It's a rare occurrence for me to build anything other then USA aircraft no matter what era. But I keep on reading kit reviews, and following builds of the Eduard Spitfire series, and it just seamed like to good of a kit not to build. So when I saw Eduard's 1/48 scale "The Longest Day" Spitfire Mk.IX limited Edition, on my not so LHS shelf, the decision was made that it would be my next build.

My 1st impression of the kit once I opened the box was that I was in for a real treat. Crisp and delicate details, finely recessed panel lines and rivet detail really looks outstanding. And there is plenty of PE to enhance the model, especially with Eduard's excellent colored Instrument panel. Markings are provided for 5 aircraft as they flew on June 6, 1944: D Day. So deciding on a paint camo scheme was a no brainer. Just deciding on which aircraft would literally be a coin toss. Right now it's going to be # MH819, No. 310 Squadron, Appledram Air Base.

The vast majority of builds naturally starts with the cockpit, and Eduard's excellent instructions are no exception. Looking them over, the cockpit is exceptionally well detailed, with a tub that is glued up to detailed fuselage side walls. I decided that I would just do a little enhancing to kick the pit up a few notches.

I started with the main seat bulkhead and the half bulkhead behind it. Eduard has reproduced the lightening holes with just a series of deep recesses. Since these bulkheads are very visible from the outside looking in, I decided to drill them out.



And after drilling:



I decided that it would be easier to paint the individual parts for the various sub assemblies, then detail them as I built up the cockpit. Of course it never occurred to me to see if I had the proper Tamiya colors for this build till I got ready to paint the interior. For some strange reason I had a bottle of Model Master enamel RAF Interior Green which looks nothing like the American Dark Interior Green. It airbrushed beautifully, but the old enamel odor was just as pronounced as ever.

I let the parts dry over night, then using detacked Tamiya tape, I masked of the demarcation line which is just behind the seat bulkhead where the Interior Green stops, and the rest of the aircraft is just natural Metal. I used Tamiya Titanium Silver, as I didn't think that going through the effort of using Alcads was worth it.

I assembled as per kit instructions half the pit, then installed the twin Voltage Regulators that is located on the seat bulkhead facing the tail. I added the two electrical wires that loop around to the battery.





I used small pieces of masking tape to represent the brackets keeping the wiring in place. in real life 1:1 they look fine, but in these macro pictures, they look much too large. Honestly, I'm not sure if I'll try to make thinner ones.





construction has started on the IP and seat sub-assemblies.

Joel

Nice start Joel!

I would not change the bands. You do not see much of it once the pit is closed and then a bit of overstatement is better to show your work...

all the best

Steffen

Great start! I've wanted to build this kit for a while too. Will be following your build and look forward to more

Munchies and a coffee at the ready.
Following.

Joel,don't take this the wrong way but generally your posts are the most interesting hilight of my week, sigh I really need to get a life.

Chris

Great choice Joel! The Eduard kit is a gem and I still think it has the best interior of any Spit kit out there. I will look forward to your build.


Ian

Steffen,
Thanks for the vote of confidence. I think that once I paint those tape clamps they'll blend in a lot better. Right now they just stand out too much.
Joel

G Garcia,
Thank you for your most kind words. I sure hope my most modest skills don't disappoint you.
Joel

Chris,
I wasn't prepared for that. Thank you so much.
Joel

Ian,
Glad to have you along. The interior is just mind boggling for 1/48 scale.
Joel

Yeah, Joel I agree about the interior. When I built mine I didnt think there was anyway that cockpit tub was going to go in the fuselage. But it fit perfectly. If I remember correctly, I just had to sand a tiny bit off the bottom of the tub. I was really impressed with Eduard's engineering. Can't wait to see more.


Best wishes,

Ian

Joel,
The cockpit is looking excellent, which is to be expected based on your previous efforts (don't let that nice Jug cockpit languish too long on the shelf of doom). I've got a question on the metal paint you used on the aft section. Since it's got titanium in the name I'm guessing it's got a darker tint than generic aluminum. When I first looked at it I though it might be a bit grainy, but one can't judge too much from what the photos look like on-line. I've been casting about for a good color for aluminum that's been oxidized awhile and has that grayish hue. Does this color exhibit any of this in the real world? While I'm still an enamel and lacquer guy at heart, I am trying to ease myself into the acrylic side. Keep those posts coming.
DR

Hi Joel

Nice start! I'd go along with Steffen, and if the bands look good to the naked eye, they're fine - that's how they'll be seen.

I owe Eduard a build, so I must make a start on the new Mk.VIII as soon as I've in-boxed it.

All the best

Rowan

DR,
My usual go to line of NM colors are either Alcad 11s or Model Master Metalizers (especially since you can apply them by hand, notice I didn't say brush them on except for small parts), but for interior sections I go a different route. Here, I'm dealing just with the rear portion of a enclosed cockpit that will be only seen in the shadows, so for those situations I rather use a Acrylic paint, hence Tamiya's Titanium Silver rather then their flat Aluminum.

Their Flat Aluminum is just horrible. It's grainy, has pigments that are too large, and doesn't dissolve even using their Yellow Cap Lacquer Thinner. The end results looks anything but like flat Aluminum. On the other hand the Titanium Silver looks almost like Testors old Silver enamel paint, just a shade darker, or its' my aging and failing eyes. The finish is smooth and looks more like polished Aluminum. There really isn't a Bluish hue to it, just add one or two drops of blue and one drop of Black, and you're right there. The bluish tint you're seeing is from the base coat of RAF Interior Green with a very light coat of Titanium Silver air brushed over it.

