TaffyMan Posted November 22, 2011 Author Share Posted November 22, 2011 Dont forget the ton of useless monitor everywhere to give it the authentic Pimp my plane look!!! Im thinking some in the gun bay so that when your on standby at the field you can pull out a chair and watch a dvd on the wing. All joking asides i really love your paint job that masking was awesome Yeah Neo that would be cool!!! Not forgetting some massive speaker systems pumping out some tunes HA HA! When I have finished her very tempted to have a play in Photoshop – BUT just need to finish her first Taff Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TaffyMan Posted November 22, 2011 Author Share Posted November 22, 2011 This is looking real nice. Chears mate lets hope I can keep it up to that finishing line. INCREDIBLY LOVELY...WHOA !!!! Thanks for the comment Maru51737 she looks sweet with the go fast strip. Next up ageing and weathering GULP! How have I missed this build? A Soviet Spitfire - lovely work there, Taff! At this point the only American and British aeroplanes I build are those that have red stars slapped on them. Za Rodinu! Tovarich Jason Cheers mate Yep I know your liking of all things Russian I been looking at some of them wonderful builds!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TaffyMan Posted November 30, 2011 Author Share Posted November 30, 2011 Hi Comrades Not a massive update as problems with my home made decals and being dragged out Christmas shopping just kept getting in the way of progress. Firstly I started with some paint chipping. I used the back of the scalpel blade and a fine metal pick to chip the panel edges. This is why I used the aluminium primer. Thought I would give this technique a try. Worked quite well with the gentle picking at the edges but not so good with the rubbing back with sand paper. I will give the aluminium a coat of clear next time to give it a bit more protection; I did a quick dry brush over with a silver plus aluminium paint mix on the bits that went through to the plastic Picture of the wing top after my picking, rubbing and painting. I was trying my best not to over do this – it is a bit addictive so kept walking away then come back and assess what I had done. Hopefully not over done – what do you think? Once some weathring should blend them in a bit! The wing bottom. Next up I put the gun hole covers on. These where made by ripping the surface card off of a piece of corrugated card. I then thinned the back by gently rubbing it over with the flat edge of a scalpel blade. I then stuck it down on all edges with tape, to stop it cockling up as the paint dried. Not sure if the Russians did this but as they would need to stop the guns freezing up. Plus they where taught by British instructors! You can’t see anything on the picture and I couldn’t find any other reference. So I cut out the squares and stuck them on with supper glue. After they had dried for a bit I picked the holes out with a needle, dipped in a mostly black with a bit of dark brown paint. I was trying to get the burst stringy effect you see from canvas. These should look more bedded down with some more scorch and soot marks, which I will apply at weathering stage two. After this I started to do dirt and weathering stage one with light airbrushing of various very light tints of dirty brown mixes streaked across the bottom and patches on the upper surfaces. But forgot to take pictures DOH! Sorry!!!! Anyway moving on to some picture I did take. They also show my dirty efforts! I sprayed the whole plane with gloss for the decals. A question to anyone - I mixed the gloss about a quarter gloss to three quarters thinners. I use this with semi gloss and it seems fine but with the gloss it just didn’t want to cover. Does this sound to thin? What kind of ratio’s would you recommend? So rather than ending up lumpy I let this dry off and went for the decals. This has left me with a bit of slivering but I hope some more weathering and the final coating might hide this The bottom also showing the weathering part one I also applied my homemade decals at this stage. I think I didn’t apply enough varnish when I fixed them, as when I dipped them they either had ink runs or where quite fragile and cracked the image as I moved then into place. So made another batch and did one more pass than recommended with the varnish and these went on fine. Them I noticed that my finger had knocked the rec number on the port fuselage. So now have just printed of a batch of just the numbers and will apply this later. Then it will be onto weathering part two and fingers crossed the home straight. The tail with the Guard Emblem on A couple of pictures to show her finished side to give you an over look. Thanks for looking in. And thanks for giving me the inspiration to finish her before the deadline Taff Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Learstang Posted November 30, 2011 Share Posted November 30, 2011 (edited) Brilliant work, Taff! That Guards insignia in particular looks great - Za Chest Gvardia! (For the Honour of the Guards!). Was this particular Spitfire used during the Kuban campaign? If so, it would have received heavy usage as that was some of the heaviest aerial fighting of the GPW. Those Soviet aircraft would have been, as my Dad says, "Rode hard and put up wet". 