**** DONE: GB-57 1/48 Spitfire MK.XVIe Low-back - WW2 Foreign Service

[le_steph40]

Nice work Andy, like Terry, the yellow was probably added over the dark blue to keep the ratio and the 56" diameter.

There is a photo of on page 27 of "Modellers Datafile 5 - The Supermarine Spitfire Part 2. Griffon Powered" where we can see the 56" national insignia on the wing before the yellow outline was added, and the blue comes to touch the yellow leading edge...

 

[Wurger]

I agree . The yellow outline was added within the dark blue. IMHO initially it was the C type roundel. Then the yellow was applied.

 

[Crimea_River]

Thanks guys, we are unanimous on that. I'll need to cut a little off the outside of the C decal then.

 

[destrozas]

great job!!!!

 

[Gnomey]

Nice work so far Andy!

 

[Wayne Little]

Looking forward to more...

 

[Crimea_River]

Thanks everyone. Slow steps forward but at least they are forward. I cut some masks to an exact scale 56 inches in diamter and placed them over the yellow rings in preparation for the upper camo. Doing this revealed that I had made the yellow leading edge strips too wide and so I removed those masks and replaced them with thinner ones. I read somewhere that the strips were 4 inches wide so that's what I cut the masks to. The 56" roundels just touch the aileron and LE strips now and all is right in the world.

This week should see the upper camo applied after masking the MSG areas so hopefully I will have more to show soon. Thanks again for following along.

 

[Wurger]

 

[Vic Balshaw]

That is a brilliant yellow Andy and a good recovery in detail. Bring on the camo.

 

[Crimea_River]

Thanks for the looks and likes guys. The Ocean Grey is on now using Tamiya XF-82 - sort of. I have always struggled with this colour a bit. It was introduced by Tamiya as a specific blend to represent RAF Ocean Grey when they came out with their 1/32 scale Spitfire IX kit but I have always found it a bit on the blue side and also very dark and this session didn't do anything to change my opinion. After laying down straight XF-82 on the first pass, I mixed a new batch in the cup cutting the same colour with maybe 20% white and sprayed that over the base coat. I'm happier with the way it looks now and next will be the Dark Green.

See you again when the green goes on.

 

[Ralph Haus]

Thanks for the looks and likes guys. The Ocean Grey is on now using Tamiya XF-82 - sort of. I have always struggled with this colour a bit. It was introduced by Tamiya as a specific blend to represent RAF Ocean Grey when they came out with their 1/32 scale Spitfire IX kit but I have always found it a bit on the blue side and also very dark and this session didn't do anything to change my opinion. After laying down straight XF-82 on the first pass, I mixed a new batch in the cup cutting the same colour with maybe 20% white and sprayed that over the base coat. I'm happier with the way it looks now and next will be the Dark Green.

View attachment 716330View attachment 716331

See you again when the green goes on.

What make spray gun are you using to achieve that 'no spatter' edge. Or, are you using some sort of hand held spray mask? Amazing. I keep trying but probably spraying with wrong pressures and viscosity? Can't believe it's all gun related? Somehow 'tallent' has to be in there somewhere!

 

[Wurger]

 

[Crimea_River]

Thanks gents.

What make spray gun are you using to achieve that 'no spatter' edge. Or, are you using some sort of hand held spray mask? Amazing. I keep trying but probably spraying with wrong pressures and viscosity? Can't believe it's all gun related? Somehow 'tallent' has to be in there somewhere!

Ralph, thanks for your interest. The above was sprayed with my Harder & Steenbeck Ultra that has a 0.2mm tip. No masks were used other than for the roundels I described earlier. I hate to say it but the brush actually wasn't working that well for this application as the spray pattern was not as tight as I'm used to. It was very splattery at the beginning but got better as I went but, in this case, I wasn't too concerned because there will be the Dark Green yet to go on. For this, I will need to take the gun apart and give it a thorough cleaning.

Practice and experience trumps "tallent" in my view, though a bit of the latter helps. The key for making very tight sprayed edges is to use low pressure (10 to 15 psi max), very thin paint, and getting VERY close to the surface being painted. I use about 60 to 70% thinner to paint ratio for my Tamiya mixes but that's more feel than laboratory mixing. Stay tuned for the green application and I'll go into a little more detail on my technique for this.

