I'm using Tamiya tape.
To be honnest...just poor prepwork.*blushes*. In my enthousiasm to finally get started with paint i forgot to wash the plane. And i do have sweaty hands..I also noticed it on the landing gear. there was this nice spot where the paint didn't catch..just the size of a fatty finger..*blush*

Well it took me a bit to get back to the hobby room. First of a new job asked all my attention. And then there was this glorious summer that just begged me to go outside and enjoy my other hobby tat i wanna get better in. Nature photography




And when it was finally to bad outside to do something there...I took up another thing i didn't do for years. Band Photography..



And finally there was this little task of making a medieval fantasy outfit for the upcoming fantasy fair season. Designed by me. made by me and my girlfriend.



So all in all 6 month passed. In that time i only sometimes looked at my spitfires. The Mk 1 had a nice belly. But with some damage in the black. Some overspray. And silver Airelons. Advised by Airfix. But i didn't like them at all by now.



So out came the white spray.



And as seen here. I'm still struggling with Tamiya white. Lack of experience causes me to get the mixtures wrong. So i ended up with a lot of spots and spickles. And a orange skin to the side..
So after letting the paint harden out. I went for the sanding paper.



Not everything is perfect. Some parts i had to choose between beautiful soft skin..Or leaving some details. .



But overall the result is fine as a basis..



So armed with two bottles of Vallejo white i managed to do the job properly. Followed by a nice coat of back. Ok, the demarcation line is a wee bit wonky just below the tailwheel. But I'll leave that be.

So on with the upper part.






I didn't like Vallejo's version of Dark earth. So i mixed it myself. Using the Humbrol colour sheet as a guide..



I'm ok with that. Now some people will already have spotted the lack of ground paint on the top side. Was that smart? well no.




A mistake i made before. The damage in the black proofs that. But beeing that i made that mistake 6 months ago. I forgot the lesson again..*sigh*

Better be real careful ten with the camouflage marking..









My camera broke. So i borrowed my girlfriends. And that camera has serious problems showing green. It looks like the hulk here..But it really is Tamiya deep green. Prove is here..



Now the big question is:"Was i careful enough"



Nope..Well then i'll just practise fixing free-handed..



And how does the rest look. Well the wingedge could be sharper



As could this demarcation line



I could also do without this overspray..



But overall. For a second try at airbrushing a soft edge camo. I'm really happy actually



Now to put the next update up a bit sooner then 6 months. Till then..

laters.

Your soft edge camo paint scheme looks pretty good. Everyone gets some overspray, you just get use to automatically knowing that you're going to have to go back and clean it up. More then once, ok, many a time, I've over done it, and had to clean up the over spray going in the other direction. Finally I figured out that taking the time to cover areas will keep them out of Harms way, and greatly reduce the overspray issues.
Joel

I post this build not only here on Aeroscale, but also on a dutch forum. And there a member encouraged me to tackle the overspray problems on the underside. Despite my hesitance. So i did...





And it wasn't that hard actually. Glad i did it. Another thing is the camo. After a day or two i wasn't happy with it anymore. The original camouflage has lots more curves and a lot less straight lines then my interpretation.



..So i decided to tackle tat too. And cursed myself for not using a ground paint. Or degrease the plastic. I kept seeing new chips.



So in the end i saw just one solution..





And the end result?



Much more like it should be. I'll have to practise this a couple more times. But not on this spitfire. That's gonna get a coat of clear to finally prevent any more chipping.
Then i have to fine tune the black of the underside..and then it's time for decals.

Two questions..
What colour/material would the antenna be. Steel or copper?

And what would the colour of the groundpaint be on the wooden propellor. I have red in my memory. But if that is right?

Last day of the weekend. And the "goal" was to get the Mk 1 ready for decals. Witch means adding a layer of gloss paint..



Done :mrgreen:
Bit silly to make this the whole update. Luckily i still had some small parts lying around.That also needed some paint



...spraaaaayyyy..



and job done. antenna painted. wheel gear and propellor i already did before. So they only got a gloss paint ready for the weathering Phase..Exhaust got a ground layer of black followed by alclad aluminium...Most work was the wheels..



Done with the old "scale ruler " trick








No high school modeling skills for any experienced builder. But you never know if a "newbie" might be watching. So now you know how you could do it.

Colors i used are these



A black base..then when still a wee bit wet i worked in black-grey with a pencil. To give the tyres more used look. And Bob's your uncle.

Now everything is hardening out, getting ready for decals.

Oh that's true. There was also an Mk. 47 around somewhere. What's up with that one?
Well first i had to get rid of the gaps caused by the short run nature of the kit. Combined with the bit clumsy glueing skill of the builder...(uch uch..)



And that's now sanded down again...



NExt stage here? Re-scribing of lost details...Another first for me.

Wellll..you win some..and then you loose some.

The basic idea today was to fix some final small overspray things on the black. And then go on with the decals.
But...when the FINAL bit of tape came of..it had a bit of a surprise in store....



With the immidiate second problem tat the brown is handmixed by eye..So
it was kinda hard to get the right color again



Still i didn't want to give up on the rescue attempt straight away...so i prepared evrything for cosmetic surgory...



And did i safe the patient?



Nope....

So i opted for the final solution...



Mr Muscle.

I think i'll go on with the Mk 47 for now...And that plane is sooo gonna get a grounpaint before i even get near it with a finishing color attempt.