Tamiya 1/32 Spitfire Mk XVIe

[colin m]

Good progress Barry. The Tamiya Spitfire Mk.IXc I built had the same arrangement for the engine panels. I found they can be fitted neatly, but hell, what a fiddle. Mine currently has no engine panels on at all !

[BarryW]

I got a bit more done last night, getting this little lady all dressed up as if for a date......


First I masked up with Clever Putty.  This is a brilliant masking material ideal for wavy camo schemes.  Some tips for using it.


1/ Mask difficult to reach areas first, in this case around the stabs and rear.  I didnt and found it surprisingly difficult to hold the model while masking the rear withoug my fingers straying onto the masked areas requiring me to then adjust it.


2/ Try to mask, spray and remove mask all in one session.  I didnt manage to finsish the masking and left it 24 hours before going back to finish it.  The qualities that make it so good meant that it spread slightly on the horizontal surfaces (not a problem, in fact it helped improved the flow of the camo) but on the sides it drooped, it was going to use the word 'run' but it runs only in the sense that you can say a snail runs!!  Again it was not a massive problem, I just needed to adjust it back again.


3/ It produced a harder edged camo than you get from white tac snakes.  I believe this is because of how the edges settled in from being left 24 hours.  I think that if you spray wsoon after masking that a softer edge will occur.  On my next build I will find out.


Anyway - here it is with the RAF Dark Green sprayed...   first the solid colour.





Then I mix the colour with white, thin it and spray the middle of panels and in places that will catch the light when looking at it...





Woops, oh dear - too much white so it looks much too patchy...  never mind, after all I did do it deliberately to demonstrate just how fool-proof my method is and how no-one need worry about ruining the finish.


I do a colour change clean of the a/b and load it with the base colour, RAF Dark Green in this case and dilute it heavily with thinner.  I then apply a couple of mist coats, fairly high pressure, all over the model...  Do it gradually, monitor progress until you are happy with the effect and you get this..





A much more subtle effect.  There is some more localised areas to mist coat in order to finish off and the picture above is while wet.  When cured the contrast will have reduced a little more.  Below the aircraft after removing the Clever Putty.  I will have some touch ups to do, not a lot though, with the airbrush and the Clever Putty (which is reusable) is an ideal material for the localised masking that will need.





The great thing is how the Clever Putty just lifts away from the model with no stickiness.  When I remove the masking tape tonight it will not come away quite so easily.





I also have applied some washes to the undercarraige, prop and other dangly bits to bring out detail.  I still have some work to do in these areas but I will be applying a matt coat first.








Its amazing what these magnified photos show.  It looks better in real life!


I referred to 'getting this little lady all dressed up for a date' - well next in the process after some adjustments to her wardrobe will be her make-up and other finery - decals so to speak.  After which I need to get her looking as she would after her date, a good one in which she pulled, as if she was on her way home in the morning, a big smile on her face, feeling a bit grubby and maybe a bit used but still her beautiful self....

[Gwyn]

Looking good Barry, painting is coming along fantastically. can I ak what is the clamp/support you have the plane in to hold it for spraying?

[BarryW]

Hi Gwyn


Its a stand from here http://umm-usa.com/onlinestore/index.php?cPath=21_162


They have a lot of tools and materials not available in the UK

[Guest]

I hope Barry doesn't mind me adding to his excellent thread,  but the stands are available closer to home direct from the JH Models website 

http://www.jhmodels.eu/plastic-models/model-stands/no-4801-stand/

[Gwyn]

Thanks to both Barry and Patrick for that info on the stand.

[BarryW]

Not a lot of progress this weekend, well not as much as I hoped as I spent Sunday doing pre-Christmas shopping with the missus in Canterbury...... did visit Majestics and bought two dozen bottles of wine to top up the wine racks, some compensation from being away from the bench....


I have done some touching up using the Clever Putty for localised masking.  Most of it is around the tail that was masked last.  As mentioned using this material it is best to mask the more fiddly areas, such as the tail first leaving the easy areas last. Here is the tail ready to spray some RAF dark green, mostly it is to smooth some curves or tidy up around some detail.





Here are the canopy parts stripped of masking tape.  I would advise getting Eduard pre-cut masks rather that use the provided Tammy ones as I did.





