I was going to hold back building this until December,the first anniversary of getting back into modelling again, but I couldnt wait any longer and made a start yesterday.
Its the Airfix Spit MK1 in 1:72, the first kit I built and during which I found Armorama and really got hooked on modelling again.
I wanted to build it again as a direct comparrison to my first build,and see how Im progressing generally.
Today has been spent working on the wing roots and blending the joins.Hopefully later today I'll get some primer on and see how it looks.
Heres how it stands at present.

Nige

Didn't Mal change the saying to "Fokker's" :-) :-) .
Looking good Nige. Will this become a yearly build now.
I often take a peek at the first model i built, when i rejoined the ranks of plastic sniffers. It is embarrassing to think i once built that terribly, now i only build them badly :-) .
Andy

A great idea Nige, I'm looking forward to the comparison.


Errrr.................No!
Mal

Update:
Primers on.Still needs work around the wingroots,and a couple of other places.
Once thats done progress should be pretty quick as Im using Acrylics and cant go anywhere until the cars back on the road early next week.
I was short on paints but Netmerchants same day dispatch should see me right,and with the heatwave we are having at the moment drying time is drastically reduced.
More pics to follow.
Nige

Gotta love this hot weather
Today I managed to do the preshading,and Ive also added some Alclad on the wing roots and around the cowling panels.I'll either scrape some of the top coat of acrylics off or try the Copydex weathering technique here.
The underside has been sprayed in Tamiya XF21 Sky.
The sun was a bit dazzling but hopefully the preshading shows through ok in the photo.Its more pronounced in the flesh.
I have to wait for the postie to deliver my Netmerchants order now,although theres some detail painting I can do before my acrylics arrive,and Im also working on a couple of campaign builds,but the Spit has taken over a bit at the moment.


Netmerchants despatched my order yesterday so hopefully the Royal Mail will come through and I'll have the paints tomorrow morning and can crack on with this over the weekend.
Nige

looking really good Nige, have you seperated the elevators?
Mal

Thanks Mal.
Its coming along. Im almost happy with the wing roots and very pleased with how the preshading has turned out.
Yep,,Ive taken the bull by the horns and cut the elevators off.Ive glued a piece of thin plastic rod to the remaining section to replicate a hinge.I think I saw this one some old article on a Tamiya Spit once
These will be my first drooped elevators and Im going to glue the tail wheel at an angle as well to try and bring a bit of "movement" to the finished model.
Painting the bits and pieces tonight and if postie comes through I should get the camouflage sprayed on over the weekend and finish this early next week
Nige

you've got that fusalage to wing join sorted, if i remember right the 1/24 kits wings go together exactly the same way, so this is almost a dry run for the "big un" the underside colour and pre shading is looking nice even on a photo, and the elevators will be a nice touch

Yes Nige the pre-shading does look good and Spitfires inveriably had their elevators down (or up, on later Mk's) when at rest. Here are a couple of pics from my Airshow portfolio (get me ) to show the tail wheel. You are probably aware but I have seen Spitfire models, with the tail off set, where the the whole tail wheel strut had been turned. It is actually a castering unit and only the bottom section turns.




Don't be fooled by the up attitude of the elevators on this Mk IX, the pilot has the stick back, to lift them, to avoid the tail lifting while running up the engine. I was about 1.5 wing lengths from this beauty as the Merlin was turned up and I'm still grinning from ear to ear

Mal

Thanks Mal.
Im definately going to have to try to get to Selby next year.It looks like a fantastic little show.
I was aware of the tail wheel being on a castor.Here a shot from my walkround portfolio,(hark at me,,lol),,blurred but you can see enough to get by.


