1/72 Airfix Spitfire Mk.1a New Tool

[rowmk9]

My third build will be something simple to tie me over whilst I'm busy over the next few weeks. It is Airfix's lovely new Spitfire kit, I've been itching to try it out since picking it up a few weeks ago.

There are some much better sprue shots with Mike's review for this site, so these are more for people who may not have seen them. I'm sure he wont mind THIS LINK to his review.

Edit: My plea for decal help has been heeded by the very kind and generous Lasermonkey aka Mark.

The aircraft I will be modelling is the mount of Pilot Officer H W Reiley of 66 Squadron on 17th October 1940. Maybe this aircraft was with the squadron on September 15th, the day 66 Sqn spitfires attacked Heinkel He111H-2 A1+BT (and presumably as many other enemy aircraft they could during that large engagement). If I can, I'll try and find out.

Aircraft Serial: R6800

Codes: LZ N

Notable features: Red spinner, rank flash near cockpit, slightly oversize roundels on lower wing surfaces.

Edited October 14, 2010 by rowmk9

[lasermonkey]

As far as I know, there aren't any "off the shelf" decals for No 66 Sqn aircraft, so you'll have to resort to generic markings from Modeldecal, Xtradecal et al. I'm doing R6800/LZ*N (amongst many) at the moment. Interestingly, No 66 used Medium Sea Grey serials during 1940 (and possibly earlier) and at some point during the BoB switched to red spinners.

I used 30" codes from the Tally Ho RAF codes set, as these seem to match the photo I've seen of R6800 best, even though I suspect the codes were closer to 28". The Modeldecal 30" codes are a bit too "thick", if that makes sense. I used Ventura's light grey serials. The fuselage roundel would have been 35" and probably with a 7" red centre. It would appear that the red centre on the 50" underwing roundels was larger than standard.

The undersurface colour is open to question, but IMHO could well have been Sky Blue No 1 or possibly Sky.

Here's a couple of links to Mark Styling's profile pages which may be of some use. Please note that the yellow leading edges should be ignored, as should the black serial numbers. R6800 had the pilot's headrest deleted.

http://www.markstyling.com/spitfiresmkl_ll_2.htm

http://www.markstyling.com/spitfiresmkl_ll_3.htm

Hope this helps,

Mark.

[AnonymousDFB1]

Watching this one with interest

[rowmk9]

Thanks Mark that is fantastic help, I'm in your debt. PM will be sent.

Just re-reading my original post, I came across a little wrong, I didn't want to sound plain lazy. Apologies if anyone thought I was being cheeky, that wasn't my intention.

Now thanks to Mark I've the first pieces of info to build a 66 Squadron aircraft, I don't think this squadron has been done for the GB yet has it?

Anyway, this should be a fun build and depicting an aircraft that completes the other part of my Heinkel story just has to be attempted!

Edited September 22, 2010 by rowmk9

[AndyL]

Rowan,

I built a Spitfire as this one, and it was mounted on a base with items from the real aircraft, with the finished item being presented to an ex 66 Sqn groundcrewman who not only worked on R6800, but was a pall bearer at Hugh Reilly's funeral.

I still have some skinning left, and maybe a couple of blown .303 rounds....if you want them let me know. And keep up the good work

[rowmk9]

Rowan,

I built a Spitfire as this one, and it was mounted on a base with items from the real aircraft, with the finished item being presented to an ex 66 Sqn groundcrewman who not only worked on R6800, but was a pall bearer at Hugh Reilly's funeral.

I still have some skinning left, and maybe a couple of blown .303 rounds....if you want them let me know. And keep up the good work

Wow Andy that's very generous of you. I'm not sure my efforts will be worth having some genuine artifacts placed with it in a sort of display. If you're willing though.... send a PM!

[AndyL]

No worries...the few bits are at my old place in Worcester, but I'll be back there pretty soon. But I'll sort them out for you and send them on. They were passed on to me via a 3rd party from somebody involved in the original dig on the crash site.

