Tamiya Spitfire IXc; UPDATE: 8/6/24: DONE AND IN THE BOOKS

[Peterpools]

Thanks Carl and absolutely agree. The only reason I went as far as I did with the Merlin, I just hadn't made up my mind even that far into the build. At least I saved myself all the work of painting and doing the plumbing. John b sent me a great article on how to build the P-51 with the cowling panels on and closed up and just using the basic block as well. 

These days, I'm pretty much done with building aircraft, with their cowlings off and the engines on display, which works well for dioramas but for display, the classic and beautiful lines of the aircraft get lost. Even my Tamiya Mossie has both Merlin's on display and looking back, isn't the display look I should have gone after. I know it's possible to have the cowl panels removable; I just don't have much luck doing it that way. 

One of the many reasons I've become such a Kotare fan is no engine - keeps the cost down and affords me the look I'm after right out of the box. I guess, I'm just getting pretty lazy in my old age.

   

[belugawhaleman]

Nice work Peter! I kind of agree about the engine. I don't like

building models with open doors or panels. They eventually get lost

or break off. I'm planning on building Takom's big FT 17 again, but

doing it closed up. That kits interior is wrong for the Machine gun version.

The ammo drums and racks are appropriate for the 1930's Reibel MG

Equipped  FT'S not those with the '14 Hotchkiss. So closed it will be.

[Peterpools]

Paul

Agreed and right with you. Your reasons for leaving panels and hatches closed ... saves a load of work in correcting the kit's inaccuracies and without questions, parts have a nasty habit of falling off over time.

 

[Peterpools]

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.

 

[CANicoll]

Just gotta love the shape of the Spitfire.  The ill-fitting engine cowling panels are kind of a plus, given the fit on the actual aircraft.  Looking forward to your paint work - quite the collection!  Always had an affinity for the Polish squadrons, too.

 

[Peterpools]

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.

 

 

[DocRob]

Ready to go, Peter. All the prep work looks great and will ensure a nice and easy paintjob. Cowlings look good to me, it´s bent sheet metal with a bit of structural parts on the real thing and will never sit perfectly. 

Cheers Rob

[Peterpools]

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 

 

[Spitfire]

Great work, neat and tidy, and so fast, I have been on holiday and only just spotted this build.

I never build kits with opened panels, as I do like to see the smooth lines of the actual aircraft so I am with you on that one, though I might surprise myself one day building one with panels off just for fun.

Cheers

Dennis

[Peterpools]

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. 

[Peterpools]

IT’S CAMMO TIME

Priming with MRP Gray Primer was uneventful and I decided the RAF North African cammo scheme would look best done free hand.

First up was the MRP Middlestone, applied with a H&S Infinity CR Plus .4 tip. After letting the MRP dry for a full 24 hrs, it was time for the Dessert Dark Brown which was mixed and matched as best I could AK Real Colors to the Tamiya XF 54 Flat Earth, as I wanted to use mostly lacquer based paints on the Spitfire and was close enough with the color. For the free hand cammo, I switch air brushes to an H&S Infinity CR Plus with a .2 tip.

After letting the AK Real Color paint dry for 24 hours, the upper surface cammo was masked off and AK Real Colors Azur Blue was air brushed on using the H&S with the .4 tip again.

Happy to report, zero issues and next up will be either Tamiya X22 Clear Gloss or Tamiya LP-9 Clear Gloss and then it’s decal time.

One thing that has always bothered me are painting/decal placement drawings, are those that only show one side view of the fuselage and not the other – never understood why. This was the case with the EagleCal Decal instructions and luckily, the Tamiya instructions included a well detailed four view set of drawings for the cammo scheme I am doing.

 

 

[JohnB]

22 minutes ago, Peterpools said:

IT’S CAMMO TIME

Priming with MRP Gray Primer was uneventful and I decided the RAF North African cammo scheme would look best done free hand.

First up was the MRP Middlestone, applied with a H&S Infinity CR Plus .4 tip. After letting the MRP dry for a full 24 hrs, it was time for the Dessert Dark Brown which was mixed and matched as best I could AK Real Colors to the Tamiya XF 54 Flat Earth, as I wanted to use mostly lacquer based paints on the Spitfire and was close enough with the color. For the free hand cammo, I switch air brushes to an H&S Infinity CR Plus with a .2 tip.

After letting the AK Real Color paint dry for 24 hours, the upper surface cammo was masked off and AK Real Colors Azur Blue was air brushed on using the H&S with the .4 tip again.

Happy to report, zero issues and next up will be either Tamiya X22 Clear Gloss or Tamiya LP-9 Clear Gloss and then it’s decal time.

