Wolf Buddee

The saga continues. For those of you I haven't bored to death with this build, I finally managed to get a little more done. The linkages are complete and most of the fittings and hoses have been added to the inter-cooler/supercharger/carburettor assembly. For the most part the majority of the assembly was painted Tamiya's semi-gloss black decanted from the spray can and applied with the ol' airbrush. The banjo fittings were painted with Tamiya's acrylic titanium. The rest of the fasteners were painted with a combination of citadel metallic colours and Testors metallic silver, also decanted from the spray can but applied with a fine brush. The linkage rods were made from thin copper wire and drilled out styrene rod or bits and pieces of pe from Model Car Garage's throttle linkage fret. A couple of the linkage actuators were scratch-built from stretched sprue and styrene discs punched out with my Waldron sub-miniature punch and die set. I also got to use my new hexagonal punch set from UMM-USA to make some of the small fasteners for the banjo fittings using the 0.8 punch. The banjo fittings were made by casting one of the banjo fittings on a kit part. I used dental resin to make a mould and then cast 5 copies to use for the fuel lines. Once the engine is installed in it's mounting frame I'll add the main fuel line with banjo fitting to the fuel pump. Again, lots of fiddly work. Thank goodness for my magnifying lamp.
 

 

 

 
Cheers,
Wolf

Links, lengths, and actuator arms are slowly being scratch-built to busy up the back end of the Merlin. I hadn't planned on doing this much but when dry fitting the engine in place it definitely looked too empty on the port side.. The stbd side of the engine has a lot of plumbing hiding the carb intake and engine accessories so I won't add all the linkages there. These things are freakin' tiny and I can see a couple of things I need to refine on the scratch-built actuator arms. They're hard to see with the naked eye and only became apparent when I saw the photo with everything enlarged. I also have to refine some of the wash that I used to enhance the details on the magnetos. Again this is not near as apparent as when it's enlarged by the photo. Maybe I should take smaller photos eh? The white actuator arms are scratch-built from stretched sprue flattened with flat nosed pliers and details added with styrene discs punched out with the ol' Waldron sub-miniature set. The pe actuator arms and the linkage rod ends come from a Model Car Garage throttle linkage set. The linkage rods themselves were made from copper wire that was straightened by rolling the wire between the flat side of my tweezers and the glass surface of my work bench. There's two more linkage rods that need to be made but the ends are far simpler and I need to scratch-build the details they attach to at the bottom of the carb intake.
 
I managed to leave my camera at work this afternoon so just the one pic for now.
 
Cheers,
Wolf
 

I managed to get a few more details done on the Merlin today, this time at the back of the engine. Some of this stuff will be readily visible, some of it not so much but all in all I think it'll add a nice touch to the over-all look of the engine assembly. Next up will be the ignition conduit and leads on top of the engine and the cylinder fuel primer lines. Then I can finally paint and weather the engine before adding the remaining fuel, oil, and coolant lines. Gettin' close.............
 
Cheers,
Wolf
 

 

The beginning of the end! After a couple of months away from the bench it was high time to get back at 'er and finish off the Merlin for the big Spit! The first order of business was to scratch-build the missing coolant connector pipes that go from the cylinder heads to the coolant header tank at the front of the engine. Using drawings supplied by Edgar Brooks (thank-you Edgar) I cobbled together the connectors from styrene card stock, evergreen rod, and various sized discs punched out with my trusty Waldron Model Products punch and die set. I can't begin to tell you how invaluable that tool has become! I tried to match the level of detail on these parts to what Tamiya supplies in the kit but it's a little hard to see from the pics because they're all white and really small. The rubber hose is represented with a thin strip of Tamiya masking tape and the clamps come from a Model Car Garage set of vintage hose clamps. The starboard side will be glued in to place shortly and then I'm on to the next bit. The white discs on top of the intake manifolds are the beginnings of the cylinder fuel priming lines.
 