Now then,,comparrisons between this buld and my first Airfix Spit last December. Personally I find this quite scary.Only difference in the earlier photo is that its had a couple of coats of Klear.
Dec 2005

July 2006


Postie has come through and my paints arrived so I can crack on with the camouflage today. :-) :-)
Nige

Arent acrylics great?
What Ive done today would have taken me 2 or 3 days with drying time for enamels. It was fun doing a "white sausage" camouflage scheme again after not having done one for a few months.
Next up will be detail painting and last thing tonight I will give this a couple of coats of Klear and decal it tomorrow when the Klears had a good overnight drying session.
Still debating as to weather or not to cut the tail wheel and reposition it but the more I look at it the weaker it looks and it will probably be more trouble than its worth in the future.
This is turning into a speed build :-)

Nige

Looking good Nige.
A side by side comparison when its finished should really open the eyes to see how far you have progressed in such a short time.
I think you should take your modelling up a notch by building a bi-plane now :-) .
Andy

That's the good thing about acrylics, but they are a bugger to spray a fine line with as the nozzle will clog, with dried paint, every few seconds. That's whay I prefer enamels.

It is looking very good Nige and I'm looking forward to the comparison.




I totally agree
Mal

Hi all.
Because of the bad register of the Airfix decals,I had originally decided to use a set from the Hasegawa MK1 in my stash,but the squadron code letters just didnt look right,so I elected to only use the tail fin flashes and the fusalage roundels from this,and the Airfix decals for everything else.
All was going fine until the starboard codes snagged while I was applying them,and no amount of coaxing would straighten them out,and eventually the decal wrinkled and ripped.
Never mind,,what better excuse to buy myself another Airfix Spit!
So construction has stalled somewhat until I can pick up another one early next week.
Back to my campaign builds in the meantime,and more filling and sanding trying to get the PM Sea Fury looking something like an aircraft and less like a potholed pavement
Almost forgot,,heres a pic (of the finished side).

Now then,,where did I put the industrial sized tub of filler?
Nige

so, you can't have too many spitfires eh!
good job then, cos i bought this today-

i've been after the s6b kit for a while, plus the razorback spit caught my eye in this boxing, don't remember an airfix kit of this and the instructions show it to actually be a heller kit (it simply has the heller instructions airfix did'nt bother re-printing them) but theres one dilemma, it has two schemes one is a full nmf, but the other version looks slightly cooler its the box art one
"what to choose
how to choose"-from dead like me

Easy,,,just buy the whole set twice!
After all,,,,
You just cant have too many Spitfires!! :-)

thats what i was kind of thinking, only slight problem is the other half does'nt exactly know about the first one! :-)8

I would buy another one then, you can only get in trouble once, might as well make it worthwhile :-) :-) .
Andy

yeah- as the saying goes "you can't........" oh hang on, not that one this one "you might as well be hung for a sheep as much as a lamb"
of course if i was really sneaky i'd buy one with her blessings, and just sneak the extras into the stash

Almost there.
The new Spit arrived this morning and it was straight into finishing the decalling.Almost a disaster when the decals wrapped themselves together but after a brief panic and some carefull adjustment they went on ok
All it needs now is a last coat of Klear then I'll wash and weather it and its all done


Have fun with your MKI Phil
Nige

Cool box o' Spits there phil
Nige, really looking good, this is going to be the best Airfix 1/72 Spitfire Mk 1 ever.
Mal

Cheers Mal!
Im pretty pleased with it up to this stage,and dropping the elevators was a lot easier than I expected it to be.
Theres a big difference between this and the last one, thankfully for the better , and I will post some photos of them together when its finished.
I'll bring them both to Doncaster so you can see the difference close up.
Best Airfix Spit ever?,,not by a long way. Plenty of room for improvement still,and the next time I build this Im planning on rescribing the whole thing.Another first for me
Guess what my MOM entry will be for August?
Nige

i'm sooooo tempted to start the s6b, as opposed to the spitfires, i nearly made a start on it tonight!

All done!
Some finished pics and some photos of the first one I built.
(new pics have a blue background incase your not sure which is which )







Comments and advice for future builds welcome as always.
Nige