So, this is my first real post to Aeroscale. I've been a silent watcher for some time, but something has changed. Actually two things happened that brought me here. First Eduard released their excellent Spitfire model and then Mal Mayfield produced masks for it.

So here goes, the build until today...
First a collection of photos showing different stages of completion. If you look closely you'll see that there are two Spitfires there. The one I'll show you is the one that is still to be painted in the middle picture in the bottom row.


That Spitfire has got the Eduard resin cockpit installed. It looked like this before it ended up inside the model.


Both the model and the cockpit are fantastic. One slightly annoying thing with the cockpit was that the length of the floor didn't match the length of the sidewalls. This caused some fit issues when it was inserted into the fuselage, but I think they were managable.

More pictures soon.
/Fredrik

I have the Royal Class boxing of this. Was wondering what masks you got from Mal. He helped me with making some unique masks on another project. I figure since I got this kit(s) in my stash, I might want to order 2 sets. Hey Mal you watching...

Cheers

Yes Robbie, I'm watching closely. I did a promotion for this kit but almost anything is possible

Hi Robbie!

Mal made masks of two (as far as I know) of the decal offerings in the Eduard box, so it's not really something exclusive and different, but they are masks of course.

The marking options I have are:
Supermarine Spitfire Mk IX, LO-D, MJ586 - Pierre Clostermann

Supermarine Spitfire Mk IX, WX-D, MH712 - Henryk Dygala

The first one has got all the expected masks, plus (Clostermann's?) Lion shield. The other one has got all the expected masks, plus a Polish checkerboard and some noseart. Both can be seen in Eduards instructions for the kit.

/Fred

I hope I can make the masks justice. So far I've only done one - an easy one - and it and I both performed flawlessly. Based on what I've seen of others using tha masks and the masks themselves, any mistakes with them are probably going to be mine.

/Fred

So, colour has been applied to both Spitfires and actually more than what shows in the picture. The one to the right is painted using Tamiya colours and the one to the left got Gunze colours. As you can see Tamiya and Gunze have made quite different interpretations of the topside grey colour. Personally I prefer Gunze's, but what do you say? Is one of them more correct?

Hi Fredrik! Stunning work so far! From the pictures I know and from the impression of a "real" Spit, that I got at the museum in Hannover, I'ld tend to Tamiya, because there the grey also have a blueish touch, like your bird on the right. Cheers, Stefan!

I guess I need to go thru the marking options and see which 2 I would want to do. I will most likely pick ones in the RCAF just because I was born in Canada (back when the red ensign flew)

Cheers

Fredrik, 1st and foremost, I'm glad that you finally took the "big" step, and became a active Aeroscale contributor. It's way more fun, and it's what we're all about here.

Will be following your duel build, as I have the Eduard Spitfire IX kit, but not the resin interior. After seeing your build of the interior, it's a must have.

I know little to nothing about British colors, but from what I've read here as Stefan said, the top side Gray had a bluish cast to it. So the Tamiya color is closer. Will you be repainting the 2nd Spitfire?

Looking forward to your use of Mal's masks.

Joel

I think that sounds as a very good reason for doing a certain kind of Spitfire, Robbie. It’s probably a sound selection method to do things that interest you in one way or another. Good luck choosing.




Thank you so much, Stefan; both for your praise and the colour info. I’ve got an enamel sign with a Spitfire V over my work desk, it has got almost the exact same bluish grey as the Tamyia colour. That sign is probably not the best of sources though…





Thank you, Joel! It really is a bit of a big step to start displaying your work on any forum. I always get very self-conscious about my work in these situations. That is probably a good thing because it tends to make me do that little extra thing and improve.

I haven’t got an enormous amount of resin experience, but the Eduard cockpit is something else completely. Utterly outstanding! The detailing is absolutely fantastic and despite the very delicate and thin nature of some parts, they aren’t fragile. You still have to take it easy, but I’ve dealt with much worse.

Thank you for corroborating Stefan’s view on the colours. On the repainting issue… no, I won’t repaint. You might have guessed it – I have built further than I have shown here to date. So I’ve already painted the green and the invasion stripes (or what they might be called a while after the invasion) and the fuselage band and the yellow on the leading edges on the wings… so I think that there might have been something wrong with this particular batch of topside grey, don’t you?

Mask usage is not far away. I have been testing reds and blues as preparation for painting the roundels; might have it right now.

Thanks for reading!
/Fred

Oh ho robbie! Why didn't you mention your Northern birth sooner?Jess, and Scrodes and all the other Canadian Super Friends will send you a decoder ring!


Fredrik: I Second (third) on the tamiya grey looking closer. Very nice build too, you've got a beautiful texture. What do you thin tamiya with and at what pressure do you spray?