[rowmk9]

Well thankyou very much Andy, I'm very grateful. Obviously you know a far bit about R6800 and Hugh Reilly. Was this Spitfire on the Squadron books during September 1940? And any idea at what particular point of the battle did the Spitfires of 66Sqn get their red spinners? No worries if you don't know.

Anyway, I've been getting on with the interior for the Spit and I'm impressed with the effort Airfix have put in to this one, it's more than adequate for a 1/72 single seat fighter. I think I've got the interior colours about right, having trawled the interweb for pics of the interior.

[rowmk9]

This is how R6800 looks right now, mostly built up which took no time at all due to the low parts count. Word of warning if you're going to build one, I found the fit with the wing/fuselage was ultra-snug, to the point that if left unfettled the wing dihedral gets 'squashed' level when you put them together (very un-spitfire like!). Lasermonkey gave me a heads up about this and he's right, it happened on my Spit as well. I had to sand off a small amount of the join on the fuselage halves to make it fit.

I've also repositioned the elevators in an 'at rest' position. The airframe has been partly sprayed aluminium and once its a little bit more ready it will get a proper coat (I should have waited!). I'm thinking of trying those paint chipping techniques where you paint the airframe colour first. we'll see how that goes.

[FZ6]

This is how R6800 looks right now, mostly built up which took no time at all due to the low parts count. Word of warning if you're going to build one, I found the fit with the wing/fuselage was ultra-snug, to the point that if left unfettled the wing dihedral gets 'squashed' level when you put them together (very un-spitfire like!). Lasermonkey gave me a heads up about this and he's right, it happened on my Spit as well. I had to sand off a small amount of the join on the fuselage halves to make it fit.

I've also repositioned the elevators in an 'at rest' position. The airframe has been partly sprayed aluminium and once its a little bit more ready it will get a proper coat (I should have waited!). I'm thinking of trying those paint chipping techniques where you paint the airframe colour first. we'll see how that goes.

Looking Good Rowan.

The paint Chipping is a great technique and can look really effective

[AnonymousDFB1]

Looking good Rowan

[lasermonkey]

Looking good, Rowan!

I toyed with the idea of sanding off some wingroot to get the dihedral, but in the end I did the same as with the old Airfix Mk I, which is somewhat convoluted! I cut the lower wing into three parts (I know!), glueing the centre-section to the fuselage first. I then attach the upper wings to the fuselage, getting the required dihedral and then, once dry, attach the lower wings. I've done it so many times now it's second nature. It does involve some filling and sanding, but I'm happy with the outcome.

One of my new Mk Is is ready for the upper surface colours now, having painted the undersides Sky Blue. This one is going to be K9953/ZP*A of No 74 Sqn.. The others are just about ready to have their wings fitted. These will be P9323/ZD*F of No 222 Sqn, R6626/XT*Y of No 603 Sqn and good ol' P9495/DW*K from No 610 Sqn, although I'll be using Modeldecals for the codes as I'm not happy with the Airfix ones.

I'm still trying to complete all nineteen for the end of October. We'll see!!!

Cheers,

Mark.

[Seahawk]

Anyway, I've been getting on with the interior for the Spit and I'm impressed with the effort Airfix have put in to this one, it's more than adequate for a 1/72 single seat fighter. I think I've got the interior colours about right, having trawled the interweb for pics of the interior.

Like your colours for the interior and the seat. Were they specially mixed or out the pot? If the latter, which pots please?

[AndyL]

If I recall, R6800 was on squadron strength from July '40. And the alledged reason for the red spinner was that Rupert Leigh has been fired upon by Hurricanes and wanted to use it as an aid to identification. You wouldn't be surprised about the number of near misses in combat. I have a load of combat camera footage from the BoB, including Alan Feary of 609 having a pop at a couple of Hurricanes...

[rowmk9]

Like your colours for the interior and the seat. Were they specially mixed or out the pot? If the latter, which pots please?

Hi Seahawk,

I confess that I used Tamiya XF21 Sky for the interior green - may the modelling gods strike me down!

