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Spitfire Mk VIII


Dpgsbody55

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A little more progress on my Spitfire.  The engine is finished and I've gone back to the plane itself and added a few more parts, starting with the gunsight and canopy.  Here's the gunsight in place.  I used the stock kit part, unembellished, painted silver first except the top so it might look closer to the real thing.  I could have added the wire to the sight, but I decided I'd left that too late in the build to add that detail.  When I eventually do my MkIX, I'll do a better job.

 

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Canopy in place, without the sliding hood.  After the debacle with my P-40, I again used Micro Klear as the glue. :rolleyes:

 

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The engine is now finished.  I added a couple more pipes as well as the hoses between the header tank and engine, made from 1.6mm stock, heated and bent to right angles then cut to size.  Also added the oil tank.

 

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Next up was to add the cowling attachment frames.  First, all the dzus screw holes were drilled out.  I have the Eduard exterior detail set which provides the canvas insulators for these frames, but decided after test fitting against using any etch here.  The frames fit snugly to the engine and the top cowl is a tight fit over the engine/cowling mount frames assembly.  So the frames, where they butt up against the engine were slightly thinned down then painted interior green, with the canvas insulators painted on.  Incidentally, if you've not built one of these but plan to, there are tiny locating pins around the exhaust ports that should engage with the frames.  Make sure they do engage properly of you'll have cowling fitment issues.  Exhausts are not yet fitted but will go on at final fitment, after painting.

 

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Once dry, these were glued into place.  I used the cowlings to get the placement right, then wrapped the lot in tape while it set.  Before doing this, however, I applied some tape to the inside of the cowlings in case they got stuck in place from excess glue.

 

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I think I need to paint the area on the frames around each exhaust in matt black before I go too much further.  Here's a few more shots of the engine and frames, but I haven't yet glued the engine into place.  I've also added brass cannon barrels as I think they're a little better than stock.  The carburettor intake has not been built yet as I plan to display this with the bottom cowl in place.

 

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As you can see, I'm getting close to the point at which I can slosh some paint on this.  My thinking is that I'll glue the engine in place only after it's painted.  I think I can place it with the cowlings on, paint it, then do final assembly.  I think I have only about half a dozen parts to fit before I can paint, not including the undercarriage which I've yet to start.  The propeller is in paint now so I'm hoping that no more than another month's work should see this one completed.  But I'm not busting a gut to finish this so no firm deadlines at the moment.

 

 

Cheers,

Michael

Edited by Dpgsbody55
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My Spitfire VIII is now in paint, though not quite finished.  However, I thought I'd present what I had, which is most of it, and you will now see how it will look when finished.  RAAF Spitfire MkVIII's flew in a variety of colours, not all of them officially sanctioned.  :whistle:  Most of the first batch (251 aircraft, LF MkVIII's, A58-300 to A58-550) arrived in Australia painted in stock RAF South East Asia colours of dark green/dark earth with light gray or light blue undersides, and most were repainted before issue with RAAF foliage green or dark green with the undersides left as standard.  Some also had the earth brown oversprayed in RAAF dark earth, and there were other variations applied at unit level.  My model represents a 79 Squadron aircraft from this first batch.  Many squadrons wanted a camouflage more appropriate to their area of operations, and 79 Squadron overpainted the dark earth with a locally brewed light green, made by blending white in with foliage green.  The high degree of colour differentiation was deliberate, where in other dark green/dark earth schemes, that differentiation was mush less marked.  The final batch (159 aircraft, HF MkVIII's, A58-600 to A58-758) were finished in the standard RAF green/medium sea gray with light sea gray undersides, and on arrival had the green oversprayed with RAAF foliage green.  Officially, any variations were frowned upon, as were squadron markings such as the shark mouths that adorned the aircraft of 457 Squadron, and these became more garish as official rebukes were withheld.  RAAF Air Marshalls took a dim view of this sort of thing, but morale in this theatre was low thanks to MacArthur's edict that only American forces would continue on to Japan in the latter half of 1944, eventually leading to something of a mutiny lead by senior flying officers lead my Group Captain Clive Caldwell among others, as most pilots felt that operations so far behind  the front line were not worth the dangers presented for the results that might be obtained.  So under these circumstances, the rule book wasn't enforced as it would have been otherwise.  Most of what I've read seems to suggest that RAAF High Command in Melbourne were a rather dull, unimaginative lot, with insufficient understanding of then current aerial warfare.

