Completed: 1:48 Eduard Spitfire VIII Profipack

Modeling Subjects Aircraft
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----------Finished pics on page 3-----------

I’m building this for the 1945 group build and figured since it’s a new kit that just came out last month that I’d do a WIP post for it here as well. Since it’s new, I’ll give a mini review here.

I was excited to get this, and I have to say that it’s one of the single best kits I’ve ever seen in this scale at first look. The recessed detail is crisp and subtle, much like Eduard’s Bf-109 E series in 1:48. There are markings for six aircraft, and I am opting to build the Aussie one because I have a few Brit Spits already and I like the shark mouth. The color PE set is typical Eduard, and is very nice.

As I began building it, it was really apparent that this thing is well-engineered. The wheel wells comprise 15 parts on their own, and they fit perfectly. The cockpit is nice, and even if you don’t have the PE set, there are nice touches like the armor plate having a tapered edge to give it the impression of scale thickness. Control surfaces are molded separate from the wings, and while I don’t care about that with the ailerons, it’s really nice for the elevators, since Spits seem to always have them dipped down (in the dive position) when they’re on the ground. Flaps are molded into the wings.

The wings themselves are great - no random open panel options to complicate the building. There are options for three different wingtips, and the LF (clipped) wingtips are molded in both solid, and clear - so you can keep the navigation lights clear.

Masks are included, which is nice since Eduard has you installing the under wind lights before the wings themselves are assembled. I’d still prefer to drop them in at the end, but this probably makes for a tighter fit.

So far, I’ve done most of the cockpit. There are a bunch of small PE parts for items like the compass, and Eduard gives you spares in case they decide to take flight on their own off the fret. I was able to keep all of mine, so I’ll have a compass and a few other parts for my Tamiya Spitfire V that I have in the stash.

The exhaust pipes and cannon are out on the side, and Eduard has molded them with recessed openings, so you don’t need to drill them out (I believe this sprue might be the one from their Spitfire IX).

The one complaint I have so far is that the hood is provided as two pieces that need to be joined, and I found it hard to have a consistent depth in the seam. I’ll probably have to fill it and describe it so it doesn’t look funky.

Decals are Cartograf, and there is no engine. I like that the tires are molded separate from the wheels so you don’t have to be as careful painting them.

Here are a couple quick pics I snapped tonight.

I still need to hit some details, like the white handle for the throttle and a few others, but the cockpit is well on its way to being done. I can’t wait to get to main assembly.

-BD-

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Looks like a very nice kit and you are off to a great start.

Mike

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I hope you keep this WIP going. I’m keen on this kit and would like to watch you build it.

Looking good so far.

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Well after posting this last night, I went back to the bench and kept telling myself, “Ok, one more thing” until I realized I had the fuselage halves together and the wings ready to accept them.

There was a somewhat-significant gap in front of the instrument panel. I believe this came more from my trimming it too much than from any fault of Eduard’s, but I can’t remember. In any case, I masked it and filled it, then let it dry overnight.

Today, I sanded it smooth, finishing it with 12,000-grit micro mesh.

I then fitted the fuselage into the wings. The fit is so tight that I really didn’t need any glue, though I of course did glue it.

Seams on the bottom were minimal, mostly consisting of the rear wing-to-fuselage joint that is a common fill spot on Spits.

The one issue I really have with Eduard so far on the design of this kit is the way they made the hood (or bonnet, I suppose) two pieces.

As we cn see below, the Spitfire Mk. VIII didn’t have a seam down the centerline of it.

So I don’t know why the kit version is two parts. Anyway, I masked it, filled it and pulled the masks off. There is some subtle rivet detail uncomfortably close to the putty, but I’ll lay down new masks before I go to sand it and hopefully avoid losing any (but really, I’m not counting them anyway).

The chin was also two pieces, and I kind of get it here, since it’s probably more important to line up the joints to the fuselage halves with the detail there. Maybe that was the rationale on the hood, too, but the chin, having no detail on the seam, is much easier to work with.

I will let these dry overnight before I go back and hit them with the sandpaper. The wings were actually exceptional. The only spot I had to fill was one area on each wing where the sprue attached and I wasn’t able to get it perfect with the knife. Each bit was literally about half a millimeter in diameter.

The only thing that has me really perplexed is the exhaust pipes. I prefer Tamiya’s habit of making them push-in parts that can be added at the end of the build. The way these are engineered is that they are sandwiched by two pieces, giving great detail. I think I will brush them with the final color before assembly and just mask them entirely for the duration of the build. At the end, if there are any discrepancies between the mask and the paint line, I’ll figure it out. Fortunately the one I’m building means one stack will be all ocean gray, and the other one will be 5/6 ocean gray with only the front pipe being surrounded by dark green.

-BD-

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Oh, and just to clarify - those strips of putty are WAY wider than the seams they’re meant to fill. The chin seam could probably have been fine with just a little sanding, but I didn’t want to flatten it out. The lateral seam in the chin scoop is noticeable, but not anywhere near as big as the photo above looks.

