Eduard 1:48 - Spitfire Mk. VIII

[shortCummins]

Having just finished a "cold war" jet for the shinny things SiG I wanted to get back to a propellor driven thing, I really enjoyed the Sabre and would recommend it, but my heart is still with prop' planes.

Anywho, I've been toying with the idea of building a Spit and as this kit was lurking in my stash it would be rude not to


This is Eduard's 1:48 Spitfire Mk. VIII ProfiPACK offering (kit no. 8284). It comes with some PE, for the instrument panel, seat belts and other bits and pieces for the cockpit as well as a mask set, no resin which is a shame. There are six schemes with three different wing-tips available.

Here's a look at the manual...





this shows the 3 different wing-tips available...





this is the scheme I've decided to attempt...


The yellow nose "Chindit" scheme was very tempting but this Dutch East Indies with a sharks mouth will sit nicely alone side my Aussie Beaufighter

I'll be prepping for the sub-assemblies and starting on the office
until next time
as always, any suggestions or comments will be gratefully received.
rgds
John(shortCummins)

[Avgas]

[MarkVerploeg]

Nice kit you have there
The Aussie scheme looks cool
But they had several intresting scheme's that you wouldn't see on a European Spitfire
I have the Aussie eight kit wich has 2 mk. VIII kits and a pretty insane 31 decal options but in the end you basicly have 3 or 4 schemes and the rest is in the details to make the plane of a specific pilot
And they included a very nice book with a lot of reference pictures of the Australian Spitfires
Have fun building

[shortCummins]

So on with the build...

As with most/all? aircraft builds the cockpit is the first stage. Although the detail in this kit is very, very good, I've decided to try to add some extra detail here and there (I'm sure most of it won't be seen) With that in mind I've drilled the holes in the fuselage frames.


here's the frame with the PE and seat bracing fitted as a sub-assembly


this is most of the seat, the seat adjuster(?) and PE seat belts will be added after I've painted the seat


the instructions say you don't need this part of the seat, but as I had my drill out anyway...

I think this was either a shotgun cartridge or flare store? if anyone knows please do tell

the front footwell sub-assembly


the rear frame has also been drilled


the left and right cockpit side panels are each created as a sub-assembly



...and thats as far as I've got today.
I plan to add some additional wiring to the side panels but I need to add the frames first, then I'll be giving them all a coat of Ultimate primer

until next time
as always, any suggestions or comments will be gratefully received.
rgds
John(shortCummins)

[Joesdad]

Good choice Dave, should be sweet!

[Twokidsnosleep]

I am watching as well, great detail additions

[JohnModeller]

I've done this kit before and the exact scheme (as I am an aussie), nice choice for the scheme. good work so far mate.
It was a flare rack

[shortCummins]

At the back of the instructions Eduard have placed an advert for some "extra" detailing sets both PE and resin. I'm happy with the level of detail from the "out of the box" plastic however when looking at the photo of the resin cockpit I noticed that there was a number of cables/wires missing, so I thought I'd have a go at adding them.
If you visit the Eduard site they list what detailing sets are available and also provide links to the instructions for using the PE and/or resin, I used this instruction sheet as a guide for my wiring.


These were made using different thickness lead wire that I found on Amazon, sold for making fishing flys(?) I've used 3 thicknesses, medium, fine and extra fine


I've added most of the switched and leavers to the cockpit sidewall and then added the lead wire


on this side I've added the bulkheads as I wanted to place the lead wire over then as well


next I sprayed some black Ultimate primer (H&S Ultra 0.4 needle at approx 2.5bar/35 psi)



after letting that cure overnight I sprayed Tamiya XF-71 cockpit green




next up will be detailing and weathering the cockpit
until next time
as always, any suggestions or comments will be gratefully received.
rgds
John(shortCummins)

[shortCummins]

today I've been adding detail to the cockpit.

First up was spraying Tamiya XF-71 cockpit green



once that had dried I gave it a coat of aqua gloss and then I used Tamiya panel line accent color (dark brown) to add shadows.
Then I used Tamiya XF-1 flat black to paint the instruments and highlighted the switches, knobs and dials in white, red and yellow.
Finally some of the pipe-work was painted with Mr Metal Color copper (my brass colour had solidified!)



I still need to add some wear and tear, I'll do that next

The seat has also been worked on, first Ultimate primer

next a "russet" mix, 4 parts Tamiya XF-64 red brown + 1 part Hobby Color H3 red

the seat back was then painted Tamiya XF-1 flat black, the seat fixings were painted XF-71and the whole thing was given a Tamiya panel line wash


The PE seat belts and seat adjuster need to be added and also some wear and tear. I'll then close up the cockpit and get started on the outside.

until next time
as always, any suggestions or comments will be gratefully received.
rgds
John(shortCummins)

[shortCummins]

finishing off the cockpit, using watercolour pencils and pigments to give the impression of wear and tear.

the seat, with PE amour? back and lap belts fitted


PE instrument panel and gunsight


oxygen tanks? fitted and chipping/scratches created using watercolour pencils


joystick and pedals attached, watercolour pencils for scratches and pigments for dust



IP and seat added along with rear frame and seatbelt





both fuselage sides fitted



fitted to fuselage



so next I’ll close up the fuselage halves

until next time
as always, any suggestions or comments will be gratefully received.
rgds
John(shortCummins)

[Twokidsnosleep]

Superbly detailed cockpit

[Avgas]

Great job so far, love the weathering in the pit and the addition of the lead wire.

