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Beginners Guide 1/48 spitfire

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viper3111

Re: Beginners Guide 1/48 spitfire

Post by viper3111 » Sun Dec 20, 2009 6:44 pm

As it is boxing day next Saturday I have moved on with the build, so just in case the Christmas cider gets a bit much I have posted this to make up for it.
Hopefully I will do a bit more and then write it up in the week so there will be a post next Saturday (even if its a small one)

Now that the detailing has been done I can start to assemble the cockpit. Firstly the instrument panel has to be glued into place. This is done by putting a small amount of glue around the red areas.

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Once that has dried for at least a couple of hours the seat can then be glued into place.

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And now for the control column.

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The right hand lever can now be glued into place

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Next step is the fuselage.

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That can all be put to one side to dry, in the mean time I can start on the fuselage. The first thing to do is glue the oxygen bottles in. I have painted them with 3 brunswick green and the bands are 11 silver fox.

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I left them to dry over night as gloss paint takes longer to dry.

Now that they are dry I can start to assemble the side walls. This is where I am up to in the instructions.

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Firstly the oxygen bottles can be glued into place.

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And now the 'black boxes'.

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levers.

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Now for the rear support, I have run a line of glue along where the red line is.

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Now the support can be put in place

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I will now let all those dry until next week and I will then continue with the fuselage halves.
Thanks for eveyone who is following this and I will return after christmas so for now Happy christmas and more importantly happy building Image Image

viper3111

Re: Beginners Guide 1/48 spitfire

Post by viper3111 » Sun Dec 20, 2009 7:46 pm

Sorry all I forgot to mention that I have removed the pilot door on mine using a very fine razor saw attached to one of my scalpels. The choice is of coarse down to you whether you do the same.

HighlandSniper
Posts: 1771
Joined: Sun Oct 04, 2009 5:09 pm

Re: Beginners Guide 1/48 spitfire

Post by HighlandSniper » Sun Dec 20, 2009 8:59 pm

Most excellent dude - party on ... ... :clap:














... ... where have I heard that before Image

viper3111

Re: Beginners Guide 1/48 spitfire

Post by viper3111 » Sat Dec 26, 2009 11:25 am

I thought I would post this early, before I start on the Christmas scrumpy Image

Next step, Fuselage halves

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You will notice that the instructions tell you to glue the support in as you put the halves together, I find it easier to glue things like that into place before, otherwise you will need two pairs of hands to put these things into place. If you do it before hand then it holds itself in place. The only thing I would suggest when doing this is make sure that they are straight (basically in the correct position).

Now that the rear support and the 'black boxes' have had time to dry nicely I can now glue the fuselage halves together. Dependant on the size of the model there are a couple of ways to do this. The main reason for this is that on big model there is a larger area to glue so by the time you get to the end, the bit you started on will be drying. I find the best way to overcome this is either use a slow drying super glue or use a liquid poly. The liquid poly that I use is Ambroid Pro-weld. With this you can dry fit the halves and then using a paint brush, run the glue along the join. The glue will run into the join and then act in the same way as the revell contact, as in it will melt the surface of the styrene creating a 'weld' Just be very careful to get it on the join only as it will melt any surface of styrene it touches.
One of the most important things to do when gluing the halves together is always dry fit, as it is easy to sort any problems out without the mess of the glue (I have of coarse found this out the hard way).
As this is a nice small size I can just run a bead of glue along the whole area of the fuselage and not worry about it drying. The best thing to do when putting the halves together is take your time. There is nothing to rush for, no time deadline, no one judging you (unless you are doing it for a show, then that's a totally different thing that I don't really do. Yet).
I have run the glue along the red line

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Now to hold it whilst it is drying I find it best to use pegs and rubber bands. There are many clamps and such like on the market, but I have never used them let alone bought them so I cant coment on them. I just find pegs are good for flat surfaces, missiles, fuel tanks, narrow parts of the fuselage etc etc. The rubber bands are good for Fuselage halves, larger round area's, wings, large fuel tanks that the pegs won't go on. As for the pegs I would use wooden ones as they tend not to slip as much as the plastic pegs, although I do have one plastic peg which opens up wider than any of my others so I keep the for fuselage's. Ive had pegs shoot across the room when they haven't gripped the surface so that's when I went over to the wooden ones (I also broke all of our plastic ones so we had to buy some new ones anyway, we got the wooden pegs so I didn't break them)

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Whilst that is drying I will now move onto the wings, I have removed them from the sprue with my side cutters and the area has been cleaned up with my trusty file. I will do a proper clean up once the wings are glued in place, this is ok to do as long as there is nothing that will get in the way of gluing. So I would definitely dry fit them to make sure the fit is good.

