¹⁄35

Spitfire Mk.I

Introduction

Here is my 1/48 Tamiya MK.I Spitfire. It was a very enjoyable kit and allowed me to try out quite a few new techniques. While the kit is great as is, I saw the Cutting Edge “Spitfire I/II Super detailed cockpit” set in the hobby shop and decided to add it to my build. I had read about how nice it was in various features online, and decided it was worth the extra money. The set replaces all of the Tamiya cockpit parts and fits over the details on the lower half of the fuselage sidewalls. One really nice feature of the set is that the sidewall pieces just snap over the existing Tamiya details, so no grinding of original sidewall detail is required. I have included pictures showing the parts before painting so you can see what you get in the Cutting Edge set.
 

Building

The instrument panel can be done be drybrushing the very nice details/needles, etc. on the resin or the details can be sanded away and an acetate panel can be painted and sandwiched between pieces. I decided to go with the sandwiched method; I think the instruments come out looking really sharp that way and for me it is a much easer way of getting nice looking details. However, I did drybrush the raised details on the panel and used drops of future in each of the instruments to represent glass.

After getting the various cockpit parts cleaned up, I painted them with Polly Scale British Interior Gray Green, followed by a clear coat of future and then a wash with Polly Scale Grimy Black. Then the various details were picked out with Tamiya acrylics, a coat of Polly Scale flat was applied, and some chipping was done with a silver colored pencil. At this point in time, after learning a little more, I think I have some incorrect colors in the cockpit, but I beg your forgiveness on that.

One small caution with the cockpit set is that although the sidewall pieces snap-on over the existing sidewall, there is quite a bit of sanding of extra resin that will be necessary. I thought I had it all taken care of about 3 different times, but kept discovering through dry-fitting that I needed to take a little more. My mistakes even lead to a very frustrating moment - After finishing with the cockpit, I glued the fuselage halves together and cleaned up seams, panel lines, etc. (For me, the most hated part of modeling) It appeared that everything fit fine. Then I went to test fit the wings and the fuselage seam cracked open. Apparently I had not gotten rid of all of the resin pour stub that I needed to, so I took it apart and sanded even more away, cursed awhile, and redid the fuselage seam; it finally seemed to do the trick.