Friday 26 June 2015

Achtung, SPITFIRE!

My second attempt to finish a 1/72 scale fighter!

 Academy's Spitfire MkXIVc - good stuff!

I'm very happy with the outcome of this one, even though I did my level best to destroy it right before I got the camera out!

IDK if everyone else has similar experiences but I swear each one of these kits sees some serious drama unfold (for a model maker, admittedly...)
First of all it suffered from the same fate as my FW190A5-U12 in that it was blasted with black primer BEFORE leaving the sprue... where do I get these ideas from?? And as such was super glued together - not happy...
After that I managed to break one of the landing gear oleos off and had to do my best to get it back on the Spitfire where it belongs!

I wasn't finished yet! Even after that I decided to give it a spray of matt-cote to bring the colours together a bit, and promptly forgot to mask the fucking canopy! F U C K.

Not to leave something half done, I then proceeded to base the fighter and then in truest Ace form drop it from a not insubstantial height and break the landing gear off one side...

Sigh. So, with all of that having transpired here she is...









Great fun really =)

Yes, I know it doesn't look like the one on the box. I always like to complicate things by doing something a bit different and after seeing the lovely SM832 (below) in John Dibb's Spitfire book I really wanted to do a SEAC/Burma scheme!

 This Spitfire features in Dibb's excellent book - 'Spitfire Flying Legend' - if you like Spits - GET IT!


However, I wanted it to be EVEN MORE DIFFICULT (sigh) and decided to paint my bird up to resemble No17 Sqn Spitfire RN152. I did leave off the 'fighter band' which you can see on the tail section of the lead aircraft below - I just preferred it without!

 Shot of RN152 with some friends. This is from Dibb's book... hope he doesn't mind!

 Based in Singapore during the war these Spits would have seen a lot of wear and tear from the extreme climate they operated in - perfect chance for me to beat the crap out of the paint scheme =) I 
love doing that!

So there you go, another one done and dusted. 
Whats next?
Well here's a peek...

 I call him Wally. Having a paper clip stuck up your bum can't be fun!

Wally will be piloting a P51D Mustang, my first aircraft with the wheels up... lets see what horrible mistakes I can make with that!

Ace




4 comments:

  1. I'm disappointed, after reading the whole disaster, I was really looking forward to seeing a poorly painted & rubbish assembled plane. Instead, I'm presented with this "good" looking one!!! WTF!!!

    It turned out great Ace.

    Just a quick question (depending on how fast you read & answer it?), how do you fill the holes up in your CD bases? Please be something inappropriate :)

    Oh, and I saw a TV doco the other day, uploaded onto YouTube, that may interest you. It was a build up of a brand new Spitfire. They called it a rebuild, but the original was so far gone that it was laughable calling it that. They got Guy Martin (from TT fame) into help build it. That guys nuts & a natural comedic talent, but he's not a retard around a workshop, so he could help out properly, if only on a couple of small things. You may have already seen it, but I thought I'd give you the heads up just in case.

    Here's the link old boy,

    https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=i7Zebpu2nS4

    Enjoy.

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    Replies
    1. Ah! Mein freund! You have caught me in my lunch break =)

      Thank yo for the kind words, but please believe me when I say it only by the grace of trick photography that the Spit even begins to resemble a plane at all! What an ordeal...
      The next one went together much easier!

      To (quickly) answer your question. After numerous trials trying to 'fill the void' using all manner of prophylactics I had to give in and submit to the wondrous powers of masking tape! Yep - but not just any old making tape, very expensive makes-you-cry-because-nothing-else-does-anywhere-near-as-good-a-job masking tape!
      I often use 3M's blue 'semi permanent' tape when I'm painting things to mask areas off, it doesn't rip and tear paint from the canvas and it also has a brilliant 'stretch' so you can pull it taught over difficult areas, like a hole in a cd for example!

      That Guy Martin 'build' is a great bit of viewing - I did get a chance to go through it (and then got into a 'youtube battle' with some know-all after answering a question... NEVER READ THE COMMENTS!)

      I work as a bike mech so Guy is a bit of a favourite in the workshop =)
      Tally bally ho! Welcome back to the colonies!

      Ace

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    2. Yeah, that blue 3M tape is the best. I stumbled onto that a few years ago while I was repainting the house. I've used it for exactly the same reasons you mentioned. As far as I'm concerned, 3M make the best stuff, but they do charge for it don't they :)

      But, after you've taped up the hole with it, what do you do then? Just apply your basing over it & take it off after?

      I ask, because I stumbled (I do a lot of that) upon a solution to filling in those CD holes a few months ago. Just curious as to your method. I lay the CD down on some baking paper & squirt a dob of hot glue in there.
      Job done.

      Guy Martin cracks me up, he's definitely missing something up stairs (have you seen his theory on making the best cup of tea?), just the right mindset to ride flat out through Bray hill i reckon :) but he's seems to be a pretty genuine person & I enjoy watching how enthusiastic he can get over everything.

      Regarding the comments section on YouTube, their the best! I often get lost in them after watching a video. Reading what some of the dregs of society imagine as "constructive criticism" or "scintillating conversation" make for hours of hilarious reading.....if a little depressing as to the general public's IQ level.


      Thanks for the welcome wishes too Ace, I'm fucking glad to be home I tell ya :)

      Cheers pal.

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    3. That's a good solution! I just use the tape TBH! After going over the hole a few times I seal it with PVA and then go for it with whatever materials I need for the scenery. If my terrain starts to implode after a few years? I'll make some more! =)

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