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I have already sprayed the inside areas with Humbrol 78 interior green when I painted the rest of the interior parts.

If you are brush painting yours then this can be done as and when you are ready. I would normally use the pro-modeler wash inside here but for now I will just leave it. When your paint is dry the 3 wing parts can now be glued together. As with the fuselage, dependant on the size of kit you can either glue one at a time but as this is a nice small kit and I have raided the peg bag I will do all 3 parts.
Firstly I will run a bead of glue around the upper surface of the wing, there is no real way to do this as it is up to personal preference as to whether you put the glue on the top or bottom half.

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I have done the same with the other wing section and they can now have there pegs put on the hold them.

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I will now leave that all to dry, the next steps will be to glue the wings in place and the the tail planes.

I will see you all in the new year, so happy new year and thanks to all who are following my guide Image

HighlandSniper
Posts: 1771
Joined: Sun Oct 04, 2009 5:09 pm

Re: Beginners Guide 1/48 spitfire

Post by HighlandSniper » Sat Dec 26, 2009 12:36 pm

It's all getting very exciting waiting for each episode ... ... ... now to see if the mulled cider is ready.

:thumbs:

viper3111

Re: Beginners Guide 1/48 spitfire

Post by viper3111 » Sun Dec 27, 2009 9:28 am

Sorry folks, yet again I thought I would do a bit more. I realy should have said I will do it saturday and sunday (maybe on my next one). What can I say, I enjoy what I do :) . As the scrumpy has worn of without so much as a headache I thought I would crack on.

Now that these are dry I will clean them up, all you need for this is a good all round file (not to coarse) and some 1000 grit wet and dry paper with a little tub of clean water.

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Thankfully on this kit the fit was pretty good so there isn't much cleaning up to do. It is more to get rid of the join line in the fuselage than getting rid of unsightly plastic. (this will come when you get your first limited run kits :lol:)
As you can see it looks quite tidy any way but I will just run the file over the joins on the wings and fuselage.
Here it is before

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If you firstly file the area down (not using to much force as it is easier to remove styrene than it it to put it back with filler) then use the 1000grit paper (slightly wet) to remove the marks that the file will have left.

And after

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I will do the same on the wings, there was a little bit of over hang on mine so this will be cleaned up in exactly the same way.

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And after

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Now that all the fuselage and the wings have had a good time to dry and have been tidied up, I can now move on to putting the cockpit into the fuselage.
On this Tamiya kit the cockpit actually goes in from the underside where as most kits they go in the side before you glue the halves together. As this is the first 48th spit I have ever made Im not sure if this is normal but to me it is a bit odd. But thankfully works quite well.
Here is the view of the under side of the fuselage, I will of coarse be dry fitting the cockpit first as Im still a bit dubious about the fit

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I needn't have worried, as with most tamyia kits I have made the fit is perfect.

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I have dry fitted the cockpit in the above picture, as it is easier to glue it whilst it is in place. To do this just run a bead of glue around where the bulkhead and the instrument panel touches the fuselage side walls and the glue will do the rest. As this is done on the back of the bulk head it wont be seen.
This is it glued in place.

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As there is little that can get knocked out of place I can now glue the wings in place. I have run the glue around the red line, and also along the out side where the wings meet the fuselage.

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I would normaly hold the wings in place with some tape and pegs, but again the fit is very good and it holds itself nicely.
Here it is with the wings in place

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The next steps will be to tidy up any joins where the wings meet the fuselage and then I will glue the wing tips and tail planes into place. I will be using the 'clipped' wing tips on mine, but the choice on yours is completely down to you. The build will be the same until I apply the decals as they are from different squadrons but the paint scheme is the same.

viper3111

Re: Beginners Guide 1/48 spitfire

Post by viper3111 » Fri Jan 01, 2010 4:31 pm

Happy new year to you all Image
I thought I would make the most of what was left of my day off and post the next editon

The wings have now been drying for a week (not that it takes that long, but that's how long its been ish) I will clean up the trailing edge where the wing stubs meet the fuselage.

