Alex Posted March 5 Posted March 5 Well, in my perhaps futile quest to build something for all four GBs this year, I'm in with this Tamiya Spitfire that's been in the stash for a few years now. In an effort to keep it simple(r), it will be OOB save for ResKit wheels and some Eduard canopy masks, and I will do one of the kit schemes, an RCAF bird from the Italian front in mid-1944. But before I start cutting plastic on this one, I gotta finish up my Skyraider for the last GB. Hopefully that's going to happen this month.... MikeMaben, Erwin, geedubelyer and 13 others 16
Uncarina Posted March 5 Posted March 5 I’m looking forward to this Alex! Consider me following. Cheers, Tom Martinnfb and Alex 2
Alex Posted March 31 Author Posted March 31 In anticipation of starting this eventually, I've been searching for some period color photos showing weathering of the Spitfire desert camo scheme. Most/all of these are Mk.Vbs rather than VIIIs, but hopefully they are guide to the appearance and weathering of those paint colors. Any photos that y'all can share are of course appreciated! Uncarina, denders, Daniel Leduc and 9 others 12
DugyB Posted April 1 Posted April 1 Some serious pics here, massively interesting the colours, weathering …. Martinnfb and Alex 2
ScoobyDoo Posted April 20 Posted April 20 Your first image is in the officers club at CFB Cold Lake. It is actually the entire wall! And Cold Lake is the modern day home for 417 Squadron. They are our base rescue flight. geedubelyer, Martinnfb, Alex and 1 other 4
Alex Posted April 21 Author Posted April 21 So contrary to rumor, I am actually working on this, albeit slowly. Back from vacation and buried under work, so not too much time to fiddle. Nevertheless I've gotten started on the cockpit. Tamiya does this in a modular way, so here's the IP/forward bulkhead "module". That's kind of a terrible photo. I'll try a better one soon. I'm not spending time on weathering or extra detailing here, just a straight-up OOB build. I'm going to show both cockpit doors closed on this one, so there won't be much visibility into the cockpit in any case. I'm hoping to get to the painting part fairly quickly so I can focus on some exterior weathering. Martinnfb, MikeMaben, patricksparks and 4 others 7
Alex Posted April 25 Author Posted April 25 Some photos of the completed cockpit. Fit is excellent, as you'd expect from Tamiya. MikeMaben, Javlin1, Erwin and 12 others 15
Uncarina Posted April 25 Posted April 25 Very nice Alex. straight out of the box? Cheers, Tom Martinnfb 1
Alex Posted April 25 Author Posted April 25 37 minutes ago, Uncarina said: Very nice Alex. straight out of the box? Cheers, Tom Yep, entirely OOB, just trying to take the shortest path with this one as my time is limited these days... Martinnfb, Javlin1 and Uncarina 3
Alex Posted April 29 Author Posted April 29 Moving along, I've closed up the fuselage around that cockpit... Then I assembled the wheel bays into the lower wings, followed by starting to attach the upper wing surfaces. This is all somewhat familiar in layout from having built Tamiya's 1:48 Spitfire many years ago, but the quality of the 1:32 kit is definitely a step up. What I've done above is to tape the upper wing pieces in place so I can glue the trailing edges using solvent cement (you won't see the seams, obviously, since they are hidden by the ailerons). Once that has set up I'll go in and carefully glue the leading edges with just a small bead of CA glue, which I can then sand out to yield a smooth a gap-free leading edge. Erwin, Landrotten Highlander, Alain Gadbois and 9 others 12
Alex Posted May 7 Author Posted May 7 Took a bit of fiddling to get all the piece parts of the wings together cleanly, but patience pays off with this kit - there's such fine detail that you really want to avoid having to sand anything if you can. And the parts fit well enough to make that possible. In particular the wing to fuselage fit is perfect. I've got a few more things to do to get ready to prime the airframe; mainly getting the canopy masked and in place. Once that's done I can focus on the engine, which is beautifully set up for covers-off display, just like in the Tamiya Mustang I built a few years ago. Of course this is going to force me to deviate from the OOB mantra and do at least a little bit of scratch building to enhance what's provided in the kit. Landrotten Highlander, BloorwestSiR, Dpgsbody55 and 9 others 12
Alex Posted May 9 Author Posted May 9 Looking more like a Spitfire all the time... Going to go work on the engine now. BloorwestSiR, Alain Gadbois, Uncarina and 12 others 15
Uncarina Posted May 10 Posted May 10 Looking good Alex. Those extended wingtips are so distinctive. Cheers, Tom Alex 1
Alex Posted May 10 Author Posted May 10 3 hours ago, Uncarina said: Looking good Alex. Those extended wingtips are so distinctive. Cheers, Tom There were so many slightly different versions of this plane. I can appreciate how people get sucked in and build a dozen of them. Uncarina, FlightSimmer and geedubelyer 3
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