I have decided i want to build Bill Skinner’s “Lonesome Polecat”. I’m not for being up on what’s hot in Spitfires so in my ignorance I jumped online and ordered Hasegawa’s MKIXc. Bill’s airplane was a MKVIII the best I can tell but the Hase kit gives you all the parts to build that mark.
Then, out of curiosity, I decided to find some reference for the MKVIII and in doing so I stumbled on a comparison of MKIXc kits. And in said review my eye’s were opened to the fact that the Hase kit is supposed to have some serious issues concering fuse length. Four mm to short in the tail and 1.5mm short in the nose. And this is just the start. What to do?
Out came the razor saw, Evergreen, Tenax, CA, the list goes on. And I must say I cannot understand why anyone would want to go to the trouble of cutting up a fine looking kit like this but I still find myself doing it. Maybe just to see if I can pull it off. Maybe to do Bill’s plane a little justice. Maybe I’m just a freak.[:O][}:)]
So here goes. If anyone wants to know how it goes let me know and I’ll update with pics. Any if anyone haas any idea’s I listen to those too!
There is a much easier way to correct the Hasegawa kit. Loon Models make corrected fuselages for both Mk IX and Mk VIII in resin available from Roll Models: http://www.rollmodels.net/index2.htm
Brigade Models have a replacement nose, also injection moulded but it costs more than the Aeroclub fuselage and does not correct all of the faults. I think they also have a Mk VIII converstion.
Wow, nice products! Makes fixing the kit easy. To late for that now for me but I’ll make a note for the future. As it is now the only thing this project is going to cost me over kit price is time.
Do you know what happens when you paint over MM metalizer? This.
I used it as a “tell tale” so I could see the progress of the seam. I didn’t want to use my Alclad! The base coat will not stick to this stuff. The frisket pulled it right off. Bummer. Up front on the cowl I had a huge FUBAR. Now I have to spend some extra time fixing the paint job. But here is what I have so far.
Lesson learned on the metalizer. Now if I can figure out how to control how much base coat comes off it would be a killer way to chip paint. If the damage would have been a lot more subtle I would have left it. Or if this was a japanees plane.
Yup, it’s done. I searched hi and low for a color of background other than blue to be different from everyone else but I never found a color that the plane didn’t blend in with or just plain looked bad. So, I guess I’m just another one of the sheep. Now to the plane.
OOB. Unless you count the fuse mods, ofcourse. Rare for me but I didn’t even put in belts. I ordered them but they didn’t get here in time. Maybe next time.
I went through my only ref resource on this plane trying to get it close to right. Paint is MM enamels. Stains and the likes are a mix of Tamiya acryls. Flat coat is Polly Scale.
A real good pic of this plane clearly showed the wing and Skinner’s plane didn’t have the bulges over the wheels.
Other things were just edjucated guesses and assumptions. Super Scale sheet 48-840 indicated that “Fargo Express” had yellow bands on the wings but didn’t indicate such for the “Lonesome Polecat”.
I didn’t determine until after I had decaled the plane that since the other plane was in the same squadron as my project that it stood to reason this plane had them to. So out came the tape to mask for the stripes.
I attempted to stain the exhausts according to what I saw in photos. The indian in the nose art is a little short the best I can tell.
The landing gear recieved a good clean up and holes drilled where I thought they should go.
My very first 1/48th Spitfire and I enjoyed it. I think a few more will come in the future and by then I’ll learn more about them. And have those belts! Hope you enjoy.
Looks great hkshooter, I like it. I’ve built about half a dozen hasegawa spitfires and have yet to do one in american marking. I am finishing a spitfire myself and hope to have pics by the end of the week.
Only thing i can nit pick is in the second last photo where the wing joins the fusaluge, some more sanding was needed. I however consider this a very minor fault because when i attempted this kit (revell ) i had gap issues with this area which was resolved with a .22 pelet gun.
Thanks for the kind words! Yeah, that seam could have used more work. Easy to see now. Some of the roughness is from the paint. I have not been able to figure out how to spray wing roots without getting a build up of pebble grained paint in there. I’ve tried different angles to no avail. It’s just gonna have to do for now though. I used to be obsessive about things like that. Now I take medication for it.[8)]
Very nice, HK. I appreciate all your commentary on the way…better and more reliable than most reviews! I particularly like the effect on the exhaust stacks, and the overall flat finish is beautiful. Extremely well done.
