Kit Build/Review: 1/72 Airfix Spitfire

I built this kit, painted the pilot/cockpit, masked the canopy and undercoated it all in Halfords grey primer, some ages ago. In fact, if recall aright, I purchased the kit whilst holidaying in Suffolk many moons past. So it's been a long while gathering dust in the meantime. But as I've dusted off and completed the Me109 I started around the same time, I figured I ought to try and finish this an' all.

Oh dear! Masking bleed agogo!

Rather annoyingly I forgot to take any pics of the various masking stages on the airbrushing shift. The underbelly colour - a beautiful pale eggshell blue - went on pretty nicely. And this was using the cheapo acrylics Airfix supply in some of their 'glue, brush 'n' paints included' kits in my airbrush (with a couple of drops of water added). 

I opted to do the green next, and the brown as the final colour. Again, I used the supplied paints. One reason for this is that all my Vallejo colours are either general purpose, Napoleonic, or WWII German oriented. So I didn't have any of the right shades for RAF WWII, other than the little pots supplied with the aforementioned all in one Airfix kits.

And underneath as well, though less awful.

The Brian and green colours look lovely, and very RAF, and the green even behaved itself well. Only the brown gave me any issues. And I think I must've over-diluted it, as it ran or bled quite badly under the masks. Mind you, I was largely masking using some cheap low-tack decorators masking tape, which has the nasty habit of occasionally coming away from the model surface.

Tidied up with patient brushwork.

Ditto the belly.

Anyway, using leftovers from the little pots of acrylic, I was able to tidy up the paint job with some patient brushwork. I've discovered that I like a flat-head brush for this task. Next I need to get in and paint some little bits 'n' bats, like tires, nose cone, props, etc. Oh, and those little red bits where the guns are, in the wings. And then it'll be gloss-coat and decal time, a step I always enjoy as it brings a certain finish to the look of the model.

The side fuselage markings seem rather oversized!?

I tried airbrushing a gloss coat on. Didn't go well. Humbrol clear gloss bunged up the airbrush something awful, necessitating a comprehensive strip down and clean. I seem to do end as much time doing that as airbrushing. Probably more, in fact. And, ass ever, applying decals was a bit of a bugger. They seem, rather like superglue, to adhere to everything other - fingertips, for example - than the model surface. Even with Decal Fix applied.

I've lost the box and instructions for this kit, so I had to use ref for the placing of the decals/markings. The side fuselage markings seemed rather oversized. And the roundels? Well, I'd have liked some fir under the wings as well as the top surface. The tail fin tricolour will need trimming off a bit with a scalpel.a d there are tons of tiny decals for sundry technical markings, still to be applied. But, as ever, decals do add a nice degree of finesse.

This was handy reference...

... as was this.

Both of the above A4 glossy mag format publications were useful for colour and markings reference. That said, there's still a fair degree lacking, in terms of explanations of different colour schemes, and things like landing-gear, propeller blades, etc. And neither book seems to include all of the myriad  sundry body markings that are supplied in the Airfix kit in Decal form. So I guess I'll have to try and scour the interweb for an online example of the instructions.

I used the supplied decals for the little red squares over the gun ports.

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Painting Progress: 1/72 & 1/76 WWII German troops

Left and rear, the acrylics I already had, by Vallejo and Howard's Hues. The large group at right, the new stuff. All Vallejo.

A few odd or even downright bad experiences with enamel paints recently [1] have lead me to decide to go for it on the acrylic paint front. I have bought a few acrylics here and there over the preceding years, but on the whole since resuming miniature figure collecting I've stuck with enamels.

But a few days ago, as some grey-green Revell enamel reacted strangely with the Tamiya dünkelgelb basecoats of a few of the German figs I'm currently working on, I decided to pop into the Ely model shop, and get properly tooled up with all the necessary acrylics to make a decisive change in medium.

So, anyways, here are a few more pretty cruddy pics of the mass of German troops, now that I've started blocking in the base colours. This is all a bit experimental and work-in-progress. But I'm liking the Vallejo paints a lot. 

