Supermarine Spitfire prototype
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August 10, 2022Alley cat models, a one-man show from Alec Smith, according to their website, alleycatmodels.co.uk. This is a full resin kit, made by request (as I assume all Alley Cat models are). It feels like a custom kit made just for you, and I love that.
Yo, Alec Smith, if you are reading this, cheers mate!2
August 10, 2022This is the content of the box: Resin pieces, decals, a small bag with canopy masks (inside and outside) and resin canopy, instructions with a small photo etch set. All of it fits in a 23x17cm box.3
August 10, 2022Cover page for the kit. Note the photo etch set on the upper right corner. I haven't seen any pictures of the Spitfire prototype with the proto-etch pieces, so I will skip them. I am really curious to know why it was included in the kit.4
August 10, 2022First, prepare all the resin pieces. That implies a lot of sawing and filing. I am using a mask and water to make sure the amount of resin dust is kept at a minimum. I believe this is not dangerous epoxy-based resins, but nevertheless, let's be cautious.5
August 10, 2022The first prototype version has a rudder with a diagonal edge. Later versions corrected it, but for now, let's file the fuselage piece to fit the rudder from the maiden flight's Spitfire version6
August 12, 2022"Panel lines" in the propeller need to be corrected, according to this prototype picture.7
August 12, 2022The cockpit arch struct is too thick and the holes need to be improved. The right thing would be to replace with a scratch built piece from a styrene sheet, to match the thickness, but I will just do the holes8
August 12, 2022Landing gears have gaps to let the wheel covers fit. Since this version doesn't have wheel covers, these gaps need to be filled. Note the metal wire inside the piece.9
August 12, 2022The wing panel lines are very basic. We don't have machine guns in this prototype, of course, but it's hard to believe that they were like this. There are no pictures unfortunately, so my best shot is to copy the panel lines from the prototype replica, although it's from a later version.10
August 12, 2022The cockpit door would be nice opened, so let's cut it out.11
August 12, 2022Resin is a good material to cut pieces like that, although the door is unbelievable thick.12
August 12, 2022I cut the wing tips to add some wing lights13
August 12, 2022Wing lights are made from transparent sprues from another kit. Filing it to shape, I will paint the light color, then glue the lights to the wing, do the final cut and filing, then brush it with gloss coat14
August 12, 2022Drilling holes in the cockpit seat structs15
August 12, 2022cockpit struct with improved holes16
August 12, 2022cockpit structs with improved holes17
August 12, 2022Propeller needs a shaft. I use a template to help me find the prop center.18
August 12, 2022I cut a small piece of metal from a clip, and put it on the propeller so I can mark the spot on the engine cowl piece.19
August 12, 2022The metal wire, cut with a plier, sharp enough to mark a hole.20
August 12, 2022Drilling a hole in the engine cowl.21
August 12, 2022Exhausts look much better with deeper holes.22
August 12, 2022The little air intake needs a hole too. I like drilling.23
August 14, 2022The canopy is quite foggy, but I just bought the right thing for this...24
August 14, 2022...much better! Looks great.25
August 14, 2022I used this Ammo canopy dip product. Really nice, just dip, remove the excess, store on a dust-free box, wait some time, and that's it.26
August 14, 2022Assembling the cockpit, ready for the base green cockpit spray.27
August 14, 2022There is no seams, but underneath the fuselage there are some mould imperfections that need to be filed.28
August 14, 2022The Tamiya paint sticks nicely to the resin, even though I forgot to clean the surface.29
August 14, 2022Since this kit doesn't come with instrument panel (IP) decals, I have to do my own. Problem is, there is no good picture for the prototype IP. Closest is the Mk 1 IP.30
August 14, 2022Trying to guess where each gauge goes into the prototype, based on the IP gauges from the resin part. This is guesswork, so do not take this as the real deal.31
August 14, 2022Brush painting the seatbelts turned out to be not hard, and panel liners help make a believable shadow. I am pleased with the result, although far from detailed.32
August 16, 2022Covering the wing guns, the prototype had them painted over33
August 16, 2022Using conductive aluminium tape to make little shock absorbers. Not a big improvement.34
August 16, 2022Painted wheel structs with Mr Hobby Metallic Aluminium, adding this black wire for brake cable35