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I will now move on in the instructions, this is where I am up to.

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With the wings cleaned up I can now move on to getting the parts ready to go on the underside of the wing. I have already sprayed the interiors with 78 interior green with the rest of the interior parts, so if you are brushing yours then I would leave it to dry for some time before gluing these into place. Firstly I will brush paint the radiators and intakes with Vallejo natural steel (humbrol polished steel or gun metal would be good as well). As Vallejo is fairly quick drying I have left them for 1 hour and I can now glue them into place.
Front radiator

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Back radiator

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Both

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These don't need much glue, I have just applied some around the recesses and a line the length of the box.
The other intakes and radiator housings can now be glued into place.

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I am holding them in place with a peg, just to hold it. I have also glued the small narrow intake on the right side as well. I will be glueing the carb intake once I have put the underside of the engine in place.

Just to give all that a bit of time to dry I will start on the propeller blades. For these I am using humbrol 85 semi gloss black and a small, wide soft bristled brush as this will give a nice finish on the blades with only one brush stroke.

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I have done both sides in the same way so I will now leave that to one side to dry properly. I have left these on there sprue as it saves having to touch them.
With the props drying I will glue the wing tips into place, I have chosen the 'clipped' wing tips but of coarse the choice is yours.

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These for some reason have a bit of flash on them, so I will clean them up and then they will be glued into place. I will hold them in place with some masking tape.

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You will see that I have not put the wheels on, this will become apparent why in a future edition. I will also leave the tail wheel of as well as it is easier to spray the aircraft without it.

The spinner set up on this kit allows you to put it together without the prop blades being glued into place. This is good as the two halves of the spinner can be glued together ready for painting. This will work well for both spraying and brush painting.
This is it on the instrusctions, as you will see there are grooves to slide the prop blades in so this will ensure that they are the right way round.

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Here is the bottom half. I have run a bead of glue around the red line, there is a little locating pin which is slotted into a hole

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I have shown them still on there sprues as it was easier to hold to photo them, you can of coarse remove yours and I will be holding the bottom half of the spinner with a peg.
This is the top half

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I have now put the two together and they will be left to dry, ready for spraying

I will now put that all to one side to dry and no doubt I will do some more tomorrow :roll:

HighlandSniper
Posts: 1771
Joined: Sun Oct 04, 2009 5:09 pm

Re: Beginners Guide 1/48 spitfire

Post by HighlandSniper » Fri Jan 01, 2010 9:44 pm

This is coming along very nicely, with so many useful tips. I wish more of the kit manufacturers would mould individual propeller blades in the larger scales, rather than complete props.

viper3111

Re: Beginners Guide 1/48 spitfire

Post by viper3111 » Sat Jan 02, 2010 6:47 am

As per usual I have done some more to the build.
The props are nicely dried so I have now painted the tips with humbrol 69 yellow

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I used the same small, wide brush that I used on the main props. I like this brush as it has a flat tip which is perfect for straight edges.
I have sprayed the spinner with Vallejo USA light grey (humbrol 97 egg shell is about the same colour, mixed to the same ratio as I did the cockpit). As Vallejo model air is already thinned for spraying I have just poured enough into my gravity feed airbrush to cover the hole in the bottom of the paint cup. If you are brushing the humbrol paint then I would recommend a coat of gloss once the paint is totally dry. Vallejo has a nice semi gloss finish to it so I will be leaving mine as it is.

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This is the next part in the instruction

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Now that the radiators are all dry I will move on to the underside of the engine. This is just one piece that is glued straight into place. I have run a bead of glue around the red line. I will be leaving the propeller off until the last thing, you will also see that there is a small pointed bit on the end of the shaft to glue on. This is what holds the prop in place, so if the temptation to try it gets the better of you please don't glue this part into place as it may break when it is pulled out



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This is the part that will be glued to the underside.

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I will hold it in place with some Tamiya masking tape (you can use what ever tape you have to hand)

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I will leave all aerials, exhausts, lumps and bums of for now. They can be sprayed/brushed whilst still on the sprue, just remember that if you are spraying do exactly the same paint wise as you do for the whole aircraft as if you only put the top coat on it will appear a different shade/colour.