Yes these are the 2 options that I did for the promotion but, as I produce masks to order then anything is possible. KitMaker members get 20% off

Hi Fredrick, your Spitfires are both looking good and it is always interesting for me to see how anyone gets on using my masks. Once the customer has them I can do no more but hope that they have read and understand the instructions. I have no control over their application of paint but, so far, there have been no major disasters that I am aware of; do no pressure at all then

Thanks. I might need the ring. Pretty much been completely Americanized. Been decades since I ended a sentence with eh Also what ever little French I learned has been replaced with whatever little Spanish I picked up here in the desert Southwest.
I want to follow this just post so I can see how Mal's masks are used. I had him do a set of masks for me on another project (Lady be Good B-24). If it does not look to overwhelming, I might order a pair for my Royal Class Spits.

Cheers

Thank you Richard! I guess, on the issue of colours, that I from now on will use Tamiya for the grey. On the issue of spraying it; I think I thinned the grey with denatured alcohol, but I found that to be scratch prone so the green is instead thinned using Gunze’s Mr Thinner and apparently Tamiya has got an equivalent to that. The thinner makes the paint flow a little better and I mix it roughly 4:3 and spray it at a pressure of 1-2 bars, which is, I think, 15 to 30 psi. The pressure setting depends on the work, but for large areas let’s say about 20 or 25 psi.




Hi Mal! Thank you! I hope you know that you’ve done an excellent job with all the parts of your product, masks as well as instructions. It feels good to know that there is a possible first here and no pressure. Good!




OK, Robbie! The next steps in showing the non-overwhelmingness (it is definitely a word) of using Mal’s miracles.

More paint has been added. Camouflage is done, so are the invasion stripes, the fuselage band and the yellow leading edges. I might repaint the leading edges with a richer yellow colour.






I really don’t like painting stripes on the fuselage, but this time they at least came out they way I wanted them – straight. You can see that I missed a little in the masking. There is a white line that shouldn’t be there in the photo above. Will fix that later.

For those that haven’t seen the masks before. These are the fuselage code letters. I’ve added a pencil line to assist me in placing them. The line corresponds to a panel line on the model. Mal suggests using a permanent marker for lines like these, and I will do that from now on. Pencil lines are too easy to cover up completely when spraying.



The first mask is on! Yippie!
You see that I’ve weeded out the M and the J, but that the numbers still have their elements left in place. I think there might be a good reason to leave the masks as complete as possible until they are on the model. My theory is that it should make them easier to handle. We’ll see if that assumption holds.


The mask is completely weeded and after adding a bit of additional tape to prevent overspray, the mask was sprayed with Gunze Tire [sic] Black.


And here you can see the result – success!


One down and a few more to go. Obviously this was an easy mask as it had fairly small openings in it and it was only one colour that was to go on. I have now caught up with my self so you have seen as much as I have done. The next step is to put some of the other masks on and spray some white. That might be tomorrow as I’m really keen on seeing how this turns out.

Good night!
/Fred

Fredrik please keep contributing. Your photos and explanations are very good. I Love seeing models with this kind of surgical airbrushing come together.

Fredrik,
Congrats on your 1st successful mask procedure. It came out perfect. Will be following along as you go through the entire process.
Joel

First-rate, Fred- cheers! It's so rewarding when you pull that mask off and see the painted marking, isn't it?

You said it Chuck, Imagine what I thought the first time that I used them I really didn't expect such wonderful results the very first time; back then though I wouldn't have been able to cut these serials in 1/48 scale

Nice job Fredrik, starting with the serials is always a good thing, it gives you the confidence to try the other more complicated masks. The hardest part really is the positioning, then you just have to take your time weeding and replacing elements. I'm sending positive thought waves

Richard, Joel, Chuck and Mal - thank you all!

I will keep posting and comments like yours make posting more fun. I've started to make good for the time when I only was watching, but there are a lot of posts so I'll add comments over time instead of going back to older posts. But don't forget to be critically constructive in your comments to my posts, it's one way to help me improve.

Rewarding feels like an understatement, Chuck. I've seen your builds and like Mal wrote, even if I had some expectations I never thought I would get such a good result with the first try. So far I would say that the masks are easier to use than the decals, hopefully I won't have to regret having said that.

/Fred

Fred, Glad you feel that way. The more you post both your builds and comments on other builds, the more feedback you'll get, and even more important, the more Aeroscale friends you'll make.

What I really like about Aeroscale is that it's not to big, yet it's not to small either. Your builds don't get lost, and people get to know you and your work, and you'll remember a lot of us and our work as well. This isn't the only modeling site I belong to, but I spend way more time here then any other place, and honestly, I feel very comfortable here as it's like a family.
Joel

Maskmania is about to happen.

All masks have been used and all masks have delivered above and beyond all my expectations! And they weren't low! There are quite a lot of images further down, but a few comments first.

In the instructions, Mal suggests - Mal, feel free to correct any misinterpretations - that you gloss coat the model. He gives two reasons for this. One - it's easier to move the masks to their exact location and two - it gives you a protective barrier, so that you can remove your painted markings if anything goes wrong. This is of course dependent on you using different kinds of paint.

