1/48 Tamiya Spitfire MK. I (Work In Progress)....

Modeling Subjects Aircraft
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I love the Spitfire. The Merlin versions, as far as I’m concerned, were the most beautiful aircraft ever built and I have a particular fondness for the MK I. To me it was purest form of R.J. Mitchell’s design coupled with the role it played in that pivotal part of world history. Who knows what would have happened if Britain were unable to beat back the Luftwaffe in those dark days. This all prompted me to embark on a MK I build with the phenomenal 1/48 Tamiya kit . I procured an Eduard PE set, Ultracast seat and wheels. I haven’t decided on which squadron yet.

I started with the cockpit. I added some miscellaneous PE to the seat bulkhead assembly and then all interior sections were sprayed flat black. I added the very nice PE dash. I normally bypass these but this one is fairly detailed and colorful. I mixed RAF interior green with the Tamiya recommended colors. It looked too green so I added a dash more grey. I then sprayed the interior. The Ultracast seat was painted to simulate “bakelite”, or whatever was used on early spitfires. I dont know if bakelite is correct for MK I Spitfires but I like look of it, which was Tamiya flat red mixed with red brown. I painted the O2 bottles light blue, primarily because I have no clue what color there were supposed to be and I wanted to add some more color.

I opened up the gun ports holes in the wings and added .08 brass tubing to sumulate the Brownings. I tried to stagger how far they stuck out by using the access panels on the top of the wing as a reference guide. I then sprayed them flat black, drybrushed them with silver, then closed up the wings with Tenex. You have to really look closely, especially on the inboard 303’s, but you can see them. I think it will add to the overall look.

Well…here I am,. A couple of hours work and the frame is together. I still have work at the wing roots and need to add the stabilizers, but its spot glued at the leading and trailing edges. So far, its a perfect fit. Gotta love these Tamiya kits. For those interested, I have a trick I use to check seams. Once done sanding, just before fine grade sandpaper to smooth everything, I use a silver Sharpie along the panel lines which magnifies areas that need more attention. Works everytime.

Looks like I’m gonna have to decide on a squadron soon! Stay tuned for more…

Joe

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Another beautiful completion on the way for sure. I’ve heard the silver sharpie trick before, but I’m having trouble finding one in our local target where we shop. They are always out of stock. Question: have you had any problems with the silver ink bleeding through paint? Or anything else undesirable. This is a concern of mine since the color markers are no nos.

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Man, that’s a good lookin’ cockpit Joe![:D[ Beautiful work! I’ll never get one to turn out like that, many congratulations to you! Bravo.

Gary

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Thanks guys for the compliments. Jimmy, referemce the Sharpie…I got mine at Hobby Lobby. It came in a two pack. Regarding the bleed under concerns, I always use a super fine paper, like 2000 grit, to polish up the seam when finished, which essentially sands off the Sharpie ink. I also shoot a light coat of Alclad Grey Micro Primer before I start painting anyways, so this is not an issue.

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That’s true I guess. I can see where it would mostly be eliminated. I’ve been meaning to pick one up to try, but I only “seam” to remember when I’m in the one place that never has them. I was in Michaels yesterday, but forgot. Lol

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Lawdog114 - i’m by no means an expert, but i thought oxygen bottles were yellow. However, i’ve also seen them painted green, so, to be honest, i’m not sure.

The blue adds a nice contrast to the cockpit, which looks absolutely terrific.

I also like your trick with the gun barrels, i’ll remember that for the future.

Lastly, thanks for posting this wip. This kit has been on my wish list for a while, but i wanted to see what it was like first, so thanks for sharing.

I think i’ll definitely invest in it for my next kit.

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This is a great start and a fantastic job on the cockpit. Those two bottles are actually compressed air, usually found silver coloured, but also grey.

It is interesting what you have done with the brownings, I was planning something similar before asking for some help from the lads over at Britmodeller. The guns were actually butted up against blast tubes so the muzzles/barrels would not be seen at all. The blast tube was set flush within the wing leading edge, but there is some instances of them being set in slightly inwards.

quote from Edgar,

This is one of those “Jury’s still out” questions, since there are a lot of “maybes” involved. It appears that the early Mk.Is had tubes, with a slight “step” inside, which might have been for the “covers,” mentioned in the September 1940 modification (which introduced the fabric patches) to rest on. So far, I’ve been totally unable to find out what the covers (there were others in the empty case chutes, as well) looked like. It’s always been a bit of a mystery why Supermarine decided that the introduction of self-adhesive fabric patches needed a full-blown modification, but, if it meant changing the design of the tubes, it makes more sense.

The steps appear in a drawing of the Mark I leading edge “D” box, but with no indication of their purpose, and disappear in later Marks. There is no sign of any form of external cover in photographs of early airframes, and it’s difficult to believe that freezing-up wouldn’t have been a problem, since the Brownings were cocked before take-off, so cold air would have gone straight into the breeches.

Certainly they had icing troubles with the early cannons, and found that rubber sleeves (cue condom jokes) were less than ideal, because the cold made them go brittle, then shatter, with bits entering the barrels.

The tubes were definitely not free-floating, but fixed at each end.

regards,

Jack

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That is a very nice cockpit! Those Tamiya kits never dissapoint.

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UK oxygen bottles were black, compressed-air cylinders silver. Somewhat mystified by your choice of black, for the cockpit, when the Air Ministry’s laid-down specification was grey-green (green was reckoned to be the most restful, easy-on-the-eye colour in bright sunlight.) It was 1944 before black cockpits made their appearance, in late Typhoons.