3A CCCP! Regards, Jason Edited November 30, 2011 by Learstang Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Out2gtcha Posted December 1, 2011 Share Posted December 1, 2011 Great stuff man! I really do like the weathering effects...........spot on Taff. Dont know much about teh Soviet spits or how mucked up they were but looks pretty convincing to me! Cheers, Brian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Learstang Posted December 1, 2011 Share Posted December 1, 2011 (edited) Well, I answered my own question (it does help to read over the post). The very first post identifies this as a Kuban Spitfire. Brian, in answer to your question, the Kuban battle Spitfires would have probably been pretty weathered because of the intensity of the fighting. Spitfires with PVO units (area interceptor units - for example, those protecting Moscow), would not have seen the same intensity of fighting and would probably have been relatively clean. The Soviets in general didn't like the Spitfire for frontal aviation as the Spitfire's landing gear was considered rather fragile for the rough fields the frontal units operated from (very different from the smooth, grass airfields of Southern England). On the other hand, operating from permanent airfields around important areas (such as Moscow), the Soviets appreciated the excellent climb and high-altitude capabilities of the Spitfire, and found it useful for intercepting high-altitude German bombers and reconnaissance aircraft. Regards, Jason Edited December 1, 2011 by Learstang Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TaffyMan Posted December 3, 2011 Author Share Posted December 3, 2011 Great stuff man! I really do like the weathering effects...........spot on Taff. Dont know much about teh Soviet spits or how mucked up they were but looks pretty convincing to me! Cheers, Brian Cheers Brian – I need more dirt though. I am afraid she’s going to be an abused dirty little bird when I have finished with her. Or I hope so! We will see if I can pull it off. Well, I answered my own question (it does help to read over the post). The very first post identifies this as a Kuban Spitfire. Brian, in answer to your question, the Kuban battle Spitfires would have probably been pretty weathered because of the intensity of the fighting. Spitfires with PVO units (area interceptor units - for example, those protecting Moscow), would not have seen the same intensity of fighting and would probably have been relatively clean. The Soviets in general didn't like the Spitfire for frontal aviation as the Spitfire's landing gear was considered rather fragile for the rough fields the frontal units operated from (very different from the smooth, grass airfields of Southern England). On the other hand, operating from permanent airfields around important areas (such as Moscow), the Soviets appreciated the excellent climb and high-altitude capabilities of the Spitfire, and found it useful for intercepting high-altitude German bombers and reconnaissance aircraft. Regards, Jason Hi Jason – Done that myself – I must learn to read myself and not just skip and skim!!! Yep you are right lot more abuse and muck to be thrown at her yet!!! More muck than scratching. I want to try and keep the big lightning bolt. I know there is lots of debate on did they or did they not put this on her but hey this is the first thing that attracted me to this scheme so it's staying. It is real hard to find any facts on the Spitfire’s in Russia but I did find an article about them. The Russians also didn’t like the guns spread wide on the wings. They seemed to like them all center of the plane so they could get up close and personal to their targets, with maximum firepower. This is a link to the article makes interesting reading if you haven’t already read it. http://lend-lease.airforce.ru/english/articles/spit/index.htm Great updates and good neat work .Keep it coming sir.. Hi MARU5137 – I sure will I have a whole weekend with out disturbance (NO Crimbo Shopping ) So I am hoping to get to so dirty work with weathering part two. Should be posting some pics on the Monday. Thanks for looking in guys - Happy Modelling Taff Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Learstang Posted December 3, 2011 Share Posted December 3, 2011 Thank you for the link to the Soviet Spitfires, Taff - an interesting read! It confirmed what I remembered about the Spitfire having problems handling the sometimes extremely rough "airfields" the Soviet frontline fighter units habitually operated from. You are correct about the Soviets liking the firepower concentrated around the nose. As I understand Soviet fighter tactics, the idea was to keep the aeroplanes small and the wings simple (and light) to increase manoeuvrability, this manoeuvrability being used to get behind your opponent at close range, then blast him out of the sky with a few, large calibre weapons (20mm and 12.7mm guns being favoured by the Soviets). This is one reason the Soviets liked the P-39, or "Kobra" as they called it. With the wing guns removed (which the Soviets often, although not always did), the P-39 had increased manoeuvrability compared to its earlier American and British incarnations, particularly at low altitudes, and the 37mm in the nose was devastating (despite popular misconception, it wasn't used for tank-killing, except perhaps on rare occasions). If you compare the size of the main Soviet fighters, such as the Lavochkin and Yakovlev fighters, to American fighters in particular, they are quite small. Even the P-39 was not a large 'plane. That's the way the Soviets liked it - small and manoeuvrable, with a punch in the nose. This preference even continued into the postwar period, where the MiG-15 and MiG-17 had large cannons, all in the nose, and the MiG-19 had one cannon in the nose, and two in the wingroots (all the monstrously powerful NR 30mm cannon). Regards, Jason Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TaffyMan Posted December 6, 2011 Author Share Posted December 6, 2011 Thank you for the link to the Soviet Spitfires, Taff - an interesting read! It confirmed what I remembered about the Spitfire having problems handling the sometimes extremely rough "airfields" the Soviet frontline fighter units habitually operated from. You are correct about the Soviets liking the firepower concentrated around the nose. As I understand Soviet fighter tactics, the idea