 

 

A couple of steps backward to move one step forward! When I started this model the research material I had suggested the aircraft I was building had the small carburettor air intake. This, according to the instructions meant that I had to remove the electric starter connection from it's location on the stbd engine bearer frame which I dutifully did. I then installed the kit supplied replacement connection to it's new location on the lower "U" frame member as shown in the instructions. I also filled the access cover on the stbd engine cowl panel for the connector as noted. So far so good right? I then discovered a pic that showed the aircraft I was modelling had the larger universal air intake. No problem......., except that the installation of the larger air intake moved the starter connection........you guessed it,.......to the side of the engine bearer with the access hatch on the stbd engine cowling. Re-scribing the access cover was easy. Figuring out how I was going to replace the starter connection was a little more involved. When I'd originally removed it I shaved it off one little bit at a time and threw the scrap away. I now needed a copy of the engine bearer to cast a new starter connection and replace it on the engine frame. Fellow modeller extraordinaire Dave Pratt to the rescue! Dave had an un-started kit and he kindly lent me the sprue that carried the detail I needed to cast a replacement piece. My wife, a certified dental assistant, was able to supply me with some impression material, the kind that makes you gag,.... you know....., and this stuff allowed me to make a mould of the detail I needed to restore. Once I had a good impression, which took about 3 or 4 tries, I was able to use a liquid two part resin casting material called Alumilite to cast a new piece that will be glued to it's rightful spot and restore what I shouldn't have done in the first place! All I have to do now is remove the lower starter connection and she's done. The following pics show the rest of the story. Mission accomplished but it could've been easier,
 
Cheers,
Wolf
 
 

 

 

A lady in waiting......waiting for her Merlin that is. Finally the airframe is almost complete. Just a few small bits to add and she's finished. The Merlin is another matter but that's what I'll be working on next. The top side data stencils are Hobbydecal dry transfers courtesy of Mr. Dave Pratt, thank-you Dave. The rest of the markings as mentioned earlier are painted on using Montex masks. The victory tally was a decal supplied by Montex. The wing root chipping was accomplished with a Prisma Colour silver pencil. The aircraft depicted was relatively new so I kept it to a minimum and I'd like to thank Ralph Riese for his help with this. I'm not sure if I got this completely right so chime in and let me know what you think. The rudder tail position light was replaced with a clear resin item and secured with future. Oh, I should mention that the cockpit entry door is only held in place with double sided tape for the pics but I'll position it slightly higher when it gets glued in place. I'm also going to go back and touch up the excess over-spray on the stbd. elevator's edge close to the rudder. It's not near as noticeable to the naked eye but the camera sure shows it off eh?
 
Thanks all for following along so far. Certainly comments and critique are welcome as always.
 
Cheers,
Wolf
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The big Spit finally get's her ID. Here's last night and today's efforts in the ol' paint shop. So far all insignia have been painted using Montex Masks. The wing walk boundary lines were masked off with Tamiya tape and sprayed with a mix of semi-gloss black and primer white from Tamiya's spray cans. Both being decanted and applied with the airbrush. The leading edge bands were undercoated with Tamiya primer white and then sprayed with RLM 04 Gelb from my diminishing supply of Aeromaster paints. Using Montex masks is not a quick way to apply markings but the results so far have been very impressive. I'll do some weathering now and then clear coat in preparation for the application of the data stencil decals.
 
Cheers,
Wolf
 

 

 

Sunny side up gets a little colour! A couple of days in the paint shop and here's how she sits. Once the rest of the markings are masked and sprayed I'll add some more weathering. Gloss coating will follow with application of the data stencils, then final weathering and then a dull coat to finish 'er off. For some odd reason the Ocean Grey looks a little too blue in the pics. It actually does look a bit more grey than it shows here. I've been using Montex Masks for the national insignia for the 1st time on this build and so far....so good.
 