The only finishes that I now use that are lacquer based are Tamiya's Gray Primer, Mr. Color's 1,000 & 500 sealer primer (hand brushed), and Testors Glosscoat and Dullcoat.

Nothing has come close to those two clear finishes. They work perfectly 100% of the time, every time. But my brother and I have been experimenting with some acrylic gloss and flats made for artists, not for plastic models. And so far the results have been outstanding. There isn't a acrylic primer currently made that can do and look like rubbed out lacquer primer no matter who makes it.
Joel

Rowan,
Thanks for stopping by and liking my snail's pace start. I'm still staring at those mask clamps and thinking of just now mind you cutting them in half, then painting them. I guess that old habits just die hard.

Looking forward to your in-box and build, but don't forget your other builds that are on your workbench.

While I know very little about the different latter variants of Spitfires, our two builds should look very similar. There are slightly larger wing humps on the MkIX. They both used C wings. the Mk.IX used the Mk63 Merlin engine, while the Mk.VIII used the Mk.61. What other differences would a newbie to the world of the Spitfire look for?

Joel

I'm already impressed with the radio wiring!

Brian,
Thank you for stopping by and liking my efforts to date. I'm trying my best to enhance and detail the cockpit to kick it up a few notches. Of course nothing like on the incrediable scale you're doing in your B-17F build. Now that's detailing at the National level.
Joel

Hi Joel,
sorry to hear about the Jug. Nevertheless Eduard's Spitfire will bring back the mojo, I'm sure. You're on to a beautiful start. I like the attention to small details like the wiring and the tape clamps. Keep on.

greetings ro

Rob,
Thanks for stopping by and having a look. Like I said, the Eduard Spitfire is an unbelievable kit. My mojo is flowing at top speed.
Joel

Work has slowly continued on this most complex cockpit. I must say that Eduard not only designed a extremely well detailed cockpit, but the engineering execution is just exceptional. All the parts fit like a glove, which as much of a finesse look as possible with the state of today's injection molding.

Next up I built up the seat, painted the bucket and backing what the British called Russet. I cheated some and just used Tamiya's XF-9 Hull Red. I know it's not perfect, but it looks close enough, especially once the pit is enclosed in the fuselage. The leather backing was painted X-18 Semi-Gloss Black. Once a coat of matt is applied, it will look like worn leather with a slight sheen. Then the PE pre-painted seat belts were glued into position.



I decided not to use the what I thought was a stiffening bar that is attached to the front of the seat bucket, as the instructions said that most Spitfires didn't use it, but almost all the pictures I have show the bar. The issue is that 90% of those pictures are restorations. Edgar, in replying to my question if I was right or wrong, said:

"It wasn't a stiffening bar; it was the holder for Very pistol cartridges.
Since the Spitfire had its own recognition system (made by Plessey) built into the aircraft's spine, the Very pistol was redundant, and that frame could get in the way during manoeuvres, so it was usually left off.
Seafires, on the other hand, did make use of the Very pistol (housed in a metal "holster" by the pilot's right elbow,) hence the frame was still seen on their seats (and also in Spitfires supplied by Westland.)" Thank you Edgar for such a technically detailed response.

There is a bracket and lever that attaches to the front seat bulkhead. Eduard has you construct it out of bending up some PE. Naturally, it broke as I tried aligning it so I could glue it up. Then the carpet monster ate the half I dropped. I ended up making one out of scrap plastic and stretched sprue. The knob is the result of heat applied to the end of the shaft.







Again, I didn't go over board with detailing it as it will hardly be seen once the fuselage halves are glued up.

Next up was the yoke assembly. There are three electrical lines that attach to the gun button. Two run down the shaft and under the seat bulkhead, then out to the wings to the guns. I added these out of stretched sprue. Then brackets out of masking tape. this time I made them closer to scale size. The 3rd electrical line goes under the IP bulkhead and to the engine compartment. After I installed the yoke, it was quite apparent that the 3rd line wouldn't be seen, so I didn't bother making and installing one.

I kept on looking at those Voltage Regulator clamps, and just decided what the heck and replaced them with the thinnest strips of masking tape I could cut. Then I painted them Aluminum. I must say that I'm glade I spent a whole 15 min doing it.

I had previously glued up the excellent 3 pc Eduard color IP, so I glued the bulkhead in place. Lastly, came the rudder peddles. They're on the thick side, and there aren't any foot straps for keeping the pilots feet firmly on the peddles, so I once again made them out of masking tape, and installed the rudder peddles.





I dry fitted the pit wall to the proper fuselage half to make sure that everything fit as it should.




Then I tapped up the other fuselage half to check out the full alignment, and to get a sense of just how much of the cockpit would really be visible. The answer is not much.





Up next is the other cockpit wall, and finally closing up the fuselage.

Joel

Good start, Joel! Very inspiring! Maybe I should build another one just to get back into modelling? It's been kind of slow for a while...

Didn't you start on an early MkIX before?

Take care!
/Fredrik

Fredrik,
What a great memory. I completely forgot about it. It was the Early version. Never finished it. Not even sure where in the basement storage it is. But it's nowhere in the same class as this build.

By all means build one right along with me. Any version, and get your Mojo moving again. Times a wasting.
Joel

Looking good Joel! The interior detail in these Eduard Spits is so good, you almost hate to close up the fuselage. Great progress thus far.

Best wishes,

Ian

Ian,
Ain't that the truth.
Joel

Hi Joel ,

She is shaping up nicely so far



Terri

Terri,
Thanks for stopping by and liking my most modest efforts in the pit. I'm loving every min of this build once again.
Joel