Softscience's Spitfire IX, eh?

[Martin R]

....and with decals. And I sprayed on a flat coat, with just a dash of Radome tan mixed into it. Its amazing how much difference that makes

Wow, Ralph, that looks great!

I don't know how it looks in real life, but in the photo with the weathering and the flat coat, The panel lines appear to be visually de-emphasised. Everyone gets excited about the "massive" panel lines on this kit, but if you don't put in a heavy black wash, they just add some visual interest to the surface - in my opinion anyway. Accuracy - nil points; trompe l'oeil - hell, yeah!

regards,

Martin

[AndrewR]

Wow, Ralph, that looks great!

I don't know how it looks in real life, but in the photo with the weathering and the flat coat, The panel lines appear to be visually de-emphasised. Everyone gets excited about the "massive" panel lines on this kit, but if you don't put in a heavy black wash, they just add some visual interest to the surface - in my opinion anyway. Accuracy - nil points; trompe l'oeil - hell, yeah!

regards,

Martin

I had to look up "Trumpy Oil"

And you are right Martin, it looks great and the panel lines give some visual interests. Actually, if you think about it, either raised or engraved panel lines are usually a trompe l'oell.

Cheers

Andrew

[Martin R]

Actually, if you think about it, either raised or engraved panel lines are usually a trompe l'oell.

Cheers

Andrew

Andrew,

Quite! See how 'toy like' your model looks like with no surface detail at all. It may be more accurate - but somehow it doesn't 'look' right. I think some of Allan Buttrick's stuff, where he sands off raised panel lines and then uses pencil lines to 'reinstate' them, is absolutely fantastic.

regards,

[Softscience]

the same technique applies to weathering. Somewhere on teh interwebz is an article I wrote about a Revell Hurricane IIc I built up several years ago. On that model I tried to utilize weathering techniques I typically use on larger scale kits (and where they work especially well), and the result was just a mess. The weathering was "realistic", but it just looked awful on this tiny little model, as it didn't fool the eye into believing it was a smaller version of the real thing.

Doubly true on panel lines. No approach is especially realistic, but petite lines, whether they're raised or lowered, do make the subject more realistic and pleasing to the brain

[Martin R]

Ralph,

Really looking forward to seeing this one finished!

regards,

Martin

[Tommy]

Nice Ralph! I like the radome tan tip.

Tommy

[Softscience]

Thank you Martin and Tommy.

And thank you Bruce (Brews) for the info on the prop tips and mirror.


Tonight I finished it. Woohoo! I finally successfully completed a group build!!

I'm pleasantly surprised at how well the kit turned out. The photos are not the best, but I think they capture the overall look ok. The base is temporary until I figure out something more attractive and wooden.











Now I really need to go build something thats not a spitfire

[Tommy]

You made it!

Beautiful Ralph!

Is that Buzz Beurling's Spitfire, by any chance?

Tommy

[flakmonkey]

Nice job Ralph. The weathering on the undersides is well done; people often weather Spitfire undersides by copying the 1:1 exactly with no thought for scale, as you mentioned earlier, which looks ugly. You've pulled off the trick of capturing the look and feel and letting the viewer fill in the rest which is a much more attractive and sympathetic treatment.

[AndrewR]

Nice one Ralph!



Cheers

Andrew

[Dirkpitt289]

Well done Ralph. Smartly done

[MackemPete]

Class work mate. Hope to get mine finished soon!
Pete

[airjim]

Great looking Spitfire Ralph.

Jim

[Softscience]

Thanks guys.

I really need to replace the base with something more substantial though. Today a truck drove by the house and the vibrations knocked the spitfire over. It didn't get damaged, but if I keep it as is, than I'm only asking for it.

A nice little block of wood, which I could then stain, should do the trick

[jssel]

Congrats on the finish Ralph. Looks very nice indeed.