Here's my Tamiya
Supermarine Spitfire MK Vb. As I was in the Royal New Zealand Air Force for a few
years, I am intending to build as many of the aircraft operated by the RNZAF (and
the Kiwi Squadrons of the RAF). However I didn't intend to build a Kiwi Mk
Vb Spitfire initially because I couldn't find allot of information on them, in
particular photographs.
One day I came across this web site (http://www.wings.net.nz/485squad.html).
I made contact with the webmaster and the information he gave me meant I
had the information I needed to do a Kiwi VB Spitfire. What was even better was
that their
patron, Squadron Leader John G. Pattison D.S.O. D.F.C is actually a ex
Spitfire Pilot who flew Mk VB's with 485 Sqn (NZ) RAF. From the information
supplied, I could actually make one of the aircraft he flew, OU-N, BM-239.
The web master even supplied a photo of Sqn Ldr Pattison sitting in OU-N and
provided another photo of a line up of 485 Sqn MK Vb Spitfires, these gave me
enough of an indication of what type of RAF decals I required.
Click on
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Like the other
Tamiya kit I have built (Mosquito FB Mk VI ) it just fell together. In my
limited experience Tamiya Kits are excellent and easy for even a amateur like me
to build a good model. My only minor criticism is the exhausts, so I added the
excellent Ultracast exhaust set. I also added some seatbelts made from masking
tape, and a piece of solder was used of the tube on the right side of the
cockpit wall Apart from those details and the custom decals from the kit was
made straight from the box. As the kit doesn't have the type A and A1 decals
that the 485 Sqn Spitfires used I needed I had to buy some. I used the Xtradecal
Sets no's X031-48 (Type A), X032-48(Type A1) and the Tallyho number set. I
also dropped the elevators and moved the rudder, this was the first time I tried
this and I was happy with the result.
I used Gunze 302 for
the dark green, Tamiya 54 for the dark grey, for the undersides I used Tamiya
Sky Grey. As far as I'm concerned these are close enough for the RAF Dark Green,
Ocean Grey and Medium Sea Gray colours, the Sky spinner was Tamiya Sky. The only
acrylics my local shop stock are Tamiya, so this is why I use them a fair bit,
plus I find them very easy to use and clean up well with water and IPA.
I did make a major cock-up which forced me to strip and repaint the upper
surfaces of the wings, basically this was due to spraying to thin a coat of
Tamiya smoke. The model even got thrown against a wall in frustration at this
time, but thankfully no damage was done. I did lose the upper set of decals, but
fortunately I managed to purchase another set from the Tamiya agent here in
Australia.
Click on
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It was this model that I finally
mastered the spraying of Future (or One Go as I use). I applied several light
coats of this, let is set for about 4 days or so then applied the decals. I used
an oil wash of a mixture of raw umber and black. For the underside I used a dark
grey.
A flat coat of Gunze Flat was applied and then some weathering with a silver
artist's pencil. Another coat of Gunze Flat was applied and she was done.
I also whipped up the mounting base to give me a nice platform to display my
most recently finished project
Well thanks for reading and enjoy
the pictures.
If you want see some of my other kits goto
www.gibstuff.net/models
Calum
Click on
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