Joel! There was just about nothing around in the kit so if not for something else I had to do it out of necessity
!
Kenneth! It's a Spitfire: it ALWAYS deserves to get finished
! When it comes to vacform canopies I try covering as much of it as possible with tape (it helps against accidental scratching even if it isn't much protection from a wildly slipping scalpel...). I always use a new blade and then I LIGHTLY score around the edges, slow and easy, time after time. If you avoid using force it is actually quite simple. Edges can be deburred using a fine file, remember to keep the tape protection in place until you're finished. They are quite flimsy when removed from their sheets so it has been known to happen that they bend away and the file slips into the canopy area while trimming the edges. And being of a quite resilient material, they can't be polished like injected canopies. A lengthy essay on the subject and then I haven't even gotten around to tell you what my worst nightmare with these is: attaching them to the model
! Edges are very thin and since they can't be sanded they have to fit no matter if you like it or not... But trying a bubble canopy (Tempest, Spit, Mustang or T-bolt) sometimes can't hurt if you stick to using the kit's original windscreen
!
Ernest! Thanks and welcome for the ride!
Finally I've arrived at the painting stage, a rather lengthy post this will be!
To start with, I find RAF colours troublesome, there is nothing that I really like the look of "out of the bottle" (sounds a bit elitist but it is true, I'm sorry...). I did a fair bit of testing on the Matchbox Mk IX paint victim (it has been painted and sanded smooth so many times that it nowadays mostly looks like a recognition model: there are no features left at all except where the Matchbox Trench Digger worked overtime one late Tuesday evening around the engine covers
)
The greatest disappointment were the "new" Tamiya colours that I have been intending to try for several years now, XF-81, 82 and 83. They MIGHT look good on the 32-scale Spit they were released for but in 1/72 there was something that bothered me: too dark, too blue, too green and really not to my liking. Bleaching them with white didn't do much good either.
So, back to basics (Google and Gunze paint - two things that always can be trusted!) I found a bunch of different recipes people are using for Dark Green, Ocean Grey and Medium Sea Grey. After some experimenting and leaving it overnight for a renewed look in the morning I finally was quite content with the following mixes using Gunze paints:
DG: 25xH73 10xH303
OG: 10xH335 2xH93 1xH11
MSG: H325
The numbers aren't percentages, they are "parts" - mix 25 drops of H73 and 10 drops of H303 (or multiply both numbers with the same factor if you need more paint (you'll get 50 and 20; 75 and 30; 100 and 40 and so on until you have a whole bucket-full of it
)).
Finally, mostly for fun, I did a digital experiment as well. Using
colorserver.net I generated paint samples for the nearest FS equivalents stated in this one:
...and ended up with this:
The one to the left is the FS matches "out of the box" while the other two are "digitally bleached" by putting a layer of white over them with transparency set to 10% and 20%.
So much for this, now on to the Spitfires!
Spits on sticks. In Ocean Grey (or at least my idea about Ocean grey!).
And now for something further that is new to me. I usually like freehanding camouflage, if for nothing else it is great fun! It lends itself best to rather free-flowing lines, I find RAF camo to be a lot "tighter" and more "squiggly" so I decided to go for masks this time. At Telford Mal told me about this masking film that I was able to get from a supplier here in Sweden. Their minimum order was 3 meters on the roll and it is about the width of a bed sheet, sticking to 1/72 I have masking film to outlast my stash and probably this millennium as well
! It wasn't expensive though (about the price of five rolls of Tamiya tape!) so it's more a question of logistics and storage than money...
I resized and copied the top view from Xtradecal's instruction sheet and slipped it between the adhesive film and the backing and then I took out another thing I brought home from Telford: this absolutely magnificent swivelling craft knife! Cutting the masks was an absolute breeze!
First set of masks in place! They bring with them some of the ink from my printer, that's the reason for the ghost roundel and the panel lines. A stroke of luck really, it makes it even easier to place them!
Horizontal surfaces finished and I've masked the fin for more painting. Originally I thought I should do the flat and easy surfaces of the wings and stabilisers and then try freehanding the curved surfaces but I ended up doing it all with masks.
Fuselage done up for painting. I had to use a tiny bit of tape over the nose. The masking film is less sticky than the tape (tape over large areas is VERY sticky so I like this a lot) but also stiffer so it can't be "bent" the way tape can, it has to be cut to shape. Also, I wouldn't recommend doing any cutting while it is on the model, it is rather thick and the risk to ruin the paint below is very real!
So, the result of last evenings handiwork: two very identical Spitfires. I trust that the markings and weathering will break up the "identical twin" look enough for it not to be too disturbing. And I don't have to put them on the same base plate either
!
Sorry for the novel!
Magnus
