1/72 Tamia Spitfire Mk I

Started by Rick Wilkes · 25 · 10 years ago
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    Rick Wilkes said 10 years, 2 months ago:

    I picked this up at a flea market and have been working on it a little between the Stuka and the Hurricane.

    The plan is to mount it on a stand, so I'm working on getting the landing gear to fit into the wing, and adding a pilot. He and the seat have both had major carving done but he fits now with the canopy on. I'm leaning toward leaving the prop off, sealing up the spinner and leaving it at that but I'm open to suggestions on the "spinning prop" effect.

    I've gotten this far, but things should speed up now since I'm waiting on the paint to dry on the others.

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    Simon Whitney said 10 years, 2 months ago:

    I like the idea that Jack uses, some horse hair or similar especially if you could curl the ends slightly. And I don`t mean a perm Rick.

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    Jaime Carreon said 10 years, 2 months ago:

    Spinning props are hard to reproduce unless you stick a little electric motor in the nose. Wouldn't be too hard to do - the battery can go in the stand base. I like using the clear plastic disc with the outside edge colored in with a transparent yellow marker.

    Don't forget to trim that protruding gun barrel off... πŸ™‚

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    Rick Wilkes said 10 years, 2 months ago:

    Somebody mentioned the photo etch prop blurs on the thread on Jack's diorama and I found them on eBay cheap and since I have absolutely no idea out to use them I bought some.. Once more into the unknown πŸ™‚

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    Gregor d said 10 years, 2 months ago:

    Man alive! 3 builds! Well done.

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    Seamus Boughe said 10 years, 2 months ago:

    "Prop Blurs" are a wonderful product but not exactly perfect. The problem is they are made of a solid material. I would use them as a template to cut the spinning prop pattern out of clear plastic then paint it with clear colors such as Tamiya "Smoke". Doing it this way gives a wonderful translucence/realism to the spinning prop effect.

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    Rick Wilkes said 10 years, 2 months ago:

    Hey Seamus, good to hear from you. I've seen this kind of prop blurs on models at contests and you're right, they can (usually) look "unconvincing" depending on the skill of the painter. I thought I'd give these a whirl since I've never had any luck making a good clear disk prop. I like your idea of using them as a template. I'm also going to try using them as a mask on a clear disk, sort of ghost the outline on then fill in the outline. Of course this all assumes my painting skills are going to rise to the challenge ...lol

    BTW isn't it about time for another episode on your Hurricane, I'm looking forward to that.

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    Rick Wilkes said 10 years, 2 months ago:

    Getting the landing gear into the wheel wells took some doing.
    First cut all the rib detail out of the ells


    Second cut the wheels in half, and remove most of what will be the upper half, shave down the gear strut and cut the axel back to a nub.

    Trim the strut covers till they fit. Still need to do some filling & shimming but that's the main work done.

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    Simon Whitney said 10 years, 2 months ago:

    Getting there Rick, they are a lovely kit to build.
    The U/C looks about right.

    Simon.

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    Rick Wilkes said 10 years, 1 month ago:

    While I've been waiting on the clear coats to dry on my Stuka and Hurricane, I've managed to get the pilot painted and installed into the cockpit.
    Big thank you to Vic Russell for letting me piece the pilot together from his ICM 1/72d RAF aircrew set. Apparently he was a size 1/72 "husky" as it took quit a bit of surgery on both him and the seat to get him to fit.
    So here he is after painting. I used whatever paints looked right, with a little dark wash and highlighting.

    Here he is shoehorned into the cockpit.

    And the final dry fitting to make sure everything would still mated correctly, and while not in the picture the canopy does fit.

    Bandits at 11 O'clock! Roger leader, what do we do till then...taka...taka...taka

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    Jaime Carreon said 10 years, 1 month ago:

    Your pilot looks a bit like that chap Bader, eh what? πŸ™‚

    Looking good Rick!

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    Rick Wilkes said 10 years, 1 month ago:

    It probably would have helped if I had planned to add a pilot from the git go.
    Wing Cdr Glasson is also missing most of his butt, as well as portions his thighs, shoulders and back having crashed in the notorious Fairely Fruitbat. Despite all these handicaps he scored 3.785 victories during the BoB before being promoted to the Air Staff. He is the grandfather of the Headmistress at Port Wynn Primary School, Mrs Louisa (Glasson) Martin.
    Ain't PBS a wonderful thing..

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    Editor said 10 years, 1 month ago:

    This guy reminds me of Simon!

    "How many hours you'd have in Spits, Simon? Keep your jacket on. Let's make it eleven before Jerry has you for breakfast!"

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    Bernd MΓΌller said 10 years, 1 month ago:

    Hi Rick, great build. But the pic of the pilot without feed, hurts (yes, i know it s plasik)
    Can t wait to see him roaring on the deck over your bench πŸ™‚

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    Gregor d said 10 years, 1 month ago:

    Cool Rick, its good to see folks adding the "little people" to their a/c models πŸ™‚ This looks like a figure I have from the Revell Of Germany set - pilots and aircrew in 1/72. None of them fit any 1/72 kits that i've tried them in!