was to keep the aeroplanes small and the wings simple (and light) to increase manoeuvrability, this manoeuvrability being used to get behind your opponent at close range, then blast him out of the sky with a few, large calibre weapons (20mm and 12.7mm guns being favoured by the Soviets). This is one reason the Soviets liked the P-39, or "Kobra" as they called it. With the wing guns removed (which the Soviets often, although not always did), the P-39 had increased manoeuvrability compared to its earlier American and British incarnations, particularly at low altitudes, and the 37mm in the nose was devastating (despite popular misconception, it wasn't used for tank-killing, except perhaps on rare occasions). If you compare the size of the main Soviet fighters, such as the Lavochkin and Yakovlev fighters, to American fighters in particular, they are quite small. Even the P-39 was not a large 'plane. That's the way the Soviets liked it - small and manoeuvrable, with a punch in the nose. This preference even continued into the postwar period, where the MiG-15 and MiG-17 had large cannons, all in the nose, and the MiG-19 had one cannon in the nose, and two in the wingroots (all the monstrously powerful NR 30mm cannon). Regards, Jason Hi Jason Yep don't we all like big guns!!! Interesting didn’t know they had removed the guns! Then if you look how they changed the Hurricane into a two-seater setup. It shouldn’t surprise me that they altered them. I do like the Russian adapted Hurricane it is on my "attempt list" when I get better at this modelling game. Perhaps 1:24 scale should be an interesting challenge. Another fact I liked out of that article is that the pilots really liked our decedent over use of metal on our aircraft. Wonder what they thought when the Mosquitoes landed on their shores! Happy Days - Taff:D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TaffyMan Posted December 6, 2011 Author Share Posted December 6, 2011 Hi Comrades – Weathering part deux. I have started with bottom and I did say she would be a dirty and abused little oll gal Anyway to the pictures here are several of my efforts on the underside. I knocked one of the UC doors off whilst taping. Will stick it back on when I have finished. Getting a bit closer to the oil leak at the front. After the matt spray I will go over with some black and gloss mix – an experiment to see if I can make fresh oil? Hope you like? Got a couple of days off know so will try and get her finished and some decent shots done over the weekend – as long as I don’t get dragged out for the crimbo shopping thing!!! Happy Days - Taff Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Out2gtcha Posted December 6, 2011 Share Posted December 6, 2011 Getting a bit closer to the oil leak at the front. After the matt spray I will go over with some black and gloss mix – an experiment to see if I can make fresh oil? Ditto! I gots to do the same on the big girl. Weathering is the main biggie comin up Looks awesome so far man. Great stuff............. Hope you like? Duh! of course...............looks more and more the part every update! Got a couple of days off know so will try and get her finished and some decent shots done over the weekend – as long as I don't get dragged out for the crimbo shopping thing!!! Also ditto for me me-amigo........... Brian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tomek Posted December 6, 2011 Share Posted December 6, 2011 Yup, I like it very much! Can't wait for the final photos! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Learstang Posted December 6, 2011 Share Posted December 6, 2011 Hi Jason Yep don't we all like big guns!!! Interesting didn’t know they had removed the guns! Then if you look how they changed the Hurricane into a two-seater setup. It shouldn’t surprise me that they altered them. I do like the Russian adapted Hurricane it is on my "attempt list" when I get better at this modelling game. Perhaps 1:24 scale should be an interesting challenge. Another fact I liked out of that article is that the pilots really liked our decedent over use of metal on our aircraft. Wonder what they thought when the Mosquitoes landed on their shores! Happy Days - Taff:D Omega actually do the two-seater courier/artillery spotter two-seater (with the observer having a gun) in resin, in 1/72nd scale. I'm very tempted to buy it. I never thought about someone tackling this in 1/24th scale - now that would be something to see. Regarding Soviet adaptations of the Hurricane, they also removed the .303's on some and replaced them with two 20mm ShVAK cannons and two Berezin 12.7mm machine guns; again, another instance of the Soviet liking for powerful guns. As far as the Mosquito, I know the Soviets got their hands on at least one, but sad to say I haven't investigated what they thought about/did with it (yet). Regards, Jason Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrDave Posted December 6, 2011 Share Posted December 6, 2011 You have done well Comrade! The Nomenklatura smiles on you... Can you forge Capitalist bank notes with your komputer? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TaffyMan Posted December 13, 2011 Author Share Posted December 13, 2011 Duh! of course...............looks more and more the part every update! Brian Hi Brian – Thanks for the encouragement – Its been a slog at times but nearly there!!! Well didn’t get to distracted on my days off but these things seem to take ages! So didn’t get as far as I thought so a little bit behind schedule but got there in the end. I just looked in on the big bird – stunning work my friend see your distractions didn't interfere and I will be posting some comments in a bit to encourage you to the finishing line – So close you can smell it Happy Days - Taff Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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