Cheers,
Wolf
 

Sweet success! This was my first kick at the can using Montex Masks. Despite some real trepidation I took the plunge and used the masks to do the roundels on the underside of the wings. These are probably the hardest to do due to the complex curves involved. The blisters behind the shell ejection chutes proved to be a real challenge as the masks had a real hard time stretching to lay flat but continual coaxing finally got them in place and the following pics show the results. I had only two very small touch-ups to do after everything was done. Whew! The white portion of the roundel was Tamiya's primer white decanted from the spray can. The red portion was mixed from Model Master British Crimson and Italian Dark Brown mixed roughly 80% crimson to 20% brown. I used the colour of the roundel decals from BarracudaCals as a reference. The blue ring was Model Master Insignia Blue straight from the bottle. All paints were well thinned with lacquer thinner before being sprayed. When all the masks were removed I sprayed a very thin mix of Tamiya acrylic red brown/black mix to represent grime along some of the panel lines. Finally a wash was added to the panel lines to further enhance the details. The rest of the roundels should be much easier to do as they all lay on a relatively flat, uncluttered surface. Next, mask off the bottom and begin spraying the top side.
 
Thanks for following along, as always,comments and critique are welcome!
 
Cheers,
Wolf
 
 

 

 

 

Bottoms up! I finally managed to get some paintwork and weathering on the bottom of the Spitfire. There's a bit more to do but I want to get the roundels painted and weathered first and then it'll be time to mask of the underside and start on the top. No pre-shading on this one, just post shading and a thin wash of a black/brown acrylic wash thinned with distilled water and a dollop of dish washing soap.
 
Comments and citique welcome!
 
Cheers,
Wolf
 

 

Ok, not so much an update but a "heads up". This time it's about a detail that Tamiya HAS provided but makes no mention of in their instructions! After having applied the base coat of Medium Sea Grey to the underside of the model I started thinking about the installation of the slipper tank. I began looking through the Monforton bible on the Spitfire and realized that there were hooks and mounting lugs attached to the fuselage associated with the use of the slipper tank. The hooks to the rear of the slipper tank prevented the tank, when released, from sliding back along the bottom of the fuselage damaging it in the process. The tank would catch on the hooks and the hooks deflected the tank away from the aircraft. Tamiya provide the hooks, part #AA1, but make absolutely no mention of them. Weird eh? There are flashed over holes on the lower wing section that you need to open to add the hooks but because they're not mentioned in the instructions I didn't. Luckily the pictures and drawings in the Monforton book show where the hooks should go and I got real lucky and guesstimated correctly where the holes should be drilled. I started with a # 80 drill bit and worked up to a #68 to get the holes to the right size. The accompanying pics should tell the rest of the story. I'll also scratch-build the forward attachment lugs for the slipper tank and the lugs will locate in the holes Tamiya has provided for the steel pins to go in to that attach the slipper tank to the fuselage. I'm not going to display my model with the tank in place but the hooks and lugs should be there nonetheless. Hopefully this information will be found useful for those that will or already have built this amazing kit.
 
Cheers,
Wolf
 

 

 

Finally got the port side gun heater duct done. No photos to go by on this one, just the drawings so I hope I got it right. This one differed quite a bit from the stbd side as it extended past the oil cooler rad core. Again, it's not been glued in to place in the last pic. That'll happen when the underside of the airframe has been painted.
 
Cheers,
Wolf

 

A little project for my Thanksgiving weekend. An omission in Tamiya's big Spit kit is the gun heating ducts within the rear of the radiator housings. Hot air through the radiators was forced in to the ducts and this heated the wing guns. As I had already added the actuator linkages for the radiator housing flaps I figured I'd go one step further and add the ducts too. The pics show the starboard duct and it's mounting flange, the penny is for size comparison, a photo of the actual duct, and the drawings I worked form as well. It aint perfect but I think it should look fine when painted and installed.It took me a little while to figure out how I was going to make the little beast. The black rivets are Archer Fine Transfer rivet decals, some photo-etched slotted screw heads, and a couple of photo-etch bolt heads, plus some laminated styrene card stock and rod make up the rest. One more to go but as you can see from the drawings it's a very different shape.
 
