Kelly

Thank you so much for such thorough insights, both Paul and "Oldbaldguy" . To the layman I'm a spitfire expert with great knowledge ... But to you fellas, I'm but a neophyte. Wonderful stuff guys, and again, thanks for taking the time. Kels.

Hello there, I made a start at weathering the underside. This particular aircraft apparently has no stencils or markings on any underside surface due to its factory colours being over-painted in the field. It certainly makes for a large area to try to make make interesting! I considered putting them on anyway because I like the look of them, but historical accuracy won the day The oil streaks are extensive, but many (most?) contemporary pictures of Merlin powered aircraft seem to be almost black with oil. I'm not sure what colour to paint it, so started with a greenish-grey. Is the used oil black? The black n' white photos sure make it look so, but then they often make red look black, so I'm at a bit of a loss. Any suggestions would be super welcome. I've also found it difficult to locate exactly where the oil is leaking from. It seems to be coming from any/all panels anywhere near the engine! Modern spitfires at airshows show similar oil streaking patterns to the originals, but it is a very light/transparent colour. I'm assuming a wartime crate being flown sortie after sortie would get significant build-up, but I'm really just speculating. Painting the gun powder marks is tricky with a brush on such light colours. It looks almost airbrushed on the darker upper surfaces, but the sky colour is way less forgiving. I've done a little bit of chipping around the starboard wheel well. Silver just doesn't show up over sky, or look convincing so mixed a bit of black with it. Its a fine line though, if it gets too dark/contrasting it looks like steel or iron. I went with an artistic compromise. Really enjoying this build. Wonderful kit that looks every bit a spitfire. Can't wait for the mk.vb to come out. The V is my favourite, closely followed by the high-backed Griffon version which I'm sure we'll see one day... Sigh. Thanks for looking, and for any future insights into the oil streaking issues! Kels.

Thank you, Yes, if the kit allows it (Tamiya, etc.) then I try to keep it in as many pieces as possible. This kit is great, but the wing root join is a bit off, so I should have joined it earlier. Seeing as this is an experimental build I did a rough and ready build. Kels.

Hey there, I thought it'd be interesting (for anyone curious about brush painting) to show how I go about it. I'm by no means an expert, as this is a fairly new process to me. Here are a few home truths I've leaned (the hard way): - It is a universally acknowledged truth that more thin coats are better than one thick one. This fact has to be taken on faith, because for a good few coats it can look like a slowly unfolding unmitigated disaster. - Light colours are less accommodating, so need more/thinner layers. - Prepare the surface well, by cleaning any oils, etc. - Use the broadest, softest brush practicable for each surface. - It sounds counterintuitive, but the "look" of the surface at any stage is not a priority. All that matters is your last coat is smooth and consistent. Trust that you will get it, eventually. - Lifting paint is to be avoided, so resist the urge to "go over" areas while paint is tacky. When it is truly wet, it can still be workable, but not for long. Always better to fix it on the next pass. - Do not overload your brush. Pooling paint is your enemy - repeat, POOLING PAINT IS YOUR ENEMY! The objective is to paint a thin layer as evenly as possible. - Clear off dust particles between coats. Painting them in creates unwanted build-up. - At first it seems like you will need 20 layers, but after the 2nd, things become opaque more quickly than you think. - Sanding is your friend. Some paints sand more readily than others, so I have chosen a brand that sands well. When sanding layers, the brush strokes from overly thick layers become really apparent. The paint I use (Atelier Acrylics) dries enough to do a second coat in about 15 minutes or so. Other brands will vary significantly. - When masking, dry brush the edges a few times. The objective is to create a thin barrier layer to avoid the diluted paint sneaking under the tape. Let it dry thoroughly before the base coat proper begins. - White is really tricky (not impossible!) so if your model is going to be heavily weathered, then off-white is the go. Off white looks more or less white on a model anyway (Contentious?). The three pics below just show the initial base colour phase. After that is done, next up is; gloss varnish, sanding, re-touching, then wrapping up with matte varnish. The first photo (Pic 1) shows why people are prone to not go anywhere near a brush, as it looks truly awful!!! The variation in coverage is inevitable with such diluted paint, all you are going for is something on every bit of surface area whilst avoiding pooling. Pic 1. After one layer on un-primed plastic. Pic 2 After 2nd layer. Pic 3 After about 5 or 6 layers. (Forgot to count!) Pic 3 has pretty much complete coverage. I'm happy to have some variation in the finish because it helps with the weathering process to follow. And that's the process, for what its worth. I try to get the surface done in as few layers as possible so as to not lose detail. Each colour will have different opacity so there is no "right" amount. Black will take maybe 2 thin layers, sky maybe 5-7! Most of us will have started out brush painting and transitioned to airbrushing as a logical, quality improving progression, and the results are undoubtably superior, but I'm having a stab at this because I work in a small space (living room), like having a simple brush in hand and not bothering the family with the noise of an airbrush. Also, the "real" painting for me is the watercolour process that starts after this base coat is done. I think of it as prepping the base canvas for the painting to process to begin. The finished result looks different to when using an airbrush, but that's fine, it can still look good! Not sure if the above is in any way helpful (or relevant!) but I'm an enthusiast so enjoy getting it down on paper Cheers, Kels.

