1/32 Tamiya Spitfire Mk IXc, Kenley Wing, Wing Cdr. J.E. "Johnnie" Johnson (Complete)

Modeling Subjects Aircraft
1

I’ve been looking forward to starting this extremely well regarded kit for a while. The RAF mid-war, day fighter scheme is classic and one of my absolute favorites.

It’s clear that Johnnie Johnson’s JE-J EN398 is a very popular subject, and for good reason - great plane, great pilot, etc. I was considering a more unique subject, but chose Johnson’s classic mount since this was my first Spitfire Mk IX project and its markings happen to match my dad’s initials.

I plan to build it mostly out of the box but will use Montex Masks for the main markings and HGW wet transfers for the stencils. I plan to use AK Real Colors paints for the main colors but will be trying MRP paints for the first time for the red, yellow and blue RAF insignia.

The front office is complete and the build has been smooth so far. Here are the office photos. Looking forward to the “full Tamiya experience” on this one.

2

Outstanding Office! Their large Mk. IX Spit is on my short list too.

3

Very nice start on an awesome kit. I did this one at the time the movie Dunkirk came out in the exact same scheme and pilot. I will point out the one area where I had some trouble - the starboard side in attaching the engine mount to the fuselage. I didn’t get the framing properly seated, and there is a consequent gap visible when the cowling panels are attached.

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Thanks LD. It’s a fun kit so far.

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Thanks Aggieman. It really is a great kit - smooth so far. I’ll watch out for the engine mounting issue. Thanks.

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I’ve finished up the main part of the fuselage and wings. I think this is the first time I’ve not applied an extra fingerprint with glue somewhere. Fingers crossed for the rest of the build.

The only drama on the fuselage was a noticable gap between the cockpit tub framing and the cockpit door ledge. Fortunately I didn’t glue the tub in place when I buttoned up the fuselage. So I removed the tub from underneath and sanded and tweaked the fit until the gap was reasonable.

The fit at the wing root is absolutely sublime. Holy smokes.

I was surprised that Tamiya decided to put 4 ejector pin marks on the exposed portion of the cockpit door. It’s a tough location to fix and I wasn’t confident I could get it to look right, so I ordered the Quickboost door with the separate crowbar. Unfortunately, when the part arrived today I discovered it was warped.

That was a surprise. I ordered a replacement and will see how far I can get with the kit part.

I’ve been working on the engine and was also a little surprised to find that Tamiya placed the sprue gates for the 12 individual exhaust tips on the outside surface. Not a big deal but a little extra work. On their 1/32 Mustang they have the sprue gates on the attachment points

Overall, it’s an amazing kit to build so far.

Time to get back to the engine and cleanup of the fuselage.

7

Wow your cockpit work is amazing. Looking foward to the reast of your build!

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Thanks Greatmaker. I’ve made some decent progress. Another update soon…

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I would go with the Vallejo Model Air RAF paints on this. they are a better quality and rather than scale altered are chipset effect and so will give the exterior a much better and business like appearance.

I am glad that you are going with masks for the insignia and remember that the blue is actually Oxford Blue, not insignia blue from MRP.

Oxford Blue BS105 MRP-183

Spray the roundel white and then put the masking back in the circle ONCE THE WHITE IS CURED, taking off, painting the colours letting them cure and then replacing the mask before moving on.

It is a complex thing and takes longer than decals, but the result is more realistic.

Don’t forget that the squadron codes are Sky. Vallejo is the best for that!

The aircraft camo was hard edged and done with masks in the factory and I recommend Top Notch Masks for that to replicate it.

https://topnotch-success.net/vinyl-masks/camouflage/raf/spitfire-ixc-masks/

Also, use the insignia yellow for the leading edge ID markings but don’t put a white background, just airbrush onto the camo paint and it will come out just a slightly bit deeper than the roundel ID yellow on a white background which will help to keep the human eye moving around the model.

Paint it as the originals were painted and the difference from decals etc is very noticable and more realistic.

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Thanks for the helpful tips & recommendations, Snapdragon! Much appreciated.

Looks like I have some paint testing to do. I don’t have much experience with the RAF color schemes and camo application. I’ll check out Vallejo and the MRP blue options. I have the AK colors from a previous build and was planning to add a little white to the MRP colors to equalize the scale effect between the camo and markings. I’ll be marbling, fading and shading a bit anyway and I’m not sure yet what everything will look like after clear coats and weathering.

I’ll test out the colors on some scrap pieces and compare. I thought I was going to get away without testing for this build [:)]. For my Tamiya Mustang, I ran 22 different combinations of metallics, primers and clear coats to select the right set of paints and finishes.

Thanks for the mask recommendation. I’ll check out Top Notch. I’ve usually used tape for the contact masks but I’m sure the vinyl masks could save alot of work.

