This is a bloody amazing kit....I really can't fault it at all. Even having to cut out the masks for the canopy was a cinch.

So, I decided, or rather my wife decided I should build this in the Polish Fighting Squadron desert sheme, and I'd never done desert camo EVER, so I did this with some trepidation. I used Gunze paint throughout, sealed in between 'jobs' with Klear, and the wash is done with MIG enamel based wash which might just wean me off those oil washes I'm used to. I mixed a 50:50 Xtracolor Flat and Satin varnish to finish.

The kit is built OOB with the exception of a few Mike Grant decals and a bit of lead wire in the cockpit.

 

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

 

As promised, here's the state of play.

The magnets work great on the cowls, but the inclusion of little tabs which lock behind into the fuselage and spinner help keep everything properly in line.

Engine is done in Alclad magnesium, black and Alclad magnesium done in a distempered look over the top. The pipework is done in Vallejo and Alclad Gold. Paints are generally Gunze, and the wash is done with oils.

Too much alcohol, fattening food and the like, and I STILL managed to get work done on this kit. It's infectious. Everytime you see it, it screams at you to build it.

I removed all the parts for the cockpit and after cleaning, stuck them all in a pot for safe-keeping. Next up, the areas which were to be painted interior green were done just that, using Gunze BS283 Interior Green. There's not too much colour inside a Spit, so the plethora of parts which needed the Black treatment were painted again in Gunze. I love this paint and it's rapidly taking over as my favourite brand from my usual enamels.

All the smaller parts were then painted using other modellers builds as a reference, alongside internet research, the Tamiya call-outs and the Tamiya colour booklet which came with the kit. The instrument panel is amazing. All the glass dials come in plates which have a decal affixed to their rear. I stuck this on with a brush full of Klear to make sure it didn't just peel off when dry. The forward smaller panel is made from finely etched metal.

Items in aluminium were sprayed in Alclad Airframe Aluminium and various parts were painted in brass, red, yellow etc, and were done with diluted Vallejo acrylics.

 

The interior was screaming out for placards to be added, and as Tamiya had suplied none, I used the wonderful Mike Grant Decals 1/32 Instrument sheet to do this, and they were perfect. Screwed a couple up because they are micro thin, but the finish was more than worth it.

 The interior was then sealed with Klear and set to dry for 24 hours to cure. All interior panel lines where then shaded with Tamiya Smoke and left to dry a few hours. I like living by the seat of my pants, so did an oil wash of Raw Umber to accentuate the panel lines and other detail internally. A clat of flatt varnish then sealed everything up. The interior parts then had their cockpit colour highlights added using Tamiya Weathering Pastels. This seems easier and less risky than adding yellow to the base colour and attempting to lighten in that manner.

 

 The seat is sprayed in Humbrol 70 brown/red and given a wash of different colour browns in an attempt to create that mish-mash bakelite colour they had. I might try to make a padded seat cushion yet from the wonderful Filla-Glu epoxy putty. Two more parts from etch metal create the armoured back and head rests. Lovely stuff!

Was I going to paint this on the sprue? Was I going to paint the wholelot black first as a base? Er, no. I think I'd better stick to what I know, but using the Mig dark wash which I'm buying from Relish Models.

I decided to do my old trick which is assemble what I know can be 'safely' assembled with no problems being caused during the painting assembly, then remove all the cockpit ancilliary parts and clean them up, which, beleive me, is almost academic with this kit. You'll be hard pushed to see a seam line at all. Er, did I say how wonderful I think this kit it? Yes? Oh, well..

After removing and cleaning up around 95% of the cockpit parts, I assembled the control yoke into its bracket, and added a couple of parts to the side walls. I also assembled the sides to the pilot seat and left it at that. Don't want to put too much together only to find out I can't access to paint.

The rear fuselage plates are now attached to the fuselage halves, and I simply couldn't resist doing a dry run to see how this model looks when the cockpit is only partially assembled (also to check out the supposedly wonderful fit!) Bloody hell.........this kit really is amazingly engineered. Many of the fuselage parts fit together without glue. No gaps or anything here.

Here's a few pics before the real paint and assembly job gets underway.

 

 

 

 

Tamiya have managed to beautifully capture the moncoque internal shape of the cockpit of the Spit fuselage. Imagine removing those elegant wing fairings: well the fuselage is basically a tube sits upon the wing, with the wings faired in later. I've seen so many Spit kits and this hasn't been properly captured, until now.

More work tomorrow, with any luck. Signing off early though as I'm out for a New Years eve Tapas and plenty of Rioja!

Tamiya 1/32 Supermarine Spitfire Mk.IXc

With the start of 2010 imminent, I had absolutely ZERO idea about what to build to start off the modelling year. The Trabant was a disaster, so it was canned. My last 'finished' model was a commission for which I had no love in building. Yes, it turned out well despite Tamiya's crap colour call-outs, but my last proper project was the Fw 190D-9 6 months or more ago. The good guys at Large Scale planes voted from a list of projects I polled, and the new Tamiya Spit kit won the day for the next build.

Please don't expect this to be a quick build, as I expect it to be as good as I can get it. I'm currently in the process of getting a few bits and pieces for the kit, such as Waldron placards, and I don't want to build this in the kit decals. Perhaps some Zotz decals?

Let's see where this takes me.