Hello again, I've worked up the tail section. Turns out light colours need a slightly more subtle approach, so I'm glad I found out on the little tail wings rather than the big main ones. The red is me trying to represent the doped fabric becoming visible through the camouflage paint. In the example I used as reference it seems to be abrasion revealing the red paint rather than chunks of camo chipping off, so the red kind of blends into the camo. Not sure if I pulled it off, but its great fun trying! All my models are experiments in one way or another, which is why they often end up in the bin after some gigantic failure on my part. I'm hoping this one gets to the finish line. You may notice a few lines scored into the paint on the fabric sections (visible on the left side of the last pic). This is to represent the strips of tape. I'll add the rest in later. At the moment, the overall finish is irregular and streaky, When I get ahold of some matt varnish and give it a spray it will even the surface out a lot. Cheers, Kels.

I just saw a great photo of a Bolton Paul Defiant, and it made me wonder if that was a potential option? As far as I know it has never been kitted in 1/32, and seems to be a popular subject in 1/48 with Airfix recently. It would certainly make for an interesting kit - if not with international appeal, perhaps. Kels.

Hellooo! Another small update. The canopy has been started, but not finished (just plonked on for these pics). The wings (top only, haven't attached lower wings yet) have been base-coated, gloss varnished and decals have been applied. They look awful at this stage, but with the addition of watercolour pencil washes, rivets, chipping and various stains, etc. they should come up OK... Hopefully. Made a start on the exhausts. Will leave them as is until later to see if I need to knock them back a bit, once the rest is done. It's coming together, but work and distractions keep getting in the way. Cheers, Kels.

Thank you very much, Paul. The process is simple, but requires patience (and it is how I weather and shade all surfaces after the base coat). I'll do my best to describe it: Basically, on a palette I thin down water colour pencils to a point that is "dirty water" then with the tip of a brush, paint very fine diagonal lines filling the basic shape of the 'smoky' area on the model surface. There is not much of the paint mix (water) on the brush, so the lines are nice and fine. When the water dries (almost instantly) you cannot really see any difference on the model at all. And this is where the patience (and faith in the process) comes in, start again at the beginning of the exhaust line, paint more diagonal lines but in the opposite direction so you get a "criss-cross" pattern. You still wont see anything much at all. Repeat the process vertically, horizontally and diagonally. In time a shadow forms with no discernible brush strokes at all. It sounds laborious, and I guess it is, but it can be done fairly quickly/roughly because no single line remains visible. A word of warning: If you fill the brush too much or reduce dilution of the mix you will run into trouble. The right mix becomes apparent pretty quickly. To speed up the process, I use an older brush that has kind of "splayed out" allowing each stroke to do multiple lines. It takes practice (It's a brand new process for me, so I'm not very practiced!) but the results are nice and you have total control over how dark or light it is, what hues you want, the shape of the stain, etc. I also use the process or variations of it to differentiate panels, add hue/tone variation, stains, dust, etc. If you are careful and patient you can get close an airbrushed look. I hope that is helpful. Thanks again, Kels.

Hello again, A little bit of progress. Added some decals, rivets and more weathering, etc. The decals are really good quality. I really like them. The blue of the numerals I've heard queried at some point, and it is fairly rich. I like it, and think it sits nicely against the dark green and earth. I tried something new with the exhaust marks. Using very watery ink pencil brushed on in a criss-cross, multi-layered technique. Not as soft and lovely as airbrushing of course, but again, my darn cats! I'm also experimenting with using the same process to go for a gentle "zenethal" lighting effect. My vice-like grip snapped the wing fillet off so its a bit raggedy now. Stupido, stupido! Now, onto the wings! Thanks for your kind words folks, Kels.