August 16, 2022Needs now zip ties made with decals36
August 16, 2022Circular cutter for wheel masks37
August 16, 2022masks too short, have to repeat. The trick is to cut a lot of masks with different adjustments on the circular cutter38
August 16, 2022too much panel liner messes up with the Mr Color metallic paint, which is a lacquer. I should have coated it. Anyway, I just have to respray with rubber black again.39
August 16, 2022Structs painted with mr hobby metallic paint, cable from black metal wire, zip ties from leftover decals40
August 16, 2022instrument panel ready, I don't want to push my luck41
August 17, 2022Masking the inside of the canopy, painting with interior green.42
August 17, 2022The masks provided by the kit may leave some adhesive, promptly removed with a q-tip.43
August 17, 2022The cockpit wouldn't fit, you need to remove a lot of material from the wing piece. You only realize that when you are dry fitting the cockpit. Not a big fan of thinning out resin pieces with a dremel.44
August 17, 2022Fitting of the wings and fuselage was not going to be easy. With plastic is way easier, as you can go section by section. Here, with super-glue, I tried the all-in approach, which with the hardness of the resin, lead to the engine piece to fall out and break the starboard wing root.45
August 17, 2022Pick your fights, so I am more concerned about fitting the wing roots and underneath the fuselage, so I will leave this gap, as it can be covered up.46
August 17, 2022This is a big gap, but since the wing root is broken, there is nothing much to do here than expecting everything to be glued strongly enough to withstand filing and rescribing.47
August 17, 2022It is taking the so familiar shape, I hope I am done soon because it is not that fun to work with resin.48
August 17, 2022This is the priority. I new the fitting would be hard by dry-fitting, but it was worse by not being able to do adjustments, because of super glue, and resin being not that flexible.49
August 20, 2022Trying this Perfect Plastic Putty, and so far I am liking what I see. It can be wiped with water, even after a day, and it feathers nicely. So, let's see if I can fix the wing gap with it.50
August 20, 2022That corner where I broke the piece is going to be very tricky, but without primer, I don't see what I can do. Anyway, a good technique for putty feathering is to wet slightly with a wet brush, then with your fingertips, drag the putty to the outside.51
August 20, 2022Wheels are ready, but since they are not entirely "round" by trimming from the resin sprue, I have a flat spot that needs to be oriented down. Therefore I will glue the wheels when the structs are glued to the wing.52
August 20, 2022I sort of messed up by believing the canopy would fit in the open position. I should have dry-fit it first, but even if I did, the solution would be trimming the pieces. Not nice, the back window is already glued53
August 20, 2022To make things worse, the canopy is just too thick to fit in the open position. So, I was doomed from the beginning, but this is a poor consolation. No way in hell it would conform to reach the rails, so I flirted with the idea of making it closed, since it was impossible to look good opened.54
August 20, 2022Well, trimming with two glued pieces would just go as well as you expect. If you want a closed canopy, you have to prepare in advance and glue the pieces one by one, and trim them beforehand. No way this one will work now. I was pissed.55
August 20, 2022So, plan A was to dip this resin canopy in hot water, and see if I can reshape it, while I was thinking of a plan B...56
August 20, 2022...which is to take advantage of the fact that this canopy only has one curvature, and with the precious help of the outside mask, I just cut one from a package of taco pockets. I guess a soda bottle would work as well, as long as it already has a nice curvature.57
August 20, 2022Nice, I went, in a timespan of 15 minutes, from a state of anger from having a useless canopy, from happiness on managing to hack a nice canopy that is better than the original piece.58
August 20, 2022Ready to be primed with Tamiya surface primer, so I can see all the blemishes I need to fix.59
August 20, 2022Primed and ready to be inspected60
August 20, 2022This corner will never look good as new, and I am still aware that I may break it again because super-glued resin pieces still break. I will try to fix it, but not taking big changes, as this is not plastic melted with Tamiya cement.61
August 20, 2022I like very much this Tamiya primer, it still reveals the rivet lines I left to experiment. Also, all the plastic putty inserted to hide bad rescribing lines is properly hidden, so yes, plastic putty works very well on hiding rescribing mistakes.62
