Kotare Spitfire Mk 1A

[Peterpools]

 

KOTARE SPITFIRE Mk1A

While waiting for what seemed of weeks of never ending rain and 100% humidity to let up, so I could finish the Sea Fury, I started cleaning up nearly all the parts for the Kotare Spitfire’s front office, drilled all the bulkhead lightening holes required for the fuselage and ordered all the Tamiya acrylics paint I was missing, as I’m planning on going with all Tamiya acrylics for the build. Once the Sea Fury was completed and jumping into the Kotare Spit build, it was a pleasure ‘starting’ as with so much of the preliminary cleanup and prep work had already been done.

Understanding how thorough Kotare’s research is, as their ‘Team’ lineage leads straight back to WNW, I have complete faith in their color callouts, painting guide and instructions. First up was getting my head into gear for the use of two cockpit Interior RAF Greens: the basic cockpit color “A” - Supermarine Interior Green Matt (XF71- 2 & X28 - 1) and Interior Gray Green XF76, both on the color chart and would be followed to the tee.

Only AM I am planning on using; the Quinta Studio cockpit set, everything else will be from what’s in the box.

Instructions are so WNW like and so beautifully done – it’s how all instructions should be. Care has to be taken on how the cockpit colors are masked off and applied, I just went slowly, referring more then normal to the instructions and all went well.   

Once I had the basic cockpit assemblies built up, painted and lightly weathered (yup, lightly weathered and definite departure of my usual building style), the cockpit tub was test fitted a number of times and will be added to the fuselage as a compete assembly. The molded on electric lines on the IP lower left-hand frame were replaced with wire for a better 3D effect.

It was time to build up and complete the seat and I was really surprised to have found the seat painted, weathered and the Quinta Sutton harness already added. I totally forgot I had completed the seat with the Quinta Sutton Harness added as well, when I was cleaning up the parts weeks prior to starting the kit, put it back in the box and forgotten I did it; a senior moment for sure. I’ve used many Quinta seatbelt sets and the Sutton set as I remember was a pain, cracking and breaking in a few spots, requiring a lot of repair work but it’s done and looks pretty good. Actually, I still need to add the wires from the metal bracket to the antenna bracing frame.  

While I was actually happy there wasn’t a Merlin engine to build, as way too many of my builds have exposed Merlin’s already, truth be said, I was tired of building them. Kotare chose to mold a lot of the details in place which is fine for most parts but not so great for others, as it made it somewhat harder to paint them and there were compromises made. Two perfect examples were the oxygen tank and the two compressed air tanks behind the cockpit, the sides of the tanks flatten out as they merge into the sidewall. If they were separate parts, I would have air brushed them rather then brush painting.  They look fine once done and installed but just my preferred choice.

Loads of cockpit decals and placards are included and a lot of time was devoted to adding them all at this point. I used a combination of kit and Quinta placards, dials and switches, on all the side walls and the office looked busy and just right. Quinta supplied the IP and a beautiful seat back cushion. I did find some clarity issues with the Quinta instructions as to the decal placement for the very first time, as I’ve used their 3D decals since they first came out, with this being the first time I found the instructions a bit lacking in orientation and location for some of the smaller decals.  

Kotare’s Front office is gorgeous and a gem. I know the burning question will be, which is better: Tamiya or Kotare – I’ll need to wait for the completion of the build to see for myself.

Almost all the interior cockpit parts are still being dry fitted and tweaked, just sitting in place and look pretty good. 

 

[PanzerWomble]

wowsers you've been busy  .....that certainly puts the Revell Spit in it's place !

[Peterpools]

Thanks PM - it was a lot of work and love how the office came out. Burning question is how the Kotare kit in the end stacks up against Tamiya - right now, it's neck and neck.

 

[Spitfire]

Impressive work, it looks really great, I'm looking forward to more.

Cheers

Dennis

[Peterpools]

Thanks Dennis, very much appreciated.

Hopefully by tomorrow I'll have the fuselage buttoned up and moving onto the next subassemblies which will be the fuselage exterior, tailplanes and then the wings. So far, no issues at all and the Kotare kit has been a pleasure to work on.

  

[JohnB]

1 hour ago, Peterpools said:

 

KOTARE SPITFIRE Mk1A

While waiting for what seemed of weeks of never ending rain and 100% humidity to let up, so I could finish the Sea Fury, I started cleaning up nearly all the parts for the Kotare Spitfire’s front office, drilled all the bulkhead lightening holes required for the fuselage and ordered all the Tamiya acrylics paint I was missing, as I’m planning on going with all Tamiya acrylics for the build. Once the Sea Fury was completed and jumping into the Kotare Spit build, it was a pleasure ‘starting’ as with so much of the preliminary cleanup and prep work had already been done.