 
Cheers,
Wolf
 
 

 

 

One last pic of the starboard heating duct. The duct has been painted and weathered and I've removed the radiator housing flap to show the duct in place. Nothing's been glued yet, everything's just drop fitted in to place so the duct positioning will be tweaked slightly. I was worried about the Archer Fine Transfer rivet decals being too big but in the end I was worried about nothin' as they look awesome under a coat of paint. They're visible enough to show they're there but not overly conspicuous so I'm very happy with the end result. I definitely give 'em a 10 out of 10 for what it's worth. The weathering was done using the Pro-Modeler Dark Dirt wash. It's the first time I've used this stuff and I really like it. Now it's time to get back to the bench and get the other side done.
 
I'd like to acknowledge and thank two gentlemen for helping with this little detail. Edgar Brooks, thank-you for the drawings, they helped immensely and Derek Pennington, thank-you for the photo of the actual duct. Both are very much appreciated!
 
Cheers,
Wolf
 

I decided to try and put all the various different sub-assemblies together to see how everything fit. The landing gear was temporarily secured in place, the engine,mounts and cowl frames were slid in place, and the upper and lower engine cowls were fitted. All in all I'm really impressed with they way everything fits especially as nothing has been secured with glue. It's beginning to look like airframe painting is not very far off.
 

 
Cheers,
Wolf

An experiment. The exhaust pipes on this kit are a real pain in the you know what to clean up of mould seams, not to mention it's a rather tedious job. Earlier tonight I started searching for some Quickboost replacements but then I started thinkin' "hey what kind of an assembler am I?" So I decided to work with the kit bits instead. Once I had the first couple of pipes cleaned up I wanted to add the weld beads on the exhaust but as I had thinned them so much, sprue and glue wasn't going to be an option. Instead I dug out my set of Archer Fine Transfer weld bead detail which apply like decals and this is the end result. The exhaust was painted with MM Burnt Metal Metallizer, given a dark brown wash and then burnished with dark brown, red-brown, Ivory, and black pastel chalk. The one exhaust is left unpainted to show what the Archer Fine Transfer weld bead detail looks like before painting. What do y'all think? Look OK or am I barkin' up the wrong tree?
 
Cheers,
Wolf
 

Finally, after an extended time away from the work bench, you know, summer, family, work, etc., I've managed to get back to the Spitfire. This short update shows the really small and very finely detailed resin canopy latch from BarracudaCast. How Roy manages to make this stuff is certainly a mystery of almost biblical proportions! After cleaning away most of the moulding block from around the latch but leaving it attached at it's base I drilled holes in the "wings" to accept fine copper wire for the "pull cable" The wire was threaded through and secured with thin ca. The sleeve that goes over the cable was built up from white glue (I'd use epoxy next time). Once the white glue had fully dried I painted the whole assembly with a 50/50 mix of Citadel Boltgun Grey and Chainmail well thinned with Tamiya acrylic thinner. I carefully opened the gap between the two arms of both front and rear catches using a fine drill bit and a sharp new #11 blade. This has to be done (if you're going to do it at all) very carefully as it's easy to break the assembly. I managed to crack one side but thin ca repaired it but that was a real close call. Luckily Roy gives you two latch assemblies for people like me who have to push their luck with this teeny stuff. Finally the whole assembly was given a black wash to show off the fine detail and the sleeve over the cable was painted flat black. The latch assembly was then cut from it's remaining moulding block with a photo-etch razor saw and then glued to the inside canopy frame with white glue (Micro Kristal Kleer). The red ball for the emergency canopy release was built up from 2 part 5 minute epoxy over a thin piece of copper wire. A small hole was drilled in to the canopy frame to accept the wire end and this was secured with white glue as well. Any shiny evidence of the dried white glue was touched up with clear acrylic flat paint. A small silver rivet decal finished off the red ball to represent the fastener that secured the ball to the emergency release cables. Jeeezzz I hope this all makes sense. I'll let the accompanying photos tell the rest of the story.
 
