Hoss FL Posted January 14 Share Posted January 14 Greetings fellow modelers: This was one of the most enjoyable projects I've done. The Kotare Spitfire Mk.Ia "Brian Lane" kit is fantastic. The Kotare team certainly put a lot of effort into creating a wonderful build experience for the modeler. And they pulled it off. In this brief, ready-for-inspection summary I'll share my build overview, my thoughts on the kit and some recommendations for future kit builders as I go through the photos. Here's a link to the build: Ok, here's my rendition of QV-K P9386 from September 1940. The quality of the molding, engineering, decals, and thoroughness and thoughtfulness of the 24-page instruction book really made this project a pleasure. I built the kit completely out of the box with the exception of Eduard masks for the canopy. Kotare's design philosophy made for a superb assembly process. Each main engine panel was molded as an individual part -- no seam lines or glue clean up. The fuselage aft section parts all intersect at panel line joins. The wing fairings are each single molded parts that fit perfectly. It's designed so that one can assemble the entire plane almost without a single seam line that intersects a rivet line or panel line. What a pleasure. The only area where this occurs is underneath the aft section of the fuselage -- conveniently away from normal viewing. I can't think of a single situation where the fit was not PERFECT. For example, there is only one way to install the landing gear struts. Full stop. There's no play, no wiggle, no uncertainty. One of the best designs I've seen. The horizontal stabilizers are one piece and there's only one way to install it for a nice, tight fit in perfect alignment. The prop assembly installs by literally fitting a square peg in a round hole for a perfect fit. Another nice treat is that the rudder and elevators are positioned off-center and match the positions of the control stick and rudder pedals in the cockpit. I haven't seen that before. That's just one of the many nice details and surprises discovered as one works through the build. Even the trim tabs are offset slightly. As for painting, the instructions provide extremely helpful guides for painting the cockpit as well as the exterior. For the cockpit, painting call outs are provided during the build steps and there are also summary diagrams with multiple views in full color. For the exterior, four full color views are provided for the aircraft with color call outs and key points. I used Mr. Color lacquers for the main camo colors (C361 for Dark Green and C369 for Dark Earth) and MRP Marking Yellow for the spinner. I mixed by own version of Sky Blue for the underside using Mr Color White, RLM 76 and Sky Blue. Since I wanted to emphasize color variation across the different subassemblies as the instructions pointed out, I painted some of the panels a little darker or lighter or a slightly different shade of green or brown. For example the fabric covered sections are a little more faded than the metal sections. I used the kit decals by Cartograf, which were fabulous -- perfect color, perfect register, nice and thin, no excess carrier film. All good. The main challenge with the decals was getting them to settle over the raised rivet areas on the aft part of the fuselage. It took several days of bubble popping and decal solution application to get them to finally behave around the rivets but they got there. I planned out the weathering process at the start of the project. My goal was to reflect what I saw in the reference photos -- and there are multiple clear photos of P9386 as well as several other Spitfires that are very helpful. One of the photos of a real spitfire elevator section has a humorous caption highlighting that there's no evidence of preshading on the fabric area. After priming with Mr Finishing Surfacer 1500, I painted the wing roots MC201 Super Fine Silver, then applied AK worn effects fluid over the silver areas. I pre-shaded the panel lines in black and then applied heavy marbling using spatter templates and random airbrush patterns to break up the solid panel colors. After the main camo painting, I dabbed the wing root areas with a wet brush to get the chipping effect I was after. Next was a gloss coat to seal in the chipping and prep for decals. After the decals and flat coat, I augmented the chipped wing roots with a sharp silver Prismacolor pencil to add some scratches and make some of the chipped areas "less round" and more random looking. The exhausts each are molded in top and bottom halves. There's a nice close up photo in the instructions showing the weld seams that can be replicated when you glue the exhausts together and let some glue squeeze out of the seams. I needed to add a little material to the tips of the exhausts to get the proper shape and I used my motor tool to drill out the exhaust interiors. I used reference photos for guidance on painting the exhausts. I started with gloss black and then applied a 1:1 mix of Mr Color Metallic Black and Super Stainless. After the decals were applied on the lower side of the manifolds, I used Tamiya acrylics to achieve the exhaust gas/heat color pattern. Black, purple, brown, orange, and deck tan were used. The cockpit detail that comes with the kit is astounding in my view. The instrument panel