Understanding how thorough Kotare’s research is, as their ‘Team’ lineage leads straight back to WNW, I have complete faith in their color callouts, painting guide and instructions. First up was getting my head into gear for the use of two cockpit Interior RAF Greens: the basic cockpit color “A” - Supermarine Interior Green Matt (XF71- 2 & X28 - 1) and Interior Gray Green XF76 on the color chart and would be followed to the tee.

Only AM I am planning on using; the Quinta Studio cockpit set, everything else will be from what’s in the box.

Instructions are so WNW like and so beautifully done – it’s how all instructions should be. Care has to be taken on how the cockpit colors are masked off and applied, I just went slowly, referring more then normal to the instructions and all went well.   

Once I had the basic cockpit assemblies built up, painted and lightly weathered (yup, lightly weathered and definite departure of my usual building style), the cockpit tub was test fitted a number of times and will be added to the fuselage as a compete assembly. The molded on electric lines on the IP lower left-hand frame were replaced with wire for a better 3D effect.

It was time to build up and complete the seat and I was really surprised to have found the seat painted, weathered and the Quinta Sutton harness already added. I totally forgot I had completed the seat with the Quinta Sutton Harness added as well, when I was cleaning up the parts weeks prior to starting the kit, put it back in the box and forgotten I did it; a senior moment for sure. I’ve used many Quinta seatbelt sets and the Sutton set as I remember was a pain, cracking and breaking in a few spots, requiring a lot of repair work but it’s done and looks pretty good. Actually, I still need to add the wires from the metal bracket to the antenna bracing frame.  

While I was actually happy there wasn’t a Merlin engine to build, as way too many of my builds have exposed Merlin’s already, truth be said, I was tired of building them. Kotare chose to mold a lot of the details in place which is fine for most parts some but not so great for others, as it made it somewhat harder to paint them in place and there were compromises made. Two perfect examples were the Oxygen tank and the two compressed air tanks behind the cockpit, the sides of the tanks flatten out as they merge into the sidewall. If they were separate parts, I would have air brushed them rather then brush painting.  They look fine once done and installed but just my preferred choice.

Loads of cockpit decals and placards are included and a lot of time was devoted to added them all at this point. I used a combination of kit and Quinta placards, dials and switches on all the side walls and parts and the office looked busy and just right. Quinta supplied the IP and a beautiful seat back cushion. I did find some clarity issues with the Quinta instructions as to the decal placement for the very first time, as I’ve used their 3D decals since they first came out, with this being the first time I found the instructions a bit lacking in orientation and location for some of the smaller decals.  

Kotare’s Front office is gorgeous and a gem. I know the burning question will be, which is better: Tamiya or Kotare – I’ll need to wait for the completion of the build to see for myself.

Almost all the interior cockpit parts are still being dry fitted and tweaked, just sitting in place and look pretty good. 

 

Looking good Peter. NICE work.

[BlrwestSiR]

Great looking cockpit Peter. The light weathering you've given it looks spot on and as much as I'd do. 

[Peterpools]

Thanks John, much appreciated. So far, it's been a very enjoyable and fun build. Sure, hope it stays that way.

 

[Peterpools]

Thanks Carl, just a pleasure to build a kit that doesn't fight you every step of the way and the instructions, what can I say - so far I couldn't even mess them up.

Right with you on the weathering ... keeping it light absolutely adds to the overall effect and highlights the details. Too heavy handed and the details tend to get lost and disappear. 

I was planning on using the Wako Sutton harness but was amazed I had already used the Quintas set when I did the initial cockpit clean up ... can't believe I forgot doing that. But I'm planning on building the Revell Hurricane MK 1a over the winter and will be using them on that build. Should actually be a lot easier then the Quintas set, as they kept breaking and snaping apart. 

[DocRob]

Your cockpit looks extremely good Peter. Better or not as the Tamiya Spit is not the question, as Tamiya doesn't have a MK I. Enjoy your build and pleas show us your usual magic, even weathered .

Cheers Rob

[Peterpools]

Thanks Rob

Shall do. Just so nice to enjoy a build without any frustrations and fighting poorly fitting parts.

I never built a WNW's kit and now I know what I missed for sure.

 

[Martinnfb]

This is exactly how I felt about the  Kotare Mk.1, easy and trouble free build. Will follow with interest Peter .

[Peterpools]

Thanks Martin

Nice to know the quality of the kit is going to be consistent throughout the build.

 

 

[Clunkmeister]

That’s really looking the business, Peter!  A lovely little kit isn’t it?

[Clunkmeister]

Peter, TRUST Kotare on the spine.  The prototype overlaps a bit on the sides and the kit does as well.  The only clean up you’ll need is the bottom of the fuselage behind the wing. 