Cheers,
Wolf

 

 
 

 

Just to show that I haven't completely fallen off the grid, here's a few pics showing the partial engine assembly fitted in to it's engine bearer and the finished cowl support frames placed in position. The cowl support frames have thin strips of Tamiya masking tape added to represent the anti-chaffing strips that prevented the cowl panels from rubbing metal on metal on the support frames. The strips were measured, cut, painted Tamiya Red-Brown and then burnished down on to the framework. A brushed on coat of Future sealed them on to the framework and provided a gloss coat for the rivet decals that held the strips on. The rivets came from a 1/48 scale Aeromaster decal sheet for the Arado Ar234B. As the spacing of the rivet decals was different than what I needed, most of the rivet decals were applied individually. Time consuming but worth the effort I think. I dry fitted everything together before hand and from what I can tell, the Tamiya tape is thin enough that it will not affect the fit of the cowlings. Time will tell for sure though. I added rivet detail on to the coolant header tank using an old set of Archer Fine Transfer "rub on"r rivets which refused to part from their carrier film regardless of how much I burnished. I wasn't surprised given the age of the sheet. I used the tip of a #11 blade and lifted each rivet individually off of the carrier film and applied the rivets one by one. Originally I tried to secure each rivet in place with a tiny drop of clear paint but when the tank was painted silver the paint drops were very visible and it looked like crap. I stripped everything off and wound up sticking the rivets in place with drops of saliva. Don't ask how I figured this out but necessity is the mother of invention and it worked! I've since purchased Archer's rivet decals which will be much easier to use I'm sure. I've got lots of rivets to add to the oil tank beneath the engine so I'll report back on how they worked. A scratch-built filler cap was also added to the coolant tank. The outer ignition wires have been added to the engine already but they're not too visible behind the cowl frames due to the angle I took the photos from. As I continue on with the engine assembly I'll post more pics that'll show the added detail a bit better. The brass Rolls-Royce emblems were purchased from Tony Bell and I understand he has a bunch more available so if you'd like to add this detail to your Merlin, contact Tony directly through the discussion board.
 
As always comments and critique welcome..........
 
Cheers,
 
Wolf
 

 

 

I made a little headway on the big Spit today and managed to get, for the most part, the actuators and linkage assemblies for the radiator flaps done. All the bits and pieces have been scratch-built with the linkage rods themselves being made up of 11 separate pieces including one small photo-etch nut. And I thought 1/32nd scale was going to be easier 'cause it bigger and easier to see! The pics should be self explanatory showing all the stuff I've added. I didn't bother to fill the ejector pin marks on the the inside surface of the housings as they'll be impossible to see once the housings are in place. I'm glad that this part is now pretty much done and it's time to move on and tackle the engine assembly!
 
As always, comments and critique are welcome.
 
Cheers,
Wolf
 

 

 

 

 

Just in case anyone was wondering if the BarracudaCast entry door was worth the purchase price...............
 
 

 
You be the judge but I know where I stand,....... worth every penny! The crowbar, while fiddly to clean up is perfect in shape and simply clicks in to place just like the real one. No glue required! I read somewhere that the crowbar was painted either black or silver. I went with silver (Citadel Chainmail) for a bit of contrast. I have to admit though, I was really tempted to paint it red, LOL!!! The kit supplied door is shown for comparison and the data stencil in the center of the BarracudaCast door comes from BarracudaCals 1/32nd (duh) Spitfire decal sheet. Sorry for the piddly up-dates, the next one should be a little more involved.
 
