Allan old Airfix 1/48 Spitfire 5B

[Allan]

bought this one for a measly 2 bucks at the local trash and treasure....I've bought Beurling's markings and they are winging their way to me as I write this, but here is my progress so far....I've painted some seatbelts, but is there any way I can improve the look of the cockpit before the two fus halves go together?  I'll drybrush the seat with white paint to represent oldish leather and then add a thin black wash to highlight the folds in the leather..

[dumaniac]

nice start

[Army of One]

Great find for the price.......be interested in seeing what colours you use for the underside and camo sceme.......H

[Allan]

will wonders ever cease? on a recent domestic flight I was given a bag of tic tac sweets that are the exact shape and size of the oxygen bottles that fit behind  the pilot's seat and which are not included in this kit

[RAFF-35]

I just use bits of sprue for things like oxygen tanks  how've you got the details on the black dials? Just brushed over them? 

[NARSES2]

nice start

Indeed

[Captain Canada]

Great work so far Allan ! This is going to be a Buzz 

[Allan]

they're decals on the panel
and here're the sweets that will serve as compressed air bottles, though possibly a little large
and the Beurling decals, which are okay, just okay, as the small swastikas aren't too clear, but we'll give them a go

[Captain Canada]

You'll have to heavily weather it as it's looking mint ! lol

The swastikas are blurry, almost look like a cross between a cross and a swas.

[Army of One]

Seen a few colour plates for Beurlings various a/c......i think Italeri did a Spitfire Vb in his markings........gotta say, am i missing something.........build says 1/48 Spit but the decal sheet is 1/72.........

Found it........

[Allan]

no Army, it's me who has being missing something as in my excitement at building this plane I didn't notice that the decals are 1/72...must have made some mistake when buying them...still, I'll use the kit roundels and try to knock up some code letters for the fus (just how hard can that be?) and perhaps send out a Hyperscale SOS for the kill markings if I can find something from a Mustang or Thunderbolt in the decal stash
Allan
by the way, brown and stone upper surfaces really make the Spit merge with the blue of the Med don't they?...what on earth were the powers that be thinking??

[NARSES2]

Yup Al that scheme would be useless over the Med that's for sure but it's really interesting what the most recent research is telling us about Spitfire colour schemes whilst based in Malta. Goes completely against what I "learned" as a youngster and new information is still coming out.

It's always fascinating to read the actual aircrews descriptions of the colours, nothing like the official ones and normally very vague. Ground crew are a little more accurate, perhaps because they had to apply it  Now however people are ploughing through the mass of official documents

[PR19_Kit]

I wish my Dad was still around.

But trying to get him to talk about colour schemes was like trying to get me to talk about recipes for meals, a blank look followed by one of total mystification........ 

[Allan]

some modellers on the net say that the T and the L should be in yellow...fortunately I have some yellow decal lying around...I decided to not fart around with the tic tac oxygen bottles and they can't been seen through the canopy and have closed up the fus...the seat is in place with seatbelts suitably dirtied and looks okay...there is a small round hole in the upper fus just in front of the canopy and I don't know what it is for so may just fill it with putty and sand over it...

[Army of One]

I have read about the colour schemes and the over painting in various blues of some of the brown....USN blue when transported on their carriers and a local mix of apparently car paint.....

Is the hole an oil filler cap....?  Where's the Wooksta when you need him....?