[KevinM]

That is really looking Nice their Peter!

[ScottsGT]

Lookin’ great Peter!  

[Peterpools]

Ernie

Missed ya, glad you're back and posting.

Right with you and an awesome kit for sure. I trust the Kotare team's research, every aspect of the build and the color callouts with no questions asked. Only issue I had was not being able to get a perfect wing fit but it's resolved now and moving forward.

I thought I was ready for priming but no canopy mask set . Wish I would have looked to actually see if there was a mask set included before starting, just assumed wrong and now started hunting for one. I should never have assumed! Finally found an Eduard Mask set on eBay and it won't be here until Tuesday or Wednesday, so to fill in the time on builds in between build steps when I have to wait for part to dry or something I needed to order arrive, I always work on a 'in between kit' and have been tinkering with the old Tamiya 1/48 P-51B. 

So once the Spitfire mask set arrives, it's priming time. getting ready for an update in the next few days.

 

 

 

 

 

[Peterpools]

Thanks Kev, much appreciated. If I would have been smart enough and made sure the kit either came with a mask set or bought one when I started, I wouldn't be on hold waiting for it top arrive. Super kit, all together and she surely looks the part. 

 

[Peterpools]

Thanks Scott, very much appreciated. Awesome kit for sure - so far and absolute pleasure to build.

 

[Peterpools]

THE PARTY IS OVER

The Fuselage

With the front office assembly completed, I checked the fit one last time, then glued up the two fuselage halves, using Revell Contacta Professional Glue, with the fuselage halves taped tightly together and left to dry overnight.  

I spent a good deal of time tweaking the upper turtle deck, which Kotare designed as a single piece to help preserve the rivet detail but no matter how hard I worked at it, I couldn’t achieve a perfect fit and in a few small spots Mr Surfacer was called into action.  

The Classical Spitfire Wings – the kit wings look simply outrageous and capture the grace of the design perfectly.

The wheel well walls are a simple, one-piece affair, nicely detailed and fit very snuggly in place.  

The main gear legs are nicely molded, will be inserted into place later on and are designed to lock into place, requiring the male insert plug slides into place. The instructions point out the male plug needs trimming to fit; done.  

My Spitfire will wear the early White and Black painted undersides, requiring each wheel well, the gear doors and the gear to be painted the appropriate color of its appropriate bottom side color.   

Tailplanes went together just fine and with a bit of effort, they slipped into position perfectly.

Attaching the wings is where the perfection of the build left the path for me. I followed the instructions step by step as carefully as I was capable of, doubled checked every step of the way, yet the wings put up a good struggle before I was able to glue them in place and once tightly taped, left to thoroughly dry overnight. Both the front gas tank cover and the lower nose cowl didn’t fit perfectly either, needing some tweaking to get them to sit correctly – surely somewhere I missed the mark. The front gas tank cover should sit a bit proud and it does.

All the final prep sanding and polishing has now been done and I was ready to mask and add the glass. Yikes, no masking set was provided and surely for a kit selling for over a hundred dollars, one should have been included. My go to vender for Eduard mask sets is out of stock and now searched eBay for a set, found it and it should be here by the middle of next week.

Until I’m able to work on the cockpit glass, I’ll finish up the odds and ends and then hopefully the mask set with be here.

A few photographs of my slow progress to date - just so many doctor appointments and procedures my wife and I have been going through the past few weeks, so bench time hasn't been very much.

 

 

 

 

[Peterpools]

IT’S PRIMING TIME

With bench time rather sparce these past few weeks (doctor appointments and tests for both my wife and myself) progress has been close to a snail’s pace. Throw into the mix waiting for the Eduard canopy mask to arrive, had the build virtually at a standing still.

Finally reaching the priming stage and of course fingers crossed that there will not be too many go- backs, I moved onto masking and preparing the balance of the remaining parts for priming as well.

I decided to glue the gear doors to their respective gear legs as each would be painted the color of it’s under wing and once the wheels were on, almost none of the oleo could be seen. The gear seems to be softly modeled as compared to Tamiya and even Eduard’s 48^th scale kits but still looks nicely done. Brake lines are molded on and should have been separate parts. Most likely a compromise to keeping the part count and cost down. Forgot to take a photograph of the primed gear. 

The front wind screen was a tight in fit, it didn’t want to sit down correctly and needed to be taped down while the glue dried to fit correctly. 

Time to shoot some MRP Gray Primer and see how I did so far I haven't found any go backs but I'll wait and see after the primer has dried for a good 24 hours.

 

[BlrwestSiR]

Nice progress Peter. Hopefully you don't find any spots needing fixing. 

[Peterpools]

Thanks Carl

So far, so good.

[JohnB]

The primed Spitfire looks very good! I look forward to seeing it in camo.