dials all have individual decals and there are placards all over the place - sidewalls, compass, gunsight, etc. Also, in the photo above, the molded seatbelt harness is visible, which I think looks pretty good. The figure of Brian Lane was a nice bonus and here's my attempt at painting him. There's a nice painting guide in the instructions. Overall Summary of the kit: Highlights Clear, detailed, comprehensive instructions. I may keep the book as a reference for other builds. Excellent. Design and fit for easy assembly and minimal clean up. Decals by Cartograf - cockpit decals and placards as well as the main markings and stencils Brian Lane figure - Colorful RAF pilot uniforms are great subjects. Aircraft interior and exterior color profiles in the instructions Surface detail - stressed skin effect around some fasteners, rivets, panel fasteners, hinges -- all good. Fine and consistent panel lines Landing gear design - "weighted" wheels with flat spots and slight bulges. Things to look out for (for future builders) My copy had some very slight molding sink marks on the tops of the wings above the wheel wells. Easy clean up. The exhaust manifold tips needed some extra filler material (CA glue). Again, easy clean up. The molded seatbelt harness is fairly thick in the section between the seat top and the armor plate slot. I thinned the seatbelt quite a bit by scraping underneath and cleaning up. Another option is an aftermarket seatbelt as the kit provides a seat without the molded seatbelt. Some of the molded detail needed a little sprucing up. Nothing major. Thanks for looking. Needless to say, I highly recommend this kit. Comments and critiques are more than welcome. - Jim Jenson Iain, nmayhew, TimW and 26 others 28 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Iain Posted January 14 Share Posted January 14 Beautiful build Jim - really like that! Iain geedubelyer, Hoss FL and Martinnfb 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
geedubelyer Posted January 14 Share Posted January 14 Truly magnificent. I would love to see monochrome versions of those natural light photos because I suspect they would look real. The exhausts are sublime. Superb observation of real colouring. I admire your attention to detail and accuracy on the exhausts. Painting them the way they actually look. Brilliant. The finish is beautiful. Your painting and decalling is peerless. All in all this is an absolute pleasure to see. Thank you for taking the time to share your photos with us. Cheers. Guy Hoss FL, cmayer and Martinnfb 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crobinsonh Posted January 14 Share Posted January 14 Fantastic build. It is a lovely model and a great start for a new company. Now bring on that DH Hornet. Derek B, Martinnfb, Hoss FL and 1 other 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shoggz Posted January 14 Share Posted January 14 That’s an exemplary build, and one I’ll be referring back to when I tackle my next Kotare Spitfire. Your weathering is beautifully done - those exhausts are sublime - just wish I could do them like that. Nicely written RFI too. Martinnfb, Hoss FL and geedubelyer 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Palm-tree Posted January 14 Share Posted January 14 Beautiful work, that is one of the best builds I have seen. Excellente. Hoss FL, geedubelyer and Martinnfb 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christa Posted January 14 Share Posted January 14 That one is a keeper Jim. Beautiful images, helpful text, thank you. geedubelyer, Martinnfb, Derek B and 1 other 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chuck540z3 Posted January 14 Share Posted January 14 Hoss FL builds always show a very high level of assembly, painting, weathering and just plain great modeling, and this Spit is no exception. Just Beautiful! Cheers, Chuck Martinnfb, Hoss FL and geedubelyer 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hworth18 Posted January 14 Share Posted January 14 Beautiful build! The first pics looked like a real Spitfire in a field. That's impressive. Martinnfb, Hoss FL and geedubelyer 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
monthebiff Posted January 14 Share Posted January 14 Very nice finish, lovely looking Spit! Regards. Andy Hoss FL and Martinnfb 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IainM Posted January 14 Share Posted January 14 What a magnificent looking build! You've done an excellent job, nice write-up! Well done Hoss FL and Martinnfb 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Out2gtcha Posted January 15 Share Posted January 15 Beautiful! Hoss FL and Martinnfb 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dpgsbody55 Posted January 15 Share Posted January 15 Excellent work. It's beautifully finished and appropriately weathered too. Love the exhausts as well. Cheers, Michael Martinnfb and Hoss FL 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeC Posted January 15 Share Posted January 15 That's really lovely. Well done. Hoss FL and Martinnfb 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony T Posted January 15 Share Posted January 15 Stunning Spit. Such attention to a perfect finish. Tony Martinnfb and Hoss FL 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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