Eduard Spitfire Mk.Ia, 1/48. A Pair of Kiwis.

Started by Harvey R. · 114 · 3 years ago · 1/48, Battle of France, Dual-combo, Dunkirk, Eduard, RAF, Spitfire, WWII
  • Profile Photo
    John vd Biggelaar said 3 years ago:

    Looks amazing, Harvey.
    I fully agree on the Semi-matt coats.
    The exhaust and gun stains are great.

  • Profile Photo
    Harvey R. said 3 years ago:

    Glad you all seem to be liking the weathering!

    Today I gave it the second clear coat, two clear coats at the end mean it's a wrap with painting in my book.

    In my excitement to see the lad stuck inside the Spit, I removed the masks. Some of the paint has peeled off, not too much. Whilst the MRP clear coat is touch dry, maybe it needs a bit more cure time, though the likely culprit is too much paint around the masks. Eitherway I'll let KL-N rest and I'll remove the masks tomorrow and work on the finishing touches such as the lights, wiring and then the stand.

  • Profile Photo
    John vd Biggelaar said 3 years ago:

    What a great looks, Harvey.
    The decals seem to be painted as well, wonderful.
    Indeed, really minor peeling. Are you going to try to fix this andif so, how.

  • Profile Photo
    Spiros Pendedekas said 3 years ago:

    Wonderful result, Harvey!
    Congratulations!

  • Profile Photo
    Harvey R. said 3 years ago:

    Thanks folks!

    Regarding the peeling I'll likely just end up putting a bit of Tamiya tape down on the glass and then paint over the frame where needed with a brush, I'll either do it aluminum or green, though I did run out of my green mix I used for this project so it's really a question of whether I want to mix up more for such a small job since the next project few projects in mind won't be using these colours.

  • Profile Photo
    George R Blair Jr said 3 years ago:

    Awesome job, Harvey (@scalerambush). It looks great. I have had occasional trouble with the paint popping up when I remove the canopy tape, and I usually mark it down to the number of layers of paint and clear that have piled up over the tape. I have had some luck going around the edge of the tape with an Exacto before I pull it up, but you really need to be careful or you end up with the same problem.

  • Profile Photo
    Harvey R. said 3 years ago:

    Just about ready to call these done:

    All that is left to is to redo the small antenna wire going up the side of the antenna on KL-B as it broke off overnight, play around with the stand (in particular, KL-N which looks like it's in a nosedive to Earth, Spitfires are always a pain in the backside to make stands for as your only real choice is to put it below the seat which means there's a lack of room inside the model for the rod to go), and finally dust everything including the photo booth again.

    Overall its been a good fun build, the Eduard kit isn't perfect and I definitely don't sing praises about them as much as I see online, but this one is a decent little kit. I need to double check whether it actually lists that the 'The Few' comes with sprues for an early AND a late style Mk.I Spitfire as it was a little disappointing to have to do a little modification, if I was to do this again I'd probably just buy two seperate late style kits. Watching out for problem areas like those ailerons falling off every 3 seconds, and for a cockpit which doesn't fit great (note, on these it's due to the pilot, probably... I have heard from 4 people over at Instagram that they've had issues with the canopy when building out of box with no pilot) and you'll be set on a great result. Naturally its annoying that fewer and fewer companies offer a wheels up part or a pilot figure, and with Eduard seemingly to forget how to make a propeller that isn't static in the last 5 years some work had to be done to modify it to my liking, but overall its been a good fun build with no major issues.

    If I was to do this again I'd definitely remove those out of scale rivets on the fuselage, they look like that vintage Airfix Hurricane model and wouldn't be out of place on a WWI tank.

    I definitely recommend picking this up if you're in the mood for an early Spitfire, I'd be curious to see how this stacks up against 2019 Tamiya's offering of the same subject. I for one will probably pick up a Spitfire Mk.V when eduard releases it later this year and do one for Douglas Bader so I can use the resin figure in this kit for something.

    And of course, thank you all for following along and commenting over this build process. It's been a lot of fun and I'll definitely be doing another post for my next build. Until then, look out for some better photos of the finished product tonight or tomorrow!

    1 additional image. Click to enlarge.

  • Profile Photo
    Spiros Pendedekas said 3 years ago:

    What a great finish of a great journey, my friend @scalerambush!
    Those Spits look amazing and your build journal extremely informative.
    Looking forward to see it at the headlines!

  • Profile Photo
    John vd Biggelaar said 3 years ago:

    You can for sure call these Spits perfect, Harvey.
    They look extreme realistic, especially on these stands.
    Well done.