Posted By: Ajay
Weekend build that isn't, Spit XIVc - 01/17/20 05:16 AM
I wasn't going to do a build thread for this, just a couple of progress and finished shots when she was done. She was meant to be a quick weekender build but then i ran into decal issues and thus my plan failed. Weirdly enough she started out as a 1/72 MK I Spit that my son bought me for christmas. My daughter also had gotten me a C47 1/72 kit so we did a trip to the model shop (after i explained 1/72 is too small for my fumbling fingers and aging eyes) and exchanged them. Thus the 1/72 Spit I transformed into a 1/48 Spit XIVc, and went from the mighty Merlin to a Griffon engined variant, the C denotes the wing type.
Apparently there is a lot wrong with this kit regards shape, a poorly shaped nose, the too deep fuselage, the spine is incorrect, the tail is wrong and even the wings are too thick. There are a few resin kits that address these issues but i really wasn't interested in all of that, she looks like a Spit to me and i wasn't willing to throw a ton of money at a 29 dollar kit...or so i thought. More on that later. I didn't take any actual build shots, the cockpit was very basic and everything went together fairly neatly excepting one wing join which i sanded and worked as much as i dared without losing detail so this build starts with the plane at the prime stage.
I already had four of the colours i needed for this build in Tamiya on the shelf so ventured away from Vallejo for the main part.XF71/ XF81/82/83. Raf Cockpit Green, Raf Green, Raf Ocean Grey, Raf Sea Grey and then just needed XF21, Raf Sky Green for the prop spinner. Vallejo primed and pre shaded, i knocked out the prop while i was waiting for the wings to glue pre prime.
Love that shape, she is easily the sleekest and nicest looking of all of the planes i have built so far. Next up was a top coat of the Ocean grey with a lower of Sea grey. I marked out the green camo with blutac and tape, a lot of which would be hidden under the decals so i wasn't too fussy.
Raf green sprayed followed by the yellow leading edges and then clear coating in prep for the decals.
From here i placed a wing roundel first to see how the decals were. She went down fine so i moved onto one of the top wing invasion stripes. These would not settle well and did not line up with the gun ports neatly plus they had overhanging small clear sections. I persisted for about half an hour and then gave up and decided to paint them. The main reason why i didn't want to paint initially is because the fuselage stripes incorporate the letters and roundel which i would have to finely cut out to keep the markings consistent. I thought maybe i can get away with painted wings and a decalled fuselage...this all went out the window very soon anyway as you shall see. Since i was spraying i then tossed up about how to imitate this sort of a field painted look...
but then came across this Tempest ...
So i decided on some clean stripes. I wasn't real sure how i was going to imitate the rough ones without making a mess of it anyway. Maybe a future project.
These are the decals. I've placed the wing stripe decal that didn't want to play the game back on it's sheet as well as the undercarriage door decal that was overhanging. You can see my dilemma with the fuselage stripes incorporating the roundel, numerals and letters.
At this stage i started thinking about a decal kit, the cheapest one i could find sans stripes was about the same price as the kit, and had to come from England. While i mulled this over i moved on with the stripes, these are all mark 1 eyeball.
The black added
and the decal that sealed the deal for me having to get a new set. The tape was only just resting on it but that was enough to destroy it, my bad. It was also only at this stage that i realised there was still a thin film of clear on the decal that needed to be removed. I had not seen this since i was a kid, funny how things can jog a memory.
Fuselage stripes
and the final stripe, the thinner rear sky coloured stripe.
Now i'm waiting for my decals to come from England (Hannats) and i shelled out the extra for tracking, which puts them at the price of the kit plus 16 dollarydoos, so 46 in total. Lol. Anyway, what are you gonna do, i am definitely not painting circles again unless i have proper masking kits and those things cost as well. So i'm twiddling my thumbs waiting for some pommy bugger to hurry up and pack my order from TWO DAYS ago you ruddy English git, pull ya finger out mate
Apparently there is a lot wrong with this kit regards shape, a poorly shaped nose, the too deep fuselage, the spine is incorrect, the tail is wrong and even the wings are too thick. There are a few resin kits that address these issues but i really wasn't interested in all of that, she looks like a Spit to me and i wasn't willing to throw a ton of money at a 29 dollar kit...or so i thought. More on that later. I didn't take any actual build shots, the cockpit was very basic and everything went together fairly neatly excepting one wing join which i sanded and worked as much as i dared without losing detail so this build starts with the plane at the prime stage.
I already had four of the colours i needed for this build in Tamiya on the shelf so ventured away from Vallejo for the main part.XF71/ XF81/82/83. Raf Cockpit Green, Raf Green, Raf Ocean Grey, Raf Sea Grey and then just needed XF21, Raf Sky Green for the prop spinner. Vallejo primed and pre shaded, i knocked out the prop while i was waiting for the wings to glue pre prime.
Love that shape, she is easily the sleekest and nicest looking of all of the planes i have built so far. Next up was a top coat of the Ocean grey with a lower of Sea grey. I marked out the green camo with blutac and tape, a lot of which would be hidden under the decals so i wasn't too fussy.
Raf green sprayed followed by the yellow leading edges and then clear coating in prep for the decals.
From here i placed a wing roundel first to see how the decals were. She went down fine so i moved onto one of the top wing invasion stripes. These would not settle well and did not line up with the gun ports neatly plus they had overhanging small clear sections. I persisted for about half an hour and then gave up and decided to paint them. The main reason why i didn't want to paint initially is because the fuselage stripes incorporate the letters and roundel which i would have to finely cut out to keep the markings consistent. I thought maybe i can get away with painted wings and a decalled fuselage...this all went out the window very soon anyway as you shall see. Since i was spraying i then tossed up about how to imitate this sort of a field painted look...
but then came across this Tempest ...
So i decided on some clean stripes. I wasn't real sure how i was going to imitate the rough ones without making a mess of it anyway. Maybe a future project.
These are the decals. I've placed the wing stripe decal that didn't want to play the game back on it's sheet as well as the undercarriage door decal that was overhanging. You can see my dilemma with the fuselage stripes incorporating the roundel, numerals and letters.
At this stage i started thinking about a decal kit, the cheapest one i could find sans stripes was about the same price as the kit, and had to come from England. While i mulled this over i moved on with the stripes, these are all mark 1 eyeball.
The black added
and the decal that sealed the deal for me having to get a new set. The tape was only just resting on it but that was enough to destroy it, my bad. It was also only at this stage that i realised there was still a thin film of clear on the decal that needed to be removed. I had not seen this since i was a kid, funny how things can jog a memory.
Fuselage stripes
and the final stripe, the thinner rear sky coloured stripe.
Now i'm waiting for my decals to come from England (Hannats) and i shelled out the extra for tracking, which puts them at the price of the kit plus 16 dollarydoos, so 46 in total. Lol. Anyway, what are you gonna do, i am definitely not painting circles again unless i have proper masking kits and those things cost as well. So i'm twiddling my thumbs waiting for some pommy bugger to hurry up and pack my order from TWO DAYS ago you ruddy English git, pull ya finger out mate