Tamiya Spitfire Mk. IXc UPDATE 4/20/13 Complete and in the books.

[Le Diable Rouge]

That is some amazing paint!

[LSP_Paul]

Peter, I honestly didn't see anything wrong with the first paint job, but I have to say, the second with the new belts looks really nice..

Very realistic. Excellent Work!

All the best to you and your fine builds

 

Paul

[Wolf Buddee]

I think the re-done paint work looks much better. Not that the original effort looked bad, the second try just looks a lot more natural. Kudos to you for going back and giving it another go. She's looking great although I'm not sure the late style seat harness was installed on the Mk IX. It does look much better that the kit PE belts though. I wish kit manufacturers would just supply the PE buckles and fittings and let the builder choose his own material for the belts.

 

Now go back and finish Otto, LOL!

 

Cheers,

Wolf

[Guest Peterpools]

Johnathan

Thank you for the kind word words and checking in. Much appreciated

Edited February 16, 2013 by Peterpools

[Guest Peterpools]

Paul

Thanks Bro. Just thought the first go was overkill and to heavy handed. Just looks cleaner but still has the 'plenty of hours' feel to the office.

[Guest Peterpools]

Wolf

Totally agree that the second go at the front office weathering looks softer and represents a 'cleaner' used look. Just takes a constant reminder to keep the oil washes and dry brushing on the light side.

I did some research on the seatbelts and was pretty sure the Mk IXc did use this style of harness. Sure hope I'm right but after nearly 2 hours of assembly and painting, I've grown pretty fond of the way they look. The Tamiya PE belts are just too stiff and awkward looking, even after annealing. Absolutely agree that kit manufactures should include a separate fret with just buckles and latches for kits in this price range, especially Tamiya. There are so many extra parts and gimmicks with the kit, one small extra fret wouldn't add to the cost at all.

The Fokker is right next to me on the bench and scheduled for shoptime this weekend. I just finished building and painting Herr Otto, Model Cellar Production's Eduard Ritler von Schleich "The Black Night of Germany", who shall be know as: Herr Otto, in my display case.

[Guest Peterpools]

UPDATE: THE BIG MERLIN

 

With the swimming pool season starting to gear up and changing companies after so many years, my time at the bench has been very limited these past few weeks. For the most part, the Spit is an OOB build with a few upgrades here and there but not much other then that is planned. The Merlin was a pleasure to build and weathering was kept to a minimum. I did use the beautiful Barracuda valve covers with the Rolls Royce emblems which stand out so nicely. The only area that required a lot of patience and TLC, was the copper coolant pipes which took hours of fussing to place and then I kept my fingers crossed they would line up with the coolant tank at the nose end of the Merlin. In the end, it was close and still needs to be tweaked a bit. The engine mount assembly was treated to a healthy coat of Testor's Glosscote, then an oil pin wash of Burnt Umber and finished up with a semi matt top coat.

The exhaust stacks went on with little work and were first painted with a mix of Tamiya paints for the base rusty look. After they were in place, the insides were painted flat black and metallic gray. Lastly, I broke out my well hidden supply of pigments for the rusted and burnt metal look. The pigments used were purchased years ago at Pearl Art Store and were imported from France:

Sennelier Pigment Pur Brun Rouge 405 and Noir de Mars 759. The exhaust will need one more treatment after the Spit is finished and won't be handled any more. These pigments are very fine and care needs to be used when handling them, as once they touch something, that's it; it's permanent.

Thanks for following

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited March 5, 2013 by Peterpools

[LSP_Paul]

Peter, the time away from the bench has not hurt your talent one bit Beautiful work, lets start it up and take it for a spin once the wings are on!

All the best to you and all your fine builds,

Paul

[Guest Peterpools]

Paul

Thanks Buddy. Much appreciated and one awesome idea!

[SinuheH]

Nice work Peter - i particularly like the exhausts - tricky to get them to look real - nice touch.

[KallistiUK]

Lovely!

[Guest Peterpools]

Thanks John, Much appreciated

I know what you mean and feel exactly the same. When the Spit id done, looking at doing another Tamiya P-51 'Stang. Just love 'em. Of course, a few things depend on what the new Tamiya kit is and when I have enough information and Am sets for the new HB Black widow coming this month. I'm guessing it will be few months for the AM companies to release the detail sets and by building another Mustang, enough will pass for everything to hopefully fall into place.

[Guest Peterpools]

SinuheH

Thank you the kind words. The exhaust did take a bit of time but the pigments were the key for achieving the color and slight texture.

[Guest Peterpools]

Kallisti

Thank you for checking in and the kind words. Much appreciated

[scvrobeson]

That engine is looking great! It's so good that Tamiya provides all of that fun detail to paint and weather so you have a full little replica of a Merlin.

 

 

Keep up the great work buddy. Your interior is also looking top-notch from what I can see in the photos.

 

 

 

 

Matt