I also painted green stripes onto the bombs.  I should do red as well, thinner and a bit nearer the tip, but I am tempted to leave them as they are,  mind you....





Here is a shot of the aircraft after all the touching up.   I have been over it with a polishing stick get get rid of any rough patches, not that there was much to worry about but it is always best to do that between coats.  I also did a little detail painting where needed.





I will next mask up to do the yellow id marks on the wings.  There are some red patches also to do over the machine gun ports but I need to check my references on that first. I have touched up the exhausts and will weather them after varnishing.


I have done a first matt coat on the dangly bits.   I decided to try out the Windsow & Newton varnish as I have heard good things about it.  It sprayed very well indeed, mixed with about 20% water at about 20psi though a 0.4 needle.  I have to say it lays down very well, so far so good.

[Guest]

Very nice work Barry. Im gona order some of this clever putty soon, you've shown that the camo patterns that can be achieved with this are very realistic. 

[BarryW]

More done last night - first painting the yellow i.d. stripes...


We have all had issues about the coverage of yellow paint, specially over surfaces with light and dark beneath.   Like this wing, all masked up below:





The problem is more accute because of the need not to build up a ridge against the masking with repeated coats.





This is the best yellow paint for coverage I have ever experienced....





I laid down the first light coat and it looked like this:





pretty good but a second coat brought it up to this - again very lightly applied:





No quite perfect, but it does not need to be because I have one more light coat to do of the yellow shade I need for the strips.





Better - no more coats needed...





The right colour and good coverage, three light coats needed only.





No ridges when the masking was removed.....


I have also weathered the undercarraige.





The above were seald with a matt varnish, except for the tyres and for them I appied some Vallejo pigment fixer.


Now a question....


I have been checking sources but have no definative answer.


The instructions say that the machine gun ports were covered by patches on the actual aircraft but gives no painting instruction.


I assume the patches were red as usual but I can see no picture of Mk XVIs with the red patches, as depicted in models, which is most of the colour photos I found, they are just not painted.  The areas for the patches are there inscribed but do I paint them or not?  It does not look right to me leaving them as they are, the 'patches' would be in three colours if so, yellow,m MSG and either green of OG.....   it just does not look right.


Any ideas?

[stona]

Which machine gun ports?


Surely the E wing carried the 2 x 20mm Hispanos and 2 x .50 calibre M2 Brownings.


Cheers


Steve

[BarryW]

I thought that but there are two inserts for outer wing machine guns in the model with reference to them in the instructions about being covered by patches on the actual aircraft.


It might be a mistake in the instructions of course, a hangover from the Mk IX

[stona]

Different under wing panels, deleting the ejection ports and deflectors for the outer MGs were definitely fitted. It seems unlikely that a proper patch for the openings in the leading edge would not also gave been fitted, though I can't say for sure.


Cheers


Steve

[BarryW]

I have decided after more research that the reference to the patches was an error so I am proceeding accordingly.  Thanks Steve.


Last night the u/c was finished off with a bit of dry brushing.





And I laid down a coat of Alclad Aqua Gloss ready to decal.

[colin m]

Looks nice. So close to the end, but still so much to do !

[Guest]

First I masked up with Clever Putty.  This is a brilliant masking material ideal for wavy camo schemes.  Some tips for using it.


1/ Mask difficult to reach areas first, in this case around the stabs and rear.  I didnt and found it surprisingly difficult to hold the model while masking the rear withoug my fingers straying onto the masked areas requiring me to then adjust it.


2/ Try to mask, spray and remove mask all in one session.  I didnt manage to finsish the masking and left it 24 hours before going back to finish it.  The qualities that make it so good meant that it spread slightly on the horizontal surfaces (not a problem, in fact it helped improved the flow of the camo) but on the sides it drooped, it was going to use the word 'run' but it runs only in the sense that you can say a snail runs!!  Again it was not a massive problem, I just needed to adjust it back again.


3/ It produced a harder edged camo than you get from white tac snakes.  I believe this is because of how the edges settled in from being left 24 hours.  I think that if you spray wsoon after masking that a softer edge will occur.  On my next build I will find out.

I have to try some of this stuff! Have a 1/48 Hurricane to do next, perfect opportunity/ Is this stuff youre using specifically made for this job, or just kid's play stuff?