ROYAL AIR FORCE FIGHTER SUPERMARINE SPITFIRE MK.XII 1/48 AIRFIX

First of all, I will make a plastic model of the Airfix for the first time. The instruction is similar to the Revell one that I have made several times before.

Only the color number of Humbrol is listed, if we use other manufacturers, we have to convert it one by one. It would be best if they let us know the color numbers of Vallejo, Creos, and Tamiya…

I attached a seatbelt of third parties, decided not to put a figure. The cockpit panel is difficult to paint with a raised mold and there is no decal, emphasize a part of the outline with washing in white.

I put the cockpit inside and pasted the fuselage.

A light on the underside, a polyhedron cut clear part reflects the light and it glows beautifully. Since the interior becomes dark after completion of assembly, I do not know the effect, but I hope the light will look natural.
(01-August-2018)

Although there is not much part to add a work, the exhaust pipe looks a little real if opening with a heat pen. Motor tools may be better than a heat pen. Fine parts may easily deform with heat.

The propeller can be rotated by hand. It was difficult to assemble because the shaft was short.

The canopy is small. You can also select another canopy in the state slid back. There are many delicate curves, I masked the canopy very carefully.

Well, I’m installing parts more and more and the building is proceeding.

I was checking the inventory of aircraft colors with a compatibility table of Humbrol and Creos, I thought I had a special color set, there was only an aircraft color of the Mediterranean operation. Humbrol medium sea gray is almost equal to the Creos #335 and Humbrol dark green is Creos #330. I have no choice but to buy the Creos Ocean Gray, recently it seems that there is no stock in my favorite shops. It is useless to buy a set of three colors for one color, so there are Tamiya options as well.
After all, I could mix with Creos #13 Neutral Gray 80% and Creos #14 Navy Blue 20%, so I will proceed with the Creos mixed color at hand. I want Creos to sell one color at a time, without selling it in a special color set.
(04-August-2018)

After all, the final recipe of Ocean Gray was set as neutral gray 60%, navy blue 35%, bright blue 5%. I feel that the slightly blue one is a camouflaged painting of British aircraft.

When I bought this plastic model, I thought that I wanted to make a Spitfire again, I wanted to make it with a kit of Airfix, the country where Spitfire was manufactured. It was impulse buying. When I came home and noticed it was a type that the main wing ends were notched. Personally, I prefer a round tip.

The main wing edge is cut off, is there not navigation lights? It seems there were some aircraft with no navigation lights… There was not at all in the painting instructions of Airfix. Because there are many caution decals for the WWII reciprocating fighter, it took time to paste, perhaps the manufacturers are also researching properly. It is the representative fighter of the home country UK. I do not know well, but I advanced without lights.

Spitfire Mk.XII is a fighter equipped with Rolls-Royce Griffon high power engine. On the other hand, fuel economy is bad, but since it can rise in 8 minutes to the altitude of 10,000 meters, it was suitable for the mainland air defense mission.

It is bigger than the Merlin engine of normal Spitfire and you can see the engine cowl protrusions in the nose. This is a characteristic of identification.

While I thought that the seatbelt did not look beautiful through the canopy, I took various shots.

This Airfix Spitfire has a deep panel line carving. It is just as good as inking is easy. Additionally, I have traced them with a needle. Is the surface satin? Even if the clear coat is blown, it does not become so smooth.

Among the 1/48 scale fighter airplane, is it a kit with a lot of caution decals? It took time to put all decals.

The Mk. XII Spitfire was deployed only in the 41st Squadron, Royal Air Force Tangmere, Sussex, and the 91st Squadron, RAF Hawkinge, Kent, England. About 100 fighters from other types were modified. The Airfix kit decal can also be chosen from these two squadrons.

 I finished it with 41st Squadron fighter, October 1943.

Oops, I forgot to peel off the light masking on the bottom of the fuselage. Is it a bit dark photo? I wrote in the working memo, I think that this clear light part is excellent.

I didn’t use masking of this camouflage paint, it is a fine blow of airbrush. I wonder if the blur is just good.

Ocean gray color mixture and other shades were so good as it was finished without discomfort. It is still difficult to finish a plastic airplane model cleanly. The included decal is a beautiful coloring. All the same, the old masterpiece fighter is cool looking.
(06-August-2018)