dennismcc Posted April 20, 2017 Share Posted April 20, 2017 (edited) Finished at last, though looking through the final photos I need to do some touch up around the cockpit and do something about the too shiny wheel wells. The build was ably assisted by the tweak list from the late and much missed Edgar Brooks and a lot of Barracuda resin parts. All marking are painted apart from the stencils and ES badge (thank you Sean) The subject aircraft was a Spitfire Mk.IIa flown by Pilot Officer Bill Dunn who became the first American ace of WW2 while flying Hurricanes and Spitfires with No. 71 Eagle Squadron, before transferring to the US AAF, he later went on to serve in Vietnam. After market parts used came mainly from Barracuda namely: Cockpit detail set Wing detail set Seat and armour Main wheels YAHU IP Top Notch Camouflage masks Top Notch markings masks Paints used, Xtracolor, Humbrol and Sovereign Colourcoats for the markings RB Productions seat belts, these are superb. Mistakes, all mine. The biggest let down for me was the prop and spinner, there is only one aftermarket prop and spinner available and that is far to expensive and when I last checked there was none available in the UK but I am still pleased with how the kit turned out. The worst problem was encountered when I was finishing off, the kit undercarriage is built up in two parts and one leg came apart as I was fitting it, and the holes that they fit in on the wing are greatly oversized, I had to pack them out with scrap plastic and flood the hole with CA to get a good fit. And here are the finished photos, not the greatest but the best I could manage. And here are all three of my US operated Spitfires Cheers Dennis Edited September 30, 2019 by dennismcc Replacing Photobucket photos TenSeven, TaffyMan, Lud13 and 17 others 20 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gerhard Posted April 20, 2017 Share Posted April 20, 2017 Dennis, that looks stunning!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LSP_Kevin Posted April 20, 2017 Share Posted April 20, 2017 Lovely work, Den. Lovely indeed. Kev Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thunda Posted April 20, 2017 Share Posted April 20, 2017 Beautiful build- is it the Revell IIa you started with? You can get the Grey Matters Rotol prop for this kit in the UK- nearly £9 with postage, it is pricy, although a nice piece. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
R Palimaka Posted April 20, 2017 Share Posted April 20, 2017 That's a fine result, excellent work! Nice theme you have going there too. Bill Dunn trained at the BCATP airfield near here, in Picton, Ontario, and was married in a church there. Much of the airfield, the hangars and buildings have been left intact, and is a remarkable place to walk around, like stepping back in time. Some of the wooden buildings are suffering from decades of Canadian winters, but it's kind of eerie to walk around. Richard Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dennismcc Posted April 20, 2017 Author Share Posted April 20, 2017 (edited) Dennis, that looks stunning!! Thank you very much Gerhard, I've learned a lot on this one and tried new things which is great. Lovely work, Den. Lovely indeed. Kev Thanks Kev, it has turned out nice but it is good to get it finished. Beautiful build- is it the Revell IIa you started with? You can get the Grey Matters Rotol prop for this kit in the UK- nearly £9 with postage, it is pricy, although a nice piece. Hi Thunda, I did get the GMF prop and the MDC one but the Revell kit nose is a mite too big a diameter for the back plate on them, I think that they were designed for the earlier Revell or the Hasagawa kit, the one that fits is the Eagle Cal one. That's a fine result, excellent work! Nice theme you have going there too. Bill Dunn trained at the BCATP airfield near here, in Picton, Ontario, and was married in a church there. Much of the airfield, the hangars and buildings have been left intact, and is a remarkable place to walk around, like stepping back in time. Some of the wooden buildings are suffering from decades of Canadian winters, but it's kind of eerie to walk around. Richard Hi Richard, I'm glad that you liked it, and it is nice to know a bit more of Bill Dunn's history, abandoned airfields are a bit spooky and sad, when I was a sproglet we kids used to go and play on an ex RAF airfield near us. Cheers Dennis Edited April 20, 2017 by dennismcc MikeC 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill Cross Posted April 20, 2017 Share Posted April 20, 2017 Really nicely done. Very clean. dennismcc 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark M Posted April 20, 2017 Share Posted April 20, 2017 dennismcc 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dennismcc Posted April 21, 2017 Author Share Posted April 21, 2017 Really nicely done. Very clean. Thank you very much Bill, I'm really rubbish at weathering so my finished models are usually clean but in this case the aircraft was reputed to have been recently repainted so I have an excuse !! Thank you Mark, glad you liked it Cheers Dennis Bill Cross 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeC Posted April 21, 2017 Share Posted April 21, 2017 Very nicely done. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joel_W Posted April 21, 2017 Share Posted April 21, 2017 Dennis, I followed your build from start to across the finish line, a trip well worth it. The finished model replica is really very well built, painted, decaled/masks, and weathered. The trio of American flown Spitfires really is a fitting tribute to those who flew them. Joel CANicoll 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dennismcc Posted April 21, 2017 Author Share Posted April 21, 2017 Very nicely done. Thank you Mike glad that you liked it Dennis, I followed your build from start to across the finish line, a trip well worth it. The finished model replica is really very well built, painted, decaled/masks, and weathered. The trio of American flown Spitfires really is a fitting tribute to those who flew them. Joel Thank you Joel for that and your encouragement during the build, it is appreciated, and yes the story of the Eagle Squadrons and the US operated Spitfires tends to be forgotten so I hope it does get some people looking in their reference material. Cheers Dennis Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joel_W Posted April 21, 2017 Share Posted April 21, 2017 Dennis, Now that's a very interesting point. I can't say that I've ever given that fact much consideration other then the AVG as it was played up in a big way by Hollywood. Joel Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shaka HI Posted April 22, 2017 Share Posted April 22, 2017 Pleased you finished this build Dennis! Looks fantastic! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dennismcc Posted April 22, 2017 Author Share Posted April 22, 2017 Dennis, Now that's a very interesting point. I can't say that I've ever given that fact much consideration other then the AVG as it was played up in a big way by Hollywood. Joel Hi Joel, I must confess that I knew a bit about the Eagle Squadrons but I was not fully aware of the use of the Spitfire by US forces, when I was building the kits I bought a couple of books which went into a lot more detail, Classic Warbirds American Spitfires Camouflage and Markings Pt. 1&2 Pleased you finished this build Dennis! Looks fantastic! Thank you Shaka, it was nice to see the finished article, I can't really appreciate it until I see the finished article myself Cheers Dennis Shaka HI 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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