** Martin's Mediterranean 'Merican - Just Made it. Phew! **

If you have to ask, well ....
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jssel
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Re: Martin's Mediterranean 'Merican

Post by jssel »

Very tasty Martin. I have built up a couple of these and like them a lot. I alway felt that if you have a Otaki kit with clear glass, you had a nice kit. The F6F Hellcat was the best in my opinion. Years ago there was a resin insert for the wing/lower fuselage for the gull wing.
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Martin R
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Re: Martin's Mediterranean 'Merican

Post by Martin R »

jssel wrote:Very tasty Martin. I have built up a couple of these and like them a lot. I alway felt that if you have a Otaki kit with clear glass, you had a nice kit. The F6F Hellcat was the best in my opinion. Years ago there was a resin insert for the wing/lower fuselage for the gull wing.
Thanks, Jeff.

I think you're right about the glass. There's a 2-piece canopy (!) and a one piece. The one piece is translucent while the 2-piece is crystal clear. Guess which one I'll be using.

regards,

Martin
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PaulBradley
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Re: Martin's Mediterranean 'Merican

Post by PaulBradley »

Looks good, Martin.
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Martin R
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Re: Martin's Mediterranean 'Merican

Post by Martin R »

Thanks, Paul.

Upon closer inspection, the two piece canopy was not from this kit! It didn't come close to fitting, anyway! Back to the one piece canopy, but as mentioned earlier, it was yellow and translucent so that was a non-starter. I eventually decided to sacrifice the canopy from the Airfix version of this kit (the one I got the decals from) so I now have a fully complete Airfix version of this kit in the stash apart from the canopy. I wonder if Airfix would send me a spare . . .

We've been out and about with the kids in the latter half of the week and I've been a bit whacked, so little progress has been made since last time. I did find some time this evening and I have now been throught a couple of fill / sand cycles and I'm happy with the finish at present (although some rescribing will be required). Tonight I have kleared the (replacement) canopy and that's currently drying, I have added the gunsight and another bit to the 'pit and the radiators have been added. I have also drilled out the back of the wheels to take some Aeroclub white metal landing gear legs (the kit ones have the oleos at full extension and give a bit of a nose high sit).

Tomorrow, I'll get the canopy on and mask it up and hopefully blow a little primer around. I'll also plutter around with the gear legs and see if I can work out how to add torque links and brake lines.

regards,

Martin
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PaulBradley
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Re: Martin's Mediterranean 'Merican

Post by PaulBradley »

Martin R wrote:I wonder if Airfix would send me a spare . .
No harm in asking -explain the situation, offer to pay, and see what they say. I've always had very good service from Airfix; even when something has been my fault, they've always come through.
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Martin R
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Re: Martin's Mediterranean 'Merican

Post by Martin R »

Paul,

I'll try that!

Anyway, back to this build. Here's the Spitfire as it was last night, ready for some primer. I know we're all different, but jeepers! I find masking canopies boring. I'd much rather do the blotches on my 'Nick' than that again - even on a Spit, not the most difficult canopy to mask by a long shot. The cannon are from the Hasegawa kit, and sit on bases of plastic tube cut to size:

Image

And here's the underside. The centre section insert wasn't a bad fit, but it has needed some filler. Some more rescribing will be required here:

Image

regards,

Martin
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Martin R
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Re: Martin's Mediterranean 'Merican

Post by Martin R »

And here's how it looks tonight with primer on:

Image

There are a few rough bits that need some more work; I'll sort these with correction fluid followed by a gentle sanding.

While I was waiting for the primer to dry, I had a go at adding brake lines and torque links to the undercarriage legs, followed by the wheels themselves:

Image

I'm quite pleased with how those have turned out, although a lot will be hidden by the wheel legs. I'll prime them and start painting tomorrow.

I don't know whether I'll get finished by the end of the month, but I'll keep going and see how far I get.

regards,

Martin
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DazDaMan
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Re: Martin's Mediterranean 'Merican

Post by DazDaMan »

Looking good, Martin.

I'm just about to apply serial numbers to mine, followed by a bit of subtle(!) weathering to finish.
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Martin R
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Re: Martin's Mediterranean 'Merican

Post by Martin R »

DazDaMan wrote:Looking good, Martin.

I'm just about to apply serial numbers to mine, followed by a bit of subtle(!) weathering to finish.
Good on'ya, Daz!

regards,

Martin
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TimJ
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Re: Martin's Mediterranean 'Merican

Post by TimJ »

Looking good.
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Martin R
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Re: Martin's Mediterranean 'Merican

Post by Martin R »

Rescribing finished, underside painted azure blue and undercarriage painted but not weathered. Topsides need at least another coat of mid-stone (it's had 5 already).

I'll need to give it a polish with micromesh tomorrow, then another coat of mid-stone and a coat of klear, then masking for the dark brown. I'll post some pics tomorrow of how I'm going to mask it.

It'll be close, but I still reckon I can finish - or at least get very close - by the end of the GB.

regards,

Martin
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Martin R
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Re: Martin's Mediterranean 'Merican

Post by Martin R »

And now in technicolor:

Image

So, I think that was 3 thin coats of xtracrylix Azure Blue over white primer. I've masked off the rear fuselage demarcation line as well as that at the leading edges. I have added the first coat of mid-stone. You can see on the lower engine cowling how translucent the paint is if correctly thinned. Persevere however, and you get to:

Image

That's after, I think, 5 coats. Took an hour and a half in all (with lots of sitting at the computer in-between waiting for paint to dry (~10 minutes). Still needs another coat, probably.

Image

And finally the painted u/c legs and wheels. I still need to touch up the Aluminium and then give them a wash of Tamiya smoke and some weathering on the tyres. Still, getting there!

regards,

Martin
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Martin R
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Re: Martin's Mediterranean 'Merican

Post by Martin R »

Well I'm still enjoying this build anyway! :ha:

So, those who have followed some of my previous builds will know I generally use a brush for painting. However, for this build, I really wanted a softer demarcation line between the topside camo colours, and I decided to mask and paint. I have done this before - back over 10 years ago when I had a cheapo Tamiya airbrush, so it's a real trip down memory lane.

I started as I used to, by scaling the painting instructions to the correct size for the model, and printing out these several times:
Image

I then began cutting out the mid-stone areas on the colour scheme to use as masks, adding some generous tabs that could be blu-tacked to the underside. Here's a couple of the templates cut out:
Image

Once I'd cut all the masks out, I applied them to the airframe in the appropriate positions with plenty of blu-tack. The use of the colour scheme pieces to use as templates aids positioning:
Image

When I was satisfied with the placement of the masks, and hard masked the remainder of the underside with tape, it was out with the Humbrol 29 spray can, and:
Image

And here's what it now looks like. Some 'hardening' of demarcation lines will be required in some places, but that won't be too difficult:
Image
Image

The gloss mid-stone looks odd with the matt dark earth, but a few coats of klear should sort that out too. And yes, I did manage to knock a cannon barrel off!

Thanks for looking.

regards,

Martin
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DazDaMan
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Re: Martin's Mediterranean 'Merican

Post by DazDaMan »

That looks really good!

I'll have to try your masking technique at some point - seems to be rather effective.
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Martin R
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Re: Martin's Mediterranean 'Merican

Post by Martin R »

DazDaMan wrote:That looks really good!

I'll have to try your masking technique at some point - seems to be rather effective.
Thanks, Daz!

Feel free to try it.

regards,

Martin
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