Another 1/24 Airfix Spitfire

[Greg Kimsey]

Well, trying to make the panels removable I absolutely destroyed the framework around the engine. Everything is glued closed now and this will hang from the ceiling. I will build another to show panels open.

 

[Sharkmouth]

Put it aside and look at the parts of the unbuilt kit to repair those that are wrecked.

 

[Greg Kimsey]

Put it aside and look at the parts of the unbuilt kit to repair those that are wrecked.

Yep, that is what is happening. Thanks.

 

[moon puppy]

You know that engine is in there so it's not wasted. Sending what model zen I have

 

[jeaton01]

Sorry, Greg. I hate it when things go south.

 

[Greg Kimsey]

Thank you guys. I have a nice support system! I am starting over using the second model I bought to sell at the store, and building two; one flying to hang from the ceiling at the store, and the other with everything exposed. I will use the wheels I have made for this plane in the second one, and put the wheels up from the second kit into the first (hope that made sense!). Also, same with the open battery hatch. Mix and match to make what I want.

 

[Rhino]

Bummer Greg. I sometimes worry when things seem to be going to smoothly.

 

[paddy]

Its very easily done with this kit Greg. You have to work about 6 stages ahead without glue or have parts very lightly tack glued in place so they can be unstuck and adjusted later.
Panel fit on these types of models is always a pain, its one reason i glued the gun covers in place because the scale thickness of the plastic couldn't allow for the magazine drums on the canons.
My guess is the real engine covers would be like a car hood so about 2mm thick ? The model panel is 1mm so to scale its 24mm or 1" inch thick so massive compromises are made and they never really work.
Looking at the Hurricane i know for a fact the engine covers dont fit. Major surgery is needed like shortening the engine block so its about 2 mm shorter in height. I can see at a glance the armour plate behind the pilots head is 2mm thick, thats the equivalent of 48mm in real life (2 x 24 scale)
In fact the armour plate was 8mm thick so on the model it should be 0.3mm not 2mm.
Its all a compromise and usually something has to give so dont feel bad. Now you know why i wasnt really impressed with my own build Given the will power to do another i know i could do 10x better , what is it they say forewarned is forearmed ?

 

[Sharkmouth]

I am starting over using the second model I bought to sell at the store, and building two; one flying to hang from the ceiling at the store, and the other with everything exposed. I will use the wheels I have made for this plane in the second one, and put the wheels up from the second kit into the first (hope that made sense!). Also, same with the open battery hatch. Mix and match to make what I want.

Best case scenario as the one hanging won't have snafus as visible!

 

[Greg Kimsey]

The second model is going well; far better than the first. However, this post is not about that. This post is to show a new reference source I found. This is a photo of a model cockpit!:

Now, yes, it is 1/5 scale and the whole plane is probably bigger than me, but the photo gallery looks great. There is also a Mustang with fantastic photos: https://www.warbirdsinmyworkshop.net/spitfire-mki-gallery
This may already be on here somewhere, but I just found it!

 

[Sharkmouth]

The second model is going well; far better than the first. However, this post is not about that. This post is to show a new reference source I found. This is a photo of a model cockpit!:
View attachment 160387
Now, yes, it is 1/5 scale and the whole plane is probably bigger than me, but the photo gallery looks great. There is also a Mustang with fantastic photos: https://www.warbirdsinmyworkshop.net/spitfire-mki-gallery
This may already be on here somewhere, but I just found it!

Glen has two coffee books on the subject and explains his scratch-building techniques.

 

[paddy]

Its a tricky one because the bigger you go the easier it gets. Of course this guy is out of this world but once you get to a size where you can fabricate and manufacture in steel and alloy things ( for me certainly) would be a lot easier than working with poor quality plastic kit parts. It comes down to what i was saying the other day about scaleability ....
I have really noticed this with my Hurricane where for the model to have integrity (so parts can support themselves and others attached) they have to be made thicker than scale. This means despite my dislike of after market i have had to buy metal undercarriage parts for it because the plastic will barely support the weigh.
They seem to be getting round this now modern plastics but a few years ago you couldn't have made a 1/32 Lancaster because the thing would have sagged and distorted under its own weight if part thickness and so on was to scale, something thats unlikely in larger scales in metal
The high end Tamiya 1/32 Spitfire was one of the first kits to really address this along with the wing nut wings kits particularly where they attached the lower wing to the fuselage on their Bristol fighter

 

[Greg Kimsey]

I need some advice. I have my spitfire painted and decals on. I have never used the sludge weathering method with pigment, water, and dish soap, but want to try it. Do I need to seal the surface with a gloss or matte finish or nothing? I don't want to fill in all of the rivet holes with a finish, but I don't want to sludge the decals then not be able to get it off. Do y'all have any idea?

 

[moon puppy]

Seal it for sure!

 

[Greg Kimsey]

Seal it for sure!

I have Future, Alclad II gloss, and AK Gauzy. Any of those?

 

[paddy]

With mine since finding MRP paints which are semi gloss i do the semi gloss paining camo then decal as its a good smooth surface then weather with oils that can be removed/spread/thinned with white spirit without effecting the MRP paint then mat coat

 

[Greg Kimsey]

weather with oils that can be removed/spread/thinned with white spirit without effecting the MRP paint then mat coat

The oils are what I normally use to weather my models. I should probably stick to what works...

 

[Greg Kimsey]

I have the oil weathering done. Now to let it dry a couple of days before putting a matte finish on it. I could never master @paddy 's "card trick" for holding removable panels, so I mixed in some 1/8 X 1/32 earth magnets to supplement. There are some pre-weather and post-weather pics here. "Real" photos will come after the matte finish is on.

 

[paddy]

Thats really rather Good Greg, you should be really proud of this, cant wait to see the finished pics

 

[moon puppy]

Oh yeah! Watch that thumb print right side at the J. Probably hard to see in person, you know how cameras pick up flaws.