|
 This
is my Spitfire Mk. XVI in the markings of The Polish No. 308 (City of
Cracow) Squadron. The 1/48 model has been built from the ICM kit with
resin engine and a good deal of other additions and modifications.
The incentive to build this model came from the Polish newsgroup, pl.rec.modelarstwo.
This lively community once started a so-called group project dedicated
to various versions of the Spitfire, and I decided to catch on.
Introduction
For me this project was quite a challenge because it involved a
whole collection of "firsts":
- First time I took part in a group project (unlike my daughter
who participated in one already last year!)
- First 1/48th scale plastic build. I mostly build paper card
models in 1/33rd scale.
- First kit from ICM (yes, that matters, and you will see why)
- First use of photoetched parts and resin components
- First time I used solely cyanoacrylate glue for construction
The general plan was to build a decorative model without taking too
much care for historical accuracy. Yeah, right... that was before I
purchased references for this project!
The sprues
When first examining the kit still in the hobby shop, the first
impression was very good indeed - there was plentiful of delicate
detail. As it often happens, the second look was substantially more
critical and my enthusiasm decreased a bit. The ICM moulding had quite
a number of problem areas - sink marks, several small pieces broken or
incompletely moulded, plus flash abound everywhere. The color of
plastic varied between sprues.
Everything was also generously smeared with mould release agent,
requiring a thorough wash with a dishwasher detergent. This I did even
before cutting off the parts to avoid getting grease all over my
modelling desk!
Kit photos, click to enlarge
On a side note, the "sister" ICM Spitfire Mk. IX kit that
is also in my possession looks much better. Maybe ICM has problems to
get consistent results with quality of their kits, or maybe I was just
unlucky with my sample.
At this point I decided to replace the smaller parts with
photoetched ones. The Part set for Spitfire Mk. XVI came to the rescue,
providing a lot of useful bits and pieces.
The assembly starts with...
"Construction starts with the cockpit…" - wait, here is
your chance to deviate from this mantra of aircraft modelling - I
started with the engine. The Packard-Merlin from Aires makes a very
good impression. It its delicately cast in resin and features exquisite
detail including plumbing and cables.
It is already at this early stage that I fell into the reference
loop. What is the correct paint colour for an US-built Merlin? About
every reference picture in my posession showed something different.
Finally I settled for a combination of steel and black paint, using
Pactra acrylic black and Revell Steel enamel no. 91. I finished the
paint job by applying a wash of "dirt" using heavily thinned
mixture of black and brown colours. A memory image of my car's engine
was used as a reference for the degree of weathering :-)
In-progress photos, click to enlarge
Assembling the fuselage
I added a few brass details in the cockpit - warning for another
reference loop here! In the middle of it I received Modelmania No. 5
- Supermarine Spitfire IX-XVI from AJ-Press. This book contains
loads of useful photos, mostly of preserved aircraft, in
high-quality print. I immediately begun to regret the photoetched parts
that were already in place, for they looked nowhere similar to the
pictures. After some checking and comparing I realized that there were
no two identical cockpits depicted anywhere, so small differences would
not be so bad after all.
Besides cockpit interior I also added some styrene strips to imitate
the internal structure of the fuselage in the radio and battery
compartments so that it would be visible through the hatches I intended
to model opened.
With my airbrush ready I could move on to some painting. It was not
devoid of adventures. As advocated by many fellow modellers, I tried to
apply a coat of primer first. For some reason (grease leftovers?) all I
got was literally drowning one half of the fuselage in paint, while the
other half remained nearly dry. Fortunately, the primer could be
removed. Well, almost. A few ugly grey spots remained despite my best
efforts to remove them.
The instrument panel was painted matt black with subsequent dry
brushing in light grey shade to highlight the instruments and switches.
It was my first attempt at this technique and I considered the result
very favourable.
My painting blunders were not over yet. I painted the inner fuselage
with Interior Green, only to find out in the daylight of the
next morning that it was a wrong colour… Interior Green all
right, but not RAF Interior Green! A repaint proved necessary,
and it had to be done carefully as to avoid damaging the instrument
panel already in place.
In-progress photos, click to enlarge
The attention now moved to the control column - for no apparent
reason, ICM decided that the handle should have a square form instead
of a classic RAF round grip. Replacement needed! I cut away the faulty
part and made a new one from copper wire. But the pictures show that
the control column had three electrical cables running along its
length? A thin wire would do. A clasp for keeping cables in place? A
strip of aluminium foil from candy packaging serves well for the
purpose. And you can eat the candy, too!
Since I wanted to offset the ailerons on the model, I glued the
control column a little off-centre. Then again, after a reference check
I realized that control column in a Spitfire did not move sideways -
only its top section did! As a result I re-adjusted the control column
in the upright position and resigned from re-adjusting the ailerons.