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The detail on the IP and the seat are incredible!

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Really nice work! I think the black under the green really adds some depth. I built this kit earlier this year with an Ultracast seat, exhaust and prop. I was very pleased with the kit. I don’t remember all the sites I checked, but once I’d decided on the particular plane I wanted to build, I found a site that included the build dates for every plane in the squadron and was then able to make a guess on the seat color. I ended up going with interior green, but I imagine you could go either way and not really be wrong. I think it looks great.

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Edgar, the cockpit was paint in Grey-Green, not black. The use of the underlying black is a weathering technique to add shadowing. Thanks for the compliments all.

Joe

Note: edited by FSM moderators to fix reference to an earlier deleted post.

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Where’s antoni when you need him? [:)]

The Spit is looking great lawdog, can’t wait to see the markings. So many great BoB planes to choose from.

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[:#]

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“Something mighty scruwy goin’ on…” Mr. Elmer Fudd

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After almost 5 days without power and a house stuck at about 48 degrees thanks to Hurricane Sandy, progress slowed. I was able to get the airframe put together and get all the seams cleaned up. I needed a little putty by the carb intake (both sides by the wing root) and at the wing root trailing edges. Furthermore, I didn’t like the way the rear of the wing met the lower fuselage bottom. The gap, which is a natural panelline, was uneven and looked sloppy. I ended up using the superglue/accelerator trick and sanded it smooth. Once satisfied, I rescribed this paneline. I did the same thing with my Hasegawa Zero. The power can back on this afternoon so I managed to get the airframe primered. I decided on a 92 Squadron Spit from a sheet I saw on E-bay and am awaiting its arrival. Here’s where I’m at…

Joe

See, the joint looks much better when filled and rescribed.

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Looks really good and clean. Looking forward to the paint. I’ve been playing with sanding sticks, putty, and a scribed all day myself.

I hope everything’s okay for you and yours up there wherever you may be after that stupid storm. Glad your power is back if its that cold. At least you can always pile on more blankets. We had no power for almost two weeks with Ike and it was in the 90s every day. Not fun. Best wishes!!

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Hello all. I’m back into Spitfire mode full speed now. I got it painted last night and its about ready for decals, which coincidentally arrived today. I decided on a MK I from Xtradecal sheet X48059, namely a 92 Squadron (Biggin Hill) Spitfire in September 1940. This would have been right smack dab in the middle of Battle of Britain hostilities. The primary reason I decided on this schemewould be my long awaited need to pay homage to a painting by William Philips which i’ve had prominently displayed in my living room for about 8 years now. It a captivating scene of several 92nd Squadron Spitfires taking off as a woman on bicycle gazes up at them. She appears to be saying a little prayer as the Spits ascend to meet the Luftwaffe, hence painting’s title “On wing and a Prayer”.

Anyways, I pre-shaded the panel lines flat black then sprayed the lower surface with the Tamiya’s recommended Sky (XF-21). I thought it looked a little too green for my taste, so I added a smidgen of Tamiya Flat Yellow (XF-3) which seem to bring it closer to the creamy greenish tan (sounds gross…equally hard to describe) color I was going for. I still don’t understand the difference between Duck Egg, Sky Type S or F, and all research I conducted seemed to contradict itself. I’m convinced that nobody really knows at this point, so I just went with what looked good to my eye with the help of some some pictures of built Spitfires in a few magazines I had on hand. The control surfaces were lightened slightly for contrast and the surface was weathered by my normal streaking process. I find this technique doesn’t work as well on lighter colors like this, and you have to look hard to notice it. It was then dirtied up with a diluted mix of flat black and red brown in the panel lines.

The Spitfire chosen, number N3249, carried a “B” scheme in Dark Earth over RAF Dark Green. I custom mixed the earth with the Tamiya recommendation of half Flat Earth (XF-52) and half Red Brown (XF-64). It could be the lighting in my basement, but it looked a little too reddish to me, so I added more earth color. I don’t know, it still seems to have a red hue but I decided to live with it and tone it down with weathering, by means of adding Tamiya Buff (XF-57) with the streaking technique. This is how it came out.

Once done with the Dark Earth, I used Blue Tac (poster putty) and taped the upper surface off for the RAF Dark Green (XF-81). This was tedious I’ll admit, but with the assistance of the sheet that comes with the kit, which happened to be a B scheme (thanks Tamiya…nice touch!), I was able to reasonably duplicate the patterns.

Before the RAF Green application, I re-preshaded the panel lines (where the green would go) in black. I think Tamiya did a nice job on this color which looks spot on from the bottle. Before removing the Blue Tac, I weathered the green too. It was lightened with Buff and streaked like the Dark Earth. I removed the Tac and here are the results. I’m pleased with the results, a slight sun faded appearance. I found it interesting that once the scheme was complete, the Dark Earth seemed less reddish and more like what I’m used to seeing on early Spits and Canes…neat trick! I’m going to do a little chipping with a silver pencil, clear coat it, then start decaling. Stay tuned…

Thanks for looking and as always, comments are welcome.

Joe

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Looking good as usual. Question: at this point is the only thing you’ve done with the panel lines the spraying over with the black red brown mix? It looks like they’ve received a wash.

Sorry if you mentioned that…I read everything, but I’m still a little morning groggy. [:)]

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Nope. I just shaded the lines a bit. i think it adds a little more depth to the overall look. I normally do a line wash after decaling.