discussion Jakko’s Revell Spad XIII C-1

[Guest]

In town today, I thought I’d pick up a kit for this one too:

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A Revell Spad XIII that comes with all of two pots of paint, a brush I won’t be able to put down (because setting it in a jar like I normally would, will ruin one end ) and hopefully a usable pot of glue. Interestingly, the box art shows at least four colours on the plane, so I’m kind of wondering how to do that with just two

 

[papa 695]

Nice one Jakko

 

[Jim R]

Hi Jakko
A challenge indeed. Love that brush - each end for a different colour!! If that is Contacta glue then it isn't too bad. Does it suggest mixing the paints to make enough colours.
Jim

 

[Dave Ward]

Jakko,
ouch - 2 paints! - doesn't give you much wiggle room! Scalemates dates this mould to 1963 - must be the oldest in the GB - I'll follow this with interest!
Dave

 

[Tim Marlow]

I made this when I was about twelve.....it was really robust.....even then the moulds were over ten years old......

 

[Guest]

A challenge indeed. Love that brush - each end for a different colour!!

All the Revell starter kits they had, had that brush. I guess it saves on providing two like Airfix does

If that is Contacta glue then it isn't too bad.

I was actually hoping for a kit with a tube of glue …

Does it suggest mixing the paints to make enough colours.

I’ll let you know when I’ve opened it …

about a minute later

Right, I’ve now opened it, and I think I have a problem finishing this as per instructions The painting guide lists ten colours, of which seven are needed for the outside alone. The only ones provided in the kit are two of the three main colours for the camouflage. It’s supposed to be large areas of beige (Revell 89), dark green (Revell 68), dark earth (Revell 82) plus smaller areas of anthracite grey (Revell 9), but the pots provided with the kit are only Nos. 68 and 82. This is going to be great fun

Also fun is that the red end of the brush has been squashed a bit in the packaging, while the brush on the blue end seems to have been impregnated with glue … hopefully that’ll just wash out, but I’m not holding my breath just yet.

Scalemates dates this mould to 1963 - must be the oldest in the GB

The mouldings don’t look half bad for a kit of that age. Hardly any flash, for one.

I made this when I was about twelve.....it was really robust.....even then the moulds were over ten years old......

I remember I built two Revell biplanes around that same age, but I’m a bit younger than you so it must have been 30–35 years ago They were made in a kind of olive drab plastic (this kit has tan) and when I saw this one in the shop, I decided to go for it mainly for that reason.

 

[stillp]

Does it suggest mixing the paints to make enough colours.

Hard to mix sand, or black, from dark earth and dark green!
Pete

 

[Guest]

I was thinking much the same when I looked at the box art and the paint provided while I was still in the shop. But I’ll make it work somehow!

In fact, I already have a plan that might just work …

 

[Tim Marlow]

You could always use the kit plastic as the tan colour :upside:

 

[Guest]

You could always use the kit plastic as the tan colour :upside:

Ooh! Good one, I hadn’t even thought of that yet. I have a feeling I might just get the camouflage to four colours after all

 

[spanner570]

Any rigging stuff with it? Be a blow if you have to build it without the rigging as this is the most interesting and difficult part.....

 

[Guest]

The instructions say to use black thread (not included).

 

[stillp]

I'd say that counts as a common household item.
Pete

 

[Jambo]

That's a bold choice with the paints!

I'm not sure what revel are playing at with the included paints, I think I saw an HMS Titanic kit without the black when I was looking...

Good luck!

 

[Guest]

I'd say that counts as a common household item.

I couldn’t find anything in the chat thread that allows those, so I’ll not be adding it

That's a bold choice with the paints!

I didn’t actually look at those much before deciding on this particular kit …

I'm not sure what revel are playing at with the included paints, I think I saw an HMS Titanic kit without the black when I was looking...

I think the idea is that they give you some of the colours, and you buy the rest separately. On the back of the packaging there’s a bit at the top right where it says that paint and tools are “Additionally available”. It would have been better if they’d listed the required paints somewhere on the outside, but it looks to me like the backing card is the same for all these sets, only the vacuum-formed plastic and the actual kit and paints included differ.

 

[Guest]

And so it begins …

Sprue shots:

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And the tools you get with the kit:

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The brush is … interesting:

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The red side looks like it’ll be hard to paint with, but the blue side feels like it will be hard to paint with. The blue side definitely much harder bristles than the red, and like I said before, they seem to be glued together.

The only other tool I’ll use will be this knife:

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Because when I used to build kits much like this one, I used to use a round scalpel. These days I use an X-acto-like knife, usually No. 11 (triangular) but for this, to get that retro feel, I’ll stick to this round blade instead.

Instructions fit onto a single page:

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Of course, there a one-page history, two pages of safety warnings and a page with paint colours before that, but the actual build fits onto one side of A4 paper. After that, and last, is the paint guide:

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Oh, and the decals:

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For some reason the red centres of the roundels are separate, but the red parts of the rudder decals aren’t. Oh well.

I began by painting the fuselage interior and pilot:

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The insides are supposed to be a 3:1 mix of Revell 45 light olive plus 48 sea green, so the closest I have is the dark green. The pilot and cockpit coaming are to be painted dark earth, so I did; though it’s hard to see in this photo, I left the pilot’s face unpainted, because that’s a better approximation of flesh than the brown or green will be.

The brush isn’t half bad, actually. I used the red end, and though it’s softer than I’d like, it got its act together quite quickly once I put some paint on it:

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And after cleaning it out with some water, it still did. I also cleaned the blue end, and though it remains quite stiff (more than I’d like, really) it should be usable now.

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My advice: if you’ve got (to use) a brush like this, wash both ends out first before actually using it.

 

[Steven000]

Looking at the painting instructions I did some extensive calculation and I figured out you're missing about ... 5 colors :thinking::smiling5:

Goodluck and cheers,
Steven

 

[Guest]

I got on with the build right away. This is step 1 complete:

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The smell of Contacta brought me back to about 30 years ago, when my best friend at the time used to always use it for his models. I was never really a fan of that needle applicator, and though it works fairly well, I don’t think I’ll be emptying this bottle on my future models. I find a brush much handier. Maybe I could pour the contents of this bottle into my normal cement, though? It certainly seems thin enough to brush on.

Then on to step 3:

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Step 5:

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… and we’re done:

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That took about 40 minutes. If I hadn’t bothered to clean up mould lines or paint the interior, I suppose I could have made it fit the Blackadder episode about the RFC

The propeller turns, but it’s very heavy. Maybe I should have tried cleaning up the hole its axle goes through, but too late for that now.

 

[Jim R]

Hi Jakko
Fastest build you have done since childhood. Actually doesn't look bad.
Jim

 

[Guest]

Quite possibly my fastest build in ages, yes To be fair, it only has 28 parts, so not like this is a major assembly job. Let’s see if I can paint it tonight … (No guarantees, chances are I’ll be doing something else instead.)