Another Spitfire...Hobbyboss Mk.VB (Trop)

[stona]

Been a while, so here's a quick update.

I've done the major construction on the airframe. I'm very impressed with the HpH resin, everything fitted very nicely which is not always the case. If anyone is contemplating investing in these alternative parts then one thing that there is no need to worry about is their quality or fit.

All the kit parts have gone together very well. I needed a little bit of superglue to fill one of the wing tips, but that was my fault, caused when I was tidying up the face left by the original wing tip which I removed.

I also did a little bit of work at the wing root. Since I've never built an aeroplane kit where I didn't have to do that it's hardly a criticism

The light is going here so here's an even worse than normal photo of the model with top surfaces primed.



It looks just like a Spitfire!

Cheers

Steve

[flyjoe180]

It does look just like a Spitfire, nice and cleanly done too.

[stona]

I've not been able to get much time in the last few days.

I have got the basic Azure Blue on the underside having finally decided NOT to apply the yellow leading edge stripes suggested by Hobbyboss (I'd have sprayed the yellow first). I know that the yellow stripes were intended for use in Europe, but some tropical fighters did still carry them. It is unclear whether my subject had them or not, they look like a possibility on one photo but I've decided not.

In the mean time I've been faffing about with the exhausts, trying to make plastic look like metal .



Cheers

Steve

[Ian M]

Well it looks like that worked out well. They look like burnt metal to me!

Ian M

[Guest]

And I think you completely succeeded, it looks like metal

Francesco

[tr1ckey66]

Hi Steve, nice progress with the Spit. I built the Hobby Boss kit (Mk V not trop) some time ago. I built it for a client OOB but did note the inaccuracies in the kit. I also disliked the clear gun inspection panels and remember them as being a bit fiddly to get to fit correctly, having to thin them in various places to get them to lie flat? I don't think there was a correction set available at the time and I'm interested to see how this all comes together. Looks great so far and I'm intrigued by the canopy correction.

I hope to be doing my own corrective kit build soon in the Trumpeter Ju87b (Part of the BoB builds) which,as you're probably aware, has a long list of well publicised accuracy issues.

Anyhoo, great progress and I look forward to the canopy.

Cheers

P

[Dave W]

Those exhausts look the business Steve.Can you tell me how you did them please?.

[stona]

Hi Steve, nice progress with the Spit. I built the Hobby Boss kit (Mk V not trop) some time ago. I built it for a client OOB but did note the inaccuracies in the kit. I also disliked the clear gun inspection panels and remember them as being a bit fiddly to get to fit correctly, having to thin them in various places to get them to lie flat? I don't think there was a correction set available at the time and I'm interested to see how this all comes together. Looks great so far and I'm intrigued by the canopy correction.Cheers

P

Hi Paul,

Yes, those gun panels don't fit that well and I remember a little bit of sanding. You have to fit them in the right order as some overlap others and that's not self evident, or indicated in the instructions. I find them peculiar and suspect they are pandering to the Asian market where people like to display kits opened up with all the gubbins on display. Nothing wrong with that but I prefer a more 'realistic' pose. It's one thing to offer them as an option (as Trumpeter do in some of their kits IIRC) but there is no option with this one.

In the end I have used the kit parts for the hood and rear canopy, just using the corrected windscreen from HpH. Being cast from clear resin it is not as clear as the rather good kit clear parts and is also a bit 'heavier' looking, if you know what I mean. It fits okay if you make sure to shape the little, resin, fuselage inserts correctly. I've had to do a little bit of filling around the front of the screen but nothing drastic. I wanted to have the windscreen (HpH) and sliding hood (Hobbyboss) meet properly, despite the fact the hood will be posed slid back eventually. If you weren't bothered about that happening exactly the fitting would be much easier. I effectively had to tilt the screen back very, very, slightly. HpH supply a special paint mask to fit around the windscreen and suggest several layers of paint fill the transition from kit to extras but any fool, even me, can smooth out that transition more conventionally.

The rest of the correction bits have fitted perfectly. I am particularly impressed with the horizontal stabilisers.

I plan to use the resin cockpit door but at the moment I seem to have.....ahem....mislaid it !

Good luck with the 'Stuka'

Those exhausts look the business Steve.Can you tell me how you did them please?.