I want some of these guys togged out in the highly attractive and very intriguing camo-patterns the Germans developed. Working these out, so they look right to me, is proving an interesting challenge.

Lilliputians on lollipop sticks.

The foreground three rows here are all Nebelwerfer crews. If anyone knows the name of the brand of the figures nearest the camera, please let me know. I've forgotten who I got them off at whichever Salute it was a few years back! Rows two and three are Esci, rebranded as Italeri. Also visible are some Caesar and Dragon Panzer crewmen, and some Milicast SPG crew.

To the left of the previous pic are these guys. Too many brands here to list! But a lot more green in evidence. Some of the more basic figures, esp. the Airfix ones and similar, are getting the early-war look, with grey trousers and green jackets. But there are also plenty that I'm doing as mid- to late-war, a good few of whom will get some form of camo.

At the very rear are another brand currently unknown to me. Very chunky figs, but nice nevertheless, benefitting from good active poses. They appear to be in winter-sheets style get-up. But I've opted to paint them in grey greatcoats with camo smocks and helmet covers. I dunno, perhaps they might even get an unusual/unofficial (i.e pillaged from some non-German source) camo colour scheme - the Italian pattern, perhaps? - for a bit of interest.

On this latter thread, there's a great pic in the Blandford Uniforms of WWII book I'm using  for ref., of a German soldier in baggy Italian pattern camo. There's also a very interesting post on this topic here [http://souvenezvous44.blogspot.co.uk/2013/02/camouflage-petits-pois-contre.html?m=1], showing that this pattern was used in theatres other than Italy itself.

Even closer in on the Nebelwerfer crews. I think I took this so I could see their back-packs/gear better!?

13/5/'16 I worked into one of the camo schemes on some of the figures today, as pictured below. Still in the 'blocking in' phase... slowly but surely! It's hard work, this four-colour pattern. 

There are a few subtle (i.e. barely discernible) differences in amongst these various groupings, where I've tried different combos of colours, but in search of the same overall look.

I do wonder how best to get the right effect, taking the small scale into account. Obviously the pattern is going to be much simpler, and is - I have to confess - very slapdash and approximate; I'm still essentially experimenting. The next step will be the various coloured dots. And then belts, heads, faces. Weapons, ammo, etc.

I really have no definite plans as yet for shading or weathering, etc. One thing's for sure tho': with the volume of figures I want to paint (and I really need to get back to my Napoleonic hordes!) I can't be too fussy. And I think with the advancing years my eyes tire quicker than they used to. Hey-Ho!

14/5/'16 - Update:

I decided to look into the subject of German camo patterns, and find out what it was I was about. I discovered that I'm gravitating to two particular types, one called (I think?) flittertarn, and another knows as Dot 44 (and numerous other things!). Pictured below is a reproduction jacket in the latter pattern, made by Epic Militaria. 

Above is a snapshot of my slow progress towards this pattern, on some of my Panzer crew figures. At such a reduced scale the pattern is both very random, and vastly simplified. But I think it's headed in the right direction. Needless to say, it's driving me, er... dotty.

15/5/'16 Today I went pretty dotty, painting little dots. Originally I separated out a bunch of figures with the intention of concentrating on some erbsenmuster  (the Dot 44 or 'pea') pattern. But then I started to work further on some figures I intend to have in splittertarn or splittermuster style gear.

In the pic immediately below the top row (Nebelwerfer crew) have splitter (splinter) patterns, the next row down (Panzer crew) are in erbsen or Dot 44. Then there are the Dragon Tiger Aces figures, in what was also originally meant to more Dot 44, but went a bit more 'Dijon Mustard', and now looks more like platanenmuster herbst, or the Autumn side of the 'plane-tree' pattern camo'. Not sure yet which way to go with the other Nebelwerfer crew, down at the bottom!!

A slightly closer in view of some of the latest camo' work.

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NOTES:

[1] It's odd: I only have two or three Revell enamel tinlets. I used one - a kind of grey-blue - on a lot of the helmets... and no probs. But when I tried the grey-green, for jackets, etc., the enamel reacted horribly with the Tamiya basecoat... dissolving it, in fact!