discussion Andy's 1/48 Spitfire Mk1a

[Jim R]

Great choice Andy. Cockpit is looking excellent. These Eduard kits are mostly superb.
CA is strange stuff. Often refuses to stick what you want it to, but get some on your finger and it's like chewing gum on the cat!

 

[Ian M]

That cockpit looks well nice!
Before I forget copper wire if pulled from electric appliances and circuits are often coated with a very fine waxy substance. Try burning heating a bit of the wire, or cleaning in acetone...

 

[Andy T]

…. I’ve gone over to using formula 560 canopy glue for these bits with some success if you are interested.

Thanks Tim. I have used 560 in the past for PE but I can't imagine how long I'd have needed to clamp the belts in place until it dried

That cockpit looks well nice!
Before I forget copper wire if pulled from electric appliances and circuits are often coated with a very fine waxy substance. Try burning heating a bit of the wire, or cleaning in acetone...

Thanks Ian. I ended up bending some styrene rod for the tanks, stuck straight away!

 

[HAWKERHUNTER]

Looking good Andy. The detail in that cockpit is better than my 1/32 Revell. Shame about the PE fitting issue, I have the same nightmare to look forward to tomorrow on the bench. Think I might go straight for epoxy in light of the CA issues.

 

[Andy T]

Thanks, it's quite an impressive kit so I'm trying hard not to stuff it up

I got the fuselage closed up, using Tamiya thick glue. After leaving it overnight I borrowed a trick from work and wiped the seam with an AK paint pen



After sanding, any black left over indicated a low spot. There were only a couple of minor ones, which got a dab of filler.

I've lost a few of the rivet lines with sanding but managed to keep the panel lines intact, using a tip Tim Marlow gave me once - scribing them deeper before sanding the seam.



I've also built up the landing gear bays. Fiddly stuff as they comprise 13 parts, but I guess that's the only way they could mould them with all of the detail they contain.



The gun barrels were added too. I not sure these will ever be seen, but there they are. The wing was blutacked to an engineering block to stop it moving around while adding all of these fiddly bits

 

[HAWKERHUNTER]

Great work Andy. That idea for scribing the panel lines before sanding is a corker. I will be taking that one on board for future builds.

 

[Tim Marlow]

Looking very good Andy. Glad the scribing trick came in handy, must be years since I posted that one . An additional wrinkle I’ve found is that after you apply filler go around any panel lines that have been obscured while the filler is still soft. You don’t need to clean it all out, but it makes the job of clearing panel lines of filler post application far easier.

 

[Andy T]

Looking very good Andy. Glad the scribing trick came in handy, must be years since I posted that one .

Haha, yes. I credited you then began to doubt myself.
I've had a lot of sleeps and (prescription) drugs since then so it could have been anybody
I'm glad I went with my gut.

 

[Andy T]

Well, it's looking like a spitfire now but I must have messed up somewhere as the gap at the wing root is horrendous. I could drive a bus through it







Definitely ain't no Tamiya

 

[flyjoe180]

Not encountered a Spitfire kit yet where the wings sit flush first go against the fuselage. Looking good Andy

 

[HAWKERHUNTER]

I have a very similar problem to sort out on mine Andy.

 

[Andy T]

Well the build is finished, save for a few knocky-off bits.



I'm just waiting for the canopy glue then I can mask, prime, and get on to the fun stuff.

 

[Andy T]

I didn't really think this through. I don't want to spam / bore you all with lots of very similar pictures so I'll post all of the painting shots here if you don't mind, and divert the other topics this way.

After primer I added the Sky fuselage band to all three, and also the spinners. A sand colour on the prop tips helped the yellow to cover in one coat, and the undersides were pre shaded a bit.



Then I added the medium sea grey in light, transparent coats until I was happy.



Thanks for looking in

 

[Steven000]

Nice progress Andy, that's a lot of medium sea grey in one picture have fun

 

[yak face]

Nice work andy , proper production line !

 

[HAWKERHUNTER]

Really coming on now Andy. Great job.

 

[papa 695]

Fantastic work so far Andy