Supermarine Spitfire Mk. IXc by chadwijm6 - Finished - Airfix - 1/24

[chadwijm6]

Masked and almost ready to start painting. I've put the engine cowling on but in the end I think I will leave the sides panels off. Good as a masking device though.

Off to Belgium for work for a week tomorrow so it'll be a bit of time before I can continue. 

I'm the meantime I'll fill my evenings abroad with the Occre Polaris build. First wooden ship build so that's exciting! 

[Old Collingwood]

Looking  Superb  -  all  that  detail.

 

OC.

[Old Collingwood]

1 hour ago, chadwijm6 said:

Masked and almost ready to start painting. I've put the engine cowling on but in the end I think I will leave the sides panels off. Good as a masking device though.

Off to Belgium for work for a week tomorrow so it'll be a bit of time before I can continue. 

I'm the meantime I'll fill my evenings abroad with the Occre Polaris build. First wooden ship build so that's exciting! 

You  going to visit  Waterloo  while  you are over there?

 

OC.

[chadwijm6]

3 hours ago, Old Collingwood said:

You  going to visit  Waterloo  while  you are over there?

 

OC.

I didn't even realise that was so close! I'll put it on my list. Generally it's all work when I'm over there but occasionally I stay for the weekend so next time that happens I'll go and visit it. Would be very interesting I'm sure. 

[chadwijm6]

Let the priming begin...

I'm using the gun covers and the sides and the bottom of the engine as masking as I intend to leave those off in the end

[chadwijm6]

Camouflage is now on, I'm pretty pleased with it. Now some more masking to add the yellow trims and the invasion stripes. For the more eagle eyed among you I seem to have lost the rudder. I think it must have got stuck to some of the masking tape so there's a fun hour to look forward to later searching through the rubbish.

Also there's a few areas that I've touched in by hand and they're not perfect by any stretch but nearly all of it will be covered by the stripes or the decals.

 

 

[AJohnson]

That looks very sharp, good luck with the rudder trim tab hunt! 🫣

[chadwijm6]

First ever go at invasion stripes.... definitely not perfect but I think they do look good anyway!

 

Rudder unfortunately is lost so I've dropped an email to Airfix asking if they can send me a spare.

 

[AJohnson]

Don’t worry about the invasion stripes not being perfect, the real ones were often very rough, applied in a rush on the eve of D-Day, there is plenty of archive footage of them being applied with yard brushes and even mops (on bigger aircraft admittedly). Even the thickness of the stripes; though defined in the instructions sent out to units was not always followed - as is the case of the ones on your Spitfire, these are narrower that the “standard” but Airfix are correct looking at images of 126 Squadron D-Day Spits. 
 

Regards the rudder trim tab, it is simple part, you might scratch make it if Airfix don’t supply a replacement. 

[Old Collingwood]

That  is  looking so nice.

 

OC.

[chadwijm6]

Some tidying up to do before glossing and decals, but couldn't resist putting her together

[chadwijm6]

Does anyone use a colour for the first time and think I wish I used that more. Gunmetal grey, Vallejo, that I've painted the exhausts in is one of those for me. I think it looks great. Very realistic metallic finish.

 

Glossed, ready to be decaled tomorrow 🤞🏻

Edited March 6 by chadwijm6

[chadwijm6]

An enjoyable few hours fitting the top and side decals, who'd have thought that this part of the build could be so rewarding! I suppose it really changes the whole look of the model. I used microset and microsol. Still need to cut the roundels to expose the guns but I'll let them completely dry overnight before attempting that.

 

The cockpit glass is painted but needs some tidying up now. I'm thinking some thinner on a cotton bud? Any suggestions very welcome.

 

 

Edited March 7 by chadwijm6

[chadwijm6]

Well, the build is done. Weathering to do later in the week. I'm thinking quite light weathering, some pin wash and a bit of chipping. Not too much.

 

 

[shipman]

Well done Chad, nice job.

 

Having seen plenty of real Spitfires parked up over the years, it's rare to see a model with the correct dihedral angle of the wings, which always look too 'flat'.

Being a distinctive Spitfire feature, it's obvious when not there.

No criticism of your build; it's the kit.

[chadwijm6]

So here's my take on some weathering... I've tried to make it look like it's been in use, dirtied up a bit, some chipping to the prop, wear where I thought the ground crew and pilot would walk on the wings etc. This is new terrority for me but I like the look of it. Not sure how well it comes out on the photos but you get the idea.

[Canute]

James, your chipping looks pretty good. Our Phantoms took a beating on the canopy rails, since they were convenient for a myriad of tasks, by we aircrew and especially the maintainers. The cockpit floors were generally the underlying metal colors as were the canopy rails. Areas around the cannon feed systems should be beat up by the loaders, although the invasion stripes would :freshen up" that area. Keep up the good work. 👍

[chadwijm6]

So a question if anyone could help. I've been getting contradicting advice on the propeller weathering. Some say it's right as the propeller was metal, others that it was wood with a brass painted edge under the black paint. Anyone know which is correct? Thanks in advance.

[chadwijm6]

I've been doing a bit of research about the material used to manufacture Spitfire IXc propellers so that the weathering could be represented realistically. and found this interesting thread...
https://archive.aeroscale.net/forums/88691/index.htm
It would seem that more than one manufacturing process could have been used

Spitfire MK IXc
Propeller: Rotol 4 blade constant speed, variable pitch type R3/4F5/2 (Dural) or R3/4F5/3 (Dural) or R5/4F5/4 (Jablo or Hydrulignum) or Type R12/4F5/4 (Jablo or hydrulignum) all 10ft 9ins dia..

I think the following is correct (I think!)
Dural is an aluminium alloyed with copper, Jablo was a manufacturer and also maybe the name for a process that used wood and Hydrulignunlm is also wood. The wooden propellors were covered in a metal gauze and the leading edge was brass.

So I think for weathering it could be either wood and brass that would show or aluminium depending on which propeller was in the plane.

[chadwijm6]

Finished! She takes her place next to my Lancaster.

This was a really fun build. I'm happy with the results and learned a lot along the way.

Thank you for you views, comments and advice.

 

 

Edited March 18 by chadwijm6

[Canute]

Well done, James. 👍

[CDW]

Beautiful airplane and a great-looking model. The detail is excellent. What’s your next project?

[Rik Thistle]

James,

 

That Spit looks ready to fly! Wonderful job.

 

Richard

[chadwijm6]

33 minutes ago, Canute said:

Well done, James. 👍

 

18 minutes ago, Rik Thistle said:

James,

 

That Spit looks ready to fly! Wonderful job.

 

Richard

 

26 minutes ago, CDW said:

Beautiful airplane and a great-looking model. The detail is excellent. What’s your next project?

 

Thank you all.

 

Next project is continuing the Occre Polaris I've started and the new tool Airfix Westland Sea King 1/48 (both have build logs on here, the links are in my signature)... I seem to have got hooked on this hobby in no time at all!!!

[gsdpic]

Well done!  Looks like you've been doing this for years, not just your second military aircraft.

 

[AJohnson]

That’s a really nice looking Spit James! 

[Old Collingwood]

Superb finish James   -  so  much detail  you  got out of her.

 

OC.