Rob's project leftover *finished*

[PaulBradley]

Hmm, sorry to read about your paint issues. I've been using almost exclusively acrylics for airbrushing for years. Xtracrylix thinners seem to be a common cause for concern, and I use alcohol almost exclusively for thinning nowadays. I still do have occasional trouble - mixing the proper ratio is more of an art than a science, it seems - but I can also point to old/poor paint too. I use mainly Xtracrylix and they can be a bit hit and miss; I wonder if shipping/storage problems on the way from UK to USA don't contribute to the odd problem. I seem to have better luck with 'local' ModelMaster Acrylics, but you probably can't get them there, and some of their RAF colours are a bit suspect...!

I've never really tried Humbrol acrylics, and then only brush painting, so I can't comment on their 'airbrushability.'

Regarding this model - if it were mine, I'd be inclined to strip the lot and start again! Drastic, yes, but I'd worry about excessive coat build-up and unevenness.

[rob_van_riel]

Hmm, sorry to read about your paint issues. I've been using almost exclusively acrylics for airbrushing for years. Xtracrylix thinners seem to be a common cause for concern, and I use alcohol almost exclusively for thinning nowadays. I still do have occasional trouble - mixing the proper ratio is more of an art than a science, it seems - but I can also point to old/poor paint too. I use mainly Xtracrylix and they can be a bit hit and miss; I wonder if shipping/storage problems on the way from UK to USA don't contribute to the odd problem. I seem to have better luck with 'local' ModelMaster Acrylics, but you probably can't get them there, and some of their RAF colours are a bit suspect...!

I have a fairly simple policy with regard to thinners: available on every street corner, or the brand is out. In other words, it has to work with water or alcohol (or white spirits for enamels). I really don't want to get stuck for a week or more just because I can't get thinners.
Availability of paints is tricky over here in any case. Humbrol, Revell and Xtra enamels are easy to come by, as are Tamiya, Revell and Vallejo acrylics, anything else is very spotty (and again, I want my primary paint range to be easily available). For reasons that differ widely between the brands, none of the acrylics is currently a workable replacement for Humbrol enamels, which is are at pressent my main paints. That said, I'm definately looking into Vallejo for brush work, for project that do not require very precise colour matching or coverage of large areas (in other words, details and figures).

I've never really tried Humbrol acrylics, and then only brush painting, so I can't comment on their 'airbrushability.'

They do seem to work fairly well of the brush, and I'm not even going to completely write them off for airbrush either; the jars I got were still Chinese production, and last thing I heard was that they'd returned production to the UK because of quality issues. If the "bad" stuff was almost good enough, I have some hopes for the improved version.

Regarding this model - if it were mine, I'd be inclined to strip the lot and start again! Drastic, yes, but I'd worry about excessive coat build-up and unevenness.

I think I got the camo sorted out, and I think I should be able to deal with the sky as well without resorting to such drastic measures. That's one of the great advantages of airbrushing: the individual coats are so thin, you have to really exaggerate to start noticing the thickness of the paint.

[rob_van_riel]

And then things suddenly went very fast. Almost ready to chew up some Messerschmitts

[DazDaMan]

Looking good!

[rob_van_riel]

Also available with decals



I'll be hitting that blur on the rear fuselage with some more MicroSol, to get rid of some air. After that it's the usual end game of bath/varnish/fidgitty bits/dullcote for what should now be a comfortable finish.

Since the motto here is YCNHTM Spitfires, a shot from my sideshow project:



I do believe they're beginning to look like Spitfire fuselages
These are resin copies I made from the rather clunky previous generation Airfix 1/48 MkIX kit, in order to have something to attach the surplus Vc-wings that came with that kit and the mixed generation SeafireIII kit to. I expect I'll end up having to duplicate about half the parts for this case of insanity, pointlessly burning loads of time and a furtune in rubber in the process, but common sense has nothing to do with this. I just hate dumping perfectly good wings, and besides, I want to know if I can pull this off

[rob_van_riel]

Tadaa...





The large decals on the sides clearly have some silvering/air problems, but these show up much clearer in the pictures than they do on the real thing. I'm a bit woriied about hitting them with solvents again and again, as I've had decals go permanently wrinkly that way, which is a lot worse. Spending another week putting coat after coat of clear on the model until truly shiny (and thus smooth) might have prevented this, but this was not the build for that sort of thing.

[PaulBradley]

Very nice otherwise, Rob!

[DazDaMan]

Looks good! I've never been a fan of these new-tool Mk.Is, but you've done this one justice.

[Purplethistle]

Taking a very sharp blade along the panel lines underneath the decals then gently running a damp brush along the cut might get rid of that air. Still a sweet job you've done there!

[rob_van_riel]

I've never been a fan of these new-tool Mk.Is

No being a Spitfire specialist, I've got to ask: What's wrong with 'em? It looked like a perfectly good Spit to me...

[rob_van_riel]

Taking a very sharp blade along the panel lines underneath the decals then gently running a damp brush along the cut might get rid of that air. Still a sweet job you've done there!

Sound advice, but not without some risk. I've reached the "leave well enough alone" point on this one

[DazDaMan]

I've never been a fan of these new-tool Mk.Is

No being a Spitfire specialist, I've got to ask: What's wrong with 'em? It looked like a perfectly good Spit to me...

It does look nice finished, but I always found the fit of the cockpit parts to be a bit fiddly. Maybe it was just me, right enough!

[rob_van_riel]

It does look nice finished, but I always found the fit of the cockpit parts to be a bit fiddly. Maybe it was just me, right enough!

Funny you should mention that. You, me , every other experienced modeller I've spoken to, we all agree fitting the cockpit parts is, shall we say, interesting. However...
This kit was a leftover from an kids event. Total rookies, the lot of them. And guess what, they all just slapped the cockpit into place like there were no issues there at all. In fact, the old hands got some rather funny looks from the kids for mentioning this might be a bit tricky.

[fredk]

Very nice.
Close-up photos always magnify any small imperfection. I'm sure it looks just fine sitting with your other finished models.

[DazDaMan]

It does look nice finished, but I always found the fit of the cockpit parts to be a bit fiddly. Maybe it was just me, right enough!

Funny you should mention that. You, me , every other experienced modeller I've spoken to, we all agree fitting the cockpit parts is, shall we say, interesting. However...
This kit was a leftover from an kids event. Total rookies, the lot of them. And guess what, they all just slapped the cockpit into place like there were no issues there at all. In fact, the old hands got some rather funny looks from the kids for mentioning this might be a bit tricky.

Typical, isn't it!