Spitfire PR.IG Priming and Gallimaufry

Whoa, the last Spitfire update was November 2015! I've made some progress since then and the next few posts will be dedicated to the progress on the PR.IG.

The center canopy section was a royal pain for masking. Not only does it have an irregular shape, it has protrusions on each side for the pilot's head. In an effort to deal with gaps in the tape or where it lifted up, I placed some Humbrol Maskol (liquid latex) to fill it in to prevent any paint leakage.

Prepping the oil cooler and radiator for painting before assembly.

It just got a spray of flat black.

Parts for the radiator.

Bottom all ready to go.

I cut off the chunky control surface for the rudder last summer, and here I finally attached the photo-etch part.

Modified elevators attached.

Front and rear canopy attached.

This is what the kit propeller would have sat in had I used it. I needed the shaft for the resin replacement so it would fit on the model.

Attached with some CA glue. Funny note: I was watching Star Trek: The Next Generation and in Season 2, Episode 1 they were trying to figure out what was causing a pretty nasty virus to begin to growing in its containment field. As you can imagine it was a significant crisis and they were trying to figure out what was causing it. Data suggested "...certain cyanoacrylates?" "Hi-larious."

Spitfire PR.IG ready for priming! At least I think so at this stage.

I put a door in place that I won't be using, it's there as a filler during painting. "What about the actual door?" It was too tight of a fit.

Canopy painted Interior RAF Green first.

Primer coat complete....

Welcome to the other side.

Topside.

What's that in the leading edge of the wing????

Click for my thought at the time.

I'll save you the additional laborious pictures. It was a pesky little hole that wouldn't stay filled for some reason, even with applications of gap filling super glue (cyanoacrylate), I eventually got it mostly filled. With the successive attempts of filling, sanding and re-priming the area isn't perfect. The hole persisted in the tiniest of forms. I left it, and with primer and layers of paint it is mostly gone now....but I know it's still there!

Here are the colors I used for the camo-tint pink. That's a full bottle of Model Master Acryl Flat White, a half bottle of flat white and a bottle of Guards Red.

I started adding drops of red to the half bottle of white, and before you knew it, I had bordello pink. My battle continued as I kept adding white from the full bottle until that was gone and I had very pink paint. Paint so pink, a 5 year girl would want to paint her room with it. This is what happens when I mix colors by myself and why the FAA labeled me with "defective color vision".

The resin propeller and spinner are not attached. Which means I need to set the propeller angles the same on each one.

Using the trusty old protractor that Crazy Cat Lady gave me. It will need to be upgraded at some point!

Here is the finished cut out for a three blade propeller. It has a hole in the center for the shaft, which I still need to embiggen, but I used my largest pin vise bit already. I'll need to get a bigger set of bits.

This wedge will be glued vertically on one of the lines in the previous picture to set the angle.

Here's the link where I found how to make this jig: http://www.ipmsstockholm.org/magazine/2003/12/stuff_eng_tech_propeller_jig.htm

The other random parts that will require priming and painting. The long stick, short stick, wobbly stick stuck in this foam is a real pain as everything is disorganized and flops around. What shall I do about it? Maybe you'll find out in a future post.

That's it for this eclectic mix of a blog post. I'll get more into my color woes in the coming entries. That's all for now, Iggy out.