August 27, 2022Riveting looks good, but I believe it is primer-deep only, as the rare places where I did riveting on top of resin, wasn't easy to mark. Also, resin pieces are still badly glued, so riveting broke stabilisers and rudders, and punctured wing roots.63
August 27, 2022No rivet lines for the prototype, the closest I have is a Mk I, so let's use it as inspiration and come up with new lines64
August 27, 2022Ready to have a coat of gloss black, after my best efforts to sand, putty and rivet all.65
August 27, 2022I used Mr Hobby Gloss Black from a airspray can, for the first time, and it sprays much more paint than with the primer, so I accidentally flooded the wing roots. I wanted to wipe, but I decided to wait a day and sand it later.66
August 27, 2022No need to sand, the panel lines are visible (I made them unnecessarily big), but the rivet details are now very flimsy.67
August 27, 2022Wing root didn't need sanding of buffing, but those rivets are gone.68
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August 27, 2022A coat of Mr Hobby Metal Colour Aluminium 218. That paint looks very good, and expectedly, it is showing off all the blemished in the kit. This is not the final coat, hence the patched work.
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August 27, 2022The wing roots are acceptable. Considering the damage done there, it looks OK. This hood will get some buff, to shine a little more72
August 27, 2022A metal Spitfire wit perfect elliptical wings.73
September 4, 2022Masking the spinner74
September 4, 2022Coating the primer, which is a mix of Tamiya XF-4 yellow green with Mr Color Metal Color, so an acrylic with a lacquer, using Mr Color Levelling Thinner. It works, but this mix erased rivets75
September 4, 2022Also, this acrylic / lacquer mix had different densities, so the first spray is more yellowish, and getting shinier with time. Not the best way to coat a plane76
September 4, 2022I decided to paint a red oxide on the oil tank, a mix of tamiya metallic grey and red. I like this mix, works great for rust too.77
September 4, 2022This metallic paint is too sensitive to scratches, it doesn't stick very well78
September 4, 2022Making gun hole decals with a circular cutter and leftover decals. Around 1.5 mm, works fine79
September 4, 2022Masking rudders (they are aluminium dope) and some other panels to give tone variation80
September 4, 2022Done with coating, not really in the mood to do better shades because the paint easily scratches and peels off81
September 4, 2022Decals are not great, they are thick and hard to conform. Since I don't want to use varnishes to not mess up with metal shine, and and no panel lines because it reacts with lacquer paint, I will just add micro-sol and get done with it. If I cared at this point, I would spray a satin coat to dull the decal shine.82
September 4, 2022Numbers are better put first on wedges, then middle, to get the spacing right.83
September 4, 2022Making a bench 1: Use some scratch-build plastic rods84
September 4, 2022...cut in pieces...85
September 4, 2022..glue them...86
September 4, 2022...into a bench...87
September 4, 2022...draw some wood grain...88
September 4, 2022...and paint it brown89
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Opmerkingen
24 10 August 2022, 19:37
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Looking really nice! 👍
Interesting to follow the build of a resin kit. Have never tried it myself.
15 August 2022, 10:53
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O wow very much a real modellers model. Great work on the instrument panel, too bad for the wing root but I think with a roundish sanding stick you can get it more smooth?
20 August 2022, 20:51
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Many thanks for sharing your journey. The seat harness looks great! So many things I have learned already 🙂 Good luck with the next steps - your high standards will surely prevail!
20 August 2022, 21:16
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@Erik yes I am going to work on that wing root again, I just needed some primer to see how it looks like.
20 August 2022, 21:29
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@Bruce this is work that I really didn't want to do. I just want to glue and paint, not really in the mood to rescribe, putty and scratchbuild new pieces.
20 August 2022, 21:30
Album info
5 March 1936 -- the day that this legendary airplane visit the skies for the first time.
I want to build the prototype as it was flown in that day - natural metal finish with zinc-chromate primers.
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