 

I finished adding the last parts to my model after the last update and assembled the engine (again!!) onto the model with the cowlings added.  Some masking tape was added to the inside on the cowlings to prevent overspray around the exhausts and each cowling panel.  Also the cockpit was masked off using the mask supplied in the kit, except the sliding canopy which I made myself from masking tape.  I found this easier than trying to use the kit mask, thanks to the curves of this part.

 

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Next up was a coat of AS12 Tamiya silver, followed by a few spots of liquid mask to help with a little weathering.

 

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I air brushed the undersides first, then masked off the painted fuselage and sprayed the light green, then masked that off, which took some hours, and sprayed the darker green.  I usually waited 24 hours before masking off and applying the next colour.  All colours are Model Master enamels.

 

Undersides:

 

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Light green:

 

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Masks made and applied:

 

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On the real plane, the colour separation between the light and dark greens immediately forward of the tail was very indistinct, and I've tried to replicate this as best as my meagre airbrushing skills will allow.

 

So I'm going to let this dry for another day then apply some white to the tail and wing leading edges, as well as the black wing walk lines, then it's varnish/decals/varnish before final fit up.  Digits and other appendages crossed that it continues to go well.  I've wanted a LSP Spitfire VIII in these colours for decades and so far I'm happy with this build.

 

 

Cheers,

Michael

Edited by Dpgsbody55
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On 2/21/2021 at 1:13 AM, dmthamade said:

Those colors are really an eye opener!! Don't think i've ever seen a spitfire in those colors. Look forward to more progress.

 

Don

 

On 2/21/2021 at 2:45 AM, Kagemusha said:

Those colours do indeed look great, looking forward to seeing the finished article. 

 

On 2/21/2021 at 10:18 AM, Gazzas said:

Nice!

 

 

Thanks guys.  Yes, they're very different to what you might otherwise expect to see.  That's why I chose to build this kit in that paint scheme.  Something different from the usual.  However, I think when finished, the result might be a little toned down. 

 

I've now painted the white recognition markings and added the wing walk stripe an hour or so ago.  Masking the entire model so that I could spray the white areas took a little longer than I expected, but the results are quite good.  To help in the masking, I took off the cowlings and engine, which helped quite a lot.  Next time the engine goes on, it will be permanently.  As this was more of a wash applied in the field, I deliberately painted it quite unevenly, especially around the areas where ground crew would drape themselves over the tail during engine run up.  This is why I took the trouble to paint the camouflage, then over paint with white.  Pictures of the original aircraft show the white areas on the elevators and rudder much more even in appearance, and this could be because of their fabric covering.

 

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That's it for now.  Tomorrow and the next day I'll be glossing over the whole model, then applying the decals, and once they've properly set, a more satin or matt varnish will be sprayed over that.  So around month end I may have another update.

 

 

Cheers,

Michael

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Thank you, gentlemen.  :D  It's still going well, if slowly, but the end is in sight now.  Each day I've been doing a bit more, but these steps are slow because of the need to let each varnish coat dry properly.  I airbrush the bottom half in gloss varnish, let that dry, then do the top half, let that dry and apply the decals in two sessions, so that's about 3 days alone.

 

Here it is after the gloss coat has been fully applied.

 

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Next stage was to apply a satin varnish.  I used Humbrol varnish, which takes a bit longer to dry.  I've also mixed up my own brew from their flat and gloss varnishes to get the degree of shine that I want.  It also has a slightly brownish tinge, which is perfect for this model as it applies an overall weathering of dirt and dust.  These planes were given a bees wax polish to give them extra speed, but in the environment they operated in, the planes soon went dirty and took on a more satin look.

 

Here's the bottom of the model after my Humbrol brew has dried.  It now looks a little dirtier all over, as you can see.  Masking has been removed from the lights on the lower side too.

 

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So here's where the plane is now.  I still have to glue on the exhausts and make the main wheel legs.  The wheels are built and the liquid mask "scratching" removed from the model, as has the canopy masking.  I'm not yet sure if I'm going to display it with the door open or closed, but both doors are painted so I can go either way. 

 

Edit:  Forgot to add this picture when I wrote this late last night. :whistle:

 

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So my next step is to add a little weathering such as oil and cordite stains, attend to a couple of small details, then finish the undercarriage, add the exhausts to the motor, decide on which door, then put the lot together.  A few more days should see this done, then I'm joining the Navy for the next GB next month :lol:.

 

 

Cheers,

Michael

Edited by Dpgsbody55
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