Hi Dave. I assembled and primed the 'stacks' with Halfords Plastic Primer.....and forgot all about them until this morning when first I sprayed them with Alclad 'burnt iron'. That was a little too dark so I dry brushed them with a red-brown mixture I made up, just to give the impression of a lighter colour. After that I dry brushed the lighter staining. Usually I use a grey for this, but this time I've used white and will do so again. Finally I wanted to lighten up the end of the individual stubs and make them appear more metallic. For this I dry brushed a mixture of metallic bronze and, believe it or not, Mid Stone.

Cheers

Steve

[Dave W]

Hi Paul,Yes, those gun panels don't fit that well and I remember a little bit of sanding. You have to fit them in the right order as some overlap others and that's not self evident, or indicated in the instructions. I find them peculiar and suspect they are pandering to the Asian market where people like to display kits opened up with all the gubbins on display. Nothing wrong with that but I prefer a more 'realistic' pose. It's one thing to offer them as an option (as Trumpeter do in some of their kits IIRC) but there is no option with this one.

In the end I have used the kit parts for the hood and rear canopy, just using the corrected windscreen from HpH. Being cast from clear resin it is not as clear as the rather good kit clear parts and is also a bit 'heavier' looking, if you know what I mean. It fits okay if you make sure to shape the little, resin, fuselage inserts correctly. I've had to do a little bit of filling around the front of the screen but nothing drastic. I wanted to have the windscreen (HpH) and sliding hood (Hobbyboss) meet properly, despite the fact the hood will be posed slid back eventually. If you weren't bothered about that happening exactly the fitting would be much easier. I effectively had to tilt the screen back very, very, slightly. HpH supply a special paint mask to fit around the windscreen and suggest several layers of paint fill the transition from kit to extras but any fool, even me, can smooth out that transition more conventionally.

The rest of the correction bits have fitted perfectly. I am particularly impressed with the horizontal stabilisers.

I plan to use the resin cockpit door but at the moment I seem to have.....ahem....mislaid it !

Good luck with the 'Stuka'

Hi Dave. I assembled and primed the 'stacks' with Halfords Plastic Primer.....and forgot all about them until this morning when first I sprayed them with Alclad 'burnt iron'. That was a little too dark so I dry brushed them with a red-brown mixture I made up, just to give the impression of a lighter colour. After that I dry brushed the lighter staining. Usually I use a grey for this, but this time I've used white and will do so again. Finally I wanted to lighten up the end of the individual stubs and make them appear more metallic. For this I dry brushed a mixture of metallic bronze and, believe it or not, Mid Stone.

Cheers

Steve

Well they look very good.thanks for the explanation.

[stona]

Here's another pointless gimmick, a bit like the clear panels in the wings. It's 'rubber' tyres for the main undercarriage.



I'm not a big fan. I find these difficult to make look realistic and just look at that seam running around the tyre. It's surprisingly difficult to clean up neatly......unless you stick the tyre in the freezer for a few hours first. That's where mine are now

Cheers

Steve

[Guest]

Good idea steve. Another way would be to fit it to a motor tool and spin it lightly on some sandpaper. Works quite well.

[stona]

Good idea steve. Another way would be to fit it to a motor tool and spin it lightly on some sandpaper. Works quite well.

I have a Dremel somewhere but hardly ever use it, I don't feel in control

You'd have to go easy spinning the tyres as the 'rubber' overheats very quickly and you could make a right mess!

Cheers

Steve

[The Migrant]

Exhausts look superb Steve, thanks for the explanation. I hate those rubber tyres too. Does anyone do replacement resin wheels for the kit?

[stona]

Exhausts look superb Steve, thanks for the explanation. I hate those rubber tyres too. Does anyone do replacement resin wheels for the kit?

I'm sure that the relevant Spitfire wheels will have been cast by someone. I'm virtually certain that 'Barracuda' do both the 4 and 5 spoke version in 1/32, particularly as the same gimmick appears in the Tamiya kits and the PCM and Hasegawa kit wheels are not terribly good either.

I built a PCM Mk XIV a while ago. I don't know whether it's very obvious but the wheels are too big!



Cheers

Steve

[flyjoe180]

The wheels on that XIV don't look too big from that photo. As for the rubber tyres, this is interesting because I've never built a kit large enough to experience them. I'd have thought they would have moulded them a little better than that, perhaps even provided some tread. Or is tread a modern thing to have on the tyres of an aeroplane such as the Spitfire?