Kotare 1/32 Spitfire Mk Ia mid

[Merad]

This build has been in progress since March, but stalled for a while.  It's my first large scale build since returning to the hobby and I went all in on the aftermarket.

 

 

Cockpit is Quinta Studios, with a few pieces of Eduard PE, and HGW belts.

 

Added Eduard PE flaps.  I've read that RAF pilots were trained to retract flaps as soon as they left the runway so you wouldn't normally see them extended on the ground.  We'll just pretend they're getting maintenance or something like that.

 

The build was smooth overall except for the wing to fuselage fit.  I think this was my fault, but not sure what I screwed up. The fillets were just a bit too narrow to seat in place on the fuselage and I had to do a good bit of sanding and scraping on the right side to make them fit.

 

After priming I realized that the right fillet had collapsed a bit - I guess I took too much material in working on the fit.  I didn't take pics of the damage, but the fillet was sitting a good 2-3 mm lower than the side of the fuselage.  I used green stuff putty to fill in most the sunken area and Tamiya putty to fill in the top layer.  It took about 4 rounds of sanding and priming to get the edges even and the shape reasonably correct.

 

Finally yesterday and today I have been painting.  All MRP paints - I marbled the top camo with RAF light earth and light green, then finished with dark earth & dark green.  The camo was done freehand with the airbrush.  I'm not unhappy with the result, but if I had it to do over I think I'd mask it.  The bottom was marbled with white, and then the white side got some additional marbling with earth yellow before a top coat of white, and the black side got additional marbling with haze grey before a top coat of "black night".

 

Going to put a gloss coat on tomorrow so the paint has some protection, then this weekend I will be trying out those 1ManArmy stencils.

[DocRob]

Nice work overall, and also well photographed. I like your cockpit with all the details. PE flaps can be fiddly at times, but they improve the look a lot.

Cheers Rob

[crazypoet]

Gorgeous!