Though this is a good suggestion, I still chose to ignore it and simply applied the masks straight onto the painted surface and I also chose to use the same kind of paint - either Tamiya or Gunze acrylics. I'm not a risk taker generally, so that's not why I decided on this approach. The reasons were first that I never thought of protecting the underlying paint job when I did the invasion stripes or the leading edges and if Tamiya tape worked, then the masks probably would too. The second reason was that if it worked, I would have saved myself one layer of paint. On the other hand, as I have to put some decals on now, it would have been good to have that gloss surface. I might do it that way on the other Spit.

One note on the colours. Though I like the colours to be as correct as possible, I don't really care that much. The goal is a nice looking model and if Gunze has got a colour called sky and it's close enough, then I'll use it. This means that I made an estimation of the insignia red and insignia blue. I'm happy with them when I see them in reality. In the pictures the blue comes out too blue.

Also worth mentioning is the fantastic instructions that Mal provides for all the masks. They are really easy to understand and follow and there are individual instructions for every kind of mask. Even more impressive is the thought process behind the construction of the masks, which makes them so easy to use and to get the results you want.

Pictures...
The masks are all on and Tamiya tape has been added to prevent any risk of overspray. It's not the best picture, but the masks are in the areas that lack yellow tape. I prefer to mask away, even if it means that I have to buy an extra roll of tape, or two.


Four images of the underside of the wing. 1. No mask. 2. Mask added, but the two inner rings have been removed and the exposed area painted white. This was the first step for all masks requiring white and all those masks were painted in the same session. 3. The two inner mask parts transferred to a safe place. Only the outer of the two was to go back, but I found it easier to handle that part if I left it still connected to the centre. It got a bit flimsy on its own. 4. The red centre has been painted and an oversized mask used to cover it, and blue has been added. The blue isn't this blue in reality.


The coat of arms in four steps. 1. No mask. 2. White paint used to give a base for the yellow colour. I used Gunze's RLM04. 3. New mask added and red paint sprayed. 4. End result. There is some kind of red fibre on the left side. It's not paint.


I think you get it now. 1. No mask. 2. Mask added. 3. White and red done, masks replaced and blue sprayed. 4. End result.


Same thing on the fuselage. One problem here was the invasion stripes. As they would end up under a part of the roundel, they might shine through as white and yellow aren't the colours that have the best coverage. It worked out fine. The fourth image shows the mask after the blue has been painted, but before I have removed the outer ring element that should be painted yellow.


The fuselage roundel completed. Just as with the lion shield, I sprayed a thin white layer before I sprayed the yellow.


And this is the top of the wing.


A side view of the roundel and the code letters. No difference between letters and fuselage band. The obvious benefit of painting everything.




Next - more painting but now without precut masks. I have to change the yellow on the leading edges and the no walk lines will be added.

Long post, but I hope it was both instructive and inspiring.
/Fred

Nicely done Fredrik, I can't fault you on not applying the masks over a gloss coat. I actually did the same on my 1/32 and 1/72 Spits; a gloss coat now to apply the decals is a good thing as it will protect the markings

You can see one of the great advantages of using painted on markings, all of the surface detail is showing crisply under the paint, rather than being softened by a decal

For masking off look for "Tesa" tape on line, it comes in large rolss, similar to painters tape, but it is Kabuki tape, or very similar; the important thing is that it has the same properties as Tamiya tape but it works out very much cheaper. In the UK "Frog" tape is also similar, but more expensive (found in B&Q)

Your other masks were posted on Friday Fredrik. 2 sets of the "8", the other serial and a little something extra, which I had forgotten to mention, no charge

Fred, Just a great tutorial on how to use masks. I'm really impressed to say the least. I do have one question. In several of the pictures there are lines to center the mask. Are those on the mask, or do you have to actually draw them on the surface? And if so, won't that leave marks on the painted surface when they're removed?

Joel

Thanks Mal!
Yes, of course a gloss coat now is the way to go. Good idea! Good tip about other masking options, as well. I'll have a look.

Painted markings might have become a must. Apart from the crispness of the underlying details, the thing I appreciate the most is the lack of carrier film. Painting the markings also give superior results where there otherwise would have been several decals on top of each other.

I read your post during lunch today and was intrigued, to say the least, about the surprise. Luckily, as I came home, the masks were in the mailbox. Hurray! Great surprise. Thank you so much! Now I have to order more masks, just to pay you back... maybe that was your plan?!

/Fredrik

Thank you, Joel! I just remembered that I have to take a tour to another part of the forum. I suppose your new build is in some kind of Cold War area.

The lines are added by me, following Mal's instructions. You want them for two things - aid you when placing the masks and when replacing elements of the masks, like the different rings in a roundel. They are made with a permanent marker. I want to say a pen for overhead film, but no one uses that anymore and I saw that they were labelled CD markers in the store now. Use one with a fine tip.

As you draw these lines before you add your masks to the model, there is no risk of creating marks on the surface of the model. And of course you draw the lines on the surface and the marker doesn't go through.

Ask again if you need more info.

/Fred