Thank you Gilles. Brush painters unite! Unlike you, I do not have the courage to try mottling yet Enamels I think are better for brush painting (contentious?) but I like the water clean up aspect with acrylics because I paint in our living room. My partner doesn't like the enamel smell - or the drone of compressor! I have been experimenting with oil paints for mottling and soft edges. Early tests are promising. I may go down that path on my next model. Thankfully this Spit has hard edge camo. Can't wait to see more progress on your amazing 109. Kels.

Thank you, Yes sometimes you can paint yourself into a corner (so to speak) but if you test fit diligently and work out which areas are going to be problematic most issues can be resolved. Really well engineered kits like these are fairly trouble free so can accomodate this process, but more difficult kits make it less practical. Not having the wings and tailplanes on helps a lot with handling, sanding and painting details. My process is very slow, so keeping the model "small" is helpful in maintaining enthusiasm. Kels.

Hello there, I haven't made a model kitset in ages so dusted off the Kotare Spitfire. Great kit, as has been often said. Seeing as my cat riddled my airbrush hose with toothmarks (furious) I've taken to brush painting. All those lovely little raised rivets on the fuselage cause havoc with my painting technique because I do a lot of sanding to keep the surface smooth. They all had to go. I found a lot of the panel lines quite indistinct and soft so had to re-scribe quite a lot of the fuselage aft of the cockpit. Paint is Atelier Free Flow artists acrylic mixed to approximate WWII colours. I went with close enough is good enough. All the weathering has been done with very watery Derwent Inktense watercolour pencils. Chipping is tiny dots of Vallejo silver paint. Really enjoying modelling again. I've been keenly watching all the fabulous builds on this site. Keep it up everyone! Cheers, Kels.

Assuming they stay with WWII, my guess is a Typhoon. Iconic, big impressive model but still single engined, and like the early Spit and K (I think) a tad underdone in 1/32? Not a ton of variants, but cool load-outs. It isn't on my wish-list, but this is not about that, right? Kels.

Could it be a single engine aircraft like a Hawker Typhoon perhaps? The Revell kit is getting on a bit now. Is there space in the market for one, I wonder? Kels

Hello there, So in order to keep myself refreshed and feeling like there is something to modelling other than sanding and riveting, I am building this model alongside the Hurricane. Its the Hasegawa 1/32 109G-6 and it's totally OOB - no seatbelts, nothing. If its not in the box it won't be on the model. Rather than create a new thread, I just thought I'd keep the two builds together, as I bounce between them. It's a lovely kit, super easy to build. I explored using chalks and oils for all weathering and its been fun. All scratches, etc. are sanding and scraping the paint back to reveal the silver base coat. Kels.

Hello! After much gnashing of teeth I decided to sand away all the rivets I carefully made on the oil cooler because they were too close together and not at all representative of the real thing - or the subsequent work I did on the underside of the wings. Seeing as I had already clad it with plastic, I had to think of a new approach. The solution: Tiny (micro tiny!) solder balls. They arrived the other day and were exactly what I hoped for - they are seriously small. 0.2 mm! So, emboldened by the new purchase I ran the (wider spaced) rivet wheel over the surface, sanded it, painted a thinned line of varnish over it and while still wet, manouvered the said balls into place. EASY! Crazy?... Maybe. Anyway. This is my solution to compound curves which I can't clad easily, so don't imagine I will need to do the process too often on the model. I put some base colours down as a test for how this process will look. The plan for this build is to do it as a series of small modelling projects, rather than doing the whole build then paint it last. This'll probably be a bit of a curse as I'll paint myself into corners, but it will help keep the process interesting along the way. As an addendum, I'd made an identification light which I was really happy with and built the surrounding details up. All was looking good. I lay down sellotape that had been carefully edged to look (sort of) like pinking, stood back to admire it and it looked TERRIBLE! Total loss. Ripped it all off and will have to start anew. This time I am going to use decals. It looks much more scale accurate, but the pinking has to go the way of the Dodo. That will be the topic of a future post. All good. Onwards and upwards. Cheers team, and great work all. Kels.

