:-) Well when else but the 5th March, the anniversary of the Spitfires first flight in 1936. It is also my mum's birthday :-)
Mal

Happy Birthday to the Spitfire....... and to Mum too...... As son as I get me a kit, I'll be in up to my elbows......

hmmmmm, now a dilemma for me. I have a PE set ordered that hasn't been shipped yet. Do I bow out, wait for the PE and do the Spit as my BfB entry? Do I build it OOB, save the PE for another Spit (how many Spits is too many, Mal? ) and do something else for BfB? Do I do prep work on the Spit, wait for the PE and play catchup to the GB?

I'll let you guys know tomorrow.

Penny, if it's a matter of not being able to find one, my LHS has one on the shelf I could ship to you. It would be a little more than ordering one online that way, though. But the offer is there if you need it.

***** EDIT *****
I know it isn't tomorrow, but I have my decision. I'm doing it OOB with you guys. I found out the Hurri I am going to build was used in the BfB after all so I have an entry for that one.

Mal, Great news, and it's the 3rd already!!! :-)

Penny, Glad you're still on board, hope you get your kit soon.

Tim, I'm pleased you've decided not to bow out, that would have been a shame. You never know, the PE might just come in time.

Oh, and happy birthday to Mal's Mum.

Roger

hey, my mom too!!! Happy Birthday Moms!!!

:-) Mum says thanks,
Roger first thing, have you got colours for the cockpit? Interior Green Humbrol 158, Black , White and Humbrol 70 Brick Red, for the seat. You have brobably done this already, but take a good look at the instructions, get the feel of it, maybe you will have some questions.
Mal

Mal, I presume we're talking Matt black and white? Just thought I'd better check.

I was talking to a guy in my local model shop last week and he was talking about seat colours, he quoted "reddish-brown", is he right?

Roger

The would be it. Head over to the Walkaround section of http://www.aircraftresourcecenter.com for some pretty good interior shots. You can see the seat in a couple of them.

Thanks for the optimism on the PE, but I'm 99% sure it won't be here before I need it. I ordered it from Roll Models cause I was able to get the PE and all my Hurricane stuff (kit, PE, resin stuff, decal sheet) all in one place. Also at that time the GB wasn't going off until May so I had time. Roll Models doesn't ship for a week or 2 and I just ordered it Friday. I'll put it with my A6M2 Zero PE that I have on the shelf for future projects.

Mal: Do you know the FS #'s or Testors/PollyScale names for the brown and green used on the upper surface camo for the Spit? I have the other colors and before I go guessing I thought I would check and see what you knew. I can't get Humbrol here, but I can cross reference the colors if that's what you have available.

:-) Roger
Yes matt black, white dosen't matter, it's for the dials


Yes he's right, early seats were aluminium, painted interior green. The reddish brown seats are bakerlite, thats what the brick red is for. The seat back padding is black leather. The rest of the cockpit is british interior green, Humbrol 158, except for the instrument panel and verious other items that are black. The instructions say X-18 semi gloss black, but I use matt black, it dry brushes better. you could always varnish later, if you want. The instructions would have you paint the oxygen bottles Interior Green, they should be silver. Also the wheel wells, inside faces of the gear doors, undercarriage legs and and wheels, are interior green (the tail wheel leg is Sky). Theres more before you start, so if you want to be sneeky and start early, fine, I wont tell anybody but email or PM me. I'll give you the low down, then post it here on the 5th
If it's what I think it is then Tims link is a good one, I should have pics I could send them to you?
Tim


I can only give you the Humbrol Numbers Dark Earth 29 and Dark Green 30, the undersurface is Beige Green (Sky)90 :-)
Anything else let me know before the 5th :-)
Mal

Sweet! Got them. The green looked too dark, but the FS #'s match. It took some searching to find them. Urban Fredericksson's color chart has the old (pre-Testors buy out) PollyS catalog #'s in it. Which aren't anywhere on the new bottles.

I'm set, then, and waiting for the 5th.

Mal,

The shop I went to today didn't have 158, in fact it wasn't even on the rack, has it been deleted from Humbrols stock? I found 226 labelled as "Interior Green" but not sure if this is the same. I checked on my Humbrol chart and 158 is not on that either (at least I couldn't find it.)

