Tamiya Spitfire MKI - 1/48 scale new tool

[robemcdonald]

A Christmas pressie. Tamiyas great looking new tool early Spitfire.
I’m going to paint mine as N3200 a restored aircraft that now resides not too far from me at Duxford. The aircraft was originally shot down and crash landed during the evacuation of Dunkirk.


The aircraft was restored a few years ago and looks great today.


Here’s the box art and contents.









There is also a clear sprue, but that picture won’t upload for some reason.

£35 for 4 sprues and a bit of photoetch isn’t cheap, but the quality does seem exceptional.

More pictures later....

[robemcdonald]

I decided to go against the instructions and start with the pilot.
You have to decide open or closed cockpit at the beginning, so how the pilot turned out was going to be a decision maker. I think he’s probably good enough to use.
What do you think?

Edited by robemcdonald on Saturday 29th December 15:56

[robemcdonald]

I just posted the pilot picture on a Facebook group I’m a member of. It asked me to tag the person in the picture, so I named him ginger. At least I’ve managed to impress an algorithm...

[NDA]

[tight5]

robemcdonald said:

I think he probably good enough to use.

Deffo.

[gruffgriff]

I'd be proud to fly with Ginger!

[The_Jackal]

Silly question I know, but why did they make the roundel on the fuselage soo big it overlaps the top.
I always though kit manufacturers just printed the decals slightly too big, but that restored one I guess is 100% accurate.
Surely a bit smaller and it would save on paint and time in the middle of a war?

[robemcdonald]

The_Jackal said:

Silly question I know, but why did they make the roundel on the fuselage soo big it overlaps the top.
I always though kit manufacturers just printed the decals slightly too big, but that restored one I guess is 100% accurate.
Surely a bit smaller and it would save on paint and time in the middle of a war?

I have no idea I’m sure Eric would most likely know.
My question is why the red circle at the centre of the roundel is actually a separate decal.
I’ve noticed that revell do this as well, but not Eduard.

I’d love to know why.

[Stuzza]

The red central part was omitted in the Far East to avoid confusion with Japanese markings.

[dr_gn]

robemcdonald said:

The_Jackal said:

Silly question I know, but why did they make the roundel on the fuselage soo big it overlaps the top.
I always though kit manufacturers just printed the decals slightly too big, but that restored one I guess is 100% accurate.
Surely a bit smaller and it would save on paint and time in the middle of a war?

I have no idea I’m sure Eric would most likely know.
My question is why the red circle at the centre of the roundel is actually a separate decal.
I’ve noticed that revell do this as well, but not Eduard.

I’d love to know why.

The separate red dots are to get around printing errors when two or more colours are printed on one decal. If the separate ink layers are not perfectly aligned, the dots will be off centre. Separating them is a bit of a bodge, but allows the modeller to get them perfect.

The roundel yellow thickness is just a result of standard diameter ratios of RAF roundel colours at various times during the war.

[V8FGO]

Yellow painted around 35" roundal rather than the 25 inch.
https://boxartden.com/reference/gallery/var/resize...

Explained more in this section
https://boxartden.com/reference/gallery/index.php/...

Edited by V8FGO on Saturday 29th December 20:35

[robemcdonald]

I’ve spent the last couple of days painting and assembling the cockpit.

Sorry the pictures are a bit rubbish.

[robemcdonald]

Marginally better pictures

[robemcdonald]

Got the fuselage buttoned up and the wings on. It really is a doddle. You almost don’t need any glue.
You have to hand it to the guys at Tamiya, they really have the engineering thing nailed.

[russy01]

Great to see this being built.

[robemcdonald]

Thanks Russy. It’s practice for the big 1/32 Mark IX I got from you.

[robemcdonald]

A few more pics.

[NDA]

I am not a modeller.... just interested....

How do you get the faded edges to the camouflage when using masking tape?

[robemcdonald]

In this case I traced around the edge with my airbrush as I wasn’t happy with the sharp demarcation that masking gave even though it is more scale accurate.
Next time I’ll probably use the blue tack method.

[wolfracesonic]

Is it possible to do the camouflage patterns freehand with the airbrush, or don't you trust your hands to be steady enough?