ICM 1/48 Spitfire Mk. VIII USAAF fighter.

[spanner570]

To keep some sort of sanity, I like to vary my builds, so I'm building this 1/48 ICM Spitfire. I bought it from Cosford last year for less than a tenner.

It will be brush painted using Vallejo Model Air acrylics



The sprues. I made the cockpit and engine before I remembered to take pickies!.... :upside:


The engine. More on this later!




The cockpit. I've kept the painting to a minimum, as it won't really be seen.




The fuselage.


Cheers, and hoping everyone is keeping safe.

Ron

[spanner570]

Moving rapidly on.
Fuse joined and wings on.
I fitted the engine exactly where it should go, then tried to fit the top cowl. No chance whatsoever!

I couldn't remove any plastic from the underside of the already thin cowl, so.....



I snipped off the rocker covers and pipework, this equals one trashed engine that I spent a good bit of time on to get it looking o.k. Hey ho!

Onwards and upwards....

Ron

[Steven000]

Nice project, will follow the build :thumb2:
I noticed too with the ICM kits you better don't mount the engine if it's hidden...
Steven

[spanner570]

.......I noticed too with the ICM kits you better don't mount the engine if it's hidden...
Steven

Problem was Steven, I needed to fit the complete engine, so the exhaust pipes would stick out of the two fuselage slots. I presumed, wrongly, that the cowl would fit O.K.

Had I have known it would be impossible to fit it without wrecking the engine, I would have just fitted the exhausts. Crystal ball and all that......

Not to worry.

Ron

[Guest]

Had I have known it would be impossible to fit it without wrecking the engine, I would have just fitted the exhausts. Crystal ball and all that......

You're not on your Paddy Malone there, Ron. I manage to run into similar issues quite frequently and I'm sure we have a few mates. I seem to make far too many assumptions about what to expect. I think that when Boris said 'Stay Alert' he wasn't referring to viruses, just scale model kits.

[Lee Drennen]

Ron very nice and I’ve learned something I didn’t know the USAAF had these thanks for posting and a great start

[spanner570]

Thanks for following along chaps and posting encouraging comments... :thumb2:

A straight forward kit to put together to the painting stage.

I've spent the last few days painting the aircraft.

Because I brush paint, the hot weather is not a problem. I stick the model and the bottle of paint/primer in the fridge for 15 mins. When I take them out, I have around 30mins. work time before they have to go back in again. Who's a smart a**e then?!

I had some serious fun getting the lighter top side colour summat like right. Well, near enough for me anyway.

First off, I primed the model. I don't usually bother, but as I was going from the grey plastic to a beige, I decided to prime it with yellow.:dizzy:..... I don't know why either!

I brushed it on with my 'Yard brush', as I fondly call my big flat headed paint brush.





YUK!

[Jim R]

Because I brush paint, the hot weather is not a problem. I stick the model and the bottle of paint/primer in the fridge for 15 mins.

The excuses some people think up to go to the fridge for another cold one in this hot weather. The missus may believe you but not us lot!!
Strange about the engine fit. ICM should be better than that.
Echo your YUK! but we know it will be right.
Jim

[spanner570]

Nice one Jim!
I always brush on the lighter colour first. I was after a beige/stone, so I brushed on this over the yellow primer. It looked just fine, but when it dried it was too greeny like. I suspect the harsh yellow primer had something to do with it.


Back in the fridge, then time for a second go.......

[spanner570]

Another attempt.

This was getting close, but still dried too pale. When it was brushed on it looked a lot darker.





In the finished build, the main underside won't be seen, but part of the blue, front and back will, so it was just as easy to paint the whole underside.
First coat.



Here's the blue painted on. Being brushed on it doesn't have to be neat. Subsequent coats will tidy things up.


Cheers.
Ron

[yak face]

Great progress ron , i quite liked the yellow! The older ICM toolings are notorious for the engine cowlings not fitting if the engine is used , the bf109 suffers from this too.

[spanner570]

....the older ICM toolings are notorious for the engine cowlings not fitting if the engine is used , the bf109 suffers from this too.

Now he tells me!.....Sheesh

[stona]

Blimey Ron, the rate you are getting through this I thought you were trying for one of those 24 hour build!

Looking good though.

Cheers

Steve

[spanner570]

Thanks Steve.
To be honest, it's quite a basic, but well engineered kit. ( except for the engine/top cowl nonsense) So a quick build is easily achievable - Even for me!

The build was spread over a week or so, but it's better and easier for me to condense the construction and painting into just a few installments.

It was trying to get the correct light colour for the camo. that took the time.

Your Servant.
Flesh Gordon

[spanner570]

Got there... :thumb2:

I'm finally happy with the 'stone' colour. I just added a bit of Dk. Brown to the previous colour, which was a tad too light.

I used the same method for applying the camo. as used with my Lancaster Bomber- Pencil line the shapes and fill! The pattern is not spot on, but near enough to see it's British - Bl***y awkward and fussy!

Brush painted with Vallejo Model Air acrylics using Ron's amazing sooper dooper, highly modified, 'goes 'round tight corners' brush!

I only buy cheap brushes, about £4 for 8 on a card, so I don't shiver when I mutilate the odd one or two.



Here's the aircraft finally camouflaged and ready for decals etc.

I don't use any masking. To be honest, it looks too much faff, but I fully understand the need to when using an A.B., especially with all those awful particles of atomized toxic paint going everywhere they shouldn't...... Wink, wink!

After I brushed on the revised beige/stone colour, and because I was painting dark over light, I got away with just two coats of R.A.F. D.k Brown.
It's also had a coat of Klear.











No wheels? That's a story in itself.
I also never bother getting the leading edge 'squeaky clean'


Decals next.

Cheers.
Ron