Spitfire PR.IG: Easy Peasy?

Finally, the post that at least one of you has been waiting for! You know who you are. An update on the PR.IG!

At some point I had the courage to sand all this nonsense down and blend it to the fuselage. I had to re-scribe some stuff and there it is. The best I can do on it.

I was finally ready to move on and address the next coming issue!

I glued the Spitfire's "chin" in place. Really changes the profile!

I knew this was going to cause yet another gap that needed to be filled, so I was putting it off.

I pushed in the same superfine Milliput I used for the underside camera resin piece into the gap. I removed the tape while it was still wet.

Using a toothpick, I removed the excess and let it dry. Once it was cured, there was just some minimal sanding.

On to the carburetor air intake, the two pieces needed to be puttied and sanded.

Ready to go.

Attached. Hey, things are finally moving along!

On the last Spitfire I did, I had the struts separate from the landing gear covers for painting. I thought I would try something new and since they will be all the same color, I glued them together.

Glued together with some photo etch enhancements. We're moving at a pretty good pace now. Time to work on the dreaded canopy. The pieces are all masked and ready to go!

The dry fit. The bulkhead is too high and the rear piece is not sitting flush.

After I composed myself, I cogitated on my options. There was no way I could take the underside camera off, take the wings off and de-bond the seat and bulkhead. Should I sand down the bulkhead and touch up the paint? Or, try to vacu-form my own part from the original? The thinner, vacu-formed part will probably provide the clearance I need without having to sand down the bulkhead. I just need to build a vacu-former.

I sent an email to the local Spitfire enthusiast who set me on the path of doing this variant and he kindly provided these vacu-formed canopy pieces at no cost. Thanks for the donation Mr. D.!

The first two canopies I tried to cut out, I ruined. The blade slid right into the part. Way to go! No pressure now! One left, I can't risk messing that one up too.

I set to think of a new approach. I decided not to try and cut it close like the previous two, but rather make some rough cuts and sand it down to size.

It worked! This was just a rough fitting, a lot of sanding is needed.

I taped it up so as I narrowed the piece, I wouldn't scuff it up. Which I learned because I scuffed it up a little. The original part is on the bottom.

Once it was narrowed I started to remove plastic from the bottom. I need to take it up to those black marks and at a slight angle to accommodate the high bulkhead.

After about an hour, a more refined fitting and it's ready. The Kristal Klear should be able to fill in the slight gaps when it's glued into place.

It turned out better than I could have hoped. After the part was cleaned up, it had a dunk in some Johnson's Floor Wax.

Now that that frustration was worked out, I had a new one. Our new kitten was misbehaving and got on to the table when I wasn't watching.

One of the parts she messed with was the new door I painted. Her sharp little teeth scraped up the paint job.

Well, into a pill bottle with Windex overnight to strip it off and redo it.

That was quite an update. I'm currently working on some pre-painting items and will be spraying the masked clear pieces shortly. Maybe you'll hear about it in a few weeks!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Apache Priming and Painting Phase One

The painting of the Apache has begun! This was the first time Thing Two got to use the airbrush. It's good to get it in his hands young, if he keeps at it, he can be a real pro someday. Today we'll take a look at the priming and base coat.

I keep this spare piece of styrene card for testing paint and what not. It came in handy to let him practice a little and get a feel for the airbrush.

First we painted the base coat on the canopy. He wanted blue and all I had was RLM Hellblau (Light blue). It will have to do.

When the clear part was painted we got on to the priming.

Thing Two did pretty well for a first attempt, but tired after a while. There was still some humidity in the air as you can see the pistol grip moisture trap on the airbrush.

It would have helped if I had a .4mm needle in the airbrush. As I don't have one, we had to do with a .2mm. Hopefully this will be rectified when Chicago Airbrush has a sale for the holidays.

Thing Two threw in the towel so I had to take over. I was unable to complete the priming as the airbrush was not spraying well anymore and needed a complete strip down. After coming back for a second round on another day, I finished up the priming.

We've finally gotten to the fun part, laying down the base coat. Thing Two is spraying Model Master Panzer Schwarzgrau. For you non-modelers or non-German speakers, that it "Tank Black-gray".

Working it all over.

Takes a bit of practice to get even coats.

Have to make sure everything gets well covered. I took over once Thing Two tired. It took a little bit more work to even out some areas and compensate for puddley spots and runs.

Thing Two wanted a "red" tail. I just happened to have the desired paint on hand for once! This was a pretty quick and dirty mask job. I wasn't extremely particular.

I sprayed the red tail, then, only after I cleaned the airbrush I noticed that areas that were thinner coated, tended more toward pink. I'll have to remember this in the future. It won't matter too much once you see what's coming.

Here is the completed base coat.

I think we should start calling this the Alternate History Apache.