TOPIC: Tamiya 1/32 Spitfire Mk.XVIe

That’s come out nicely.

Under wing roundel masking and painting underway

Underwing roundels completed;








Underside masking underway so painting of the camo can begin;

Lovely clean work on the roundrels! Montex masks?

Nosferatu wrote: Lovely clean work on the roundrels! Montex masks?

Yeah, those are from the Montex set... I'm actually going to move away from vinyl masks now as they don't sit down that well over curves or raised details. I might look at getting a cutting machine so I can make masks using the kabuki style tape. Will probably source HGW canopy mask sets though, because canopy masks are a godsend.

True ...I often find myself cutting a small slit in them to get them to sit...not Ideal but has worked so far. Agree that canapy masks are bloody helpful!!!

So, on Friday night I finished masking up the spitfire and going over the grey overspray on the fuselage sides and upper surfaces with a coat of black primer. Then I sprayed up the paint mule with some black basing with different shades and colours to try. The airbrush needed a heavy duty clean, so I stripped her down and cleaned out all the dried paint in all the hard to reach places and gave all the moving parts a good lube.

On Saturday morning I experimented with the camo colours over the top of the black basing. The colours over neutral grey looked the best. Over a mix of the neutral grey and white there was a little too much contrast. The section I applied dark grey on top of the black basing looked horrendous.

I also pressed my new Blackridge airbrush into service with the 0.2mm needle/nozzle set.















Horrendous pre-shade effect!




My preference is the left and centre panels (the photo doesn't show it that great);

Black basing completed



Close up;

Using a copy of the colour guide included with the kit, scaled up to size, I made paper masks to lay out the camo pattern. I then filled in the grey with XF-82 thinned with lacquer thinner at a ration of 25% paint to 75% thinners and sprayed through the 0.2mm nozzle. The Spitfires had a sharp demarcation, so using paper masks makes this easy. Note: The small lumps on the painted surface are Maskol, not contaminants.














Fuselage next.

Did you have any bleeding under the paper? This may be a good way to go with the Ardennes hard edge Tiger. A huge prospect in 1:16, but easier than trying to free spray or mask with tape/ blu tak etc. looks terrific btw.

Bishop wrote: Did you have any bleeding under the paper? This may be a good way to go with the Ardennes hard edge Tiger. A huge prospect in 1:16, but easier than trying to free spray or mask with tape/ blu tak etc. looks terrific btw.

Only where I didn't hold the paper down hard against the surface. I wasn't concerned about being too accurate, as I'm going to feather the grey slightly out so I don't have to get the reverse masks in perfect position when it comes to airbrushing the green. I thought about tacking them down slightly, but didn't want to risk pulling any of the Maskol off.

The grey areas are now finished. All went fairly smoothly.






Close ups showing the black basing in effect;

Masking up in preparation for applying the green. I'll need to repray the primer and black basing on the edges of the masks to remove the solid grey.

A fair bit done over the weekend;

Touched up the black basing and applied the green camo;









About an hour's work airbrushing the green diluted 20% paint to 80% lacquer thinners at around 15psi using the 0.2mm nozzle and gradually building it up.






Applying the roundels;

I stand in awe of people who can spray on decals like that

Portside fuselage roundel masked and painted;






Beginning to remove the Maskol to reveal the chipping. The bright aluminium will be dulled down during the weathering process;

Chipping has come up mint mate!

Masking and spraying the portside codes. I cracked open this bottle of Gunze H74 that I haven't used in probably 20 years. No settling in the bottom of the jar or any goop and only a quick shake required.

Great work on those markings

Nicely done with the painted markings. You've nailed it with registration and paint thickness.

Masks are becoming my go to for markings more and more as they are far superior to decals in the final product. Last two finishes have both had fully masked and painted markings. Helps having worked out how to use my mask cutter properly now too

Looks terrific with the chips

Hi guys, I took last week off work and during that time I finished airbrushing the roundels, codes, walkway lines and wing leading edges. There are way too many pics to post here, but I've updated my Facebook page with all of the images, so check that out if you wish.

Tamiya decals are so disappointing. That thick bloody decal film pisses me off;



I painted the walkway lines and applied the supplied WALKWAY FORWARD and WALKWAY INBOARD decals. Once dry I gave these a light sand to try and blend them in. But they still look crap and I don't want to risk damaging the surrounding paint...

So I'm going to print my own using the decal paper I use for the decal sets I produce, for the remaining stencils.

The results of the reproduced decals are looking a lot better than using the supplied decals. They're not as sharp as the kit decals and I've made the black more of a very dark grey. To me, this gives a more realistic appearance. These decals blend in seamlessly with the varnish coats. I might remove the upper wing decals and re-typeset on my own paper too.

Playing catch-up on posts.this is stunning work KM.