Kotare Spitfire Mk 1A

[belugawhaleman]

Looking great Peter! Wonderful looking interior and cockpit!

[PanzerWomble]

That wing root looks spot on !! Looking forward to seeing the colours on this . 

[Peterpools]

Thanks John.

Looking forward to doing the cammo work this weekend and for the first time in a long time, going all Tamiya acrylics, matching the color callouts in the instructions.

. 

[Peterpools]

Thanks Paul

For the most part and nicely designed and detailed kit with just a few tricky spots, number one of the list: the turtle deck - not the best of fits. Fully agree, the front office is a gem and coupled with the Quinta set, really does look super busy and detailed.

 

 

 

[Peterpools]

Thanks PW, The wing roots/fairings took a bit of work, as I must have missed the mark a bit but after same sanding and tweaking, look fine. Hoping to get the majority of the cammo work done this coming weekend.

  

[Peterpools]

ITS CAMMO TIME

Applying The Hard Edge 

With the MRP Gray Primer on, time to tackle the cammo and of course plans and paints have changed somewhat.  

The instruction’s color callouts for the underside were changed so the white and black wouldn’t be so stark:

White: Tamiya Lacquer Insignia White LP-35

Black: Tamiya Lacquer Rubber Black LP-65

The upper cammo colors as the instructions call out and the Dark Brown (pale) was air brushed onto the gray primer:

Dark Earth (Pale) – Tamiya Acrylic XF49 & XF92

Dark Green (Pale) – Tamiya Acrylic XF89

OMG, the Dark Brown looked close to desert brown, way too light and unusable unless the effect being sort after was for a sun-bleached aircraft and of course and not where I’m going. No way I could strip the paint as I would lose hours of masking as well as the primer. I went back to the original mix and started adding Tamiya Dark Brown until the final color replicated the color I was after and was airbrushed on, in numerous light layers.   

Following the instructions, a few excellent builds and my research, my early color scheme Spitfire had hard edge cammo applied and what a pain. I spent more time masking the hard edge cammo then all the air brushing and previously masking combined, not to mention an abundance of Tamiya masking tape.  

The Hard Edge Cammo:

The cammo was outlined with Tamiya 1mm masking tape, then from 18mm Tamiya Masking Tape cut into small, short strips using an  Infini Easycutting Type A cutting board, widening the cammo edge. I cut additional 18mm tape into small boxes, slowly and carefully filing in the center areas.  

In the past, when doing hard edge cammo, I’ve tried paper masks, which were nearly as much work and compromises were needed to be made to blend in the compound curves.

Next time, free hand cammo is the way to go.

Eduard’s JX310 double sided canopy masking set was used and the fit was excellent. Just seems to me these days a kit costing over $100 should include a die cut canopy mask set.

Please excuse the cell phone pics as I just wanted to update the build as to where I am and didn't want to set up the photo outfit. I'm ready now to air brush on the Dark Green and hopefully there won't be too many redos and jagged edges to fix. 

Starting the apply the various Tamiya tapes for the cammo scheme.

Getting closer to finishing

cammo masking is done

 

 

[BlrwestSiR]

Lots of masking tape there Peter. I take the same approach, outline the area in thin tape then fill it in with thicker bits. 

[JohnB]

Looking good Peter. Coming along really well.

[Peterpools]

Carl

Glad to see you go through the same approach for the hardline cammo and know the feeling of it seems like a never ending task.  Hardest part for me is curving and bending the 1mm tape without kinks and I know I have some - the only question is: how many will need to be redone.

 

[Peterpools]

Thanks John making slow progress but progress just the same. 

 

[Peterpools]

CAMMO IS COMPLETED

After countless hours of masking, it was time to air brush on the RAF Dark Green and true to form, my decision of paint color had changed. I wasn’t happy at this stage with using my original choice of XF89 RAF Green (pale) and I didn’t have any XF81 in the paint stash. I finally settled on AK Real Colors RAF Dark Green RC286.    

When all the masking was removed, I didn’t see any go backs – talk about Lady Luck riding with me.

I finally managed to break off the small antenna at the top of the vertical stabilizer and will hold off adding it until the end of the build.

The spacing between the prop back plate the fuselage will need to be reduced; just sitting ther for the photographs.  

 

 

[BlrwestSiR]

Looks great Peter. Nice sharp and clean demarcation in the camo scheme. 

[JohnB]

Camo worked out well. Looks good!

[Peterpools]

Thanks Carl, much appreciated. Can't believe all the slow/go cammo masking paid of with no go backs needed. Surely a record for me.

 

[Peterpools]

Thanks John

I was a bit nervous I would have a lot of leakers but was pretty lucky and there were none that I see. Of course, at 76, my eyes aren't that sharp. Getting ready for the clear gloss and then fun time: decaling.

 

 

[DocRob]

Camo looks very nice Peter and I like your decision about the toned down lower side. Your masking method looks tedious, I might have cut most camo masks from Kabuki sheet with a rotating blade and might have added some thin layers of Panzer putty in difficult spots.

Cheers Rob

[Peterpools]

Thanks Rob, much appreciated.

I've tried so many different methods of doing hard edge cammo over the years and for me while tedious and very time consuming, my Tamiya tape method seems to work the best. When I have a choice, I prefer going soft edge/free hand - faster and a lot less tedious.

Thanks for the idea of using Kabuki sheet and a rotating cutting - going to give it a try down the road.

 

[Clunkmeister]

That’s looking awesome, Peter.  It reminds me that I really need to finish mine. 

[Clunkmeister]

Peter, I’m loving it!

I’m a lover of Quinta sets, especially for Trumpeter, Kitty Hawk, and other similar kits that provide solid panel decals. I usually have either used Quinta or Airscale individual decals.

