Tamiya Supermarine Spitfire Mk 1 - 1/48

[Guest]

Maybe because I spent 18 months in a car body shop owned by a friend

You were lucky to escape when you did. 25 years later I'm still trying to tunnel my way out of one :smiling5:

[topgazza]

I was back in the days of good old solvent based paints. I did enjoy it but then I knew it was just a year or so. Even that turned into 18 months. Must be the smell of thinners

[topgazza]

Ready for airbrushing for the first time ever. Building up the courage :fearful:





Might just leave like this. Looks different.

[Steven000]

I'm not sure I can see what you're masking, but if you start with the bottom color you don't need to mask anything, just spray the bottom, (bit of overspray on fuselage) and when dry mask te bottom and spray the camo.

But if it works for you then you'll be fine :tongue-out3:

[topgazza]

Thanks Steven. Just took the masking off. What you say makes total sense. Thanks

[topgazza]

Taking it steady as I'm airbrushing for the first time. Enjoying it a lot but update is only the underside in Sky Type S. Picture doen't do it anything like justice though as the colour is even and solid without affecting any of the detail. The picture looks patchy and uneven which it's not in reality. Un reduced images look fine . Panel lines are all there and will be highlighted later. I will try a new picture in natural daylight tomorrow but I am making progress be it all slowly and at my pace. Next up is the topside in brown and green camo



Thats better

[topgazza]

Slow progress but I'm taking my time as I collect paints etc

However I have just done the top and I did get a bit of masked paint coming off just in front of the cockpit. Wonder if thats because I don't usually prime even though I cleaned the plane before spraying ? But otherwise I'm delighted with the result and I can touch up the bare area. The actual edges of the camo, I used BluTack are really nice, better than in the picture. Clean edges with a tiny bit of fade in places which looks realy nice in real life



Really not having much luck with the quality of my pictures and having spent £20k plus over the last 20 years and hours taking all sorts of pictures of high quality I should know what I'm doing. But I have had a good clear out and only have the 3 cameras left...... ah well. I did get rid of all my lighting gear so just using candles and burning some old underpants now

[topgazza]

Idea of what the pencil lines look like. None of them appear as dark as around the flaps. And they really discrete. Just sprayed floor polish on so decals next

[topgazza]

Finally done. Made a dumb mistake of spraying the matt after demasking the cokpit... wont do that again but it looks OK considering

[stillp]

Made a dumb mistake of spraying the matt after demasking the cokpit...

Easy mistake to make. Don't ask how I know...
A gloss coat on the canopy will improve it a little.
Pete

[topgazza]

I was going to try that Pete. Really enjoyable build for my first one. Learnt a couple of things, do's and don'ts and in the flesh it looks really good. nice to spend time doing small bits and not rushing so it becomes a pleasurable way to spend my time.

[Steven000]

Looks good indeed :thumb2:
I'm not sure, but wouldn't it be possible to remove the matt finish from the canopy with alcohol or so? Never tried it with a finish-layer but if it hasn't harden yet I would think it could work.
Cheers, Steven

[topgazza]

Thanks.
I'm very pleased and have already noted things I will do differently to improve models. I do like the shiny new with a touch of panel line and a tiny smidgen of exhaust dirt.

I'll have a go with IPA which shouldn't harm the perspex.

[colin m]

Well that turned out aright Gary. Bad luck with the canopy, but, that's not something you'll do again. We all improve with every build.

[topgazza]

Thanks Colin it looks like he's been doing some heavy breating in there. But it's not horrible. But I'm quite pleased for my first build in 40 years. And key is that I enjoyed it a lot. Much more than I remember my glue smeared models as a teen.

It looks OK but I'll keep an eye out for any spare or replacement front screen and canopies as I'm pretty certain I can carefully remove and replace them