This isn't my secret project but it does have something to do with it. I can't reveal what that something is but I hope to come clean at the Newark show. I must admit that, at the moment, that is looking unlikely, but I'm hopeful that things may pick up as there is still loads of work to do.Anyway this is the Italeri Spitfire MkXVI. I think that this low back MkXVI is one of the best looking of the Spitfire family, which is one reason for choosing this subject. The kit itself is OK, but not in the same league as Tamiya, Hasegawa or Eduard. The cockpit is OK and I simply painted it, without washes or dry brushing and I used the kit decal harness. For the instrument panel I painted the dials white and, when dry, applied the black. Before the black was totally dry I scratched in the dial faces. When dry I applied a coat of Klear to simulate glass.
I had to trim the cockpit parts to enable the fuselage halves to close properly and had to take a smidge off the bottom rear of it to allow the lower wing to fit. The upper wings require the gun covers changing to accommodate the switch of the cannon to the outer bay. If you build this model then use the engraved panel lines, on the top of the wing to guide your cuts, not the underside recess. Cut inside the lines and file to size, trial fitting the changed panels as you go. Or, like me, rectify the over sized hole. The engine cover is a little large, at it's front end, but a few swipes with an emery board cured that. I don't like adding the spinner backing plate separately, when the fuselage halves are closed. I added a length of plastic tube into the hole, for the spinner, and added a length of brass tube to the spinner back plate. Then I found out that the hole for the spinner is to high, so I filed it out to lower it. The spinner will now sit properly
I added the lower wing first, not the best fit, then attached the upper wings to the outer part only. When the outer part was dry I offered the inner part to the fuselage and made sure that they were the best fit before gluing to it, then glued the leading and trailing edges, where they touched. Any discrepancy can then be filled. This will leave the best join possible at the wing root. The wing end plates, for the clipped wings, are not a good fit. My plan is to make them fit at the rear, cut off the front, then built this up with coloured tooth brush handles, red and blue. Once filed to shape they will be masked off and will not only simulate the nav lights but will have built up the front of the end plate.
In the pics I have still to fill the gaps around the wings and fit the wing end plates. I have started on the rear of the underside wing joint.
Mal