The brown for the seat was from the citadel acrylics range: 'Bestial Brown'. I'm not sure if its still in the range as I've got an older pot of paint and Games Workshop like to change everything every few years to make more money.

Having said that, a quick search and I found this website that shows the same pot.

The darker brown was a mix of bestial brown with citadel's 'Chaos Black', which has been a constant in the range and is easy to get.

If I recall, R6800 was on squadron strength from July '40

Cheers Andy, that makes it feasible that it flew on 15th September 1940. I wonder if on this particular day they had red spinners?

I cut the lower wing into three parts (I know!),

Mark you are a glutton for punishment! A braver modeller than me and no mistake!

[rowmk9]

I've manged to eek out a bit of spare time this afternoon, so I've got on with the Spitfire. The canopy is on and masked up, and I've painted the underside. I've gone for a light blue instead of standard Sky. It's often a matter of interpretation with the underside colours of BoB RAF fighters, and with this Spit I wanted to have a little difference. Do you like it? or have I commited a modelling faux pas?

comments appreciated

Edited October 4, 2010 by rowmk9

[FZ6]

Looking Smart Rowan.

I think the underserfaces of theis period open a whole can of worms regarding duck egg blue and sky etc. I can't comment on how accurate it is but it looks good and doesn't look wrong.

It's a lovely little kit isn't it.

I purchased three last week with a view to building them with a view to having them flying in a tight vic and have to confess to launching into them. Question is do I start a thread?

[rowmk9]

Looking Smart Rowan.

I think the underserfaces of theis period open a whole can of worms regarding duck egg blue and sky etc. I can't comment on how accurate it is but it looks good and doesn't look wrong.

It's a lovely little kit isn't it.

I purchased three last week with a view to building them with a view to having them flying in a tight vic and have to confess to launching into them. Question is do I start a thread?

It is a lovely kit, and as such, starting a thread would be a great idea as we could share the fun of course, I'd also understand if you wanted to keep a few builds to yourself

[rowmk9]

actually on second thought, I'm not sure I like my underside colour, it looks way too close to RLM76 to my eye, despite being a custom mix.

Where is my Tamiya Sky....All is forgiven!

[rowmk9]

A fairly significant update. The camo has been done, more or less. I used Xtracrylics as I like their RAF colours alot. I masked the camo pattern 'freehand' with blu-tac sausages and tamiya masking tape - not to most efficient way to do it, but it'll do for me. I apologise in advance for the not-so-great photography.

I experimented using masking fluid on the outer port wing to fill in the gap between the blu tac, but it was too thin and ran under in the panel lines. I quickly dropped that idea! I've seen Mish use Copydex which I'm guessing would work better because of it's greater viscosity.

I've also for the first time tried the masking method of paint chipping. It's not bad for a first effort, in my humble opinion. With thanks to FZ6 for the excellent advice on the technique

The Sky undersurface, which was sprayed over the lightish blue that I tried first.

Edited October 6, 2010 by rowmk9

[FZ6]

Looking great Rowan!

I'm glad the technique worked for you. It looks really good in the photos.

[AnonymousDFB1]

Nice work Rowan

[robw_uk]

wow - looking good... only just stumbled on this build so a couple of questions

1) is that cockpit completly OOB or did you tart it up?

2) can you either link or give some detail on the masking for chipping method.....

thanks in advance

[rowmk9]

Thanks FZ6, Mish and Rob.

In answer to your questions Rob:

1) The cockpit is basically OOB, the only addition being some generic seatbelts made from masking tape. Airfix have played a blinder with this one.

2) FZ6 can best explain the paint chipping technique as he showed me! I'll see if he would be so kind as to post his tutorial and I'll link to it on this thread.

[robw_uk]

Thanks FZ6, Mish and Rob.

In answer to your questions Rob:

1) The cockpit is basically OOB, the only addition being some generic seatbelts made from masking tape. Airfix have played a blinder with this one.

2) FZ6 can best explain the paint chipping technique as he showed me! I'll see if he would be so kind as to post his tutorial and I'll link to it on this thread.

thats a great looking cockpit then.... may have to find this kit and give it a bash