With my Kotare kit, I took the time to place all the dial decals individually, and in this case (the only case, IMHO), the kit panel looks as good as any AM alternative.  To each their own, of course, and if time is tight, as it appears yours is having to juggle stuff all around, Quinta made sense.

But Quinta or Airscale is usually a HUGE appearance boost, in this kit’s case, Quinta is simply a time saver.  Keep it up!  I’m  hoping to be done my A-20 in the next few days and I’ll race you to the finish line!  

[Peterpools]

Thanks Ernie, much appreciated.

I'm a Quinta Fan Boy from day one and use their sets whenever I can. Completely agree that the individual gauges for the Kotare IP look awesome but these days, my 76 year old eyes just have way too hard of a time seeing what I'm doing to get them all in the right place and orientation and that's with working under my magnifier lamp. 

I'll be willing to bet even with you first finishing up the A-20 and then heading back to your Kotare Spit, you most likely will finish before me. My bench time these days is just so limited with a never ending stream of doctor appointments and procedures, for both my wife and myself; Oh the joys of the Golden Years! But we're still lucky to hanging around to 'enjoy' the Golden years. 😉

 

[Clunkmeister]

3 minutes ago, Peterpools said:

Thanks Ernie, much appreciated.

I'm a Quinta Fan Boy from day one and use their sets whenever I can. Completely agree that the individual gauges for the Kotare IP look awesome but these days, my 76 year old eyes just have way too hard of a time seeing what I'm doing to get them all in the right place and orientation and that's with working under my magnifier lamp. 

I'll be willing to bet even with you first finishing up the A-20 and then heading back to your Kotare Spit, you most likely will finish before me. My bench time these days is just so limited with a never ending stream of doctor appointments and procedures, for both my wife and myself; Oh the joys of the Golden Years! But we're still lucky to hanging around to 'enjoy' the Golden years. 😉

 

I dunno, man. I’m now faced with running my business full time again, so my bench time will be somewhat limited.  We’ll see, right? 🤣

[Peterpools]

Ernie, we shall see but no rush - just enjoy and work when time allows. Life just has a habit of getting in the way. 😉 

[Peterpools]

TIME FOR THE DECALS

(a corrected update)

With the cammo paint work finished, Tamiya LP-9 Clear Gloss was applied for the decal prep, thinned with Self Leveling Thinners.

Given a day to dry, it was now time to tackle the decaling. The decals – thin, easy to work with, responded well to Mico Set and Sol and ‘glued’ the decals onto the painted surfaces. I found a few small discrepancies when applying the kit decals that are rare for me to even take notice of.

Not having the best of eyesight these days, I try to follow decal placement as best as I can and even scrutinized the instruction’s painting/decal drawings under my magnifying lamp to try and get it right. I felt something was slightly off and I just couldn’t put my finger on it.  

The under-wing decals went on just fine and no issues at all.

Next, I applied the upper wing roundels and locating their placement by the panel lines on the instruction’s drawings and then on the model itself. All should have been perfect but it wasn’t; they were a tiny bit off as compared to the instructions. After a few days of looking at the roundels, I thought they were a tiny bit too large but easy to live with and not a real issue.

When I started to apply the fuselage aircraft and squadron codes, placement and color didn’t go well. I checked and doubled checked as best as I could, placed the decals on the Spitfires right hand side and the spacing seemed off. The drawings seem to present the sideview showing the panel line spacing closer together then on the kit itself, changing the kit’s letter – roundel spacing a bit. I didn’t take any actual measurements or do any math, just how it looked to my eye.  In any case, I can easily live with it.

Now for the BIGGIE!

Here is where I went wrong, jumped the gun and in the end turned out to be incorrect.

What I thought:

The kit/decal color representation of the fuselage squadron/aircraft code letters, should be for Battle of Britain Day Fighter Codes: Medium Sea Gray. But the kit’s decal color on the sheet (prior to decaling) had a slight bluish tint and I could live with it as it was close enough. And since I have the upmost faith in Kotare’s research, I decided to use the kit decals, thinking they might go more grayish in color after being applied and given time to dry.

It was very late at night, actually the wee hours of the morning (I normally work in the wee hours) and I applied all the decals for the right-hand fuselage side, followed up with Micro Set and Sol and hit the hay. In the morning, checking the decals, the fuselage codes went from a gray tone with a slight bluish tint to a much more bluish color and nowhere near Medium Sea Gray.  

As they say, I’m up the creek without a paddle – what to do., I’ve stopped the build looking for a solution.

Dennis (Spitfire) did some quick research and found the answer in the kit’s review on Hyperscale. Here is the link and the answer. Now satisfied Kotare is correct in their color choice for the code lettering, I’ve resumed the build. So, if the replies to the update seem strange, it’s because I’ve update the build update, removing my misinformation and going with Kotare’s research and decal colors.   

The link and answer to the code letter color question:

https://www.hyperscale.com/2023/reviews/kits/kotarek32001reviewbg_1.htm

"...The codes have a bluish tint however it has been pointed out that Medium Sea Grey was not the only colour used for early Spitfire code letters. A darker and bluish grey was noted on 54 and 72 Squadron Spitfires. Here are a few examples in genuine wartime colour that were previously posted to HyperScale's Plane Talking Forum..".

I hope my update removes and clears up the entire issue as a non-issue. I'm now well underway decaling and close to finishing it. A complete decaling update later this weekend.

 

[Spitfire]

Hi Peter Kotare might be right with the colour, look at this article, will do some more digging as I have one of these kits.

https://www.hyperscale.com/2023/reviews/kits/kotarek32001reviewbg_1.htm

Cheers

Dennis

[Peterpools]

Thanks Dennis, heading over to check it out. I have my fingers crossed. 🤞