'Head of Spitfire Production' I had assumed that the sub assemblies would be painted with camo, then the roundels and last the stencils. Let's see if all my sacrifice to the carpet monster will let me cut the line at the exact spot to fit, on both sides, on both wings. Airframes , it does not but I found a small J that should work. Thanks!!!
 
Note that on the Mk1 Spit at this period, the wing walk lines did not project forward near the tips, ending at the tip joint line.
Also, the starboard side did not have the chord-wise line to the trailing edge, the line running to the wing root. - these were added from very late MkII and the Mk.V onwards.
See pics of my 'in progress' Mk.1 below.




 
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