Cheers,
Wolf

The twirly bit is done! I originally painted the spinner with Xtracolour "Sky" paint but to get the colour saturation I needed the paint was applied a little thick and it all but obliterated the thin panel line between the upper and lower sections of the spinner. I stripped the paint, re-scribed the line deeper with a sewing needle and then repainted the spinner with a mix of Aeromaster Sky, Floquil Reefer White, and Model Master Ocean Grey mixed roughly 60/20/20% I mixed enough quantity that I'd have enough to do the fuselage band and the Squadron codes as well later on. As shown in the photo, I drilled the 8 larger dimples at the base of the spinner deeper and added photo-etch slotted head screw heads to better represent the Dzus fasteners that held the spinner on to it's backing plate. The rest is straight from the box with the exception of the prop logo decals which came from BarracudaCals. When I dry fitted the spinner to it's backing plate before painting I was concerned that I might have to glue the spinner in place as it was too loose to stay in place on it's own. Luckily, with paint applied to both spinner and backing plate, the spinner sits in place nice and tight which means I'll be able to pull the spinner off any time I want to show off all that wonderful prop hub detail!
 
 

 

 
Cheers,
Wolf

Another small step forward. I've finally gotten the landing gear finished and dry-fitting has revealed that it all fits within the gear bays as it should. Whew! The brake lines were made from Model Car Garage 1/24th scale ignition wire and the clamps to hold them in place were made from styrene card stock. The clamps are positively tiny and making them was quite a challenge but I finally managed to produce six all the same size and they worked perfectly. The bottom end of the brake line is secured to a styrene "nut" fiitting glued to the back of the brake backing plate. The polished portion of the oleo struts are covered with Bare Metal "chrome" foil. Washes were done with "The Detailer" washes using a 50/50 mix of black and brown, thinned with distilled water and a small drop of dishwashing liquid. The wheels are from Roy Sutherland's BarracudaCast Resin and the covers are from the kit. The covers had small dimples around their circumference to represent fasteners but I used the dimples as alignment reference and added the smallest photo-etch slotted screw heads I could find, again from Model Car Garage. They were held in place by small drops of acrylic clear flat paint and then permanently affixed with a final spray of flat clear coat. The creep marks were added from scrap Microscale decal material but they started to break up badly as soon as I added the Micro-sol. I kept shovin' them back together so they don't look quite as uniform as I would have liked but I'm callin' it wear and tear, LOL. The tires themselves have a lot more brown and grey tones to them but for some reason they don't show it well in the photos. I'm also happy to report that after having cut apart the tailwheel assembly, I've managed to get it to castor nicely. I think it'll add a little visual interest to the finished model. The next step will be to scratch-build the actuators and linkage for the shutters for the underwing radiator housings and then I'll be back to the engine!
 
Comments and critique always welcome!
 
Cheers,
Wolf
 

 

 

A small update. The firewall plumbing begins. The larger pipe work was done using 1/24th Detail Master sparkplug wiring. The wiring was bent to shape and then painted with an approximate 50/50 mix of Floquil Military colours Bronze and Bright Gold. Hose clamps were made using very fine strips of Bare Metal dull aluminum foil. This presented a bigger challenge than might be expected because when cut in to strips this thin the foil no longer wanted to stick. After lots of trial and error I finally managed to get enough "clamps" in place and to prevent them from falling off I sealed the foil in position with some clear flat acrylic paint. There's still more pipework to add but it'll have to be done once the engine is completed and nestled in to it's mounts. The remaining pipework will then be connected to various locations on the engine.
 
Cheers,
Wolf

 

Here's where I'm at right now with the big Spit. As I've mentioned on another forum, I'm getting close to involuntary hair loss with this project because I can't seem to find conclusive information on certain parts of the plumbing and wiring for this beast.The last photo is self explanatory and if anyone can help with some answers, it would really be much appreciated!
 
Cheers,
Wolf
 
Engine bearers, firewall, and involuntary hair loss!