#8 Commonwealth/Night fighterDiscuss **** DONE: Spitfire MkVIII, 136 Squadron RAF, Burma, 1944, Commonwealth GB. in the Group Builds forums; Bu**er me Terry, you may have problems with the keyboard, but you aren't having problems with the modelling, top stuff ...
You're doing a great job there Terry and have almost surpassed me on progress. I'm still fiddling with the finish myself and have another primer touchup to do before tackling the camo.
In the meantime, I wish you a very Happy Christmas Terry and I thank you for all your help this year.
Thanks very much Andy - I'm trying to stay on top of this one, to keep the momentum going. Once all the fiddly bits are out of the way, I'm hoping it'll be plain sailing. Got to admit, the front end was a lot easier than I expected, and didn't take as long as I thought it would.
I still have to tie-down a serial number, probably for HM-E, although I think I'll end up using a 'generic' serial from the batch sent to India, unless the Squadron ORB can reveal anything - waiting to hear from the National Archives at Kew, to see if they can provide just a section of the ORB for particular dates, rather than have to buy the whole years' record and possibly find there's no relevant info. (Some of it can be done on-line now, rather than personal visit, but the documents are sent by mail, as paper copies.) At least I've now established the true identity of HM-B, after the confusing photo captions in different books, although Bob only flew this a couple of times, and not in combat (if it was the same HM-B that is!).
Anyway, once the painting is done, I have to wait until the SEAC roundel decals arrive, which I'm told should be despatched next Wednesday, and the code letters will have to be hand -painted (once I settle on a colour, either MSG, Sky or the pale blue, depending on code letter), as there aren't any decals around in the right sizes. Also got to make the display base - and there's only two months left in the GB - which soon flies by as we all know!
Oops! Forgot to add - have a very merry Christmas and a boozy - doh! happy, I meant happy, New Year!
Thank you my friend. I hope to get some more done tomorrow - was going out tonight, but too stiff and tired, so going for a lie down for a while, then maybe continue later tonight.
Thanks very much Glenn and Max, I try to get things right, although some things could be better.
Haven't got any more done - yet - couldn't seem to wake up today. Hopefully get a lot more done tonight, and maybe get the first paint on tomorrow.
It's now just about ready for painting, although there are a few small areas which need cleaning and tidying, which will be done once everything has had time to fully set. PIC 1. A trial fit of the gun bay covers showed that, although they are an excellent,tight fit, there's a tendency for them to sit low in the bays, leaving a step. So, pieces of plastic card have been cemented onto the bay walls, to support the covers once in place. PIC 2. The gun bay covers in place, along with the cannon fairings and stub fairings. The wing fuel tank filler has also been engraved. PIC 3.The gaps in the wing tip joints have been filled with stretched sprue, sanded down, and engraved to represent the thin metal cover strip. The wing tip navigation lights have also been drilled out, and will be coloured and glazed after painting the model. PIC 4. The broad-chord rudder has been fitted, slightly off-set, and the tail planes fitted, with the joints sealed with PVA. The control surfaces and trim tabs have been re-defined by light engraving with a scalpel. I was prepared for some work here, after Andy's timely warning about the tail planes, but, apart from the locating tabs needing a little sanding, the fit was fine, with no evidence of a 'step' or mis-alignment. PIC 5. Rather than have a plain, bare cockpit sill, a canopy runner has been added to the starboard side, from stretched sprue, and will be cleaned up once fully set. PICS 6 and 7. Construction complete, with the exception of the 'sticky out' bits, and ready for clean-up, and then masking, before spraying the first coat of paint.
The entire model will be given a coat or two of Medium Sea Grey, the underside colour, which will also act as a primer for the upper surfaces.
From what I've discovered to date, the code letters were normally either white, 'Sky', or Medium Sea Grey, with some later MkVIIIs having the letters in the same 'Off White' (actually a pale blue) as the centres of the SEAC roundels. After studying the few clear photos available of MkVIIIs from 136 Squadron, the code letters appear to be a different, slightly darker tone compared to other SEAC squadrons and, although there is evidence of at least one of the Squadron's Spits having pale blue codes, I believe the rest were in Medium Sea Grey. (The tones are too dark for either white or 'Sky', and not dark enough for the pale blue).
I've searched for suitable code letter decals, even considering 1/72nd scale, but the proportions and dimensions are not suitable to match the small code letters used on Spits in SEAC at this time. Therefore, the Medium Sea Grey base colour will be masked with Tamiya masking tape, cut in strips to the required dimensions for the code letters, and the camouflage sprayed over the masks. Hopefully, this will produce the desired code letters - my hands now find it difficult to hand-paint the letters, especially in this small size (bl**dy arthritis!).
That's it for now folks, all being well, I should have some more done tomorrow, and some pics posted. Thanks once again for your interest.
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