With the completed seat, control column and instrument panel the
cockpit still looked somewhat empty. I was not brave enough to sand off
the details already moulded in the cockpit, although their size and
placement did not correspond well to the references. I added more bits
and pieces using paper, styrene sheet and various kinds of wire to
replicate all those cables, levers, boxes and whatnots that exist in
the real cockpit.
Oxygen supply tube was made from thin wire twisted around another
wire. When finished, I was told that the same effect could be obtained
using a piece of guitar string!
As I intended to leave the fuselage access hatches open, more detail
was needed inside the rear fuselage. The battery, its cabling and the
control wires were all scratchbuilt. Finding good reference images of
this section was really hard - while there were plenty of pictures
available, I could find only two that show the battery in place; all
other showed an empty compartment.
With all the photoetched parts on, the seat-floor-instrument panel
assembly could no longer be inserted into the fuselage from below as
shown in the instructions. I opted to glue the cockpit to one side of
the fuselage, and then fit the other. In the absence of location pins,
getting a good fit proved quite tricky.
The completed cockpit area
Wings and other things
Fuselage assembled, I added the wing. I enhanced the inner side of
the center section with some plumbing and wiring that in theory could
be seen through the "floor" of the cockpit. At the same time
I missed to add a piece of styrene "skin" to imitate the
curvature of the fuselage below the floor. Curiously, the presence of a
huge empty space inside the wing is clearly visible through the
cockpit, whereas all the wiring and plumbing is not!
The fit of wing components was quite bad, requiring a lot of filling
and sanding. These are not my favourite pastimes and I admit that I am
not too good at it. I experimented with various kinds of filler, with
varying success.
My first filling on the model was done with general-purpose acrylic
putty. Working previously on armour models, I used it with good effect.
I especially liked the ability to wash the filler away with acrylic
paint remover. Whenever such delicate finishing touch was enough,
everything went well. But sanding was a different story altogether. The
putty did not dry solid, but rather remained a little rubbery. When
sanding, the putty would be dragged by sandpaper and torn from the gaps
rather than stay in place as it was supposed to.
I subsequently was advised by someone to use a mixture of
cyanoacrylate glue and talcum powder. It adhered very well, sanding was
no problem, but it dried way too quickly.
After these misfortunes I decided to go back to Humbrol filler that
I previously rejected for being too rubbery and fast drying. Compared
to the other two alternatives it was simply great!
In the heat of sanding and filling I overdid a few bits. When
attaching the windscreen, I carefully filled and sanded the joint line
between the clear part and the fuselage. Later I realized (references
in work again) that on the real Spitfire, the windscreen was grafted on
the fuselage as a separate assembly with prominent joint line… So the
windscreen was removed by force, together with the ah-so-carefully
applied filler. Throw your references away while you can! The model,
being already painted and given a protective coat of Sidolux (an
equivalent of the Future floor polish - actually a good clear acrylic
paint) looked rather odd...
The model painted and coated with acrylic floor wax.
Note the windscreen removed with brute force method - details explained
in text.
To the paint shop
Just like the other stages of this project, the painting wasn't free
of adventures. I started with yellow leading-edge stripes on the wings.
This I did by painting the appropriate areas in yellow and then
covering the leading edge area with masking tape for all subsequent
painting. Regrettably, through some inexplicable mistake, I made the
stripes about twice as wide as they should be. The error was spotted
only after all the painting was done and the masks removed - too late
to start again, so no, I'm not going to correct it!
I painted my model with Pactra acrylics: A38 Grey and A116 RAF
Dark Green on the upper side, A117 RAF Interior Green inside
and A84 underneath.
For masking of the camouflage pattern I used pieces of newspaper cut
to desired shape and smeared with masking fluid from Wamod. This
technique may sound cheap, but it is working just fine. I find that
ordinary masking tapes like Tamiya have a tendency to damage the
underlying paint upon removal. This comment applies especially to
Pactra acrylics, which do not adhere very well. Therefore I generally
avoid using masking tape on painted surfaces.
At this stage the entire model was given a few coats of Sidolux
floor wax. The effects of weathering were then applied with very thinly
diluted Revell enamel no. 9 Anthracite. Exhaust and gun smoke
stains were added with Pactra matt clear varnish mixed with a drop of
black paint. The whole model was then finished with a single coat of
clear matt Pactra.
During the painting stage I also worked to and fro with the
undercarriage and the wing. The undercarriage struts were perhaps a bit
too long, but I felt the difference was negligible so I left them as
they were, with only minor brass and wire additions.
Brass parts were used also under the wing for cooler exhaust flaps
and a few smaller details.
