Thing One's Spitfire Cockpit Painting and Weathering

As promised, here is the more substantive post. We will continue with the painting and weathering of the cockpit for Thing One's Mk.I Spitfire.

Maybe it was crazy, but I let him use the Infinity. "Just don't drop it" was the only cautionary advice I could think of.

The parts were painted with Model Master Acryl RAF Interior Green and the seat was done with the Tamiya's Hull Red rattle can I had from the last time.

Time to hand paint some details.

Hand painting takes a bit of practice, but he didn't do too bad.

Getting paint on that instrument panel.

Picking out some details on the office walls.

We dry brushed a little white to highlight the black details. I've got some ideas now for my next Spitfire. I'll be dry brushing the ribs with a lightened interior green as well as a little chipping.

Dry brushed the white on the instrument panel. After this was all cured, I hit it with some Alclad Aqua Gloss from the trusty Badger Anthem 155.

Now the fun part, slopping the wash on to dirty it up.

Thing One was trying to paint it a little too much, I had to keep reminding him to just be sloppy with it.

Tada! Now we let it sit for 20 minutes or so.

Clean-up with the tips of Q.

Not that kind of "Q Tip"!

Enough of that. I've never been one for such non-sense!

Washed cockpit parts awaiting cleanup.

She looks well worn Captain!

Office completed and assembled.

The next steps will be assembling the fuselage halves and gluing the cockpit in place. Maybe you'll see it in a couple of weeks? You don't have to wait around, I'll send you an email when it's ready...just subscribe! (What a shameless plug.) Thing One says: "It's difficult putting small parts into their places. Thanks for reading."

Thing One's Spitfire - Cockpit Assembly and Primed for Painting

I was going through my blog post drafts and realized I haven't started a new build for the Tamiya Mk.I Spitfire that Thing One received for his birthday. It is the same Spitfire kit that I completed last year, so I know its build quality and ease of assembly. Perfect for a first...or second model kit.

Snipping the parts off the sprue.

That's right, more snipping.

The cockpit semi-assembled. It will stay in this state until after painting to facilitate that process.

Assembled interior and ready for priming.

Primed with AK Interactive's Gray Primer.

"What? That's it???? NOOO!!!!!!!"

I promise the next post will be a bit more substantive. This was something to whet your appetite.

A Brief Zero Update With Some Emotions Mixed In

Finally a Zero update! I may have mentioned this before, but this kit has a mix of raised and recessed panel lines. I'm pretty sure I have stated my disdain for raised panel lines. Of course, the raised panel lines wrap around the leading edge of the wings. Ergo, when the seam line is cleaned up, so is the panel line. I took quite a bit of time sanding down and re-scribing panel lines on the leading edges. I'm not too thrilled with how some of it came out, but at some point, I just needed to move on.

Remember a few posts back when the cockpit was glued into place? It was, momentarily. After the wings were glued in place, the cockpit broke free and decided to float around. I was able to glue it back in place thru the nose, but it wasn't where it should have been. After a day or so, I started messing around and it came loose again! This time I got it where it needed to be and I hit it with lots of cement. It hasn't moved since.

There was a pretty good sized gap that needed to be filled.

The wing roots needed some filling and sanding as well.

I tried using the Sharpie technique to look for seams. It worked okay. For the next kit I will try spraying flat black on the seams to check them.

I decided to add the external fuel tank. I think I should have glued it after painting. It's too late now. On the other hand, there was a bit of a gap between the tank and wing that needed some attention.

Masking the canopy took a bit of effort. There were a few panels! After I put tape on, I activated my phone's LED and shone it thru the canopy so I could see the panels lines. It worked fairly well, I was nearly blind at the end, but the canopy was masked.

I used Silly Putty to tack the landing gear doors in place. I won't be using these doors, but it was easier than masking off the wells.

Closed up.

Some Tamiya tape and Silly Putty to close off the cockpit.

The landing gear doors I will be using.

Everything is ready to prime with Alclad II's lacquer based black primer and microfiller.

There really isn't much to see here. As it is a black primer you can't really tell much in the photos. I wasn't getting great coverage as the Sharpie and the metallic blue overspray could still be seen. Near the wing root and side of the fuselage, the coating was just powdery looking and wasn't a nice flat finish. After speaking with Mr. D at the monthly modelling club, the primer was probably drying before reaching the surface as well as a vortex of circulating primer/air flow exacerbating the problem. I also noticed a seam line that I scribed on the side of the fuselage that is not close to straight. I'll probably have to fill it, sand it and re-scribe a new line. It was starting to get a bit frustrating at this point.

And then, the sadness.

Since Alclad II is lacquer based, I was putting it though my freebie airbrush (Fengda). I was having some trouble with the needle sticking. In the past, I just needed to give the needle a little extra push to get it through. I gave it way too much extra.

The needle for the Fengda is completely hosed. I can't find a needle specific for the airbrush, even on eBay. I'll be buying a $50-$80 airbrush to handle the lacquers in the future. I have at least three other aircraft I want to do at the moment that don't require lacquers and also a special armor tribute build in mind...and a couple of water related dioramas. The Zero is going to be shelved for the time being.

A New Airbrush...The Infinity

I'm all a tingle because I finally broke down and purchased a high quality airbrush. I purchased a Harder & Steenbeck Infinity CR Plus. I went with the .2mm needle as it should be able to handle most anything, fine work as well as wide coverage.

Still in the wrapper. Maybe I should have done an unboxing video?

Fancy plastic box. I never had a box with my other two airbrushes, just bubble wrap and cardboard....boxes.

Tada! Isn't she so pretty? I sometimes open the box just to gaze upon its majesty.

All the extra parts I had to acquire. Left to Right: Iwata Pistol Grip Moisture Trap, (top) extra .2mm needle, 5ml cup (the airbrush comes with a 2ml cup), 5ml cup lid and hose. Threading and diameters can be different between manufacturers, but Iwata and H&S use the same thread count and diameter.

Top to bottom: Harder & Steenbeck Infinity CR+, Badger Anthem 155, Fengda BD-130. Sorry for the terrible picture. The Badger I picked up for $40 direct from Badger because the engraving was messed up, the Fengda was free with my air compressor.

Since getting the Infinity, I've used it twice. What a lovely airbrush. I did have some trouble with paint going behind the cup, but it is quite possible that occurred because I backflowed the airbrush. After calling H&S support, he recommended against backflowing, as he used to do it before. It pushes paint further back than you would want. I had to soak the airbrush overnight in ammonia free Windex, recommended by the H&S rep and clean it out.

I'll be using the Infinity for acrylics paints exclusively. The Badger will now be used for spraying acrylic clear coats, as it has, I think, a .4mm needle and will get nice wide even coverage. The Fengda has been relegated the nastiest job, lacquers. 

No more blaming poor paint jobs on the airbrush!