1/24 Airfix Spitfire

[Kapiti Kid]

There's plenty of pictures around of Alan Deere's Spitfire KL-B "Kiwi". Alan's exploits were the basis of the Spitfire story in the film "Dunkirk", which has sparked some interest.

 

Be aware that any depiction of the kiwi with a peculiar white ruff around its neck is completely fictitious, and based on bad interpretation of a bad photo. This is discussed in "Spitfire: The New Zealand Story" by Gerard Morris. There are a better photos showing the kiwi emblem, such as this one: 

 

 

Tony

[Sparzanza]

I was after the camo pattern, mainly... and decal placement. Shame I only get one Kiwi decal as it seems to have been painted on both sides of Mr. Deere's kite?

[Sparzanza]

Closer inspection of the decals today; my Kiwibird does indeed have that white ruff. Should be easy enough to paint over!

 

Also I've let the glosscoat over the Sky cure for 48 hours now, so today I will do some masking and shoot some Humbrol 29 dark earth!

[Sparzanza]

Well the Humbrol 29 spraying adventure I had planned today backfired. The can hadn't been opened since I painted my last 1/24 Spit, and smelt funky and sprayed like trash even at 60 psi. After 20 mins of colorful language, this was all I had accomplished:

 

 

I realised I had a jar of Tamiya's XF52 in my possession, so I shot some of that instead. A bit too dark, and a bit too red. How do I remedy this? White and yellow? Any and all tips welcome. For now this will serve as a basecoat.

 

 

Bonus image. This piece of junk causes me nothing but trouble as of late, making my hands look like I had an accident of the brown kind. F*** you.

 

[Sparzanza]

I actually managed to get a perfect match to Humbrol 29 simply by adding Tamiya yellow and white into the XF52. Very happy with the color now. However, some ugly spots appeared that I will need to fix before masking and shooting green. I will let the paint cure for 24 hours before doing any sanding.

 

 

[Sparzanza]

Masking is very tedious. This took a few days on and off, depending on how long I could sit down and pay attention before the heat got the better of me.

 

I masked the basic shape of the camo with Tamiya's bendy tape. I love and hate this tape. I love it for its flexibility. I hate it for its low tac. Many times when taking a break and returning it had lifted off. I had to anchor it with regular Tamiya tape - and fill the gaps with cheap masking tape. The cheap masking tape caused a mishap on the bottom of the Spit, but more on that further down.

 

 

 

 

 

When I was done masking, it was just a "simple" matter of spraying Humbrol 116. It was fairly painless this time around at least. No sputtering, relatively smooth spray. I sprayed one ultra thin coat, waited 2 mins, then shot another. When that was done I immediately started unmasking as I do not quite trust masking tape atop Tamiya paint. The results are pretty good so far.

 

 

 

The masking tape underneath must have gotten stuck in the Tamiya gloss varnish as it left behind some nasty residue in a couple of spots. I don't know how to deal with this yet. Maybe it's a simple matter of carefully sanding it away. Maybe I have to repaint it. Sigh. I'll need a few days for the Humbrol enamel to dry before I can take a proper look. Thanks for dropping in.

 

Edited July 15, 2018 by Sparzanza

[TorbenD]

Keep the faith - she’s looking very good, especially for her age!

 

Torben

[Sparzanza]

Thanks Torben.

 

Concerned about the weird spots the tape left behind underneath, I picked up the kit briefly today and tried sanding them very gently, with a fine sandpaper. I think it is fixable without having to repaint, though it will be very time consuming - and involve a lot of handling the kit. I'll give the Humbrol paint a week to dry to be safe. Then I'll tackle the bottom.

 

The question is why did the masking tape react like this to Tamiya's X-22? I let it cure for 48+ hours. The tape is very low tac. Almost like Tamiya tape. Just a lot cheaper. All I use it for is as filler tape between expensive tape, basically... or holding stuff together. Never had this problem on enamel paint.

 

That's what I get for trying something new I guess.

[Sparzanza]

The decals are extremely bad. The letters can't even come out in an accurate color. This is making me not want to finish the kit.

 

Fed up with setbacks in every single aspect of every build now.

 

Note: These decals are freshly applied. I haven't bothered running a cottonbud across them or anything yet, or even applying MicroSol. It's not worth the trouble.

 

Putting yet another kit aside now.

 

Edited July 28, 2018 by Sparzanza

[Sparzanza]

So not only are the decals ****, they are near impossible to remove as well. They won't even be dragged off with tape, and they don't seem to react to MicroSol. I don't want to scratch them off with my fingernails or Xacto blade as it'll scratch the paint.

 

What have I done to deserve this rotten luck I wonder?

[gwana]

Try a thinner that does not react with your top coat of paint: If it's acrylic, try white spirits. If it's enamel, try Windex or alcohol. TEST FIRST. The thinner may attack the carrier film and leave the paint alone.

[Sparzanza]

Thanks for the tip.

 

It's such a shame, the decals looks brand new on their sheet - all glossy and nice.

[MikeMaben]

13 hours ago, Sparzanza said:

    ... they don't seem to react to MicroSol.

 

You have to set it up so the decal you're trying to remove is horizontal.

Pool the solvent on top of it and let it set until it starts to soften (might

take hours). Then hit it with a stiff (ish) brush and then maybe tape for

the subborn spots. Tape is always dangerous as it will often take up the

paint as well.

 

Good luck Sparz 

 

[Sparzanza]

I left tape sitting over the decals over night, and not just ordinary masking tape, as it proved too weak. I used regular desktop (?) tape. The decals did not come off.

I tried brushing undiluted T-röd alcohol over them, and ended up having paint removed WHILE THE ****ING DECALS STAYED PUT. The alcohol ate through the enamel varnish and into the Tamiya dark earth I had sprayed.

 

I ended up scraping them off with an Xacto blade, leaving tons of scratches and white spots absolutely everywhere. There was no other way of removing them.

 

I could use some more rotten piece of **** luck, anyone got some spare? While everything is already fubar for me I mean. Go on, come at me. It cannot possibly get any worse.

[Sparzanza]

Decals scraped off with an Xacto blade. You can also see the spots where I tried rubbing alcohol on them.