1:32 Tamiya Spitfire IX, 81 Sqn, Tunisia, Summer 1943

[KallistiUK]

Thanks Ferry

 

So attention has switched for a while to the base as now its time to start working out what is going where. To this end, I borrowed my previous attempt at a 1:32 Spitfire form 2 years ago and used it to rehearse the layout:

 

 

This lets me see where best to position the aircraft to allow activity around it without crowding on the base. So we have some boxes in the trench, some boxes piled up by the trench, groundcrew working on the starboard engine side and at the battery hatch, plus another hanging about by the port wing. Not sure if the table is going to stay under the port wing in top left, but there will be a couple of drums etc in that area.

 

Now what about this trench, well its going to have a bit of a tent in it as this was where the groundcrew sheltered against air raid attacks. 

 

 

Here is the entrance

 

 

and the other side

 

 

So what about the figures? Using a combination of bodies, arms and heads from  3 different kits, I can get 4 figures:

 

 

As you can see, painting has started but only got as far as basic colours for now. The PE toolbox is also partly assembled:

 

 

Finally, work has been done on the engine bulkhead, adding some wire and pipes:

 

 

More to come...

[Marmaduke]

Awesome build so far! Makes me embarassed to post pics of my Spitfire build!

[KallistiUK]

Not a huge amount of progress this week. I sadly managed to crash my car into a telegraph pole on Tuesday on the icy roads and this seems to have suppressed my modelling mojo a bit. I was thankfully unhurt and the insurance company reckon the car is repairable, but its all a bit distracting. Some work did however get carried out on the figures and some accessories.

 

The figures got their initial acrylic colours and then I started adding the details, oil washes etc over the top. This is slow work as the oils take a long time to dry at each stage, but produce a better result in the long run:

 

 

The toolbox was completed and given a primer coat, at which point everything stopped being able to move. I'll probably trim off the excess wire now its firmly fixed in place. Also put together some jerry cans and given them an initial aluminium paint as an undercoat.  I've just ordered the AFV Club WWII British Fuel can set which comes with "flimsy" cans as they would no doubt be very common on the airfield at this time.

 

Finally for this small update, a couple of oil drums which always add nice dressing to this sort of thing

 

 

I ought to return to the Spitfire engine at some point...

 

Edit: looking at the figures I think the socks have come out much greener than I intended and may need toning down a bit.

Edited January 19, 2014 by KallistiUK

[KallistiUK]

This turned up yesterday:

 

 

and in the box you get 6 identical sprues each with 3 flimsies and 3 jerry cans, plus a funnel! So I took one sprue and did this:

 

 

There is a PE fret which contains a brass plate that acts as the joint between the two halves of the jerry can and you get a choice of spouts. The flimsies come in 3 parts, main body, top surface and a very delicate handle. The 3 top surfaces are slightly different which is rather nice.

 

I'll give these a coat of primer, metallic grey then some hairspray to allow chipping then finally a layer of desert sand which will get chipped. I'll probably use these in place of the other jerry cans...

[Nick32]

I'm enjoying this one, any more progress?

Nick 

[KallistiUK]

Hi Nick, thanks for the interest, its gone a bit slower since January and I haven't been keeping up with the postings, but things have been progressing... A couple of the figures have been completed, first a tea drinker having a break in the trench:

 

 

 

Next, another bloke 'avin' a fag and cuppa

 

 

These have taken a while as they've been painted with oils which gives a good result but is slow! They are still a bit "clean" for the environment (their shoes for example), but I'll leave any more messing up until they've been settled into the scene properly.

