Airfix 1:24 Spitfire Mk1a - Sqn Ldr Geoffrey Wellum DFC

[CraigH]

Well, it's been a while. I'd not realised that my last post was a ready for inspection of my 1:24 Airfix Hurricane Mk1 back in January of 2018:

I already had this build of the Airfix 1:24 Spitfire Mk1a on the go back then and with the sad passing of Squadron Leader Geoffrey Wellum DFC in July of 2018 I decided to build it as K9998, the plane he flew with 92 squadron in the summer and autumn of 1940.

 

Sadly, due to hard drive problems and being too idle to upload the images to the cloud, I lost the build pictures I'd taken, hence it's miraculous appearance in "Ready for Inspection" fully built and ready to go.

As far as the build goes, a brief resume:

I lined the wheel wells, added an Airscale Instrument panel and their excellent cockpit placards to liven things up and a Grey Matter control stick. A metal coat hanger and some scratch built brackets gave me the dihedral and removed the wing droop. Dry stencils from Hobbydecal are brilliant for the instructional markings around the plane, even if their supplied diagram is a bit out in places. 

The drop down door had the crowbar that didn't appear on the Mark 1 sanded away and a locking mechanism added with some wire and made up spring arrangement. The hinge assembly at the other end is wire again with silver foil wound around to represent the hinges. So that pretty much took us to the paint stage.

 

Black primer undercoat followed by Vallejo aluminium paint and a layer of Vallejo chipping medium meant I could spray the camouflage and chip away to my hearts content. Afterwards a gloss layer fixed all in place and allowed me to go to town on the markings. I sprayed these on using making tape and Tamiya paints for two reasons. One, it allows for more realistic weathering and two, I couldn't buy the non standard markings off the shelf. The fuselage roundels for this Supermarine built "K" plane had the 7" centre red spot instead of the standard 5" so it was do it yourself or nothing!

Underside panel centre lightening and upper side panel line darkening gave me the effect I wanted and oil fading effects and a nice panel wash completed the job.

 

I always like to try to envisage a moment  when I'm planning how I want the weathering to look a la Jon Bius so here was my thought for the day:

 

So I imagined:

 

"A wet, miserable autumn morning in October 1940. K9998 has just returned from a morning patrol and is thickly caked with the clay of the wet soil. Ground crew have already swarmed over the wings to talk to the pilot and are about to get the aircraft ready for its next patrol with a refuel and re arm."

 

Anyway, here it is. I hope you like it:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

   

 

 

[R Palimaka]

Great job beating that old kit into submission using some creative ideas, especially the markings and the angle of the wings. The dihedral on those Airfix kits is a problem, but once you've sorted it out they look good. They certainly got the shapes right.

 

Too bad about the "in-progress" photos, but thanks for sharing that. A nice tribute to a good man. It's satisfying when you can tie a build to someone you admire.

Richard

Edited April 24, 2019 by R Palimaka

[CraigH]

Thanks for that Richard. I agree the old Airfix kits definitely got the shapes right. 1:24 Mosquito NFII next....and a golden rule. UPLOAD THE PHOTOS IDIOT!

[Robert]

Always nice to see a tribute to a war hero. Nice build, thanks for sharing.

[wingman777]

I've also built this kit and though I really like mine I think you did a better job of it.  Good work!!

[CraigH]

19 minutes ago, MARU5137 said:

Craig..

 

That's a SUPER looking model and you did a SPLENDID ,OUTSTANDING Job. 

 

BRAVO    

 

Thank you so much for your kind words. Hope my mosquito turns out similarly

[Troy Molitor]

Nicely done Craig.  

 

I must have built this kit at least 6 times in my youth.   I loved every minute spent on it.     I had one hanging in my garage ceiling a while back.   It finally came apart after cleaning it up.   I think I binned it after that.   I was moving at the time and couldn’t be bothered fixing it up for the third or forth time.   

 

Good luck on starting your Mossie.  

 

Troy 

[CraigH]

1 hour ago, Troy Molitor said:

Nicely done Craig.  

 

I must have built this kit at least 6 times in my youth.   I loved every minute spent on it.     I had one hanging in my garage ceiling a while back.   It finally came apart after cleaning it up.   I think I binned it after that.   I was moving at the time and couldn’t be bothered fixing it up for the third or forth time.   

 

Good luck on starting your Mossie.  

 

Troy 

Thanks Troy. Same here, mine were on the bedroom ceiling in my youth and fell apart when I was ordered on pain of death by my mum to clean them. Mossie is already started. Build here: https://forum.largescaleplanes.com/index.php?/topic/80410-airfix-124-mosquito-nfii-the-all-blacks/