Airfix 1:72 Spitfire Mk 1a

[Ayahuasca]

Exhaust stubs. In my youth I would have slopped some gloss black enamel on them. But... the real things were ordinary alloy steel, unpainted, and discoloured by heat and exhaust gases. So, a base coat of primer, followed by a mix of silver metallic and brown. Then I shaved powder from an HB pencil and dry brushed it on, and finger polished it off.

[Andy616]

Looking good so far.

It's not a bad little kit, although if your pilot is anything like mine, you will have to cut his feet off to get him in the cockpit!

Here's mine:



I did a double build with Airfix's Hurricane MkI and the fitment was definitely better on that kit.

[Ayahuasca]

Andy616 said:

Looking good so far.

It's not a bad little kit, although if your pilot is anything like mine, you will have to cut his feet off to get him in the cockpit!

Here's mine:



I did a double build with Airfix's Hurricane MkI and the fitment was definitely better on that kit.

That looks great.

I am not happy with the paint on mine - it seems to dry very gritty, not at all smooth. Any ideas for how to prevent that?

[Eric Mc]

As I said earlier, applying a primer beforehand helps a lot.

[Ayahuasca]

Eric Mc said:

As I said earlier, applying a primer beforehand helps a lot.

As I said earlier, I have done!

Might try thinning the paint with more water.

[robemcdonald]

You should be able to thin the paint with water. Make sure you give it a good stir as well.

Looking good though.

[Eric Mc]

What paints are you actually using?

[dr_gn]

Those Humbrol paints are rubbish in my experience - the ones in the starter packs even worse. It sounds like you’re trying to get decent coverage with one or two coats of it, and the paint is drying while you’re trying to get it to cover (or the paint / brush is contaminated).

To get a decent finish, start with decent paint like Vallejo, thin it a bit using the correct thinners, and add a retarder to slow down drying if necessary. Use three or four coats, and allow to dry between coats. Continue using primer - but ideally spray it on (Tamiya is great).

There are no quick ways to do it properly.

[danllama]

Yes I haven't been too happy with the paints that came with the airfix 1/72 Typhoon i'm building. Very thick. I've heard Tamiya acrylics are good, and also heard praise for halfords rattle can primer, which I may have a go with on my next model.

[Mutley]

danllama said:

Yes I haven't been too happy with the paints that came with the airfix 1/72 Typhoon i'm building. Very thick. I've heard Tamiya acrylics are good, and also heard praise for halfords rattle can primer, which I may have a go with on my next model.

I have a selection Tamiya and Vallejo acrylics, while the Tamiya ones are better, the Vallejo have a larger range, and are good for not having to worry about mixing.

I'll add my voice to the Halfords plastic primer, comes in a large can, I would apply from a height/thin layers as it can pool. But is a good base to work on

[robemcdonald]

I don’t use Halfords find it’s too easy to go heavy due to it being a larger nozzle. I tend to use Tamiya rattle cans or sometimes the Vallejo polyurethane stuff (although I find it really hard to clean out of the airbrush afterwards)

[dr_gn]

Just buy the correct, good quality materials for the job and be done with it. Halfords plastic primer (and the standard aerosol nozzle) isn’t intended for fine detail on small scale models. Sure, it’ll cover, but at the risk of turning your finely surface detailed model into a potato.

For painting, you’ll not go far wrong with Tamiya grey or white fine surface primers, Tamiya masking tape and Vallejo Model Colour paints. In my experience, Tamiya acrylics don’t brush particularly well without adding retarder medium. For matt varnish, use Windor & Newton Galeria.

Any cost savings by using materials not designed for scale models are marginal, if at all. Buying crap just isn't worth the frustration (applies to kits too).

[Lordbenny]

Andy616 said:

Looking good so far.

It's not a bad little kit, although if your pilot is anything like mine, you will have to cut his feet off to get him in the cockpit!

Here's mine:

OP....Consider your chips pissed on!

[tight5]

robemcdonald said:

I don’t use Halfords find it’s too easy to go heavy due to it being a larger nozzle. I tend to use Tamiya rattle cans or sometimes the Vallejo polyurethane stuff (although I find it really hard to clean out of the airbrush afterwards)

Why use a rattle can when you have an airbrush ?

[dr_gn]

tight5 said:

robemcdonald said:

I don’t use Halfords find it’s too easy to go heavy due to it being a larger nozzle. I tend to use Tamiya rattle cans or sometimes the Vallejo polyurethane stuff (although I find it really hard to clean out of the airbrush afterwards)

Why use a rattle can when you have an airbrush ?

Because for priming you don’t often need the control of application that an airbrush gives you. In most cases it’s far quicker, cleaner and easier to use a rattle can of Tamiya fine surface primer when covering an entire airframe (after locally airbrushing the canopy frame interior colour of course).. Sometimes, for very fine work or local corrections I’ll decant some Tamiya aerosol primer into the airbrush through a straw, but it’s very rarely needed.

ETA - apologies to robemcdonald - I thought it was my quote.

[V8FGO]

dr_gn said:

Just buy the correct, good quality materials for the job and be done with it. Halfords plastic primer (and the standard aerosol nozzle) isn’t intended for fine detail on small scale models. Sure, it’ll cover, but at the risk of turning your finely surface detailed model into a potato.

For painting, you’ll not go far wrong with Tamiya grey or white fine surface primers, Tamiya masking tape and Vallejo Model Colour paints. In my experience, Tamiya acrylics don’t brush particularly well without adding retarder medium. For matt varnish, use Windor & Newton Galeria.