 

There are two other figures but they aren't completely ready yet for the camera. I have got some of the new jerry cans made up:

 

 

along with some of the flimsies as well as some tools from the toolkit scattered around

 

 

Then attention returned to the engine. This was slow and careful, adding lots of pipes, wires and details, using many pictures as reference

 

 

I've also drilled out all the fixing points on the frame. I've only super-detailed one side since I'm only going to have the starboard and underside panels open as that where the worker is being busy. Speaking of the starboard panel, the inside, which will be visible has been upgraded, using the PE for the Hobbyboss Vb suitably adapted for the larger engine:

 

 

Now this doesn't look much when painted in such a basic way, but as soon as I added some wash and "oil" spill it takes on a  new life:

 

 

Its a Merlin engine, therefore there is a lot of oil leakage! Speaking of oil leakage, here is the engine with some oil added:

 

 

Its coming together, the main body of the aircraft has been primed - after the cockpit and battery compartments had been sealed of course and the masks for the roundels arrived a while ago as well so I can paint with suitably faded colours.

Edited February 8, 2014 by KallistiUK

[Jamme]

Nice job !

Congrats,

Jamme

[KallistiUK]

Thanks Maru and Jamme. The above was the update as far as earlier this week was concerned and I've had a busy few days since then! Today in particular has been a good day and a bad day. First the good: I went into Wokingham earlier to sort out my birthday present to myself:

 

 

Its another Ford Focus, but this one is red! I thought there was a law somewhere that said all Ford Focus had to be silver, but I was obviously mistaken! Now I just need to make sure this one doesn't get too intimate with a telegraph pole!

 

On the modelling front, things have moved on apace! The engine is looking good:

 

 

The top and port panels are on as they will be in the diorama, suitable dirtied up.

 

 

The underside cover will be resing on the ground underneath the engine so will have some extra oil added to it while the starboard panel will be propped up against the wing

 

 

 

The panels look a bit shiny because of the flash, but they will be "matted up" more once things are assembled. Sadly the above photos really son't show the effect I've achieved on the exhausts, I think they look pretty good.

 

Propellor has been finished off with some careful weathering, taking inspiration from a discussion on another forum a couple of months ago about how propellers weather, in particular Spitfire props .

 

 

again the photo doesn't really do it justice

[KallistiUK]

In my earlier post I mentioned the Miracle Masks I'd ordered. Well I had a go with them with somewhat mixed results - not because there was anything wrong with the masks, they are a superb product, but my incompetance with the airbrush and masking caused a few issues!

 

The main reason I wanted to use the masks to be able to fade the colours in the roundels. This worked superbly on the wings:

 

 

and on the lower surfaces, which aren't so faded

 

 

 

The underside still needs some more weathering done to it as its still a bit to clean. you can see there were a couple of minor spots of overspray on the underside roubdels, but these are no problem to fix. The main problem I had was with the fuselage roundels. These have the yellow band around the outside and all was going well until it came to the yellow band and then I came a cropper... the paint bled everywhere, the masks pulled the previously painted white paint, some blue and some red off one roundel and I allowed a load of yellow overspray on anotehr part of the fuselage because I hadn't masked far enough... I tried to repair but it was hopeless, so I ended up using the kit decals instead

 

 

 

Lots of Micro sol and a sharp knife helped the decals conform to the panels, but I don't think they are as good as the masked version would have been if I'd been competent enough to do it right! What you also see in the photos is the codes added with the "L" having been originally an "E" with the locals overpainting the letter (badly). It was at this pint that I almost gave up when I realised I've got the camo colours the WRONG WAY ROUND for this aircraft compared to the profile in the Osprey Spitfire Aces of North Africa and Italy!!!

 

Its about the single most important thing that I should have got right, but I messed up right at the beginning of the camo painting! I could not believe it and came THIS close to giving up the whole thing, but having come this far there is absolutely no use in giving up. So I will soldier on and hope nobody notices! Oh bugger I've just told you all...

 

I'm hoping to finish this for the Farnborough club meeting on Monday evening, so I've got a busy rest of the weekend ahead! Fingers crossed!

[LSP_Kevin]

I think it looks terrific despite your troubles mate. I certainly would never notice the reversed camo colours.

 

Kev

[lawman56]

This is a great build, and like Kev stated, I never would have noticed the reversed camo. I was too busy admiring your work!

[KallistiUK]

Complete! Varnish got applied at 2am last night and final assembly took place this morning. I'll open a topic under Ready For Inspection but here is a little taster...

 

[Loic]

Great work !

I love the diorama