rainstel109

Just stumbled into this thread and all I can say is...well nothing really, beyond anything I'm capable of doing. Reminds me of the Airfix 1/24 MkI I Spitfire converted into a mk IX and skinned in aluminium litho plate, but THIS is just so superior to that in every way, the attention to detail is staggering, and the handskills used and results so far are beautiful to say the least. More pics please.

As title really. I've had a hankering to do one of these (like the Tempest I did a while back) but it took so long before I actually got my hands on a kit. I looked at at the Fisher sea fury, but the cost prohibitive so this is the next best thing. I got the kit s/h from "Wunwinglow" or Tim, for a very fair price considering all the extras which I can say are exquisitely made. I've already made a start by filling in the recessed panel lines due to them looking well overdone, more troughs than lines. I'm using superglue although stretched sprue and tamiya thin glue was offered as an alternative by forum member, but I decided that I'd go with the c/a due to it being a known quantity as I've used this stuff to fill before now. I've done a preliminary fill in on both fuselage halves which, when hard, I'll start the rubbing down process (oh joy!) I also received bucket loads of drawings from the seller also which will make my job of scribing later on a lot easier. Anyways heres few pics:

Ok, looking at those pics I took, the "patchwork " effect has been bugging the hell out of me so.... I bit the bullet and, in selected areas, blew over the entire model in the base colors and toned down the rivet lines. Its not ideal but I reckon the result is a lot better than before. The nose cowlings were, I think, the worse area that needed attention. I personally think that this one kit where the rivets really do work against the builder if they're going to do any form of dark color washing.

Feel free to publish old boy.

As title, this model still has a little do on it but I reckon its complete enough to post here, just a coupla aerials, pitot tube, pilot step, u/c bay detailing and a tad more scratched paintwork and it'll be finished. The kit itself is of average quality, as good as Hobby Boss or trumpeter with some nice detailing, the clear parts could be a bit more blemish free and the instructions could certainly be laid out a bit better (they caught me out numerous times which caused me quite a bit aggro but thats probably more my fault than kit's, I should pay attention more closely!) The decals are first class thpough being very clear and crisp with good color register but they do tend to grip fairly quickly so plenty of water before allowing the decal to settle is paramount. I seem to have a prob with me camera as I can't get the pics to look right so I've messed around with Photoscape to try and improve them, trouble is, it accentuates the rivets and panel lines, and obliterates the post shading somewhat.

Very nice looking Tempest there mate, something to be proud of, and you beat me to it, I'm doing the same kit in the same markings myself which hopefully will be finished for SMW in Telford.

Right, made loadsa progress now, so much I forgot to take some pics. I completed the base color paintwork, washed the model twice, corrected a loadsa errors and started decaling.My only problem was the "yellow hammer decals" they are extremely delicate and you guessed it, some of then broke up without that much effort so i had to resort back to the kit decals, tghe main one that broke was the yellow stripe that goes on the left hand side of the fuselage, it literally separated into about 4 pieces unfortunately. Bit of a bummer but at least I had the kit items to fall back on. Heres some pics of the progress so far. If anyone has any questions, feel free to ask.

Lovely build there mate and very nicely weathered, well done.

On a sidenote, how do the pics look? they appear quite blurry when viewed on a website, but pin sharp when viewed directly from the folder in my pc. I think this might be an issue with my screen's resolution, 1440 as opposed to 1080, but I've treid setting the to 1080 and the blurriness is still there. Has anyone any ideas on this?

Ok, managed to get the main bit of paintwork done, not much more to say really. I've masked and sprayed the horizontal stabilizers aluminium and I'm going to do the dark areas on those tommorow so pics of those will follow. Heres a pic of the model so far, incidentally I used a "whole" jar of Mr color grey paint on the upper surface and three quarters of jar on the white so far.

Just had a look at that close up pic of the nose and, god's teeth, that paintwork 'orrible in that pic. Fortunately its the flash reflecting all the imperfections in the paintwork and hopefully it'll disappear when the matt coat is applied.

Ok boys, first blunder of the build and its a goodun! In a nutshell, I forgot to mask the forward part of the windshield and sprayed the whole thing gloss black direct onto the clear part! Now, luckily I found out a coupla hours after I did this and was able to remove the paint which came off surprisingly easily using a cotton bud soaked in IPA. Obviously the paint hadn't cured or I'd be looking at a lot of work to put right. Got away with it this time though but I think the edges around the masking tape will have to be removed, bit of plastic polish should put that right.

So have I, those stabilzers would make masking awkward if they were fitted before spraying

Finally having fought me way through all the rubbing down, filling, riveting and masking, I can now start getting some paint laid down. Heres a pic. More pics to follow as more paint goes on.

Ok next update. I've spent most of the last few days fitting the wing outer panels which need shimming with plasticard to get the correct upward angle of 12.5 degrees (which they rouhgly now to within a degree I reckon). Not an easy job and fairly time consuming. I fitted the tail, no probs there at all, just the mating surfaces need a bit of filler so no biggie. I also completed the nose cone and intakes this morning, rubbed down and re-scribed. I'll then fit the windshield, i/p shroud, and inspect to make sure these parts are ok. All I need to do then is clean, dry, inspect the model tomorrow and correct any errors I find (theres probably loads I've missed). Once thats done I'll mask and spray to prepare the surface for the white coat.