Airfix Spitfire Mk.Vb

Starting with the cockpit subassemblies. This is the first reasonably detailed cockpit that I have built so taking it slowly. The green is Tamiya Cockpit Green XF-71 and is actually a more authentic lighter green than it appears in this photo.  

The cockpit assembled and fitted in the fuselage.  

Fuselage and wings assembled. This is a nice kit and everything fits well. There is barely any visible seam along the fuselage.  

The airframe after two coats of Tamiya fine surface primer. The seams took just a little Deluxe Materials Perfect Plastic Putty which is excellent for filling fine gaps. Just put it in with a small spatula and run a moist finger across it and hardly any sanding is needed, just a little with an 800 grit pad. The cockpit and wheel wells are filled with AK Plastic Putty because they are already painted during assembly.  

Underside spray painted and undercarriage fitted. A little touching up to do because I fitted the struts with activated CA to get it to stay in place. I had to redo the port side and spilled some CA debonder on the paint which removed the top coat. No big deal, a little in the air brush will fix it. 

Much to my surprise, I managed to get the undercarriage angles about right.  

I decided to use AK masking putty for the camouflage painting. 

The idea being to achieve clean edged shapes.  

The putty works well but can be a bit stringy. I used it to mask the cockpit but left it on too long and it settled to the bottom. It took me about 45 minutes to pick it out. 

I am quite happy with the paint job although the browny green ended up being more greeny brown. I will use a wash to tone it down a little.  

I managed to get the yellow leading edge paint to cover with three coats. Gunmetal exhaust with some dry brushed black to dirty them up a bit and take the shine off.  

Gloss clear coat applied (Vallejo clear varnish thinned 1:1 and applied in 3 coats) then all the decals applied using Vallejo decal fix and Micro Sol. Now to put on a little exhaust and oil stain.
I shall let everything dry for a few days and then a coat of matt clear coat before attaching the canopy open.
Almost there, this has been A pleasant and trouble free build.  

My first 1:48 scale aircraft is complete after just two weeks. This is definitely the scale for me for smaller aircraft along with 1:144 airliners. It was a very enjoyable build of a great kit. The level of detail was just right for me at the moment. I deliberated as to whether to weather it and eventually decided to leave it clean with a satin clear coat. Just delivered to the RAF 🙂