I was maybe 7 or 8 years old...
I was maybe 7 or 8 years old when I found my father's LP “The Number of the Beast”, I placed it and sat down to listen… I was blown away, I was raised listening to Pink Floyd, Deep Purple, Nazareth, Wishbone Ash… but this was SOMETHING… From the cover to the music… My journey with Iron Maiden had started then! I got all the LPs, than tapes (o yes, the tapes which had their own mind, I used so many duck tape to fix them), VHS and finally CDs. Iron Maiden was and still is the part of my musical life, I learned to play triplets on bass drum listening to Nicko, I'm still in love with his technic on ride cymbal, rolls… And, of course, Maiden is live show to remember! I watched few times and I'm awaiting their tour with another Legends, Judas Priest…
Ok, that was something boring about my music taste. But, this is important because I saw the commercial from Revell for commemorating Iron Maiden absolutely incredible single Aces High… Well, I could make the Spitfire from that single, but Revell anounced that they would include two Eddie figures, one for cockpit and another standing before scramble. I had to obtain this model!
Finally during the Korona brake they put some kits from their reserves on sale and I got one from Germany. I don't want to comment the kit because this is Revell's rebox with some new parts, new decals and two Eddie figures. Decals are printed excellent, they are in scale and fantasic on the model, I put them on the model without any problem, they layed down in every recess, panel with a little bit of help of Microsol and Microset.
Eddie is casted in two variants, with minor flas which is noramally because figures are made from plastic, maybe the resin would be better option, but, hey, this is Eddie, he is good in any form. Figures are very easy to put together. Normally, I first assembled Eddie and painted it. Both figures are painted with acrylics bu hand and then sealed with GX100, then I've done little weathering with Abteilung 502 oils… And then I made terrible mistake, I varnished them with Vallejo matte. I swear to God Almighty that I will never ever use acrylic varnish again, it has tendency to pill of by its own… I corrected this and put Eddies on side.
The whole model goes very good, cockpit is big and easy to put together. Instruments on instrument table are raised, and decals on it was fantastic. Very Important! Before continuing with build put the Eddie in the cockpit! Afterwards it would be nearly impossible to that! Sitting Eddie is maybe a little bit oversized, but ok. If You want You can avoid that by avoiding to put paraschutte on its place.
Fuselage goes very good, but capotage has some holes and needs a little bit of putty. Wings are a little bit problematic because You have to them in correct angle, so I used some elastic band.
After assembling and masking clear parts I primed the whole model with One Shot Primer. The whole model is painted by AK Real colors which are simply FANTASTIC! As I'm growing older I'm deciding to abandon acrylics. I don't have nerves for constantly cleaning needle, nozzle… Lacquers are real joy, maybe a little bit smelly biut very easy to use and clean.
I used my old Harder&Steenback Evolution Silverline for main paintng on the 0.2 needle. Then I switched to H&S Infinity CR Plus with 0.15 needle for postshading, shadows and various effects. After main job everything was sealed with GX100 Ultra Clear, warmly recommend, excellent ultra gloss varnish!
Decals went smooth, easy and excellent, after some models with terrible decals this was real joy and fun! Another coat of GX100.
For panels I used AK Paneliners, and for effects and shadows Abteilung 502 oils with various tones to break monotony. Maybe I overdone smoke from barrels, but I didn't want to overpain that. This is Spitfire from Battle of Britain and I saw many pictures of them which are very poor mainted and dirty.
Finally I sealed it with MIG Ultra Matt Lucky Varnish. Pictures are taken during daylight in my garden and shoot with Canon with 50mm lense.
This was very fun and joyful build. I had time to listen whole Maiden's discography on LPs for couple of times during this build. I'm satisfied with the outcome. The model is built OOB because I thought that the Eddie and decals are most important for this Spitfire. I higly recommend this model for every Iron Maiden fan, and for fans of Spitfire, it is easy to put together and has incredibly good decals, and of course it includes two Eddies. There are many better Spitfires on the market, but, hey, this is model commemorating Aces High single.
I'm awaitng Your comments and advices. Stay safe and Up the Irons!
What a awesome build!
Thank You Rick, the model was easy to build. I made few mistakes, but this is fantasy build 🙂
Great work! I spent my teenage years as a metal head ahah, I recall buying Maiden’s Powerslave album and didn’t stop until their Somewhere in Time LP. Still have several of my favorite songs on my digital playlist... especially fit as soundtrack while painting 🙂
Love those Eddies
Thank You Pedro! Piece of Mind, Powerslave, Somewhere in time, Seventh son... are real gems 🙂
Nice work! Looks like an enjoyable build.
Thank You 🙂
I made few mistakes, ailerons and tail wheel, but it was real fun to build 🙂
Very special build.
Nicely done.
Thank You %)
Nice build there sir, and excellent music tastes too.
Simon.
Thank You 🙂
Iron Maiden, Rush, Pink Floyd, Dio, Rainbow... will always be something will be something which is the top of the music 🙂
Old school which today kids will never enjoy as we used to...
Powerslave is their greatest album, and Aces High ranks #1 for me. Nicko is also one of my main influences. I was lucky their “Somewhere Back In Time” tour came to my town, what a thrill was going to that show! I just ordered this kit and can’t wait to start it. Great job on yours!
Thank You very much!
Their era between The number of the Beast and Seventh son is fantastic, shame they don't play many songs from Somewehere in time.
🙂 … Greetings … 🙂 :
Fantasy or not, this is a very nice build Djordje. The weathering looks good as well as your painting of the figures. Thank you for sharing these images.
Thank You for Your kind words 🙂
Eddie in the Spit cockpit: I just love it, Djordje!
Thank You Spiros 🙂
Eddie's details on the face are very good taking in mind that this is plastic, figure.
Looking Good in the neighborhood! Nice Job!
Thank You Walt 🙂
Up the Irons! Great job!
I have this kit on my desk right now, and I’m enjoying it.
Number of the Beast is my favorite album, and I think it’s one of the best rick albums of all time.
Thank You James 🙂
The kit is very good, but there a few žistakes in imstructions. Take care about ailerons, I fixed them after the photo shooting, and tail wheel also. I had to cut tail wheel and reconmect it aagain because of instructions 🙂