Iconicair 1/32 Spiteful

[stona]

This is a bit of a cheat, because I'm not doing a full thread. I built a Seafang from Iconicair a few years ago, and this is pretty much the same kit. The Spiteful was a successor to the Spitfire, indeed the wings were trialled on a Spitfire (though by the time the Spiteful was in production they were no longer interchangeable), the Seafang was a navalised version.

It's a resin kit, with some white metal and photo-etch bits for additional fun.

I've been beavering away for a few days and have finally got the cockpit into one half of the fuselage. It's black, very black, everything is black, which does not make for an exciting photograph but it does show that I've actually started.



As with all kits of this type, this one produced by a man called Graham in his workshop for our pleasure, you are expected to put in a bit of effort to get things to fit. This is nonetheless a nice kit, anybody who has bashed those old '70s kits into shape (you know who you are) would have no trouble at all with one of these.

I'll probably update this when I've got the fuselage and wings together, as I said, not a step by step thread.

Cheers

Steve

[papa 695]

Nice start Steve.

[yak face]

Like it Steve, nice start . Yes ,the cockpits on 50s/60s British aircraft were a very dark place to be weren’t they ? Makes it easier for us modellers though , cheers tony

[stona]

Yes ,the cockpits on 50s/60s British aircraft were a very dark place to be weren’t they ?

That American artist who paints a similar thing over and over again, mainly with a 4" paint brush, is back on the telly. Was it the Fast Show that did the sketch where everything went black for the artist? That's how I felt spraying the cockpit.
It's invisible in the photo, but apart from painting the knobs and switches in completely spurious colours I did some dry brushing to try and lift some detail. Luckily it will be almost unseen once the kit is finished, which is why I'm not going to use my one and only late war (parachute style) harness on it. I have something ese planned for that
Cheers
Steve

[yak face]

That American artist who paints a similar thing over and over again, mainly with a 4" paint brush, is back on the telly. Was it the Fast Show that did the sketch where everything went black for the artist? That's how I felt spraying the cockpit.
It's invisible in the photo, but apart from painting the knobs and switches in completely spurious colours I did some dry brushing to try and lift some detail. Luckily it will be almost unseen once the kit is finished, which is why I'm not going to use my one and only late war (parachute style) harness on it. I have something ese planned for that :smiling3:
Cheers
Steve

Yes it was Charlie Higson on the fast show :smiling5: “black ,black ,it’s all black” I did a Meteor f8 a few years back and it was one of the quickest cockpits I’ve ever done , just black and dry brush with light grey !

[stona]

As promised, the Spiteful with most construction done and in primer.

It's been an interesting challenge, but although it won't win any prizes, it does look like a Spiteful.



Unfortunately, looking like a Spiteful means it looks like someone took the arse end of a Spitfire, bolted it onto the front half of a Griffon powered Mustang and then stuck a Fw 190 canopy on top. At least they dropped the name Spitfire and gave it a different name, so we can remember the Spitfire for it's beautiful silhouette, and draw a discreet veil over this 'successor'.

Cheers

Steve

[stona]

Now out of the paint shop.

The hood and upper cowling are just propped on for the photoshoot. There is nothing to see under the cowling, literally. No paint departed in the masking process, but the side door did, with an inadvertent push of one of my four thumbs! I'll stick it back on later.



Next decision...decals or masks for the markings. I will probably have a go with the kit decals. I believe that Iconicair print the decals themselves, but the paper looks a lot like that used by Xtradecal, so they may be okay.

Cheers

Steve

[yak face]

Lovely paint job steve , i see what you mean about the looks , youve definitely got to get it from the right angle to appreciate its beauty ( dead astern :smiling5: ) anyway its a great example of a Spitphootang 190 .

[stona]

Extra post re-decaling.

I wasn't sure about the kit decals, but I want to save my diminishing collection of masks for another project and decided to use them.

The decal sheet looks a lot like one of the Eduard ones, not as printed by Cartograf, but the ones they do themselves. I've had trouble with these before! I decided not to use any setting solutions as the film looks very, very thin, instead I just used lukewarm water with a few drops of Fairy Liquid (to break the surface tension).

What can I say? Most of the decals on the sheet are, in my opinion, unusable.

I managed to get the national markings on, but a couple of them broke and required a touch up. This aircraft was supposed to be RB523, hence no yellow stripes on the wing leading edges, but not only could I not get that decal to work (in sections) I couldn't even make the number up from the rest of the sheet. They all broke, folded, stretched or in other ways defeated me. Anyway, not to be outdone I raided my substantial spares box and made up a suitable looking but entirely spurious serial number. This Spiteful is now RB133, which could be a Supermarine Walrus for all I know :smiling3:. All the stencils ('jack here', 'electrical and radio socket', etc.) are from the spares. It will look fine when I finish it and get it on a shelf!



This will conclude this rather scanty 'under construction' thread. I will post some pictures in a 'completed' thread in the next few days.

Cheers

Steve

[stona]

Okay....I lied....shoot me.....actually, don't!

Just one snap as I've been setting up a new backdrop.



It really is a snapshot, just plonked on the base and taken!

I will do some 'proper' pictures this evening (with a bit of luck) and post a 'completed' thread.

Cheers

Baron Munchausen.