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World War II
Discuss WWII and the era directly before and after the war from 1935-1949.
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Eduard 1/48 scale Spitfire IXc early ver.
Joel_W
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Posted: Monday, March 17, 2014 - 06:37 AM UTC
Finally finished the cockpit, and what a cockpit it is. Detail is just amazing, with everything having scale look to it. Fit wise, everything simply fits perfectly. No need to adjust, file, or finesse any of the parts. They all fit where and how they should.

The IP was given a coat of 50/50 Matt/Goss Lacquer based clear (but doesn't look like it with the reflection from the lights), then the individual instruments got a few drops of Pledge to simulate the glass lenses. Dry brushing with light gray to help pick out some of the details. Then I added a black oily wash, and a dark brown wash to the rest of the cockpit. I tried to keep all of the weathering on the light side as the cockpit is small and really confined. It's real easy to over weather it ,and then it just looks way too dark for it's given space.





Then I glued the other side of the cockpit tub on, and then glued it to one fuselage half. Let the Xtra thin do its thing for 5 min, then glued up the other Fuselage half.









I had previously glued up the misc. fuselage parts, and drilled out the called for holes for the version I'm modeling. The front of the wing flaring is slightly different for a few of the versions, so it's a separate piece. I was somewhat concerned that the parts wouldn't line up perfectly. Boy was I wrong.

Here's a picture with the before and after. The fit is 100% perfect.



Thanks for stopping by. Any and all comments and suggestions as always are more then welcome.

Joel
cliffnetherlands
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Posted: Monday, March 17, 2014 - 08:51 AM UTC
Darn. I wish i would have read your blog a bit earlier in the day Joel. Then i would have seen that i was going wrong on my cockpit. Oh well. A Beautiful build up till now.
Joel_W
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Posted: Monday, March 17, 2014 - 09:41 AM UTC

Quoted Text

Darn. I wish i would have read your blog a bit earlier in the day Joel. Then i would have seen that i was going wrong on my cockpit. Oh well. A Beautiful build up till now.


Cliff,
Most of what went right was Eduard's engineering an amazing cockpit. It's as good if not better then Tamiya's F4U cockpits, which I use to think was the best of the best in 1/48 scale.

Joel
thegirl
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Alberta, Canada
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Posted: Tuesday, March 18, 2014 - 01:33 AM UTC
Pit turned out super Joel !





Terri
Joel_W
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Posted: Tuesday, March 18, 2014 - 11:12 AM UTC
Terri,
Thanks. It way surpassed my expectations.
Joel
Holdfast
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Posted: Tuesday, March 18, 2014 - 07:05 PM UTC
Looking good Joel
Joel_W
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Posted: Tuesday, March 18, 2014 - 11:34 PM UTC

Quoted Text

Looking good Joel


Thanks Mal.
Joel_W
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Posted: Wednesday, March 19, 2014 - 04:16 AM UTC
Been doing a few Google searches to make sure that the wheel wells are indeed painted the same color as the bottom of the wings. But I've seen some models painted with the same British Interior Green as the cockpit, which I believe is wrong. The aircraft I'm depicting calls for (Vallejo Model Air) Azure Blue. Is this correct?
Joel
Jessie_C
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Posted: Wednesday, March 19, 2014 - 04:54 AM UTC
Yes. It was simpler to paint the wells and struts in the underside colour. As always, check for reference pictures to be sure that there wasn't an unpainted replacement part slipped in there by those nefarious ground crews who didn't have time to make life easier for modellers 70 years after the fact.
Joel_W
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Posted: Wednesday, March 19, 2014 - 05:24 AM UTC

Quoted Text

Yes. It was simpler to paint the wells and struts in the underside colour. As always, check for reference pictures to be sure that there wasn't an unpainted replacement part slipped in there by those nefarious ground crews who didn't have time to make life easier for modellers 70 years after the fact.


Thanks Jess.

I was amazed when doing basic research that every now and then I'd come across a build with interior green wheel wells.

