Tamiya 1/32 Spitfire Mk XVIe

[Guest]

A quick update.  I am working on the detail paiting and weathering of the cockpit sub-assemblies and I will post some pics in a day or two.


For now I just want to illustrate the main big weakeness of Tamiya decals.


This


[ATTACH]264429.IPB[/ATTACH]


Its the compass, I barely touched it and it just splintered.  These truly are appalling, nearly as bad a Trumpeter decal.  This is why I buy aftermarket for Tamiya models but my aftermarket set does not have a compass decal.  Clearly 1/32 kits have some quite large decals and splintering is a bigger problem with these.  Generally you can manage the small ones, but not that compass....  I have painted the compass face VMA 'aged white' and I will make some compass like marks and will gloss the surface.

Now you have me very worried about applying decals on my Tamiya F-16

[BarryW]

Now you have me very worried about applying decals on my Tamiya F-16

I would just get an aftermarket set Stefan, or a set of masks.   You may even be able to find a better scheme to depict....


A quick search produced lots of results including this one.  I am sure there are plenty available in the US of A as well...

https://www.hannants.co.uk/product/ELT48001

[Ian M]

That is looking very nice indeed Barry. 

[colin m]

Looking great Barry. Even though I have a 'new kit embargo' on at present, well, I'm a bit tempted.

[Guest]

For now I just want to illustrate the main big weakeness of Tamiya decals.

They're pretty shocking aren't they, surpising, considering how good the rest of their stuff is!

[BarryW]

I have been working on the wing sub-assemblies...


Now I am aware that some modellers love a challenge, they love nothing more than taking an inaccurate poorly fitting 'old tool' kit and knocking it into shape, they love a fight with plenty of cursing involved.


Well, if you are one of those, then this Tamiya 1/32 scale Spitfire is definately not for you.


This, well, it just fits, it works, far from fighting you it wants to go together, it wants to be built and built well....  No stress, no swearing, just the sheer joy of a great fitting kit with lots and lots of thoughtful touches designed to facilitiate the build.


Look at these:





OK - you do have to know your left and right I suppose but there is no mixing up these parts.


The instructions are so thoughtful....  A Spitty of course needs to be built with its flaps up unless you are depicting an aircraft during maintenance.








The surgery is simple enough, one done, one left to do...  just a swipe or two of the sanding stick to finish the first piece.


Then there are the wing tips - as transparent parts with mask supplied for the light itself.  They have nice inserts to help fix them to the wing.  I will paint the inside of the parts the clear green or red as appropriate, then apply the mask before cementing them into place on the wing.





Now just look at these pics.  The wing is just dry fitted into place as I am not ready to cement it yet but with most kits the wing/fuselage join is where you get gaps or fit issues but not with this Tammy...








Here is the wing with flaps etc in place.





I have a few more sub-assemblies to build for the wing before some painting and then attaching the wing to the fuselage.

[Guest]

Life is great when they go together well. Saves a lot of time for building rather than playing about with filler and fliing this and that to fit.


The instructions Barry also seem to be very clear and precise.


Very precise progress as ever.


Laurie

[Guest]

I've never built nor seen a 1/32 scale kit. About how big are they?

[BarryW]

A Spitfire, for example, has a wingspan of a little over 1' 5"


I will get a picture over the weekend with something next to it to give it some 'scale'.

[Ian M]

I've never built nor seen a 1/32 scale kit. About how big are they?

That kind of depends on the subject. A Spitfire will be around 18inch across the wings. A Lancaster about halv a mile.... lol

[yak face]

Beautiful work barry , ive only just caught up with this one having been away for a week. Really love your build log , its something i usually try and do , i think the step by step style is great for showing other members how easily ( or otherwise!) the kit goes together and shows how you solved any problems or potential pitfalls along the way. Keep the updates coming cheers tony

[BarryW]

I have been making a fair amoiunt of progress cleaning up join seams on the fuselage and wings and re-scribing where necessary.  I have also been making up sub-assemblies, including the superb Merlin engine.  This really is a kit in its own right and goes together perfectly.  Some of the pipework was a bit complex but a bit of patience was all it needed.  There are more parts to the engine and its mount alone than there are in most of the Spitfire kits out there!!!


it does seem a pity not to paint and weather it but I do have 7 more Merlins in my stash to build and I will want some variation in a future build to do a fully painted, weathered and displayed Merlin, so this one will be sealed into the aircraft as previously explained.  For that reason I have left off the p.e. and magnets that enable the panels to be removed, something else for a future build.


Some pics.


First some of the main sub-assemblies that I have finished ready to paint.  I could have left the tyres off to paint the centres first but decided that they will be easy enough to do in-situ after a test fit.  Pity they use rubber tyres, one of the less impressive elements of this superb kit.  I have aftermarket for one of my later Spitty builds.





The engine, lots of parts and not finished yet....





The cradle.  It should be easy to paint the cradle and engine seperately in a future build.





The engine fits snugly in the cradle and all the pipework falls exactly into the right position.  The engine is fixed with a screw which pulls it into just the right position as it is tightened.





A view of the rear of the firewall and the screw..





The firewall dry fitted to the fuselage. Perfect!





A few more parts added....





All very nicely fitted....


There are still some more parts for the engine build to get on with....  I will finish this off and then pull together some of the sub-assemblies and small parts ready for painting.

[colin m]

When I built the Mk 9, I thought then that the engine could be a kit by itself. It will be nice to see what you do with this. Opps, I didn't read that bit. Yes cover it up, it will only spoil the flowing lines of the Spitfire with engine panels off.

[BarryW]

The engine block construction is now finished.





I have also removed and cleaned up the panels (not that there was much clean up...)  I did need a spot of Mr Surfacer 500 on the oil cooler join and I will sand that down tonight.





I have attached the wings to fuselage and, what can I say, there is just one word to describe the fit, perfect....  They slotted into place and I just ran a brush of Mr S Cement along the join.  The shiny bit on the join is the cement, not filler - no filler at all was needed for this.








The Mr S Cement is better than Tamiya Extra Thin, works the same but it grips quicker and penetrates further into the joins by capillary action. Having used both I now stick to Mr Cement S and the thicker Mr Cement De Lux.  The latter has its uses when you need a longer drying time or cannot use capillary action for some reason.


I have now complete the main construction stage and have just a few parts to remove from the sprues to clean up and then prepare for painting.  I will next be bringing smaller parts together onto the airframe while painting where I need to at this stage such as inside the radiators etc.

[BarryW]

Got on with the last of the sub-assemblies:


The prop..





Some fillets added to the fuse/wing join





Those need a bit of a clean up - well more of a wipe with a sanding stick really.


the main and trickiest job tonight will be this:





You might be able to see a fine seam running down the top of the transparency.  I need to lightly scrape that off and then sand it with various grades of sanding and polishing sponges.  I will finish it off with a dip in this (first use of this product)





Here is a shot of all the various small parts and sub-assemblies.





i will next be gradually pulling all these together painting where needed as I go.  Some dangly bits will be left until all the paintwork and weathering is finished of course.