Any cost savings by using materials not designed for scale models are marginal, if at all. Buying crap just isn't worth the frustration (applies to kits too).

Jesus, it's an Airfix starter kit, you want someone to spend 1.5x the price of the kit.

How about being a little more supportive than critical.

For my input, think the paint with some car screen wash. You will need 2-3 coats, don't try to do it in one hit.

[tight5]

dr_gn said:

tight5 said:

robemcdonald said:

I don’t use Halfords find it’s too easy to go heavy due to it being a larger nozzle. I tend to use Tamiya rattle cans or sometimes the Vallejo polyurethane stuff (although I find it really hard to clean out of the airbrush afterwards)

Why use a rattle can when you have an airbrush ?

Because for priming you don’t often need the control of application that an airbrush gives you. In most cases it’s far quicker, cleaner and easier to use a rattle can of Tamiya fine surface primer when covering an entire airframe (after locally airbrushing the canopy frame interior colour of course).. Sometimes, for very fine work or local corrections I’ll decant some Tamiya aerosol primer into the airbrush through a straw, but it’s very rarely needed.

Ah, OK.

[dr_gn]

V8FGO said:

dr_gn said:

Just buy the correct, good quality materials for the job and be done with it. Halfords plastic primer (and the standard aerosol nozzle) isn’t intended for fine detail on small scale models. Sure, it’ll cover, but at the risk of turning your finely surface detailed model into a potato.

For painting, you’ll not go far wrong with Tamiya grey or white fine surface primers, Tamiya masking tape and Vallejo Model Colour paints. In my experience, Tamiya acrylics don’t brush particularly well without adding retarder medium. For matt varnish, use Windor & Newton Galeria.

Any cost savings by using materials not designed for scale models are marginal, if at all. Buying crap just isn't worth the frustration (applies to kits too).

Jesus, it's an Airfix starter kit, you want someone to spend 1.5x the price of the kit.

How about being a little more supportive than critical.

For my input, think the paint with some car screen wash. You will need 2-3 coats, don't try to do it in one hit.

The O/P clearly isn’t happy with the results. I’m outlining how, in my experience, things might be improved. If you think that’s being ‘critical’ then...whatever.

Thinning crap paint will just give you thin, crap paint. Using an unspecified screen wash - presumably in the hope it contains isopropyl alcohol which may or may not be a suitable thinning medium for the paint in question - doesn’t seem particularly helpful advice, but each to their own.

BTW take a look at the basic list of paints suggested by Airfix for their 1:72 Spitfire and it adds up to roughly double to cost of the kit (c. £14 - they appear to have missed out dark green). It’s not at all unusual to have to spend a lot more than 1.5x the cost of a simple kit on materials if you’re starting from scratch.

[robemcdonald]

dr_gn said:

tight5 said:

robemcdonald said:

I don’t use Halfords find it’s too easy to go heavy due to it being a larger nozzle. I tend to use Tamiya rattle cans or sometimes the Vallejo polyurethane stuff (although I find it really hard to clean out of the airbrush afterwards)

Why use a rattle can when you have an airbrush ?

Because for priming you don’t often need the control of application that an airbrush gives you. In most cases it’s far quicker, cleaner and easier to use a rattle can of Tamiya fine surface primer when covering an entire airframe (after locally airbrushing the canopy frame interior colour of course).. Sometimes, for very fine work or local corrections I’ll decant some Tamiya aerosol primer into the airbrush through a straw, but it’s very rarely needed.

ETA - apologies to robemcdonald - I thought it was my quote.

What he said ^

[robemcdonald]

dr_gn said:

V8FGO said:

dr_gn said:

Just buy the correct, good quality materials for the job and be done with it. Halfords plastic primer (and the standard aerosol nozzle) isn’t intended for fine detail on small scale models. Sure, it’ll cover, but at the risk of turning your finely surface detailed model into a potato.

For painting, you’ll not go far wrong with Tamiya grey or white fine surface primers, Tamiya masking tape and Vallejo Model Colour paints. In my experience, Tamiya acrylics don’t brush particularly well without adding retarder medium. For matt varnish, use Windor & Newton Galeria.

Any cost savings by using materials not designed for scale models are marginal, if at all. Buying crap just isn't worth the frustration (applies to kits too).

Jesus, it's an Airfix starter kit, you want someone to spend 1.5x the price of the kit.

How about being a little more supportive than critical.

For my input, think the paint with some car screen wash. You will need 2-3 coats, don't try to do it in one hit.

The O/P clearly isn’t happy with the results. I’m outlining how, in my experience, things might be improved. If you think that’s being ‘critical’ then...whatever.

Thinning crap paint will just give you thin, crap paint. Using an unspecified screen wash - presumably in the hope it contains isopropyl alcohol which may or may not be a suitable thinning medium for the paint in question - doesn’t seem particularly helpful advice, but each to their own.

BTW take a look at the basic list of paints suggested by Airfix for their 1:72 Spitfire and it adds up to roughly double to cost of the kit (c. £14 - they appear to have missed out dark green). It’s not at all unusual to have to spend a lot more than 1.5x the cost of a simple kit on materials if you’re starting from scratch.

Just to add. If you’re going to only build one model then yes it’s expensive, as you build up your stock of materials the relative cost goes down with each new kit.

That said if you consider value for money. Let’s say you spend a total of £25 on that spitfire for the kit and a few materials / tools (it would be less, but let’s be generous). Now let’s say you spend 5 hours to build it. In terms of enjoyment there isn’t a great deal you can do with a fiver an hour. Take your time like the OP is doing and it’s even better VFM.

Anyway keep at it OP.