A history lesson
about the Spitfire is not needed for most of us so I will skip that and go
directly to the kit. Hasegawa's Spitfire kits have been around for a while but
they are well done and compare very well to newer releases by Tamiya and Italeri.
There are no fit or major shape problems with the kits and several versions are
offered. The Hasegawa Spitfire Mk I is an older release and one that I would
avoid in favor of the Airfix or Tamiya kits due to accuracy issues.
I wanted to
add a little extra detail to my Spit since I was already planning to
spend additional time on painting invasion markings. I used the interior
parts from the Eduard photo etch set to improve the cockpit and wing radiators.
I cut and dropped the elavators, thinned the gear doors and used Squadron's vac
canopy so that I could display mine in the open position. Construction went well
with a little sanding, shaping and re-scribing needed around the
wing-to-fuselage joint areas. I also scribed in the fuel service point just
ahead of the windscreen as it is not represented.
Then
came the paintwork...I pre-shaded the model with Pollyscale Grimy Black. I
painted the top and bottom camoflage using Pollyscale British Ocean Gray, Dark
green and Medium Sea Gray. I prefered to paint the invasion markings last as
this is how the aircraft was painted also. This is not the "in" method
but it worked without problems for me. I used Pollyscale Black and White for the
ID markings and there was no pull-up of paint when the Tamiya masking tape was
lifted. I used Pollyscale Orange Yellow for the leading edge markings and then
applied weathering using washes of brown, raw umber, burnt umber, and dark
gray. Some minor post shading was done afterwards. I used Sanford Prismacolor
pastel pencils (silver, cool gray, and dark brown for additional wear and panel
line accentuation.
Click on
images below to see larger images
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The
next step was a coat of Future followed by the decals which are a mix of kit and
Modeldecal codes and serials I had in the spares box. They went on well though
the Hasegawa decals are a bit too transparent. Finally a coat of Testors Flat
and some radio wire from stretched sprue. The aircraft modeled was the mount of
Wing Commander "Jack" Charles of the Tangmere wing during the summer
of 1944. I enjoyed the Spitfire build and look forward to doing a Mk V Trop very
soon. I hope you enjoyed the photos.
Joe
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