1:48 Spitfire XVI

[JMac]

Hey fellow modellers.

While I've been chipping away at my shelf queen backlog I've started building a spitfire XVI from pieces left over from a couple different kits. This is meant largely to be a fun/quick(ish) contest warm up. I painted up the cockpit yesterday. I'm not to worried about this having an uber interior paint job; I believe the XVI's were pressurized and had no side access door, so not much of the cockpit will be visible when the fuselage is closed. I used the kit decal for the IP - I'm not really happy with it - I think I could have painted a nicer one. On the plus side however the decal was WAY faster than my painting the IP.

Thanks for looking. Comments always welcome.
Jason

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[Dave The Chef]

Good stuff! Did you make the seatbelts? Excellent work! 8)

 

[JohnSimmons]

Looks excellent nice pics too.

 

[Glorfindel]

Big Mac back at it.

 

[adampolo13]

Nice job so far. The I.P. looks good to me.

 

[JMac]

;D Thanks a ton Dave, John, Glorfindel and Adam. I'm having a lot of fun with this build. It's sister build is going not so fast, I'm paying more attention to the details on that one...

Today I had almost an entire day at the bench. And she's looking like a Spitfire! Here's where I'm at in the build. The wing fit is still being addressed, I only have it tack glued in three places, I working on the wing root shims and trying to reduce any later sanding. The tail is glued in place, and the lower cowling has been fit (it will need some filler ).

Good stuff! Did you make the seatbelts? Excellent work! 8)

Thanks for the positive comment Dave. I did not make the seat belts. The seats and seat-belts are a resin aftermarket part from Ultracast.

Nice job so far. The I.P. looks good to me.

When I look at it up close, I can see that I misaligned it to the raised details on the panel. :

Things will slow down next week, my normal work a day week resumes.

Thanks for taking a look. Comments, questions and suggestions always welcome.

Jason

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[rookie]

Who doesn't love a spitfire..

Nice work as always J

 

[Glorfindel]

JMac the white styrene I see at the back end of the fuselage and at the wing root, is that to fill in gaps? Just wondering.

 

[Junkie]

Lookin great Jason.

 

[JMac]

Thanks for the encouragement Rookie and Scott.

JMac the white styrene I see at the back end of the fuselage and at the wing root, is that to fill in gaps? Just wondering.

Yes. I made styrene shims to fill in the gaps. The fuselage is from a Revell kit and the wings are from an ICM kit, the ICM fuselage is larger (wider at the roots) than the Revell, so big gaps. The shim in the back is just to make up for a combination of saw kerf and filing everything sort of square after cutting.

After shimming everything, I started my first round of seam work. Still lots of areas to fill and sand...But I think this is looking better than I originally thought it would.

I was looking back at my first post here a number of years ago. I was so happy with that SPAD, what a difference. A couple years ago I would have never tried a build like this - I would have been too scared of "wrecking the kit".

Jason

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[Glorfindel]

Amazing what a small amount of experience can lead you to accomplish. Sounds like life lessons.

 

[Dave The Chef]

Amazing what a small amount of experience can lead you to accomplish. Sounds like life lessons.

I agree - that's some fine work there!

 

[zappa]

Very nice work Jmac!

Zappa

 

[Chris S]

Nice one Jason , The cockpit looks excellent ,especially the belts !! very nice . Looking forward to the finish

Chris.

 

[JMac]

Amazing what a small amount of experience can lead you to accomplish. Sounds like life lessons.

I agree - that's some fine work there!

Glorfindel - I also agree, didn't mean that way, but it's true. ;D A positive progression is nice to see.

Thanks Dave.

Very nice work Jmac!

Zappa

Thanks Zappa. Hoping to have it done for our March meeting. It's a goal I hope I'll hit, things were going great, but now I've started to fill-in all the sink marks on the ICM wings it's not moving as fast. Lots of deep sink marks. Some on the bottom I'm thinking I might not even bother with.

Nice one Jason , The cockpit looks excellent ,especially the belts !! very nice . Looking forward to the finish

Chris.

Chris - thanks a bunch - I like painting cockpits, I find that to be a really relaxing & enjoyable part of my builds. I wanted to ask you about that ICM BF 109 you built a little while ago. What was the problem you had with the decals? The reason I ask is; I was planning to use some of the ICM decals on this build. But if the ICM decals are a gong-show then I'll just look for some AM decals or a mask to paint the roundels. BTW- your Phantom looks like a fabulous kit, looking forward to following along with that one.

 

[Chris S]

Jason ,

The problem with the decals seemed to be that there was no Clearcoat on them ! ,I found this out too late ,but if your decal sheet appears Matt ,then you have the same problem .However ,its just a matter of blowing some clear on with the AB ,just a few light mists will do

Chris.