As for the exhausts I will now paint them. Firstly I will give them a coat of humbrol 55 and leave it to dry. This will be a slight weathering technique, it is very basic and gives a nice effect. Most exhausts I have ever seen are usually slightly rusty but most are discoloured. To get this in its basic form I will give it the coat of 55 which is a very dark bronze colour, then when dry I will go over it with a very thin coat of Vallejo natural steel (humbrol 56 slightly watered down will do the same job). this will give the appearance of slightly rust metal. There are no end of weathering products on the market that I normally use but I will keep to the basics for this.

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This was left to dry over night and I have now given them there coat of Vallejo natural steel.

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These will be put to one side and left to dry, they will be one of the last things to go on to the aircraft.

The wing tips are now dry and I have removed the masking tape. They will need a little tidying up I will show the right side before and the left side after.

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There is a little flash to clean up, this will be done in the same way as the fuselage and wings.

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I will now glue the tail planes into place, I have run a bead of glue around the red line

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The same was done on the other side. The tail planes have a lip on the stub which means it will only go on one side. This isn't how most kits are so please always check and re check that they are the correct side up.
The tail planes are now in place and I am setting them at the correct angle with pegs

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I would normally hold these in place with tape, but the fit is good so all I have to do is make sure they are level.

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I have posted these two early, mainly because I had some time on my hands but also because I will be doing some more to my Kai F-4. I will return next Saturday

HighlandSniper
Posts: 1771
Joined: Sun Oct 04, 2009 5:09 pm

Re: Beginners Guide 1/48 spitfire

Post by HighlandSniper » Sat Jan 02, 2010 11:33 am

Interesting and informative as always. What I don't understand however, is why you brush paint the prop blades, yet spray other small parts.

viper3111

Re: Beginners Guide 1/48 spitfire

Post by viper3111 » Sat Jan 02, 2010 12:04 pm

Good question there Rob,

To be honest I have never thought about it, ive always brushed my props. If I think about it, it comes down to how many parts are there in this colour. The interior is the majority of this build so it makes sence spraying it but the blades are the only thing in semi gloss black. I also find that vallejo black is the wrong shade. All this gets completely turned on its head as I have sparyed the spinner and that is the only thing in that colour. The answer to that is I like the finish I get with the airbrush on the spinner and after 26 years of building I still havnt mastered the perfect spinner finish with a brush.

I always brush my tyres as well, so I think the best way to describe what I have done and will always do is the good old personal choice. If you like sparying and dont mind getting all the gubbins out to spray 1or 2 parts then go for it. Also if you prefer the finish you get with a brush/airbrush then use what you feel more comfortable with. If that makes sence :S

HighlandSniper
Posts: 1771
Joined: Sun Oct 04, 2009 5:09 pm

Re: Beginners Guide 1/48 spitfire

Post by HighlandSniper » Sat Jan 02, 2010 1:09 pm

Thanks Shaun - it's all down to the fact that I've never used an airbrush and thus don't really understand what it's all about. I know that it's all about finish and I suppose I'll have to take the plunge eventually.

viper3111

Re: Beginners Guide 1/48 spitfire

Post by viper3111 » Sat Jan 02, 2010 5:24 pm

The tail planes are now dry, so I will move on to the next step.

I can now glue the carb intake to the underside, these are the two parts that will be used.

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They will be glued where I have put the red line. (please ignore the state of the fuselage as I took this picture before I cleaned it up)

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Whilst that is drying I will move onto the gun sight. This is provided as a single clear part, which makes it easier to paint. Here it is before I paint it. I am holding it by the sight so it is easier to paint.

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Here it is once I have painted it, I have used humbroll 33 matt black and a 10-0 paint brush. In this picture it is dry.

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This will be put into my small parts tray so that I don't lose it.

Now I will mask the canopy ready for spraying, I always mask my canopies up before I glue them to the aircraft as it will prevent any glue or fingerprints messing up your canopy.
I will be using a combination of products, the main one will be Tamiya 6mm tape. The others are 3m surgical tape (its not magic tape as this will leave adhesive behind) and microscale liquid mask. I will also be using a scalpel with a new blade, a paint brush to apply the microscale mask (which is water based) and to glue the canopy to the aircraft I will be using the canopy glue

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Firstly the rear canopy is masked, I find the best way to do this is to use the straight edge of the tape along one side of the canopy rail as this will be one less edge to trim.