One thing that has always bothered me are painting/decal placement drawings, are those that only show one side view of the fuselage and not the other – never understood why. This was the case with the EagleCal Decal instructions and luckily, the Tamiya instructions included a well detailed four view set of drawings for the cammo scheme I am doing.

 

 

Looks gooood! Nice work.

[CANicoll]

Gotta love a free-hand camo pattern!  Nicely done, Peter!

[Peterpools]

Thanks John, much appreciated, Making progress and hopefully decaling this weekend.

 

 

[Peterpools]

Chris, very much appreciated. It's been a while and it's actually pretty relaxing. For me, it's always been my preferred way of doing cammo.   

 

[Peterpools]

IT’S DECALING TIME

TAMIYA DECALS TO THE RESCUE

With the cammo completed, it was decaling time using the EagleCal EC 115 decal sheet.

One issue that still needed to be decided upon: the outer wing leading edges on some squadron aircraft were painted yellow and others just had the cammo right up to the leading edge.  Tamiya’s painting instruction for the Squadron didn’t have them and the EagleCals did. Research showed the cammo was field applied and it was the same on my research photographs. I decided to leave the yellow leading edges off as all my other Spitfires have them and this would be a bit different.

Decaling didn’t go well at all. Starting on the undersides, the EagleCal decals cracked and shattered when the roundels were eased up and over the canon blisters and the shell ejector opening. I guess a lot has to do with how vendors store decals waiting for sale and in any case a solution needed to be found. I decided my best course was to buy a set of 1 Man Army masks and go from there. But just before ordering the masks, I did some stash diving in my very humble decal stash and found a few sets of Eduard decals that had the right sized roundels and that were printed in 2016. I decide to give them a shot, cut a few relief slits in them – worked almost perfectly. Some touch up brush work was needed but not a single wrinkle to be found.

After completing the undersides using a combination of EagleCal (stecil data) and Eduard decals, I moved onto the fuselage and ran into quite a few issues with the EagleCal decals.

The EagleCal decals that were comprised of multi colors, as the roundels and squadron codes, had to be double and tripled layered – what a pain. When applying the first white layer for the squadron code which would be the white edges, they cracked and shattered to the touch.

After deciding not to use the EagleCal decals any further, I substituted the fuselage roundels for those on the Eduard sheets (all the colors on a single decal) and they went on with no issues.

Needing the correct fuselage squadron and aircraft code letters, I went with the Tamiya kit decals for the balance of the fuselage decals.  

The wings were a combination of EagleCal decals for the wing walk black stripes and stencil data and the roundels were Tamiya, straight from the kit and went on just wonderfully. I’ve used Tamiya decals a quite a few projects over the years and except for one, where the decals cracked and shattered and were replaced by Tamiya Customer Service, no issues at all.

Personally, Tamiya decals have gotten a bad rap and if applied with the Micro System, work very well.

 

 

 

[CANicoll]

It is disappointing that the decal companies have these problems.  I think a lot is, as you pointed out, how they were stored.  My 'old' decals I've kept in a separate case, air tight and away from humidity. I have quite a few of the Pyn-up decals stored that way.

But excellent solution you found - the markings and stencils look terrific on the desert scheme.

[Peterpools]

Thanks Chris, very much appreciated. We're in complete agreement about the storage and cracking issues and what I personally think needs to be done as a customer service and courtesy:

Vendors cold store the decals - I know this would be nearly impossible, but AM decals would last and be useable so much longer.

In their description, show when the inventory was purchased so we would have a good idea how old the decals actually are. 

Testing decals doesn't seem to work well as what do you do if they crack and shatter? Contacting the vendor after how many months or years after purchase doesn't seem to be an answer.  

Another plus for masks.

 

[JohnB]

Looking good Peter. I like that scheme. 🙂

[Peterpools]

John

Much appreciated and after your email, I'm right with you. ☺️

[Spitfire]

Nice one Peter, that looks great.

Cheers

Dennis

[Peterpools]

Thanks Dennis, very much appreciated. never thought decaling would have been such an issue, especially this being my sixth 32nd scale Spitfire, but every build always seems to be a new adventure. Hoping to cross the finish line late next week, as I'm now tackling all the remaining smaller parts. 

 

[belugawhaleman]

Great progress Peter!

[Peterpools]

Thanks Paul, very much appreciated.

 

[BlrwestSiR]

Nice job on the paint Peter. Decals are possibly my least favourite part of the build for that hit or miss gamble when you apply them. Glad you were able to figure out a solution to your situation.

If you ever need any Tamiya Spitfire kit decals, just ask. I have lots of them here as I think I've only done 1 with kit markings.