Gregor! Here it comes 🙂 !

Mal over at Aeroscale asked about the camo pattern: I took the Xtradecals instruction sheet for granted. It most probably is fairly inaccurate (quick comparison to photos shows several discrepancies). I would have expected better from Xtradecal. Anyway, painted is painted and I can always do another one...

Masking and painting yellow leading edges and sky fuselage band...

...results in those two Spits set out to dry...

And a bit of work tonight sees the first of the decals in place! In order to get a bit of difference and add some interest I'll go for a "wartime" scheme with the toned down roundels for one of the aircraft and the more colourful postwar markings for the other.

Regards

Magnus

I had to do a bit of out-of-sequence painting tonight.

There is NO CHANCE ON EARTH that I will be able to fit the dead flat and straight stripe decal to the curved and conical Spitfire rear fuselage and get an acceptable result (or at least I don't dare to try)... I have masked the stripes (starting with the black ones)...

...painted them and peeled away the masking. Not bad, white middle line tomorrow!

Regards

Magnus

Great work so far Magnus! I have toyed with getting the Airfix 22/24 but was a bit dubious about the deep panel lines on the kit ( i bought the PR XIX already). Now that you have a coat of primer and paint on the model, what are your thoughts?

(I also have a Fujimi Mk XIVE on my "Shelf of Doom" from at least 1993 waiting to get done. 🙁 )

david

PS: I'd rather mask bands on the fuselage than use decal any day...

Simon! Fuselage stripes finished by know, wings ought to be easier (and they don't need to fit an existing decal with numbers on...).

David! I don't worry that much about the panel lines, I've done a few of the later Airfix kits and if they asked me I would like them a bit more refined but I still don't think it detracts much from the final result.

Fujimi XIV from the same year as your's David. Bute mine's finished 🙂 !

Airfix Mk XIX and...

...Airfix Mk IX, both almost ootb.
Lines could be finer but they look more prominent in the photos, I think they look fine IRL!

Greg! Doing my best, doing my best... 🙂

White stripe...

Regards

Magnus

Still on sticks but a lot closer to standing on their wheels now...

All major decalling finished!

Regards

Magnus

Some more work invested but still no major changes 🙂 !

Both kits got a satin clear-coat preparing them for weathering (I'll probably go for a rather matte final finish later on)...

...and the huge radiators are finally on as well! I have no idea why I waited with them but at least it made it easier to mask and paint the wheel wells!

Regards

Magnus

Nice addition Magnus. I'm looking forward to seeing them on the Spits.

Been away skiing for a week and then some other things to catch up with but tonight I'm finally back at the workbench. Or rather, I am running back and forth between "the Sty" and the kitchen, combining baking bread with modelling.

Black and white bands around the wings as well, easier to paint than to mess about with decals...

...fully masked...

...and painted white...

...tomorrow I'll continue with the black edges!

Regards

Magnus

Bernie! You do know your Spitfires! You're (almost 🙂 ) exactly right, No 80 sqn Kai Tak during the Korean War and No 73 sqn at Malta. I've yet to do a Gladiator with that arrow. By the way, No 80 traded their Tempests for Spit 24s. A Spit 24 is always a Spit 24 but I would NEVER EVER trade a Tempest for something else 🙂 !

Got up early this morning (nothing like the smell of freshly baked bread to wake me up 🙂 ) and managed to do a further bit of work before the rest of the family woke up!

Masking the white stripe, as you can see I use strips of tape to aid centering...

...a bit of bonus masking to avoid overspray...

...if you look at the wing root area you see why I did that full masking, I got quite a bit of white overspray the other night...

...that I'll take care of using polishing pads tonight.

Lover surfaces. I don't know if the buzz numbers were over-painted, Xtradecal's instructions show them like this but I don't find them very trustworthy nowadays...

Regards

Magnus

Bernie! The Eduard Spits are seriously nice kits, if they weren't to release them in 1/72 soon I just might had been dragged over the 48-line once more 🙂 !

Even if the photos don't show much, at least SOME work has been done. I ended up stuck in a serious bout of weathering phobia on these but I think I have managed to get out of it at least with the Mk 24, the weathering on the 22 has yet to be started.

Let's start on the subject of spares... To start with, I managed to do a cross-over when painting the spinners: the Airfix one was inadvertently painted for the Xtrakit Spit and the Xtrakit one for the Airfix. No bonus points for that manoeuvre...

After trying to assemble them (and then I even (OK, sort of, obviously...) dryfitted them before painting) I ended up with a beautifully assembled Airfix prop (for the 73 sqn Xtrakit machine) and an Xtrakit prop that refused to submit to no matter how much violence I used on it. Looking at them, I also realised that there are huge shape differences.

Without making any deeper analysis I came to the conclusion that I didn't like the look of the Xtrakit prop (even if the Airfix one looks a bit skinny) so after some thinking I decided that I'll buy another Airfix kit just to get the prop. After all, it doesn't cost a fortune and the rest of it can be used in any of my almost 15 Ventura Spitfire kits that are in the yet-to-be-built pile... So now I finally have two acceptably good-looking props for my Spits!

The Spit itself after som further weathering (washes and some pastels to break up the rather monochrome camo)...

...and a matte coat that as an added bonus gave me a bunch of white specks that I'll have to get rid of somehow. A stiff brush will probably do the trick!

I'm off for Easter now, will bring some modelling with me but that's a ground-bound thing on wheels in 35-scale (yes, I occasionally dabble in that as well...).

Regards

Magnus