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The main canopy is a bit more trick as it is angled but as the Tamiya tape will bend you can follow the curve of the canopy

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The rear canopy will now be glued into place using the canopy glue. This stuff is a water based white glue and is the strongest canopy glue I have ever used. The good thing about it is that is can be wiped of from any where it isn't wanted and it will dry clear.

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As I have removed my crew door I have stuck the other one provided for the open option into the closed position using the microscale liquid mask. This is good to use for this as it is easily removed and provides a paint proof seal. I will also stick the main canopy into place in the same way as I will be displaying mine in the open position. If you are doing yours in the closed position then you can of coarse just glue it in place. I will clean up the excess when they are both dry.

I will now leave that all to dry and then move on to the front canopy.

viper3111

Re: Beginners Guide 1/48 spitfire

Post by viper3111 » Sun Jan 03, 2010 5:57 pm

The windshield can now be masked up. For this I am using 3m surgical tape (its not magic tape as this leaves glue residue behind) you can of coarse use the tamiya tape but I am trying this 3m stuff for the first time so I just wanted to see how it turns out.

Firstly I have stuck the tape onto the side.

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I will now cut the tape to shape, because it is translucent I can see were the edges are a bit easier than with the Tamiya tape. It is always best to use a nice new blade on your knife as it will snag the tape otherwise. I have filled the gap at the top between the two sides with the microscale liquid mask.

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I will leave the shield to dry as the liquid mask takes about 2 hours to dry properly

Now to start tidying up a few odds and ends, I will be painting the wheels. For this I am using Xtracolour's tyre black. There is no real technique to this but thankfully on this kit the centre of the wheels are separate so they can be painted without any fuss. You can buy paint masks for spraying wheels but as yet I have never used them, as I always brush them. The only time I spray my wheels is when the centres are white as I still cant brush white to save my life. The centers on this I will be painting humbrol 56 aluminium. The only thing I would say about the tyre black is that it should be left to dry over night as it stays tacky for some time and it is a dust and fingerprint magnet. I have also paint the undercarriage legs with the 56.

To hold the wheels whilst painting, I use the ends of some old paint brushes

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I have given them there coat of tyre black, as you can see I have strayed over the middle but as I will be painting them with the 56 it doesnt matter as 56 will cover pretty much colour paint.

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These will now be put to one side to dry over night.

viper3111

Re: Beginners Guide 1/48 spitfire

Post by viper3111 » Sat Jan 09, 2010 2:13 pm

The wheels are now dry so I will move on and paint the hubs. For this I am using humbrol 56

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They will now be left to one side to dry.

Now that the gun site is dry I will glue it into position, this will be glued into the 'V' shape on the front of the canopy. For this I will be using the canopy glue as it will dry clear. You don't need much of this stuff as it is quite strong when it is dry.

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This is it in place

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Its is best to leave this to dry over night (or for at least a couple of hours) as the glue is fairly slow drying and the last thing you need is to knock this of and it goes into the fuselage.

I will move onto the propeller whilst the gunsite is drying. Now that the blades are nice and dry they are safe to handle without putting fingerprints on them. On this kit the props can just be pushed into place and held without glue. To be safe I have used a tiny drop of revell contacta just to be sure.
This is them in place

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I am holding it with my clamping tweezers just for photo purposes as there is nothing that can be knocked of and all the paint is dry.

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You will see that I have glued the triangular part the the shaft of the spinner, this is what holds the prop into the fuselage. Please try to avoid the temtation to try your prop untill you are sure you wont need to remove it as this may break of if pulled out.

I will do some more tomorow as todays was just a short one, sadly when there are quite a few things that need to dry you have to put them to one side so they arnt messed up (ive also had a long week at work so I havnt done as much as I would have liked, apparnetly its been snowing and my collegues cant get to work. Ah well more over time for me, and more money for kits :clap: )

viper3111

Re: Beginners Guide 1/48 spitfire

Post by viper3111 » Sun Jan 10, 2010 11:03 am

The gun sight has dried nicely, so I can now glue the front canopy in place. Again I will be using the canopy glue. This again is best left for a couple of hours so that it sets properly. To save time and to enable me to move on I did this last night and left it to dry over night so it is no dry.