Hi there, I have worked on embossing the protrudey bits around the gear legs. Still some clean up to do, but almost there (on one side). The latter two pics show the early stages of my attempt at getting the "pinking shears" look on the linen strips. It is not accurate, but it does give the feel of a textured edge when seen at normal view. This area of the hull is difficult to get good reference for, but I hope for close enough is good enough. I'll add more tape around the hatches and cut out the areas for light and little knobby thing that sticks out later. The strips are sellotape with the edges run over with a rivet tool over and over. Oh yes, while I remember, I'm thinking about making this a rag-wing version, but am going to evaluate which is more work - metal or linen. Cheers for now, Kels.

Hello again, Here are a series of images showing the process I'm using. First up, the kit surface - all details sanded away... Glued the two surfaces with 2 part epoxy and gave it some time to almost cure... The raw plastic with another layer of detail added... Primed... And here are a couple of close ups. I still have to do a bit of clean up to get rid of the excess glue. It comes off pretty easily. Note the screws. Happy with how they turned out. - can't hardly see them with the naked eye (especially my tired ol' ones). Still more details to add of course, but progressing away. Chars, Kels.

Thanks Quang, There's not much to it really. Well, its simple in principle but takes time. I'll take some photos of the process as I refine it, but for now... There are three kinds of rivets I make, and they are basically home made versions of rivet decals, and other processes. 1. For flat and gently curved surfaces, Cut out a shape of the thinnest styrene you can find in the correct proportions of the panel Draw on the lines of rivets, etc and run a rivet tool over the reverse to emboss the rivets. Any larger size rivets can be created using needles/pins of varying sizes. Glue the panel to the correct location - NOT using polystyrene cement as it will melt the thin card. Use super glue, epoxy or whatever. I use a variety depending on circumstances. 2. For curved surfaces. I don't have the skills to use the above technique on curvy complex shapes, so instead, I laboriously stab a pin on an angle into the panel, lift it to vertical to create a raised side then paint floor wax into the line of rivets to fill the hole made by the pin. It takes several layers, but is not as time consuming as it sounds. You can see in the above photos where I have not filled the hole in enough. 3. For larger domed rivets, fasteners, etc. Use a punch and die, to make rows of rivets on a scrap piece of styrene. Slice them off using a very sharp blade. Glue them one by one onto the surface. Again, it is slow going, but maybe not as laborious as it sounds, because you paint a line of floor wax then move the rivets into position. lock it all down with a layer of wax then prime it all. or: for smaller rivets, the same process but use the pounce wheel instead of the punch and die. I hope that makes some kind of sense. Cheers, Kels.

Heyo, Here is a WIP of the oil cooler. I tacked on the Hatch thing to show how things look before being primed. Still a ways to go, but illustrative of the approach to be taken on this kit. Kels.

Thank you sir! I'll cut those out then touch up the paint as needed. Keep 'em coming. Kels.

Of course! Suggestions are most welcome Thats what this forum is for! And yes, it is ambitious. Kels.

Helloo, Here's the beginnings of said model. I've built one of these before and I think it is a great kit, especially when considering its venerable years. This time I plan to pull out all the stops and add a bunch of additional detail. Conversion work is new to me, so I'm gonna plow on and not let the good be the enemy of nearly acceptable, otherwise I'll never finish this beast. The really ambitious thing I plan, is to skin the model with thin plastic to get an uneven, oil canned effect as well as the raised rivets that cover the real aircraft. I've done a bunch of tests, and it works well, but is slow and tricky. As to where the wheel well is at now, its painted and weathered but still at the WIP stage in some respects. Lots of home-made rivets have been added and if you are familiar with the kit, you will notice quite a few small additions here and there. My approach to painting is not do any pre-shading and try to weather it as layers over the top mimicking the real-life process as best I can. Lots of sanding, washes, scratching varnishing in many layers. Cheers, Kels.

Wow, a big Lysander would be amazeballs! A guilty pleasure/favorite! Think the much maligned Trumpeter is our only hope. Crossed fingers.

Well, they are very old and show their age, but if you want an early Spit, it's the only game in town (I think?). Nice, accurate shapes and recessed panels. No indented rivets. It fits together well. The only thing that is not up to scratch from my POV is the wheel wells have no walls, but if you can live with that, then its all good. I like them