Then the wheels... the ones included in the kit had smooth tires
with no tread. Replicating the tread would bring an obvious
improvement, so I went about it. At first I tried to engrave the thread
with a sharp needle, but the results were very uneven. On second
attempt my wife agreed to give an extra hand. Each wheel was mounted on
a toothpick and in the drill. With my wife holding the drill, the wheel
was spun at small speed. With the same needle pressed lightly to the
rotating tire, a quite satisfactory straight tread pattern could be
produced.
In-progress photos, click to enlarge
Detailing the Gun Bays
ICM has cleverly moulded the armament bay covers as separate items,
thereby allowing to display the open cannon without any additional
surgery. I boxed in the gun bays. The perforated sockets for the bolts
that secure the gun bay covers in place were fabricated from strips of
paper saturated with cyanoacrylate glue. These strips are really
oversize, about twice as wide as they should be, but I could not make
them any smaller. These would be beautiful if photoetched - I wonder
why none of the brass vendors includes these items in their Spitfire
sets?
The Decals
Frankly speaking, the decals of this kit were a nightmare, and stood
for the most disappointing part of the project. They were extremely
brittle and adhered poorly, causing some terrible silvering. I started
with black walkway lines on the wing's top surface, but the decals
broke to pieces immediately after being removed from the water. I
consequently painted the walkway lines with the airbrush.
A small curiosity is minor spelling error in stencilling on the
decals: logation instead of location. This, however, is
hardly noticeable.
ICM decals were most disappointing with huge silvering problems,
as can be seen in this view.
Other decals were not just as bad, but they consistently refused to
react to all decal solvents known to me. As is often the case, the
satisfactory solution was devised only at the very end of decal
application. The solution was to treat the surface to receive the decal
with a liberal dose of acrylic paint remover (The one I use is from
Wamod, Poland). This caused the underlying paint to dissolve, and I
managed to press the decals into the softened paint coat with a soft
brush. A final protective coat of Sidolux, then another of Pactra matt
varnish and it was done. Unfortunately, even this risky technique did
not work for decals applied earlier - their silvering remained very
prominent. In the future, I'd rather keep safe distance from ICM
decals.
The Engine Revisited
With the airframe ready and waiting it was time to turn back to the
engine assembly. ICM has included the engine with the kit, but it was
moulded undersized to fit under the thick plastic cowling. The Aires
resin engine, on the other hand, is right on the money in size, but
this quality makes it rather difficult to fit it to the model.
After some consideration, I opted to remove the moulded-in firewall
and build a new one about a millimetre or so further aft so that the
engine assembly would fit giving the correct overall length of the
airplane. As a consequence, the lower cowling part had to be enlarged
with a little filler.
The propeller backing plate provided with the kit was moulded too
thick. When trying to sand it down I damaged the part beyond repair and
had to make a paper replacement.
In-progress photos, click to enlarge
Studying the reference pictures showing the engine arrangement of
various Spitfires, I noticed that the Aires engine was still missing a
number of cables and ducts. I also learned that no two engine
compartments looked identical. I added more wiring in places which
seemed the most logical using various kinds of wire and styrene rod.
The engine mount also needed enhancements: a few additional bars, some
bolts and cowling attachment sockets.
The metal profiles with bolt sockets were made of paper soaked in
cyanoacrylate glue. They came out somewhat crude - again, I wish
somebody offered them in photoetched form! Bolt heads were made of
stretched sprue cut into tiny slices. I found that the best way to
handle these tiny parts was with a toothpick dipped in masking fluid.
Now the airframe was ready for fitting the completed engine. When in
place, I noticed that some of the laboriously added pipes and cables
were completely hidden from the view. I could have dispensed with
making these… On the positive side, the whole thing looks rather
impressive, so I can't say that the work didn't pay off!
The completed engine
At this stage the model looked quite complete, with only the doors
and propeller remaining to be added. The latter was rather troublesome:
I missed to sand the mould seams from propeller blades and now they
"reappeared" after some dry-brushing with silver. The seams
were corrected, but the sanding damaged the ill-adhering Rotol logo
decals on the blades, and I had to paint new ones with a brush.
Finally, attaching the undercarriage and cockpit doors was a piece
of cake. Uff... Done.
Ready
Now that I look at my finished Spitfire, I have mixed feelings about
it - this project really had its highs and lows to the fullest extent.
On one hand, the model was a great challenge, it was fun throughout the
entire construction and I learned a lot from it. On the other hand, I
feel that the overall impression of the model is spoiled by those
miserable decals and - admittedly - some faulty filling on my
part.
I learned a lot about what is worth a detailing effort,
and what isn't. This knowledge will be carried on to the next project.
I have also learned the hard way that it is always best to do things in
the right order - so my planning needs to improve to avoid re-doing
things.
Well there will be more attempts… see you then.
More views of the finished model
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Spitfire
Mk. XVI
