Peterpools

Chris I just 'ditch the bottle when the MKK becomes too thick to work well. I have using Tacky Glue from Michael's on and off now and it seems to work in between MKK and White Glue.

Rob, right with you and can't wait to see the engine wiring completed, as they will bring the 289 up to a whole new level.

Absolutely

Just love them "Jags for sure. The Heller kit surely is showing more then it's age and includes at no extra cost, loads of repair work to just get her closed up - going to be one tough act for sure. Pulling for both you and Kev to cross the finish line in time.

Looking forward to following your B-25. I have the HK B-25J in the stash and am very interested in the comparison of the two kits. OOB is my preference for most of my builds.

Chris Making awesome progress and those Sidewinders - never thought they would need so much work. I've been a huge fan of MKK for decades and found a fresh, unopened bottle is always the best bet for the more detailed work as it tends to be much thinner when fresh. Over time, the MKK in the bottle does have a nasty habit of getting a bit thick but it normally takes me a good year plus to reach that point. Glad the MKK made life a lot easier for you. Of course, I wonder why Reskit had to make those clear pieces separate parts, being so small and so fiddly. For me, I would have preferred a solid Sidewinder body, with the only additional parts being the fins.

Carl Nice work on the Sidewinders .. looking mighty good. Only a few months back, I spent countless hours on my Tamiya F-14 missiles, adding all the decals and stencils - surely a boat load of work and nowhere nearly as detailed as yours. Scale does make a big difference in both the fidelity and detail.

Kev Incredible work - masterful and a true display piece of furniture.

Kai Welcome back my friend and it's a pleasure to see you posting again. Some brilliant work for sure.

Rob A true test of your finely tuned skills, as the 289 looks incredible. If I didn't know, it is now close to passing for the real deal.

Thanks Dennis, in complete agreement on the panels being closed, allowing the beautiful and classic lines of the Spitfire to come shining through. Just wish Tamiya would have given a bit more thought to displaying the Spitfire with the cowl covers on (not a champion of the magnets) as to fit. Still, considering it was Tamiya's first 1/32nd scale super kit and I've now built four Spitfires, no complaints - just happy the kits are still in production and easy to find.

John Holy Smokes .... looking brilliant and the NMF: perfectly done.

Martin My first model(s) that I can remember go back to the very early days of the hobby; 1950's, would be nearly impossible to find, most likely cost an arm and a leg from a kit collector. My vote still is for the sandbox theme.

Martin Just love the Sandbox theme - the possibilities are endless.

Chris Underside panels lines are looking mighty good. I do like the contrast as it makes them pop.

Carl Those Reskit Sidewinders look mighty good.

Scott We've all been there and sometimes I'll try masking and some touchup AB work and if that doesn't do the trick, it stays as is, as you said, there is always the chances it gets worse.

Thanks Rob, you're so right and completely agree. When I learned to fly and on my own plane, the cowlings were for the most part thin aircraft aluminum, pretty floppy when un-fastened and the fit when closed far from perfect. Now why didn't I think of that before

Thanks Chris, very much appreciated and right with you about the Polish squadron. I need to check but I think this is the second Spitfire I built that was flown by Polish Squadrons and pilots. The cowlings are as good as I could do, as there is so much crammed inside effecting the overall fit. Hopefully tomorrow, it's priming time and then moving onto the cammo.

John Looking forward to the update and photos

John Welcome back. Glad to see the FG-80 has left the SOD and is back underway. Some mighty nice progress on fixing all those horrendous seams and gaps.

READY FO PRIMING With all the pre-painting parts now added, it was time to tackle the four engine cowling panels, which didn’t have the greatest of fit. I could have used the kit magnets to keep the panels in place but since I had no intensions of displaying the fully assembled Merlin and I wasn’t happy with how they looked that way on my previous three Tamiya Spitfires, I decided to permanently glue them in place as carefully as I could. They aren’t a perfect fit and do represent how a lot of spitfires actually looked and good enough for me. The ultra thinness of the parts was in this case a negative as there wasn’t any ‘beef’ to work with and sanding later on wasn’t an option. I decided not to use the Tamiya printed canopy masks and instead opted for an Eduard Die Cut set. I’ve had the kit for a long time and managed to lose the prop spinner and one of the screw covers for the landing gear. A quick email to Tamiya USA and within hours, the missing parts were in the mail at no charge. Customer service at its finest. The aileron hinges had been a pain on every Tamiya Spitfire and Mustang I've built, seven so far and the tradition continued on this Spitfire as well. When trying to install the aileron s/s hinges into their wing slots, they fought tooth and nail and just wouldn’t push into place, Revell Contacta Professional Glue to the rescue. My chosen scheme is a Spitfire from 145 Sq, Polish Fighting Team (PFT), Spring, North Africa, 1943: Paints to be used: Upper surfaces – MRP 121 Middlestone, Tamiya XF52 Flat Earth Lower Surfaces: AK Azure Blue RC291. A crazy mix of paints but the colors seem to look the best. Decals: EagleCal #115.

Scott Most likely you're closer to when all this might happen them me and I know I surely won't be around to see it. Yup, I know the feelings well when Nikon stopped supporting a lot of their older cameras but stayed with the F mount until going all out mirrorless and finally went to the Z mount. I took a small beating going from film to digital and then going from digital to mirrorless. Holy smokes, living on a lake - the photographic opportunities surely are endless. I refuse these days to do sunrises as well in the summer as it's way too early and wait for the winter when getting up is a lot easier for these old bones. I've always been a landscape and scenic photographer and these days have been doing a lot of urban landscape work at sunset and during the blue hour - always trying to learn new techniques and disciplines. Pull out your 5D, charge the battery and do some shooting - you're feel wonderful when you see those new files. 📷

HI Scott Over my lifetime, I've seen and been part of the group that says; nope, will never work or change how we do things whether it's modeling, photography, music, tv and almost everything else - I'm pretty conservative by nature. I've seen the cockpits of airplanes change from the old analog steam gauges and VOR navigation to glass cockpits and GPS - it's a whole new world and how things are done today. When glass cockpits first came into existence, and you went for an instrument rating with a then new Glass Cockpit, it was a limited rating for those type of cockpit setup only. Today, it's the standard. Besides flying, my other true passion has been photography, going back to the early 1960's. Film was the only way and when digital first came out, I was in the camp that said the prints look awful, the cameras were not good at all l and wouldn't last - little did I know. Today we have incredible cameras; I shoot with a Nikon Z8 and do all my own printing. Yes, I still shot a small amount of film here and there up to about a year or so ago and then stopped. You are so right as there is a small resurgence of film but it's a very small niche market and with the rising costs of film, processing and chemicals increasing, it's will most likely never go beyond what it is now. I feel the same about 3D printing - it will only keep getting better and better and I agree and meet you halfway in that the market may never go all 3D printing in our lifetime, but a big portion will or might be offered it as an option. As printers get better and faster, I wouldn't be surprised to see model manufacturers abandon ejection molding and go all 3D. Of course, what we have now would never cut the mustard but it's the future for sure. Just my two cents.

Chris The AK Paneliner works perfectly and a nice addition to the Tamiya PLW's I use. od course, my favorite is still the Flory washes as they are full proof. Thanks for the review and the excellent photographs.