FYI, here's a close-up of the edge that I got at the beginning of my session when the gun was acting up. You might see better in this pic that the finish in the grey zone is a bit rough and the edge of the pattern has a lot of splatter, at least in my opinion.

 

[Ralph Haus]

Thanks gents.



Ralph, thanks for your interest. The above was sprayed with my Harder & Steenbeck Ultra that has a 0.2mm tip. No masks were used other than for the roundels I described earlier. I hate to say it but the brush actually wasn't working that well for this application as the spray pattern was not as tight as I'm used to. It was very splattery at the beginning but got better as I went but, in this case, I wasn't too concerned because there will be the Dark Green yet to go on. For this, I will need to take the gun apart and give it a thorough cleaning.

Practice and experience trumps "tallent" in my view, though a bit of the latter helps. The key for making very tight sprayed edges is to use low pressure (10 to 15 psi max), very thin paint, and getting VERY close to the surface being painted. I use about 60 to 70% thinner to paint ratio for my Tamiya mixes but that's more feel than laboratory mixing. Stay tuned for the green application and I'll go into a little more detail on my technique for this.

FYI, here's a close-up of the edge that I got at the beginning of my session when the gun was acting up. You might see better in this pic that the finish in the grey zone is a bit rough and the edge of the pattern has a lot of splatter, at least in my opinion.

View attachment 716347

Thanks. But your definition of 'rough' is somewhat different than mine. I wish! This latest build, I will 'attempt' to 'lighten-up' my techniques a bit with the guns that I have. I have been spoiled using an Iwata single action HP-M2, where the flow is dialed in and the only control required is the air flow amount. Having only one action to worry with is becoming more and more important as the years build up (not the gun-mine!).

 

[Ralph Haus]

Thanks gents.



Ralph, thanks for your interest. The above was sprayed with my Harder & Steenbeck Ultra that has a 0.2mm tip. No masks were used other than for the roundels I described earlier. I hate to say it but the brush actually wasn't working that well for this application as the spray pattern was not as tight as I'm used to. It was very splattery at the beginning but got better as I went but, in this case, I wasn't too concerned because there will be the Dark Green yet to go on. For this, I will need to take the gun apart and give it a thorough cleaning.

Practice and experience trumps "tallent" in my view, though a bit of the latter helps. The key for making very tight sprayed edges is to use low pressure (10 to 15 psi max), very thin paint, and getting VERY close to the surface being painted. I use about 60 to 70% thinner to paint ratio for my Tamiya mixes but that's more feel than laboratory mixing. Stay tuned for the green application and I'll go into a little more detail on my technique for this.

FYI, here's a close-up of the edge that I got at the beginning of my session when the gun was acting up. You might see better in this pic that the finish in the grey zone is a bit rough and the edge of the pattern has a lot of splatter, at least in my opinion.

View attachment 716347

Just looked up an H&S Ultra at Midwest. $125 is not a steep investment (model 125533) with hose and cleaning kit plus free shipping. But I got to thinking, would this be the same as my buying a small plane and wallah, I can fly? Hmmm?

 

[Crimea_River]

Can't really advise you on that sir.

 

[Jock Tamson]

Looking good Andy

 

[Vic Balshaw]

Looks great Andy and when I'm about to spray, I am trying to get into the habit of venting moisture that accumulates in the pump before I start the spray, my air pump has a small moisture collection chamber with a release valve and if I don't empty it, water somehow still gets in the air supply and spits out with the paint.

 

[le_steph40]

Andy

 

[Crimea_River]

Looks great Andy and when I'm about to spray, I am trying to get into the habit of venting moisture that accumulates in the pump before I start the spray, my air pump has a small moisture collection chamber with a release valve and if I don't empty it, water somehow still gets in the air supply and spits out with the paint.

Good point Vic but one that I rarely need to worry about. The climate where I live is usually very dry so moisture issues are minimal for me. I do have a trap as well and only need to eject the water occasionally.