Clear the Bench! It's Kotare Spitfire time.

[thierry laurent]

6 hours ago, Bern said:

They also had rivets on the forward fuselage and main planes, but these were flush, puttied and sanded smooth.

Well, of course they had rivets elsewhere but we were speaking of visible ones. ;-)

[MikeMaben]

 

 

 

 

 

[dutik]

Nice kit, indeed

 

Watch this nice peeled off paint here and there. So I guess you want to foil it too before applying the camo paint...?

 

Duck and cover

- dutik

[KiwiZac]

I'm going to buy one of these next week once my pay comes through. It's truly inevitable. I knew it was coming, but Gazza your photos have really pushed me over the edge.

 

Goddamnit

Edited March 16 by KiwiZac

[spacewolf]

Mine is at the post office !! Picking it up after work !

[Gazzas]

17 hours ago, dutik said:

Nice kit, indeed

 

Watch this nice peeled off paint here and there. So I guess you want to foil it too before applying the camo paint...?

 

Duck and cover

- dutik

 

I think I'll be doing sponge chipping, instead.

[Gazzas]

G'day!

    The would-be Kotare Spitfire builder will have to place 49 decals into the cockpit before they can weather it.  The decals are wonderfully thin and perfectly in register.  They also lay in very well and conform to surfaces easily...  unlike Tamiya or Hasegawa's.  Some are very tiny though, so my hat's off to anyone who can avoid losing any.  I lost two, both of which were the size of an average comma. 

 

I found a tiny mistake in the directions.  It involves the placement of the large compass decal 142.  They accidentally  tell you to put 141 in that location.   Fortunately, I had already placed 141 in the correct position.  

 

These pictures aren't very good.  But I wanted to show the decals before I weather the pit.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Uncarina]

Brilliant Gary!

 

Cheers,  Tom

[monthebiff]

Very nice Gaz!

 

Regards. Andy

[John1]

Great work and this kit looks absolutely amazing.   Bring on the Vc!!!

 

 

[Gazzas]

OK...    back again.  Here are two more reasons why I am digging this build.

 

1.  You don't just get a part called "D6" in the directions.  You get a Dunlop AH...etc... that is also part D6.

 

2.  Clever engineering.  I just love that the firm base for the reflector sight is molded to a solid chunk of model.  I can't tell  you how many times I have glued in a reflector sight only to have it slowly yield to gravity and try to disappear inside the cockpit.

 

The eight .303 Brownings are represented by these little barrel ends and bushings.  After painting them dark gray, I rubbed them with a pencil and buffed them a wee bit.  I had drilled them out before gluing them onto the wing.

 

The landing gear recesses are nice, solid parts.  I needed to do a little trimming to get them to sit flush with the spar.  The little dovetail joints at the white arrows needed a little paring.

 

Wherever you need rigging, the directions will tell you how thick, and sometimes even how long...   just like with these .5mm wide and 6mm long pieces of styrene rod.

 

 

Now we get to the oils which I did today.  For the gray-green areas I used a green darkened with blue and black.  I wanted to create shadow...  So I prefer sympathetic shades.   Were I to use black-brown like on an armor model, it would look dirty.  I can worry about dirt later.  For the silver-painted areas, I used straight black.  Then I used white oil paint to dry brush the raised area and bring them out.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Finally the radiator grill detail.  It's very fine.  Almost too fine to get the paint to stay in.

Happy modelling!

[Greif8]

Looks like a very well thought out build process Gary.  The cockpit sub-assemblies you have completed look great!  It sounds like the instructions are both well organized and designed, as well as providing a bit of technical knowledge; very cool indeed.

 

Ernest  

[geedubelyer]

You're doing a fine job Gazzas. The wash and highlights are really bringing the cockpit to life. 

 

Now, my next statements may be contentious but I have to say them. I can't help feeling that some of the details don't have the finesse that I was expecting.

Nothing to do with what you're achieving Gazzas but some of the parts look a bit (and this word has recently been used to describe the Airfix Spitfire) "clunky"

On my monitor the kit just doesn't appear to have the fidelity of a Tamiya offering.

 

Am I wrong?

 

Of course things may change when I get the kit in my hands and see everything first hand. 

 

I shall continue to follow your progress with interest Gazzas. Keep at it.

 

Cheers,

Guy

[Gazzas]

2 minutes ago, geedubelyer said:

You're doing a fine job Gazzas. The wash and highlights are really bringing the cockpit to life. 

 

Now, my next statements may be contentious but I have to say them. I can't help feeling that some of the details don't have the finesse that I was expecting.

Nothing to do with what you're achieving Gazzas but some of the parts look a bit (and this word has recently been used to describe the Airfix Spitfire) "clunky"

On my monitor the kit just doesn't appear to have the fidelity of a Tamiya offering.

 

Am I wrong?

 

Of course things may change when I get the kit in my hands and see everything first hand. 

 

I shall continue to follow your progress with interest Gazzas. Keep at it.

 

Cheers,

Guy

 

Thank you.

As I haven't ever touched the Tamiya Spitfire, I can't compare.  There are a lever or three that I might have replaced with wire or a piece of photo etch.   Keeping this OOB, so I'm not looking to rebuild anything.

 

You are the first person to make the comment, though. 

[Talon]

Looking good - based on the colours and options chosen in the cockpit, it looks like you've picked Dirty Dick for the subject. Not really a surprise given you're in Australia

Edited March 19 by Talon