**** DONE: GB-57 1/48 Spitfire MK.XVIe Low-back - WW2 Foreign Service
- Thread starter Crimea_River
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le_steph40
Chief Master Sergeant
Excellent work Andy 
- Thread starter
- #123
Crimea_River
Marshal
Thanks guys. The windscreen did clear the gun sight thankfully and is now glued in place. There will be a bit of clean-up needed beore the trial paint coat is applied as I suspect this won't survive a close-up as well as I would like.
fubar57
General
Good stuff as always Andy
Nice work so far Andy!
T Bolt
Colonel
Wonderful work on that gun sight Andy
- Thread starter
- #128
Crimea_River
Marshal
Thanks guys. No progress to show I'm afraid.
- Thread starter
- #129
Crimea_River
Marshal
At some point I need to stop with the finickiness and get on with it. The cross-kitted canopy has been masked and painted grey-green to help reveal any more blemishes. However, there is still a bit more work to do....
Below shows the kit prop blade thinning in progress. Not only were these very thick but they were also a bit too wide in the chord, with the leading edge showing too much of a curve.
The prop blades are now finished and inserted into the slightly-too-pointy spinner. I sprayed the yellow wing leading edges and prop tips using Tamiya XF-3 Yellow with a tiny dab of red.
The kit undercarriage legs are a bit problematic too as they are much too long and don't have the correct forward rake. Below is a comparison of the kit leg (white) with an Eduard Mk.IX (dark grey) and Airfix Mk.XII leg showing the significant difference. The spare Eduard legs will be used though these will be modified to allow for a more forward rake.
Thank-you all for staying with me on this. I should have more to show in a day or so.
Below shows the kit prop blade thinning in progress. Not only were these very thick but they were also a bit too wide in the chord, with the leading edge showing too much of a curve.
The prop blades are now finished and inserted into the slightly-too-pointy spinner. I sprayed the yellow wing leading edges and prop tips using Tamiya XF-3 Yellow with a tiny dab of red.
The kit undercarriage legs are a bit problematic too as they are much too long and don't have the correct forward rake. Below is a comparison of the kit leg (white) with an Eduard Mk.IX (dark grey) and Airfix Mk.XII leg showing the significant difference. The spare Eduard legs will be used though these will be modified to allow for a more forward rake.
Thank-you all for staying with me on this. I should have more to show in a day or so.
fubar57
General
Mercy
Actually I would check on the length of the legs using the orginal dimensons divided by the 48. The difference of the model parts may be caused by the different depth of the wheel bays of each of the kits. Also it may depend on the way the legs are going to be attached to the model and the hight of the leg slots. Additionally the legs are too short often but not too long. But, the ICM legs are about 2 mm too long as memo serves.
- Thread starter
- #132
Crimea_River
Marshal
Thanks guys. @Wurger I've already checked that. Inserted the Eduard leg into the ICM joint and got the correct dimension based on a scale drawing I have.
Enjoying the work going on...
Good work so far Andy!
- Thread starter
- #136
Crimea_River
Marshal
Greetings again all and thanks for the comments. A little more to show and a question at the end.
The underside got a bit more treatment by filing down the prominent ledge of the radiator baths to make them more flush with the wing surface:
I also forgot to mention yesterday that another mod to the kit was to drill out the small port for the gun camera in the starboard wing root.
With that all done, it was time to get on with painting the undersides. The yellow wing leading edge strips were masked and a patchwork of black and white splotches was laid down.
Next, a thin coat of Tamiya XF-83 MSG ws applied leaving some of the patches to show through.
The extensive filling and sanding at the back of the wing turned out well. Some big gaps were present here early on.
And today, I mulled over the Type C1 roundels that I would need for the wing uppers. It turns out that I have a spare set of the blue-white-red Type C decals scaling to the correct 56 inch diameter in my stash, which I will use. However, I do not have any with the yellow border that was added late in the war. I therefore sprayed a pair of yellow rings (same formula as the leading edges done yetserday) with the intent to apply a circular mask to the outer edge of the ring when I paint the upper camo colours.
The question to @Wurger,
le_steph40 , or
Airframes is this: Because the 56" roundel just barely fit into the space between the yellow leading edge strip and the aileron, do you think the yellow ring was painted OUTSIDE the 56" diameter or WITHIN it? I have not found clear documentation on this but I'm leaning toward the latter because if you look at the below detail of the picture I put up in post 111, the arrows point to where the yellow paint has flaked away, apparently leaving the original dark blue showing underneath. This would mean that, at least for Spitfires of 416 Squadron, the yellow ring was added inside the 56" diameter, reducing the dark blue field by the width of the yellow strip so as not to encroach on the leading edge strip and aileron. This would make the roundel look consistent with all other photos and profiles that I've seen of this late roundel on Spitfires (though some had the smaller 36" ones as seen in post #13).
Any thoughts on this or documentation supporting one way or the other would be appreciated.
The underside got a bit more treatment by filing down the prominent ledge of the radiator baths to make them more flush with the wing surface:
I also forgot to mention yesterday that another mod to the kit was to drill out the small port for the gun camera in the starboard wing root.
With that all done, it was time to get on with painting the undersides. The yellow wing leading edge strips were masked and a patchwork of black and white splotches was laid down.
Next, a thin coat of Tamiya XF-83 MSG ws applied leaving some of the patches to show through.
The extensive filling and sanding at the back of the wing turned out well. Some big gaps were present here early on.
And today, I mulled over the Type C1 roundels that I would need for the wing uppers. It turns out that I have a spare set of the blue-white-red Type C decals scaling to the correct 56 inch diameter in my stash, which I will use. However, I do not have any with the yellow border that was added late in the war. I therefore sprayed a pair of yellow rings (same formula as the leading edges done yetserday) with the intent to apply a circular mask to the outer edge of the ring when I paint the upper camo colours.
The question to @Wurger,
le_steph40 , or
Airframes is this: Because the 56" roundel just barely fit into the space between the yellow leading edge strip and the aileron, do you think the yellow ring was painted OUTSIDE the 56" diameter or WITHIN it? I have not found clear documentation on this but I'm leaning toward the latter because if you look at the below detail of the picture I put up in post 111, the arrows point to where the yellow paint has flaked away, apparently leaving the original dark blue showing underneath. This would mean that, at least for Spitfires of 416 Squadron, the yellow ring was added inside the 56" diameter, reducing the dark blue field by the width of the yellow strip so as not to encroach on the leading edge strip and aileron. This would make the roundel look consistent with all other photos and profiles that I've seen of this late roundel on Spitfires (though some had the smaller 36" ones as seen in post #13). Any thoughts on this or documentation supporting one way or the other would be appreciated.
SaparotRob
Unter Gemeine Geschwader Murmeltier XIII
The yellow paint rings are a clever idea.
Airframes
Benevolens Magister
That sounds about right Andy, i.e. painted within the blue area.
Vic Balshaw
Major General
Am impressed Andy, doing some great stuff. 
Nice work Andy, hope to get back to mine next week
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