A group of Eight various 1/48 Spitfires………. Four Airfix and Four Tamiya, Mk 1 to the FR 46 / 47

Started by Louis Gardner · 332 · 3 years ago
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    david leigh-smith said 5 years, 9 months ago:

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    Paul Barber said 5 years, 9 months ago:

    That looks like the Hasegawa Mk VI...

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    Stephen W Towle said 5 years, 9 months ago:

    Louis,
    Any thoughts of putting a archway at the end of the drive ...with the words "Welcome to "Casa Bromwich". Since your into Spitfires and cars...Mopar and maybe Jags?

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    Chuck A. Villanueva said 5 years, 9 months ago:

    I love it, British humour

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    David Mills said 5 years, 9 months ago:

    Fantastic effort Louis ! I am looking forward to the next episode of 'spitfire squadron'!

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    david leigh-smith said 5 years, 9 months ago:

    Paul, you have an eye for detail my friend. Some that are not so charitable may say you'll be next for the big butterfly net...

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    Louis Gardner said 5 years, 9 months ago:

    Hello James...

    I'm sorry to hear about the loss of the CAF DC-3 in that horrible crash yesterday. At least there were no fatalities as there were in the DH Venom crash on the same day. What a horrible day for Warbird owners. I said a few prayers for all of those affected... πŸ™

    I say go for it and build the Spitfire as part of the 100 Years of the RAF. It would be nice to get another addition to this fantastic GB...

    As far as the kit decals on the P-47, don't give up hope on them just yet. Depending on how they have been stored, they may still be viable. I have used a few decals form kits that were over 20 years old and they still worked great.

    Once you get to the point where you are ready to add the decals do a simple test first if you are considering using the originals. Try out a small decal that will not be too noticeable at first. See how it works, and go from there. If it shatters and you are still set on using the originals, you can coat them with a decal film solution and save the rest.

    If you are seriously wanting to use the originals, coat the entire decal sheet first, and then they should be useable.

    But there are a ton of aftermarket decals available for the P-47. You can find a set you really like and order it.

    Please keep me posted. I might have a few extras left in the stash that I can send you a set if needed.

    Thanks my friend...

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    Louis Gardner said 5 years, 9 months ago:

    Hello again Paul !

    Yes my head is spinning too with all of these little Spitfire plastic parts tubs sitting on the bench. There's twelve of them in all as we speak... I went ahead and started the remaining last 4 Spitfires. At least now once these are done, all of my 1/48 scale Spits will be completed. Just in time for another company to release a few more... its a sickness I tell you ! πŸ™‚ all in good fun of course.

    I'll send you an updated list with the kit numbers, types and the markings I have picked out so far. I have the Hurricanes, the BP Defiant and some of the early Spits picked out as far as Squadrons and crews, etc.

    Time permitting, and I have these kits completed, I would like to add a Tamiya 1/48 scale PRU Mosquito. But we will have to see how things turn out first.

    If you don't mind, I'd like some gravy for the mashed potatoes... πŸ™‚

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    Louis Gardner said 5 years, 9 months ago:

    David LS;
    This has to be your best drawing to date ! You even got the aluminum hat shaped proper !

    With your permission, I would really love to print out a copy and frame it. I have the perfect place for it on a wall in the man cave / hobby room. It really made my day. Thank you VERY much my friend. Your skill set always amazes me...

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    Louis Gardner said 5 years, 9 months ago:

    Paul,
    I was going to say the Spitfire Mk V myself... The "fish tail" exhausts are a dead giveaway... πŸ™‚ πŸ™‚ πŸ™‚

    and I thought I was the only one... be careful. David has another jacket, and you may be asking for gravy on your mashed potatoes too ! It really does help with the taste... but it has a negative effect on the waist line.

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    Louis Gardner said 5 years, 9 months ago:

    Hey there Stephen ...

    I do indeed like the Spitfires, and many other types from the era including the Hurricane, FW-190, Bf-109, Me-262, P-38, P-40, P-47, P-51 and F6F (as some examples), but my all time favorite is the F4U Corsair hands down...

    If I could talk the misses into it... πŸ™‚ maybe. But it might say something a little different.