Eduard calls out for the same color as the bottom of the wings, but since they're are multiple paint schemes, I thought I'd ask. You would think that all those crew members would have been more thoughtful to future generations of model builders, even though the plastic model hobby wasn't even invented yet.
Joel
EdgarBrooks
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Posted: Wednesday, March 19, 2014 - 10:58 AM UTC
The wheel wells remain a vexed topic, since they did not get a specific mention on available drawings.
Apart from the cockpit and engine bearers (internal areas" were painted silver, and that included the insides of wheel/oleo covers and the engine cowlings.
At some late stage of the war, interior areas went over to green, and the wheel wells of IXs, XVIs, 21s & 22s (and Tempests) have been seen in this colour. This raises the question, if late wells were green, at a time when interior areas were green, does this mean that, when interiors were silver, so were the wells? (Hurricanes and Typhoons certainly were silver in that area.)
Of course, during repaints at an M.U., on station, or Civilian Repair Depot, with the aircraft possibly standing on its legs, would the wells have been masked off? Possibly not, which leaves the field wide open.
Edgar
Joel_W
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Posted: Thursday, March 20, 2014 - 02:41 AM UTC
Edgar,
Thanks for all that information. Unfortunately, it raised more questions then it answered. I have looked at dozens of pictures of Spit IXc's, and unfortunately for me, the vast majority of them that show any part of the wheel wells, wheels, struts, etc., are in heavy shadow. A few that I can see are in B&W, and a few color pics are clearly unknown restorations.

Clearly a restoration:






So I'm going with what I've found: Azure Blue including the landing gear struts.

This model originally started off with the goal of seeing just how close to a "perfect" OOB build I can get to with the goal of the 2015 IPMS Noreastcon.

Joel.
Joel_W
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Posted: Wednesday, March 26, 2014 - 04:54 AM UTC
Since my last update, I've finished the basic assembly of the Spit IXc, and hopefully within a few days be ready to airbrush on a primer coat of Tamiya gray primer.

I was surprised that even with the exceptional fit of the parts, the Tamiya Xtra Thin left a lot of bubble holes along the fuselage seams. Some filling & sealing was all that was required.

The wing roots while being just about perfect, didn't quite line up no matter how many adjustments I made. I ended up sanding, then filling with Green Stuff, then sealing with CA glue, and finally a coat of Mr. Hobby Primer/Sealer. Should be perfect once a coat of primer is laid down.

The tail surfaces also had a very small gap which I filled with a coat of Vallejo white putty, and smoothed it right out with a damp Q-tip. No sanding required, and the joint line is perfect.

The engine cowling is also a 2 piece assembly that required some extra work, but the end result is a perfect fit.

The exhausts are each mini assemblies that just fit perfectly.

The last thing was the front windshield and the rear glass. Eduard supplies masks that makes the job of masking them painless. Both pieces fit like a glove, so I just used a bead of Xtra thin to glue them to the fuselage.









The underwing radiator scoops are also little mini kits, that fit perfectly. I decided that I would position the exhaust doors in the open position.





Joel
Jessie_C
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Posted: Wednesday, March 26, 2014 - 12:33 PM UTC
That's looking really good. What Azure are you using? It looks far superior to the one Humbrol so misleadingly calls Azure.
Joel_W
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Posted: Wednesday, March 26, 2014 - 01:23 PM UTC

Quoted Text

That's looking really good. What Azure are you using? It looks far superior to the one Humbrol so misleadingly calls Azure.


Thanks Jessica,
I'm using Vallejo Model Air U.K. Azure 71.108 FS35231
Joel
FredrikA
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Posted: Thursday, March 27, 2014 - 03:20 AM UTC
Great work, Joel! You are obviously a much faster builder than I am and it's nice to see your progress. Looking forward to the next update.

/Fredrik
Joel_W
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Posted: Thursday, March 27, 2014 - 06:20 AM UTC

Quoted Text

Great work, Joel! You are obviously a much faster builder than I am and it's nice to see your progress. Looking forward to the next update.

/Fredrik


Fredrik,
It's not that I'm a faster builder, it's the fact that I'm semi retired now (4 days/32 hrs), so I have more time. Also it's winter. I hate the cold, and don't do anything outside. What's more I'm on vacation this week. Normally I would work around the house, but I've been sick, so I just model. Tough job, but someone has to do it. Once the nice weather gets here, my building time at the bench will be drastically cut back.
Joel
Joel_W
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Posted: Thursday, March 27, 2014 - 08:34 AM UTC
My original plan was to go with the desert camo paint scheme with USAAF markings. Now that I'm into the last of the top camo colors, I took another look at the beautiful color profiles Eduard has supplied. For the 1st time I noticed that the British fuselage markings were painted over by the Americans with black paint, then the American markings were applied.