Confused Roger

Sow1 and myself will be joining the fray as well i got to go and find a spitfire today, shouldn't be a problem due to where we live!!!! hehehehehe stug

Roger:158 is discontinued. 226 doesn't show up on any chart I look at, but it's probably IJN or US Interior Green which is a brighter green than the RAF color. You can mix yourself up a batch or you can try a different manufacturer. Here is the Humbrol recipe :6*Hu:78 + 3*Hu:34 + 1*Hu:72. The Tamiya mix is in the instructions. Other manufacturers are :
Testors MM Enamel : RAF Interior Green #2062
Testors MM Acryl : RAF Interior Green #4850
PollyScale British Interior Gray Green : #505270
The FS# is FS34226 if that could be of help.

Failing all that I could ship a bottle of PollyScale or Testors Acryl to you, but it would take a little while to get there.

Steve: Welcome to the furball. We'll have those Germans on the run soon.

Tim,

Thanks for that info, I don't mind making a mix so I will probably go that route, I don't have an easy source of other manufactureres paints nearby and I am used to Humbrol enamels now. Thanks for the offer though.

Does anyone know if I can keep this mix of enamels paints in a platic contsiner? I know they sell in tins, but I have an unending supply of bottles etc at work and so it would be handy if I could use one of these.

Steve and Anne, glad you both decided to join in, good luck with finding your SPit at short notice.

Roger

Roger, Ummm let me put this the nicest way possible... Sneeze!!! and there's a hobby shop. Where do we live? JAPAN Finding a Spitfire will not be a problem at all!!!!!!!!!! Especially since unlike my wife I'm planning on doing a Tamiya Spit not an Academy! Thanks for the welcome!!!!!!!!!!!! stug

I hate mixing, so much so that I prefer to use MM Acryls because they are prethinned for the airbrush. :-) I'm getting better, though, I've recently started using Tamiya in small quantities and the bulk of the airbrushing on this kit will be PollyS paints. Only because the only place in Richmond that sells Acryl is twice as far away as the shop I usually go to and I just didn't feel like driving over there yesterday when I went on a paint run since I had to get something at the closer one anyway that they don't sell at the other one.




hmmmm faulty logic tells me "We spray it on plastic models, why couldn't we keep it in plastic bottles", but the plastic is most certainly different so I wouldn't try it without a trial of some kind. I use acrylic mostly so I don't know.

Damn, now I can't find Humbro 78

I need to go on a longer paint run tomorrow. Anyone know of a mix for 78 #:-) (joking)

I used the same logic about the plastic bottle Tim, but I agree, better be safe than sorry. I will try and find a glass bottle instead :-)

A technical question - do you usually paint some parts on the sprue? I never do with armour, but as this is a different ball game, thought I'd better ask.

Roger

It kind of depends for me. Since I mostly do cars, a lot of my parts are the same colors so I can paint sub-assemblies and I tend to think along the lines of "what can I cement together and then paint". However, I do try to paint as many parts on the sprue as I can, it just makes them easier to hold.

As a concrete example, I can tell you this. After looking at the instructions on this kit, I will be removing the seat from the sprue (it has a piece on the bottom for easy tweezer grabbing while I paint) and gluing part A24 to it before painting (step 1, bottom middle illustration. I'll detail paint that after the airbrush work). I'm also cementing parts A1 (rudder pedals) and A36 (control stick) to A2 (floor) before painting. I am leaving part A2 on the sprue though. All other parts to be painted that Gray-Green will painted on the sprue.

Basically I try to keep them as easy as possible to paint. I can always do a touch up with a brush after I remove it. The exceptions are when I feel the place where it joins the sprue is a higly visible location. I want those places to be as consistent as possible so I'll remove it first to make sure the finish is uniform. I'll also remove them if I need to do work on a part first (pin mark removal, sink hole filling, etc...). It's not much of answer, but do whatever you think is the best way. Your building style will always result in you building the best looking model. (blatently obvious bad building practices excluded)