-BD-

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Lots of people have had problems with the engine cowlings. Ultracast have one piece resin replacements. They also have exhausts that can inserted from the outside. The fit of the kit cowlings is so glood that you can paint the model first and then insert the kit exhuasts and glue the cowling in place if you want to do it that way.

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Thanks, Antonio. I want to keep this one OOB, but I checked at lunch and yeah that good fit is good enough that I can do it after painting. I’ll probably just tack it in place with white glue until the end.

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You can also find a way to stop the prop falling out.

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Yeah that was strange. I like tamiya’s handling of the prop with the plot caps. I can keep it in there no problem, but am looking at finding something in the spares box that can hold a plot cap so it stays in and is still removable.

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By far Eduard’s best kit so far. Its looking great Brandon…Yes that cowl seam is a dumb design but not impossible to fix.

Joe

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Ok, I got the main assembly done, painted the insides of the scoops and masked them, then added most of the small parts - cannon, PE hooks on the undercarriage, underwing lights, etc.

The horizontal stabilizers and the rudder are on, but not glued yet. I’m going to take them off after shooting the underside for ease of masking, since they fit so well that they won’t need filling at the underwing seam (and hopefully not the upper side, either).

After applying the masks and shooting it black, I realized the hood seam was still visible, so it currently has a 1mm-wide strip of white going down the nose that will be sanded off tomorrow. I contrasted the photo a bit here so you can see it. It wasn’t too bad, but it was definitely there, and I’d rather lose some rivets than have an extra seam, if that’s the end result (fingers crossed that it isn’t).

Now I hope I get the seam dialed this time, because it just looks weird in black.

-BD-

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Oh, and by the way, for anyone who is considering this kit - the way the elevators lock into the horizontal stabilizers with four locating pins ensures you get the perfect dihedral. I am just going to cut off the pins once the stabilizers are glued in so I can drop the elevators down for the parked position.

-BD-

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Wow, Brandon! It’s looking great! I just bought the Eduard 1/48th ProfiPack Spitfire Mk. IXc Late Version (my first-ever Eduard kit), and, like you, am AMAZED at the quality of this kit, and all the nice little extras, such as the photo-etch parts, instruction book (not just a single instruction page - a BOOK!), pose-able elevators, rudder, & flaps, multi-aircraft decal sheet, etc. Great value, too. I bought this well-equipped kit for what a typical run-of-the-mill Tamiya kit cost. Very much looking forward to seeing how yours turns out. Good Luck!

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Looks really nice. I’ve heard good things about this kit. No question that in you hands it’s gonna look great

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Ok, I got some time to work on it over the weekend, which means I finally got some color on the underside.

It’s Tamiya medium sea gray acrylic applied in the three-layer method. After the base coat, I took the stabilizers off, removed the elevators and shot both mating joints with color since they will be displayed in the lowered position and I wanted to make sure they came out well. I’m debating whether I leave them unglued for the upper portion to ease the masking process.

The photo below is after the lightened coat has been sprayed over the base.

The photo below is after the blend coat. This is my fist time using the lacquer thinner with my acrylics instead of Tamiya’s X-20, so getting the ratios right was a bit difficult at first. The bond coat ended up being 35 drops of thinner to 12 drops of paint, and that was about the perfect amount.

Now to let it dry and get on with the masking so I can shoot the topside ocean gray.

-BD-

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Nice work Brandon. Tamiya lacquer thinner is like painting with silk. Fantastic stuff.

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Thanks. I was masking the underside and realized one of the ailerons was loose on one side, so I tried to sneak some glue in but managed to get it on the paint (Model Master cement). So I had to wipe it off, which of course removed paint. Fortunately it was a small area, and I got it resprayed tonight.

-BD-

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Looks great thus far!

Groot

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Thanks, Groot!

Well, it’s been a few days since I posted, but I’ve got the top colors on. The masking still looks a little sharp on some edges, but overall I’m happy with it. One of the reasons I chose this build is that it’s a RAAF bird, and I hadn’t done any Commonwealth planes yet. The other was that the camouflage had sharp demarcations, and not the blurred/feathered lines where the colors joined. I’ve got another Spitfire I want to try out the softer edges on, but this one I wanted to take it easier.

As you can see, I’ve got the ocean gray and dark green atop the medium sea gray. I’m happy with how it came out save for one spot on the starboard wing where I didn’t hit it enough with the green blend coat, leaving too much of the lightened shade peeking through. This would be a problem if it wasn’t covered by a roundel :smiley:

A couple of side shots

And you can see the color scheme on the Eduard instructions. The gray on my plane is much more blue than the color drawing, but I think the bluer tint is actually more correct, and it will probably tone down a bit when I clear coat it anyway. (Also, the white balance in this photo is totally off, and I didn’t take the time to fix it).

Now I get to basically mask the whole thing again to paint the leading edges of the wings and the cannon barrels white. I suppose I should do the fuselage band at that time, too.

-BD-

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Looking great Brandon. It would have been easier to paint the white and tape it off before the camo…at least cheaper as Tamiya tape is expernsive…lol. I look forward to the decaling…

Joe