    As far as the cars go, I really do like the Mopars. But my Dad had a 1954 Mk 7 Jaguar when I was a kid...like this one that I found a picture of on Wikipedia


    Dad's Jaguar was British Racing Green, with a sun roof, a six cylinder inline engine and a manual transmission with overdrive. What I remember the most about this car was the wood work. The dash and door panels were exquisite... These Jags looked like Rolls Royce cars or even Bentleys...

    My favorite Jag... that would be a 1962 E type with wire wheels. These things are rolling works of art. πŸ™‚
    Like this one...

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    Louis Gardner said 5 years, 9 months ago:

    Chuck, I caught the spelling of humour... πŸ™‚ It's the way I spelled the word "tyre" earlier in these RAF postings... well done my friend.

    Your Lancaster is looking fantastic. I'll bet that monster takes up some display room... πŸ™‚

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    Louis Gardner said 5 years, 9 months ago:

    David Mills,
    I'm pleased to hear that you're enjoying these postings... So hang on my friend...

    Here's another episode.

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    Louis Gardner said 5 years, 9 months ago:

    Over the last few days I have been busy with working on the last four recent additions to this Spitfire build journal...

    I built up the cockpit assemblies from the last four kits that I decided to go ahead and build. Now all of my 1/48 scale Spitfires will be built from the stash.

    Here's 4 more little plastic bins holding the parts to these latest additions.


    The next few photos will be of the individual kit cockpit assemblies after they were built up to the point of painting.

    Revell of Germany / Special Hobby re boxing Seafire Mk XV shown below.


    Next up is the Airfix Mk XII

    and one of the Hasegawa kits. This one is the Mk IX with the "C" type wing. The cockpit assembly on this one is rather nice, so I included a few more pictures to show you just how much detail was right out of the box.

    I would venture to say that this one is right on par with the "New" Airfix stuff...

    Here's a close up of the fuselage halves:

    and all of the parts before painting...

    Then we go to an older Hasegawa kit. Here you can see the difference that a few years made as far as details. This is the Mk VI kit parts. They do look a little "dated" but they should... This kit is about 25 years old. It reminds me of some of the earlier Tamiya kits from the 1970's.

    But the old Hasegawa kit started looking better after some paint.

    Followed by the Revell of Germany / S H kit of the Seafire Mk XV

    Next up is the Hasegawa Mk IX "newer" kit from the later 1990's / early 2000's if memory serves me. This kit look great once a little paint is added.

    Followed by the New Airfix Mk XII. You can see the details are on par with the newer Hasegawa kit...

    Since I had the air brush out and was on a roll, I decided to paint the Instrument panels and seats for the latest additions to this build log.
    I used "Flat Black" for the IP's, and a special color I mixed up for WW2 German Armor. It looks like a brick red color and I thought it would be fairly close to the plastic seat color used on some Spitfires...

    I sat the parts on the table with the appropriate container sitting just behind the bits of Spits...
    Here you have the Revell of Germany Seafire MkXV on the left, and the Hasegawa Mk VI on the right in this photo below...


    This next picture shows the IP's from the Hasegawa Mk IX on the left, and the New Tool Airfix Mk XII on the right.

    This is how we sit, with bits of Spits, at the moment... πŸ™‚

    12 little plastic tubs that still need more detail work done on the cockpits. Once that's done, I'll start gluing the fuselage halves together and we will really start seeing some progress... If you look closely, you can see the Airfix Hurricane Mk1 and the early Classic Airframes "Cloth wing" Hurricane parts in the back ground... they are sitting in little plastic tubs like the Spitfire parts are.

    I'm off to the lair to do some more work...

    as usual,
    Comments are encouraged.

    Thanks for looking. πŸ™‚

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    James B Robinson said 5 years, 9 months ago:

    Louis, thank you for the offer but I've already ordered a set with a little more pizazz. The box had been in the garage all but forgotten and the Texas heat seems to have taken a toll on the decals. Only time will tell if the P-47 itself survived the heat. I washed it the other day and have not inspected the sprues too much. We shall see what if any alignment problems I may have to overcome.

    Real shame about losing the Belle, she was a beautiful aircraft and well liked around here. She participated in some of the relief efforts after Hurricane Harvey. She will be missed by many and I'm sure that the Wing members are really devastated. Luckily there were only minor injuries.