[demarcation]

That pit looks fantastic mate, brilliant work!!

[MarkVerploeg]

That is some mighty fine work so far John
The cockpit looks great
Keep up the good work

[shortCummins]

thanks guys, these Eduard ProfiPACK kits are really good

[shortCummins]

This session was about closing the cockpit, joining the fuselage and adding the wings and bits and pieces

very nice fit with only minimal filler required




You’ll have noticed the Eduard masks, really nice and easy to use, here’s the main canopy that will be left open, I’ve done too much work to hide it away


A really nice touch is the PE “hooks” (I’ll try and get a better photo later on)


One “minor” issue with the instructions is for the PE for the air-intake. Eduard would have you place PE18 in front of PE19


PE18 is solid and PE19 is a “grill” so if you do it Eduard’s way you wont see PE19 (not that you can see PE18 when you place PE19 in front of it. So rightly or wrongly I’ve placed the solid PE18 behind PE19.

Next I’ll spray black Ultimate primer and check for adjustments to the joins

until next time
as always, any suggestions or comments will be gratefully received.
rgds
John(shortCummins)

[Willem]

Love this thread. Looking really special so far.

Giving me the urge to build another Spit as I have an ICM Mk VIII ready to go into priming and another Eduard Mk IX in t' stash. Not enough hours in the day.

Great stuff John. Keep it coming.

[shortCummins]

I should have done more research BEFORE starting the build

I've found this photo...


...showing three pilots of No. 457 Squadron posing to the camera in front of their “Grey Nurse” Spitfire Mk. VIII. In the middle is Sqn/Ldr Bruce Watson, CO of the unit, with Bill Cable on the right and his buddy and closest friend Ted Sly on his left [John Inger]

You can clearly see the solid "plate" in the air-intake so Eduard get my profuse apologies their instructions are correct.

[Stokesy44]

She looks a beauty. Cant wait to see the paint going on. Nice bit of humble pie re the air scoop. Its almost counter-intuitive that the grill sits behind the intake flap but as you say, its right there in the picture.

I've got an Eduard 1/48 Spit myself, it looks a superb kit to work on so it may move up a few rungs in the stash.

Do you know what the little PE hooks by the radiators are for? I don't think I've seen then before on any Spit.

[shortCummins]

Thanks Stokesy,

I was so convinced that Eduard got it wrong!

So far I've not been able to find out what the PE hooks are for, I'm guessing that they'd be used to winch the aircraft horizontal? Or perhaps they held the slipper tank in place?

Build your Eduard Spit, you won't be disappointed! I'm going to buy the Mk.IX as I've got a specific scheme in mind for that one

rgds
John(shortCummins)

[shortCummins]

On with the primer, but first the “interior green” on the canopy



Then I notice a wee bit of a gap in front of the windscreen, isn't it funny how you can miss something so obvious until you put down some paint?


Once that was filled I sprayed Ultimate black primer and noticed that some of the seam-lines still showed, so I masked the areas prior to filling so as not to do too much damage to the surrounding area



After the filler, Deluxe Perfect Plastic Putty, dried and was “cleaned up” I re-sprayed with Ultimate black primer



The seams haven’t completely disappeared, if you know where to look in the right light and correct angle you can make them out, however I’m worried that if I try to get them to completely disappear I’ll end up messing up something else, so I’m calling the primer done.

If you've not tried Ultimate/Badger primer do, you won't be disappointed, the ONLY downside is that you need a .4 or bigger needle for your airbrush, but using it the results are fantastic, I can't recommend this primer highly enough.

I’ll let the primer “cure” for 12-24 hours and then make a start on the preparation for the chipping

until next time
as always, any suggestions or comments will be gratefully received.
rgds
John(shortCummins)

[shortCummins]

Preparation for the “chipping”

There are several ways to achieve chipping, using hairspray, propriety chipping products etc. The problem with these types of methods is that you’ve little control over the finished result? However one way that I’ve seen reasonable, and “controlled”, results is to use liquid mask, so I thought I’d give it a go.

First I applied the “base” coat, in this case Vallejo Dull Aluminium 77.717




When I sprayed the air-intake I noticed that the area I “fixed” the seam-line really shows, so I’ll have to attend to that before too long


On all of the demonstrations of this technique I’ve seen they’ve all used Humbrol liquid mask, as I don’t have any of that I’m using
Mr Masking Sol neo

Here’s my applicator, part of a pan scourer that has the rough side teased-out


And here are the results...