And I’m really looking forward to the look of the masks vs. decals. I built the Tamiya Spitfire Mk I last year and was really disappointed at how the roundel decals turned out.

Thanks again.

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I have turned to using masks as much as I can as for me although they take longer I always seem to not be able to get decals to look like painted on as some people do despite going through the gloss, setting, sealing matt process.

MRP are really nice paints and they are like spraying ink so you have to make sure that they are fully mixed. I have put shaker balls in them from AK. You won’t need to thin or alter any colours as they are chipset accurate and to match them go with the Vallejo RAF colours for the exterior.

Here are Top Notch masks in action on one of my two 1/24 Hellcats. This is a simple one colour mask

Preventing overspray

Insignia white onto the sea blue… Yes. It works if you take the paint to the full opacitity by very gradually building up the paint by mist.

Remove masks and tape and…

With my 1/32 Lancaster Dambuster from HK…

Decals used to help do masks layouts

The red is darker. I just made it a little lighter in photoshop.

Painting the camouflage upper surface with Top Notch Masks. You do it the same way as the factory paint shop did it. The base coat with Lancs is the Dark Earth. so that is the first colour and is left to cure. These are Vallejo Model Color and so are Chipset accurate. Once cured the masks are applied. The masks are to cover the brown.

The Dark Green is then painted and the masks removed. Photo taken under bright worklights!

stencil walkways laid out as well as the dinghy hatch.

Because the Lancaster has a sharp strengething overlay the Vinyl masks are not flexible enough to get into the corner so I went to Maketar masks and used their custol mask options for the roundels, squadron Codes, serial numbers etc. I used the Kabuki tape option which gives me the flexibility to get the mask into the corners and avoid bleeding

I worked from known points backwards… I.E the wing root join to get correct and accurate spacing according to MAP paint instructions.

Start of the roundel

Making sure it is properly in place.

Prevention of overspray

White done

Roundel masks inserted to cover the white

Red painted

Masked once cured

remove blue masking section, paint Oxford Blue

remask

remove outer for yellow and paint…

remove masks and covering

Bob is being your uncle!

Finished result under natural daylight and not my worklights

On display over lunchtime at a friends restaurant

12

That pit looks great! Nice, clean look. One day I’ll add one of these to the stash!

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Thanks for the helpful tutorial on masking! I’ll definitely be referring back to this as I tackle masking roundels for the first time. Awesome Lancaster also! Thanks.

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Thanks Chad!

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The engine compartment is now complete. Tamiya really went to town with the intricate details here. The molding and fit are fabulous.

Originally I was not planning to even paint the engine since I recently completed Tamiya’s 1/32 Mustang and added some wiring to spruce it up. However, the the engine details on this kit deserved a decent paint and weathering job at a minimum.

Everything received a coat of Mission Models black primer to start. AK Real Colors RAF cockpit gray-green was used for the main color and a mix of Mission Models and Tamiya paints were used for the details. After a thin gloss coat, a dark dirt Flory wash was applied along with some airbrushed black/brown mix. Some Model Master Flat Clear Lacquer finished things off.

For the exhaust, I tried to replicate the light/dark gas staining and heat patterns per original photos. Mission Models black primer was first, followed by a complete coat of Mission Models dunkelgelb lightened with a bit of white. A thin black/brown mix was used to create the shade variation on each exhaust tip, followed by a shade a little more on the brown side and then one on the blacker side. A black/brown mix was applied by brush for some of the harder edge stains. Finally a thin, light gray/beige mix was applied to the upper portions of each exhaust tip. I’m happy with the way it turned out.

Now it’s on to the next phase.

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Brilliant work Hoss!

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Wow you’re not kidding. Look at all that detail!

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No problems Hoss.

When I log a build I try to cover everything including my techniques

Sometimes the long way round gives a better look and teaches you something new!

When HKM first sent me the Lancaster to test build I just sat and looked at the huge amout of plastic in the box (same with the B-17) and thought “this is going to take longer painting than building” because although there is the entire interior (and clear sides in the first one I got), I decided to go for the Dambuster version first amd I just knew that there was going to be trouble with the decals. Especially the huge wing roundels. Having just completed ZM’s Shinden and Ki-45 and used masks on them rather than decals sort of as a test bed and learning experience (yes… I am quite mad) I knew which way to go and immediatly went to Maketar and used their Custom mask service as well as ordering from Top Notch.

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Thanks Reasoned. Much appreciated.

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Thanks Madness. Yes, there was so much “content” to the engine on this beast that I had to at least build and paint the basic kit. I didn’t want to invest the time to plumb and wire the whole thing. But the kit seems to be a great starting point for those that do.