Tamiya 1/48 Spitfire MkI - Never built a Spit
Posted: Tue Apr 07, 2015 12:57 am
So I'm finally getting back into the hobby properly after about a decade of doing other things (i.e. Warhammer 40K and PC gaming).
Like the title says - I've never built a Spitfire. When I was building scale models several years ago as a kid I built many models (Halifax, Swordfish, Mosquito, A10 etc.), but, for some reason I never got around to building a Spitfire. So I've decided to rectify this by building one, as imho - the Spitfire is one of those aircraft that every modeller should of built at least once.
So below is the assembled Tamiya 1/48 Spitfire MkI ready for priming. I've not decided whether to leave the canopy open or closed.

Nothing fancy here tbh, it is a straight out of the box build. The model came together nicely - the only problems I found was that for the life of me I couldn't figure out what RAF green is in Vallejo, so I fumbled it with a mixture of greens - it looks 'about right'™
The other problem; once the model was together, I was fitting the canopy - I found that the voltage regulator on the bulkhead behind the pilot was getting in the way of the rear window canopy, either I'd fitted the voltage regulator the wrong way round, or the cockpit section was installed a bit too high, either way, I had little choice but to carefully modify (butcher) the voltage regulator so that the canopy would sit correctly.
Also - oh my god - airbrushes are the best thing ever, especially with a decent compressor and thinners.
Like the title says - I've never built a Spitfire. When I was building scale models several years ago as a kid I built many models (Halifax, Swordfish, Mosquito, A10 etc.), but, for some reason I never got around to building a Spitfire. So I've decided to rectify this by building one, as imho - the Spitfire is one of those aircraft that every modeller should of built at least once.
So below is the assembled Tamiya 1/48 Spitfire MkI ready for priming. I've not decided whether to leave the canopy open or closed.
Nothing fancy here tbh, it is a straight out of the box build. The model came together nicely - the only problems I found was that for the life of me I couldn't figure out what RAF green is in Vallejo, so I fumbled it with a mixture of greens - it looks 'about right'™
The other problem; once the model was together, I was fitting the canopy - I found that the voltage regulator on the bulkhead behind the pilot was getting in the way of the rear window canopy, either I'd fitted the voltage regulator the wrong way round, or the cockpit section was installed a bit too high, either way, I had little choice but to carefully modify (butcher) the voltage regulator so that the canopy would sit correctly.
Also - oh my god - airbrushes are the best thing ever, especially with a decent compressor and thinners.