The next step is to use a little technique that I havnt seen any where else so I don't know if anyone else does it, but it works well foe me. Rather than mask up canopies on both the inside and out, then mask up the actual cockpit I glue the front windshield in place as normal then I use a masking solution as a glue. Dependant on which one you use depends on how sticky it is. But none the less it is not permanent so it can still be removed easily. You canopy frame will then be exactly the same colour as the rest of your plane and it can still be positioned open, without the fuss of having to mask up the cockpit.
All I do is brush a thin line around the cockpit frame (if you do it so you brush from the inside out you wont get any on the bit you want to paint) then put it in place (very carefully) and leave it. If you mess it up just remove it and peel of the mask liquid and start again.

I also use it in the same way for the undercarriage, sadly it doesn't always work as the doors on some kits are not molded to be shut. If you cant do it then use some rolled up kitchen roll and mask up with tape. I have had to use this method on my F-4 which I will be posting pictures of shortly.

This is the doors 'glued shut' with the mask

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This is it before it is dry, it will go translucent when its dry

If you are doing a plane with white wheel wells please don't leave this stuff on to long as it will dye it green (Mr masking sol). Thankfully it doesnt seem to do it on other colours :S

I have left that to dry for a couple of hours, so I will now spray the undercoat. For this I am using Vallejo grey primer but humbrol 27 is just as good. If you are brush painting then I would recommend using a can of humbrol spray primer as this will give a nice even surface to brush on to.

I am using an old paint brush to hold the model whilst I am spraying it.

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I have braved the cold and sprayed the undercoat, I have place the spitstick into my jar of lead weights so it wont fall over.

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It has had 3 coats of primer so it has a nice smooth finish for the top coats to stick to

This will be left to dry for a week as I like to leave my paint to dry for some time

viper3111

Re: Beginners Guide 1/48 spitfire

Post by viper3111 » Sat Jan 16, 2010 2:49 pm

With the undercoat nicely dried I can now move onto spraying the underside, for this I will be using humbrol 165. As there isn't much to say about this I will do a little bit on spraying techniques.
I personally find that Vallejo model air paints are the easiest paint to spray with as they come in an 'eye dropper' so there is no mess pouring them into the paint cup/jar. They are also pre watered for spraying so there is no need to water them down.
For those who use humbrol this is how I use them (just not very often), I personally use my Iwata with a paint cup attached as I find with a jar I waisted to much paint and it was awkward to pour it back into the paint pot (which I didn't like doing as it waters down the paint in the pot). With a paint cup I can use just as much as I need without much wastage. If you are new to spraying it will take some time to find out how much paint you will need to spray a certain sized area. This is why I use Vallejo paints as you can never get the exact mix twice where as with the Vallejo it is the same colour every time.
When mixing the paint I do use a pipette but only for paint transfer and not measuring as I do it all by eye, and the way I do it is dependant on the area being sprayed I will fill the cup about 1/4-1/2 of the way up with paint and then add about 2-3 drops of white spirit/thinners and give it a good stir. Then using a scrap piece of paper/box top I will test it. If you don't get a nice smooth stream of paint when you pull the lever back (on double action brushes) or push the button down (on single action brushes) then all you need to do is add another couple of drops of thinners/spirit and give it a good stir. What you should get is a nice even spray coverage.
There are many different techniques for spraying itself but I find the main rule for a nice coverage is to keep the brush moving. Because if you hold the brush in one place you will get a build up of paint and it will run. What you are looking for is nice steady movements so that you get an even cover of paint. This will all take time getting use to and I would strongly recommend watching someone that can spray as it is easier to pick things up if you see someone else doing it (well it is for me any way :D )
When spraying you will also find that you will inevitably need somewhere to hold your aircraft. This will be different for every aircraft and possibly every paint scheme you do. I find the easiest schemes to spray are the ones were the bottom and the top are different eg the beginners spit is grey on the bottom and camo on the top, so I can spary the bottom whilst holding the tail. The top is a bit more tricky but there will be a bit that isn't being sprayed so you can hold that. You may inevitably get painted finger (Vallejo are water based so they wash of with soap and water) There are paint stands on the market but I have never used them so I cant coment on them but they do look good. I you are doing a jet then you can some times place a pen or something up the engine bay so you can then hold the pen. I have done something similar with the spit by using an old paint brush and pushing it into the propeller hole. Just be careful not to pull the halves apart, this is easy to sort out before you finish the painting as you can just run some liquid polly along the gap.
Then all you need is somewhere to hold it when you have finished it. I use (dependant on the wait of the model) my plastic drawers or like the spit I use my jar full of nose lead. Then all you do is leave it to dry, water based colours can take longer to dry as the water has to eveperate but the enamels are a chemical reaction so some times doesn't take as long. But gloss for some reason takes longer than all of them :S .
That aside here is the spit, I wont mask anything up at this point (except the parts I have already done) as there are no lines as yet that need to be masked. If you want to then please mask yours up but I find it easier to wait until I start on the top colors.