:-) Wow this as moved on a bit since yesterday.
Stug, Sow1, welcome to the Spit build. Can I ask you to take a look at the other thread about this, just so your up to speed:
https://armorama.kitmaker.net/forums/8458&page=1
Sow1 you will see that this intended to be for the Tamiya Mk 1 for a relatively easy build for Rogers (Favorisio) first plane. Of course though, you Spit 14 will be welcome. The Idea of this Group build is, primerily, to help novices build their first plane, so please bear that in mind. The other fundimental part of this is the shearing of the experience. There is no time limit, the idea is to move at the pace of whoever, so we discuss a stage build a stage and so on.
Roger,
Sorry about the confusion over paint numbers, I'm using an old chart. One possible way to mix int green might be Humbrol 151 with some light grey. I'm out as well, so I can't send you any I will probably get mine from Paint by post, but I think he only does Lifecolor. One other alternative, a mate owns a model shop, in Worksop. let me know if you are struggling and I might be able to get you the paint from him. Problem is it's Revell but thats similar to Humbrol, I think. I personally don't like it but he swares by it (mind you he does sell it )
What Tim says about painting on or off the sprue about covers it. As you are hand painting you have more control without the need to mask, so you might find it easier to take the parts off the sprue, clean up the seam lines etc, wash the parts (I use isopropynol, which you probably have in your lab ). Make a handle for the part, tooth pic in a drilled, out of the way hole, or hold in tweezers, or maybe double sided tape on a pice of card. Or make a hole in a piece of card and insert. :-)
Mal

Mal,

I have 2 more shops in Newcastle to try tomorrow for HUM 78, so should be OK, thanks. BTW my sister lives in Worksop, has done for years - small world.

I think I'm just as happy painting off the sprue, is usually stick the small parts to a toothpick with a bit of blue tack, attached to the bit that's glued to the rest of the model, then i can stick them in a piece of flower arranging foam to dry.

Is the order of build pretty much as in the instructions? I haven't started yet btw, just gearing up

It's nice to have some more in on this isn't it :-)

Roger

Well, you can count me in too! It'll be my first plane, and only my second model. Got my Sherman together, although I haven't tried painting it. :-)

I don't think I'll be able to start tomorrow, because I don't have a Spit yet. Though I'll be dropping by my hobby store within a couple of days hoping they have one! And then I should be starting this weekend.

Can't wait!

:-) Hi Roger,
Yep great to have some more involved, spoke to Anne in the chat room and invited her with her Spit 14. I think we can live with that though.
Not realy, the instructions would have you put the undercarriage on the wings before attaching the wings to the fuselage. While you are painting the interior you can glue the wing halves together and clean them up. Once the interior (on the 2 fuselage halves) is complete you can glue the halves together and check the wing to fuselage join (don't glue on the wing yet) and adjust as necessary. But thats for later.
Before you paint the instrument panel, paint the dial faces white, when they are dry paint the panel matt black, nice and thin over the dial faces, just a bit thicker than a wash, with the rest of the panel full stregnth. You might want to consider drilling out the lightening holes in parts A14 and A16. when you paint the black cockpit parts, don't forget the sight. It's up to you if you replace the sight glass. Another pasrt that I would paint black is the radiator faces, I then drybrush them silver. looks better than straight silver.
Oh before I forget, you will notice that a couple of the guns protrude beyond the wing leading edges. This is only true for very early pre-production variants, and should be removed. Cut em off at the leading edge and use a round rats tail file, or rolled up emery paper. :-)
Mal
PS. have you aquired PE seat belts?

Oops,I opened my box a day early,I promise I didn't glue anything yet.Hows my progress so far?



i like to juggle,C-130,Karl,Group build,Stug IV

Darcy: Welcome to the group. Here is a link to a previous thread where some issues were discussed. If you haven't read it yet I highly recommend it. https://armorama.kitmaker.net/forums/8458&page=1

Carl: You opened that box like a pro. I love the way you made it look so . . . so . . . open!!

Mal: I can't find any pics of an actual black wing Spit. Do you know if the wheel wells are Interior Grey/Green on that wing too or black like the directions say.

Hi Delone and TankCarl, Welcome to the Spit group build. As Tim says please read the previouse thread on this, theres some interesting stuff and It will get you up to speed on the reason behind this build:
https://armorama.kitmaker.net/forums/8458&page=1
Yes Carl deffinately opend like a pro, I just love the arrangement of the box lid and instructions. Having the instructions the right way up is inspired. Well done.
Tim,
I have no posative proof but I would paint them int green, seems a bit odd to me to paint it black or even sky. I know they definatly weren't sky.
Mal