Unfortunately it’ll be some time before I find out if it works

MarkVerploeg mentioned that Eduard have an “Aussie Eight” offering so I went and had a look at the various schemes, 31 in total!, and I came across a slightly different (earlier?) version of W/C Bobby Gibbes’ aircraft.


there are some subtile differences, tricolour camo and larger sharks mouth. I also like the enlarged shaded wing roundels and pale blue underside of the stabilisers, so I’m going to go with the Aussie Eight version albeit with a smaller sharks mouth

So next up I’ll be starting the camo

until next time
as always, any suggestions or comments will be gratefully received.
rgds
John(shortCummins)

[shortCummins]

Well I couldn’t leave the seams the way they were, they couldn’t really be seen unless you held the model at a certain angle, but I knew they were there so I set about “fixing” them

sanding back



Then after a smidgen of filler they were sanded and re-primer’d.



So after the primer had cured I started on the underside using Tamiya XF-25 Light Sea Grey (for the “marble” layer), Tamiya XF-20 Medium Grey for the main colour and Akan RLM:65 Hellblau (for the “marble” layer), Akan RLM:65 Hellblau + Tamiya XF-2 (2:1 mix) for the rear stabilisers.

If you want to get an idea of “what and how” black basing is here are some video’s that explain/show the process

preshading vs black basing


Doog’s excellent demo


and a “French language” tutorial



First off I created the “marble” layer (Tamiya XF-25) by randomly making circle and figure of eight patterns over the panels...


...and then a really thinned Tamiya XG-20 as a “blend coat”


The same was done for the pale blue, first the marble coat of Akan RLM:65 Hellblau


and then the Akan RLM:65 Hellblau + Tamiya XF-2 (2:1 mix) as the “blend coat”


here is the underside as it stands,

the photo’s don’t really show the effect at its best, my photography at fault as I don’t have a light-booth, if the weather permits I’ll take some photos outside tomorrow.

As I’ve changed the camo scheme I’ve had to order some “foliage green”, however I can crack on with the Ocean Grey and Dark Green

until next time
as always, any suggestions or comments will be gratefully received.
rgds
John(shortCummins)

[AdamLuscombe]

That looks great, good luck with the rest of the build!

[gustavlekstal]

Really intresting build. Showing off skills and techniques. Good work and thank you for an intresting read.

[shortCummins]

well it turns out that my puppy dog can now reach the table, and he doesn't like spitfires

[lv2bf111]

Oh no please tell me it's not a German shepherd puppy, that would be a little on the nose of a metaphor.

sorry to see that.

[shortCummins]

Oh no please tell me it's not a German shepherd puppy, that would be a little on the nose of a metaphor.

sorry to see that.

ha ha, no he's a cocker spaniel, although I'm calling him a Shih Tzu from now on!

[shortCummins]

Earlier in the build I decided to try a new (for me) chipping method so once I rescued the dogs new chew I painted some of the Dark Green camo, using the marbling and blend coat method as previously describe.
Once that had dried I gently removed the liquid mask, with a q-tip, and here are the results...



I think it turned out OK and with a little "fine tuning" would give a very acceptable result

[JohnModeller]

This session was about closing the cockpit, joining the fuselage and adding the wings and bits and pieces

very nice fit with only minimal filler required




You’ll have noticed the Eduard masks, really nice and easy to use, here’s the main canopy that will be left open, I’ve done too much work to hide it away


A really nice touch is the PE “hooks” (I’ll try and get a better photo later on)


One “minor” issue with the instructions is for the PE for the air-intake. Eduard would have you place PE18 in front of PE19


PE18 is solid and PE19 is a “grill” so if you do it Eduard’s way you wont see PE19 (not that you can see PE18 when you place PE19 in front of it. So rightly or wrongly I’ve placed the solid PE18 behind PE19.

Next I’ll spray black Ultimate primer and check for adjustments to the joins

until next time
as always, any suggestions or comments will be gratefully received.
rgds
John(shortCummins)

Nice work.
Just a quick note mate, PE 18 is actually the Carburettor intake cover, and therefore it is in a way, an optional part. It can either be left out or in.
The eduard instructions are certainly right in placing it in front of the grille.
Cheers, John

[mincemeat]

Oh NO! Sorry to hear about the puppy accident, I'm sure you were pretty gutted. On the other hand it looks like the Spit went thru some pretty heavy flak and crash landed... Why does Eduard have to split the air scoop in two? That's just annoying, Tamiya has no problem with a single piece for both.

Looks like you found the exact same three videos I did on Black basing. I tried it for the first time on my Birdcage Corsair. My only concern is that if you were to put any color over a white, gray or black base you will get 3 different tones of that color. What I mean is, if you put a light blue down on white, it will be brighter than if you put it down on black. A guy in my model club brought in a test styrene sheet showing this and the primer base made a huge difference.