Joe, that looks great.
After dealing with the best set of decals I have yet to try on my Spit I am still not entirely happy with the look. Don’t get me wrong, they came out pretty decent, but they just don’t look as real as your painted ones do. I am convinced now, thanks to you, that I must paint as many decals as I can rather than use the kit parts. It just looks more convincing. Great work.
Outstanding work there! [Y]
Mike
Nice work on those rounels and flases, Joe. There’s a company named Maketar that sells die cut roundel, flash and call letter masks in vinyl and kabuki tape at reasonable prices as well. Makes those little bulls eyes, stars and bars and even balkancruz very easy.
Very good, but the only problem is that there was a standing instruction that roundels should never encroach onto ailerons; ailerons had to be carefully balanced, and even a small amount of paint would have upset them. also, nothing was supposed to encroach on the roundels, and that included the walkway lines.
Joe,
Your Spit is looking great! I’ve got to agree that painted on insignia looks so much better than decals. I’ve bought some masks and hope to try them soon.
Steve
Yeah…it was kind of a crap shoot getting the tape in the right place in relation to the red dot below it. My first attempt at this. Turned out them roundels should be more forward…oh well. I can however fix the walk line. I’m still pleased with the overall look…
Thanks for the kind words all…
Joe
I’m slightly dubious of this. The British may not have wanted to paint the roundels on the ailerons, but I’m not too sure that weight would have been an issue. If that were the case, why paint camo on them, just leave them with colored dope. Besides the control surfaces are balanceable in the field.
I certainly could be, and probably am wrong here, but I can’t find any reference to this. I would like to know for sure so I can avoid making a similar boo boo in a future.
Edit: After some more research, I found the ailerons were not fabric but light alloy due to “ballooning” at high speed, however I still would like to find some info about paint and weight.
Now it’s bugging me… I have to go back and fix the roundels. Wish me luck…
…I was gonna say Spit Vs had metal ailerons, and they would not be balanced in the field, but balanced at the factory after being painted. They might be field balanced after a repair, though.
Any control surface can be balanced in the field. I’ve balanced a few myself, albeit civilian AC.
Edgar may be right though, I just can’t find any reference for it and was wondering if he knew where I could find it. I did find regulations on sizes, colors and distances of the roundels from the canopy etc. though.
Just beautiful work and paint on that Spit. fantastic work on the painted markings too. [B]
Those Tamiya kits just fall together right out of the box. I recently did a Tamiya Spit as a commission and it was a pure joy to build and detail.
During WWII, Squadrons did not have the facility for balancing ailerons (or rudders.) With today’s technology, things might be different, but not 70+ years ago.
There was a standard formula for producing wing-top roundels; measure the wingspan and divide by 3, then measure that distance out from the centre of the fuselage. This marks the centre of the roundel, which should fill the available space, without encroaching on the aileron (or yellow leading edge in the case of fighters.) This is why upper wing roundels are all different sizes; under-wing and fuselage roundels were set sizes, as were the fin flashes.
It takes basic tools to balance a control surface. Squadron mechanics would have to check balances after a repair.
However that being said, the formula for roundels is interesting. I was unaware of how they calculated sizes. That would explain the size differences.
Thank you for bringing that to light.
Beautiful bird, I always enjoy watching your builds.
On the weight and balance discussion, if the ailerons were cloth covered, being concerned about the weight of paint makes some sense. Currently, if a US Navy aircraft gets repainted, it gets reweighed to add the weight of the paint (consider how many gallons of paint get used, not to mention, it isn’t exactly lightweight acrylic!).
Because the aileron is probably the farthest point from the center of gravity of a wing, being concerned about the relative weight of paint makes a lot of sense. It’s like a board balanced on a rock with neither end touching the ground. Putting a quarter on it near the rock may not do anything to it, while a quarter at one end of the board may push that end to the ground.
Groot
Every time i see WIP and lawdog114 in a new post, I know that modeling nirvana is waiting. I nominate you for modeler/entertainer of 2014, and you are off to a great start in 2015. Thanks for taking the time to post your work. knox
Interesting info…thanks. Knox, thank you but modeler if the year is a stretch. I’m just an average modeler with a few tricks, nothing more…and your welcome. I did fix the roundel issue…pics soon. Joe
Lawdog,
I didn’t quite understand some of you explanation. How did you make the masks for the roundels? I would really like to try that trick on both British and Japanese AC.
I took a circle template, the green kind a mechanical drafter would use (I got mine at a crafts store) and I traced out the appropriate sized circle into Tamiya tape with a brand new Exacto knife. Just lay down strips of the tape on glass until its wide enough to accommodate the circle …
Alrighty… Roundel painting part deux…
After the discussion of paint on the ailerons, I initially decided not to mess with it. Then it started bugging me. Perhaps to justify myself (I’m as stubborn as any human being can be), I got to searching the internet to see if any pictures existed that showed roundel/aileron encroachment. Well…Murphy’s Law would not allow me to find any. I concede…I must repaint. I taped off half each wing and (holdng my breath) resprayed it using the same process as before (red-tape-blue-tape…then scheme). It was a total PITA but I muddled my way through it. I also fixed the walkway line issue which no longer cuts though the roundel.
Before…
After…
It was clear coated and after a few hours, I decaled it. The Victory productions fuselage codes were nice, but I found the roundels somewhat thick and unforgiving, even under Micro Sol. Then I remembered why I keep Aeromaster roundels in the decal stash, albeit too late here. From now on I will paint all of these. I used the kit stencils which gave me no issues. I then robbed my Mk. I kit for the Dehavilland propeller and hub. I also deepened the rivets at the base of the spinner with a needle in a pin vice.
In the home stretch…
Joe
Gawd that looks good!! Nice work, AGAIN !