I have now left this to dry for a week (I painted it last Sunday night) so I can now start to mask for the top coat. For this I will be using Tamiya 6mm tape as it is easily molded to the shape that is needed.

Here is the engine underside

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As there is little chance of to much over spray I wont be totally masking the underside up. Some times there is a need to to this but I will leave some of mine exposed.

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This is the first time in a long time that I have done an RAF aircraft so I havnt had to mask up for camouflage as I normally spray free hand. I only mask up if I need a 'hard' line also if you don't mask up then the over spray acts as a slight weathering effect.

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Now that is all done I will spray the grey colour for the camouflage. I will continue this tomorrow

benyboy
Posts: 1230
Joined: Mon Oct 05, 2009 10:45 pm
Location: Howden, East Yorkshire

Re: Beginners Guide 1/48 spitfire

Post by benyboy » Sat Jan 16, 2010 5:24 pm

I am still following this with interest. I am not ready for spraying yet but the tips on filling and masking will come in handy when building my Harrier (which has still not arrived :@ ) in the competion.
Thank you for taking the time to do this.

Cheers

Ben

viper3111

Re: Beginners Guide 1/48 spitfire

Post by viper3111 » Sun Jan 17, 2010 7:54 am

With the masking done I can now spray the first colour. As a general rule I always spray the lightest colour first and then move on to the darker shades. As this kit only has 3 colours I will start with the lightest which is the grey. I will be using hunbrol 106 for this. I will be spraying in exactly the same way as the underside.

For those who are brush painting there kit I would use, for the larger areas a nice flat brush or a 'chisel' type brush. The only thing I would say is to buy the best one you can afford as you will get a nicer finish with a good soft bristled brush that doesnt leave bristles on your work. I havnt brushed for many years so I cant really remember how I used to do it but I seem to remember my uncle telling me (that's who taught me) that you should only go one way with the brush and then when that coat is dry go over it again but the other way. So if you start by going up and down, when dry go across left and right as this will cover up any brush marks. Then if you can just spray the whole thing with a varnish, either gloss, matt or semi gloss (model dependant) but the best thing is to use a gloss as this will make decaling a lot easier and give your decals a better finish. You can then go over the whole thing again with the varnish of your choice. Im not sure if you can buy cans of model spray varnishes but for this you could always just buy a cheap airbrush and a can of propellant and I would recomend for gloss Johnsons cystal klear and for all others I would use xtra colours varnishes as the dont need thinning and they come in an easy to use bottle. This was you can varnish your kit and pick up some handy spraying experience.

Back to the kit, I have now sprayed my kit.

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You will notice that I sit my models on bubble wrap, this is to stop any paint being scratched of by my desk.

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Im afraid its now time to leave that to dry again. It may seem a bit long winded to keep leaving things to dry, but it will pay of in the long run as you wont peal of paint when you mask and the paint wont scratch of as easy.

viper3111

Re: Beginners Guide 1/48 spitfire

Post by viper3111 » Sun Jan 17, 2010 5:52 pm

As an extra I thought I would post this link to cybermodeler. It is a colour reference chart for a spitfire. There is a clour chart at the bottom with conversions for cross references. It is handy to have a colour version of the painting sheet as I find them a bit easier to follow.

I hope it is of some use http://www.cybermodeler.com/aircraft/sp ... le01.shtml

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