RP Douglas Bader and Spitfire Cockpit

[Landrotten Highlander]

Have you considered adding a drop of Crystal Clear after the new decals have dried? I have used this to mimic glass on model ships to good effect.
This goes on milky white but dries clear with some gloss finish (nor overly shiny in my view)

 

[Steve Brodie]

Have you considered adding a drop of Crystal Clear after the new decals have dried? I have used this to mimic glass on model ships to good effect.
This goes on milky white but dries clear with some gloss finish (nor overly shiny in my view)

I did originally use white glue, which does the same thing, just tried to be clever to make a bevel and it backfired dramatically. Nothing that can’t be fixed

 

[Dolf]

Hi Steve,

I've used AK Glass Coat Gauzy Agent (which is mainly used to clean up transparent plastic parts), just one drop of it, on top of enamel paint on goggles, and it works fine. Or a drop of Humbrol enamel gloss varnish, it also works.

Now, I've never used none of the above on top of decals, so I can't know how it works. Notice that you've already used white glue on top of the decals, so I also don't know how any of these would react.
But on top of just paint (enamel as I know nothing about acrylics) it definitely works fine.

Beautiful model you're working on! And so far it's coming out quite nicely


Cheers!

Dolf

 

[Nap]

Hi Steve

OMG how sickening .....I would have suggested contacting Hugo , and expected the result you have got ...good customer service as you say ..WELL DONE to RP

Nap

 

[bogusman53]

I have the same kit, the decals were a trial to apply to say the least but with the use of sable brushes to correct the curl they finally went on, I used a drop of Vallejo clear acrylic on them and gently spread it with a fine brush, nice shiny dials now! I also drilled out the flare holes in the seat to make it a little more accurate, overall a beautiful kit! Can't wait for the Lancaster Turret, Airfix did actually propose to make a series of bomber turrets I believe in 120mm and may have got to the original design stage. But as we know Airfix underwent a number of major upheavals and of course this never came to fruition.

 

[Steve Brodie]

I have the same kit, the decals were a trial to apply to say the least but with the use of sable brushes to correct the curl they finally went on, I used a drop of Vallejo clear acrylic on them and gently spread it with a fine brush, nice shiny dials now! I also drilled out the flare holes in the seat to make it a little more accurate, overall a beautiful kit! Can't wait for the Lancaster Turret, Airfix did actually propose to make a series of bomber turrets I believe in 120mm and may have got to the original design stage. But as we know Airfix underwent a number of major upheavals and of course this never came to fruition.

Strange i didn't have any issues with them curling, mind i did cut them right to the edge of each dial, as I wasn't sure if the carrier film was continuous across the whole sheet, or stamped to each dial.

I wonder how many people on here have either built or are building this kit at the moment

 

[Steve Brodie]

True to his word, this parcel arrived today from Hugo, all the way from Portugal

ATTACH]335923[/ATTACH]

 

[Steve Brodie]

Replacement decals added, starting to take shape, next - gun sight and compass.

 

[Nap]

Hi Steve

Good on Hugo as always ..great customer service and they look the business , dis you put anything over them when in place like Kristal Klear ?

A lot of great bench time from this RP product and hopefully your enjoying it ...we are !

Thanks for sharing

Nap

 

[Steve Brodie]

Hi Steve

Good on Hugo as always ..great customer service and they look the business , dis you put anything over them when in place like Kristal Klear ?

A lot of great bench time from this RP product and hopefully your enjoying it ...we are !

Thanks for sharing

Nap

Cheers, yep glazed with white glue same as Kristal Klear(?), not going to risk trying some over the top though lol. Yep taking some time, but TBF i am not at it every night and all weekend, just the odd couple of hours here and there. Managed to get the rest of the big bits primed on Saturday, so can get on with more. But then again out tonight and Friday - most of Saturday and Sunday - so not much time in between . Getting my moneys worth, like when i used to play Golf - mates straight down the fairway - me into the rough -into rough and son on, but i got the most out of my fees with all that walking and sight seeing.

 

[Steve Brodie]

Spent a good hour or so last night working on the Gun sight. Had to file out the back of the lens holder and side frames. Did start to score away the top 'glass' but one of the side supports started to come away, so have abandoned that idea. In hindsight I should have cut that piece away first and then sorted the side frames, not sure if they would have survived though as the 'resin webbing' is quite thick, someone needs to devise a 'hot wire' for resin Lol. Anyway dry fitted the gunsight to the instrument panel and took a few photos this morning, wasn't till i got to work i realised i had put it on the panel upside down ! doh. So photos will be added here tonight.

 

[Steve Brodie]

 

[Steve Brodie]

Compass Painted up last night, cockpit green for the metal work, attached to back of IP, then a medium grey for the compass housing and gloss black for the compass dial. I acually painted the dial white and when dry over painted with the black, when that was dry i used one of my 'testing' needles (Diabetic Type 2), to scratch the black paint away to mark some sort of points on the compass. Then a blob of red for 'North' and sealed in with some vallejo water resin. The stick its on is a standard coffee stirrer (5mm wide)

 

[Mark Dollery]

Nice detail work Steve, must dig mine out...
Mark D

 

[Steve Brodie]

Calling the Instrument panel done, painted in the last few bits, gear up / down indicator, switch and a couple of dial setting knobs. Glued on the Gun sight and compass. Throttle quadrant, IFF panel and undercarriage control lever

 

[Nap]

Hi Steve

Really nice finish on the IP ...well worth the work and effort you put into it

Following with interest on this

Thanks for sharing

Nap
PS Perhaps we might see this finished at Euro in May on the PF stand?

 

[Steve Brodie]

Calling the cockpit finished, all items painted from reference photos found on the web, main source was 'Anatomy of a spitfire' website. Next up the great man himself.

Dry Fitted his lower torso, with parachute pack to make sure everything lines up - which it does so thats a testement to the model with all those pieces of resin.I think (after the photos were taken i knocked off the left rudder pedal stem) i will also remove the right pedal and set at a more vertical angle.

 

[Grod]

Looks good Steve.
Gordon

 

[John Bowery]

Calling the cockpit finished, all items painted from reference photos found on the web, main source was 'Anatomy of a spitfire' website. Next up the great man himself.

Thanks for the great link it was a great website for spits. Still my favorite airplane. My mother and I used to go to the front of the house, after the bombing raids on London, and look for spits. Sometimes we went into the dugout and sometimes (a lot) we just camped under the dining room table. We did not realize that most of the planes were Hurricanes until long after the war
Cheers
John

 

[Steve Brodie]

Thanks for the great link it was a great website for spits. Still my favorite airplane. My mother and I used to go to the front of the house, after the bombing raids on London, and look for spits. Sometimes we went into the dugout and sometimes (a lot) we just camped under the dining room table. We did not realize that most of the planes were Hurricanes until long after the war
Cheers
John

That must have been very scary and not as 'romantic' as made out in the current/recent crop of war films!