That may very well be historically accurate, but I'm not all that thrilled with duplicating it on my model. So I think I'll switch gears, and do the markings for the Polish Combat Team. This particular aircraft was flown by several pilots with a combined total of 6 German kills. The camo scheme and colors are identical to that of the USAAF version.
Joel
BlackWidow
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Posted: Thursday, March 27, 2014 - 08:54 AM UTC
Joel, I just stopped by to have a look at your Spit and it's a nice build so far. But looking at your latest photos, I'm surprised to see such a lot of sanding and using filler on this brandnew kit. It should be an "easy assembly click together box shaker" with perfect fitting. Though I have noticed that Eduard sometimes tends to "over engineer" some of their kits, so that the fitting is ... well ... not so perfect. Famous example is the Fw 190, which I've kicked in the bin after working 2 weeks on it. Or is it just me to have this view ....

Torsten
Joel_W
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Posted: Thursday, March 27, 2014 - 09:25 AM UTC
Torsten,
The overall fit is very good, especially the cockpit, and the fuselage. The engine cover top is a two piece sub assembly that required sanding and filling to achieve the proper contours.

The wings/fuselage joints were too tight, and no matter how much sanding I did, it never fit perfectly. I got it as close as I could without having to force the fit. There were as few small gaps, and a minor leveling issue by the trailing edge on each side. I just used putty to blend them together.

Also a lot of the putty on the fuselage seams was due to the Xtra Thin bubbling in the joints.

I've air brushed the bottom Azure Blue, and the base Sandstone color on top, and fortunately, none of those issues are now visible.

Joel

EdgarBrooks
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Posted: Thursday, March 27, 2014 - 08:58 PM UTC
Sorry, a bit too late with this one, but the "flaps," at the rear of the radiators, operated automatically, through a temperature sensor.
Early Marks, with the single radiator, operated the flap via a lever, but not on the 60-series (and after.)
Once landed (if not before,) the flaps would be closed (unless your airframe is undergoing a major/minor inspection, of course. )
Edgar
Joel_W
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Posted: Friday, March 28, 2014 - 03:36 AM UTC

Quoted Text

Sorry, a bit too late with this one, but the "flaps," at the rear of the radiators, operated automatically, through a temperature sensor.
Early Marks, with the single radiator, operated the flap via a lever, but not on the 60-series (and after.)
Once landed (if not before,) the flaps would be closed (unless your airframe is undergoing a major/minor inspection, of course. )
Edgar


Edgar,
Thanks for the info. But it's too late for me. The flaps have been glued in the open position, and the bottom of the aircraft has already been painted Azure Blue.
Joel
FredrikA
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Posted: Friday, March 28, 2014 - 10:24 PM UTC

Quoted Text



Fredrik,
It's not that I'm a faster builder, it's the fact that I'm semi retired now (4 days/32 hrs), so I have more time. Also it's winter. I hate the cold, and don't do anything outside. What's more I'm on vacation this week. Normally I would work around the house, but I've been sick, so I just model. Tough job, but someone has to do it. Once the nice weather gets here, my building time at the bench will be drastically cut back.
Joel


Well, workwise we are at opposite ends - March is my worst time of the year and even semi-retirement is a long way off.

Sorry to hear that you have been ill, but you seem to have found a good thing to occupy yourself with. We benefit more from your modeltime than from house fixing time.

/F

FredrikA
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Uppsala, Sweden
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Posted: Friday, March 28, 2014 - 10:33 PM UTC

Quoted Text

Joel, I just stopped by to have a look at your Spit and it's a nice build so far. But looking at your latest photos, I'm surprised to see such a lot of sanding and using filler on this brandnew kit. It should be an "easy assembly click together box shaker" with perfect fitting. Though I have noticed that Eduard sometimes tends to "over engineer" some of their kits, so that the fitting is ... well ... not so perfect. Famous example is the Fw 190, which I've kicked in the bin after working 2 weeks on it. Or is it just me to have this view ....

Torsten


Sorry for jumping in here... I haven't built this particular version, but I've built two of the late variant and many of Eduard's 190 and there is no comparison between them. The Spit is an easy build with fantastic engineering, but you have to take care with some areas, e.g. where the trailing edge of the wing joins the fuselage.

If you want to build a Spitfire, try Eduard's!
/Fredrik
Tojo72
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Posted: Friday, March 28, 2014 - 11:27 PM UTC
Hello,I just got one of these from Spruebrothers,I will enjoy following along with you and definitely bookmarking this for my build.

It's really moving along and looking great
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