Supermarine Spitfire Mk. VIII 1/50

[The Orange]

Replies

Mr. Boose -

Thank you very much for the compliments, it really means a lot to me! I personally believe, that you are light years ahead of me in modeling, in fact, one of my inspirations in continually attempting to get the fuselage right was due to your Ki-44 Shoki and how clean the joins looked. Not only that, but I've always seen the techniques you've explained in your threads, but only as of recently I've decided to attempt them and implement them in my models. It really is fascinating!

I will continue to post, at least ones dealing with my model updates, any problems I encounter, successes and the techniques that are used to achieve such results. I enjoy making experiments on such techniques, and hopefully in the future it will prove to be well worth it. I must admit, that I get most of my techniques directly from this forum, as there's a great amount of builders who share their own experiences.

I will continue on with the model, and hopefully at the end of it all, I'll look back on this thread several months, to a year from now and know that I learned something that I enjoyed doing.

Thank you again!

Mr. Jeff -

Hi there fellow Californian! (Gosh I wish I could meet up with the SoCal Papermodelers. I plan to get several scholarships and grants so that I can study in SoCal, hopefully everything will work out! So far studies are going great!)

Thank you! Yes, I am using joining strips to allow the pieces to sit on a strip so that the two pieces have a stronger bond. I must admit, that if you look at my first attempt at building the fuselage, I believe post #4, I did not use joining strips, and thought that I could join the pieces through the "butt-joining"(?) method. (I think it's called that, if I'm wrong please correct me).

As for seams, I would love to do an experiment with that. What kind of spackle filler would you recommend? Of the types of filler I have used are; CA glue, CA glue + talcum powder, and various putties. I've never tried using a spackle, aside from the wall I had to fix. So if you could explain that further, it would be great!

Yup, I understand that 1:50 is a relatively small scale (If I could choose, I would like all of Marek's original models scaled to 1:48 so they could be compared to some plastic Spitfire's I have. I understand that one can manually scale the sheets, but I'll leave the learning to that for another time). You are right on the smaller scales having the ability to mask the small mistakes, however, I don't feel too satisfied letting mistakes slip past me (at least more recently). I will however let things be once I know that I can't physically improve on a specific area.

I'll keep on building, and I plan to return to the 3D designing scene in the next or years to come. I've dabbled in only Meta, and I also have an old copy of Maya from Barnes and Noble a few years back. That will be another learning experience for another time.

Valmy33 -

Hello Mr. Valmy!

I appreciate the compliment, but I haven't build a Spitfire completely yet. I believe you are referring to Mr. Steve's beautiful builds of Nobi's and Dr. Zarkov's Spitfires.

Aside from that, the pictures look wonderful! They add a higher sense of realism and are an excellent touch.

[sjsquirrel]

Hey T.O.

Sorry for the lateness of my reply to your previous comments on edge coloring. It's been a busy time. Your experiments with sanding and painting have produced excellent results. I'll be trying this myself on future builds.

Regarding the paints, I suggested watercolors or art markers as those are what I use most frequently, but acrylics can be just as good. The only problem I've had with some acrylics (and I've only experimented a little with them) is that the finish doesn't always match the rest of the model. Watercolors just seem to be closer to the inkjet ink. Of course acrylics might match a laser printed model better.

Anyway, the watercolors I use come in tubes like oil paints and are of a thicker consistency, similar to what your acrylic paints would be, perhaps a bit thicker. They mix and apply very well without using any water, or only very small amounts as necessary. This, combined with a very light touch keeps the bleeding under control. The hard part is getting the right color mix. I still have a lot of trouble with that. I bought a set that contained 10 colors, a brush and a mixing tray, then added five other colors when they were on sale. All together I've probably spent around $60, but I can mix up pretty much any color.

Lately I've been having good results with art markers. I have a set of Prisma Color, warm gray markers that contains 10,20,30...100% gray (the latter being black of course). Great for the space ships and blander aircraft color schemes, and I have a set of Faber-Castell markers they call "artist pen brush". It contains 24 markers, basically consisting of two shades of 12 colors. They are excellent quality and I'm very pleased with them, but could use many more colors. The downside to these is that they are fairly expensive. Here in Canada the set of 12 Prismacolor pens was around $60, and the Faber-Castell ones around $50 (Happy birthday to me - Thanks mom! and Merry Christmas - Thanks son!).

I've also tried colored pencils (terrible), and I think everything else you mentioned. So far the watercolors and art markers are my favourites, but I still tend to go for easy, and close enough. Some day I'll spend time with an artist friend (or the internet) and learn more about mixing colors. When I'm ready to get really serious

Looking forward to further updates,

Steve

[The Orange]

Steve-

No problem, I would say these are the times that test men, I'm having a busy time too; shuffling between end of the year school work/exams, leading a choir, track and field and paper modeling. Actually, while I do plan to use those techniques in the future, after some insight from Mr. Jeff, I don't think I'll be using it anytime soon.

You're right on the acrylic's sometimes not matching the model's finish; therefore I think it's essential for proper lighting to be present when edge coloring (I only edge color between 2-3 PM when the sun is at its best).

Art colored pencils sound good, I think I've seen Prisma and Faber-Castell material floating around build threads with some great results.

As for updates; no real updates as of late (see first sentence of post). What's really hitting me hard is my current printers; the C7280 and the IP1600. The print qualities from the C7280 are less than what I want, especially since the ink flakes and sort of breaks up in areas, creating a sort of white, fuzy look. I then switched back to my old IP1600 that I used to print off of when I first began paper modeling; a very trusty printer! However, I think it has reached its days of days; the colors from the printer aren't matching up at all with the .pdf images and the ink depletes after a few high quality prints.

What I'm trying to say is, I'm in need of a new printer. I've searched through the hardware sub forum and searched through the forums on printers, and I've come to the conclusion between a Canon or Epson inkjet; I am done with laser printers. My father actually owns the MG8120 and the Pro 9500 from Canon, but I'm unable to use them, and from what I've seen from the MG8120, the print quality is fantastic. If anyone has any input on the subject I'd be happy to hear/view it as I'm really unsure of picking between a Canon or Epson inkjet.

[The Orange]

Hey guys!

I'm continuing work on the Spitfire after my long build hiatus from it. I had to put away the modeling equipment and sorts in order to study for finals. Thankfully, today was the last day of School and now summer break has begun!

No pictures at the moment, but I will once I've cleaned my camera lens. I do have some great news;Apparently the Canon Matte Photo Paper works like a charm and I tried some water flickers onto some practice prints, and the thing doesn't discolor (Very, very happy at this!).

Also, I have become extremely interested in P-51's, particularly D's and have ordered a few from Modelart and have already created half of the fuselage for practice; so look for that in the near future!

[Wyvern]

Your Spit's fueselage looks great to me, so keep 'er coming!

Wyvern

[Don Boose]

Looking forward to the photos and the P-51.

Don

[The Orange]

Wyvern -

Thank you!

Mr. Boose -

I have included photos of said P-51

Pictures/Narration
I've basically explained these pictures in my previous post, but I'll reiterate.

Picture 1
A little more than half of the fuselage. I cannot say enough superlatives and
other compliments towards Modelart's P-51D Mustang models.
The fits are like a dream, and I suggest if you haven't bought one yet, do so!
I'll never finish this particular build, because it was just a
test of fitting and such. I did not build this portion of the fuselage with
the Canon Matte Photo Paper, but rather the Staples Brand cardstock.
I'm on the fence on which model I should continue/finish first; between the Spitfire, Mustang, and B-24 from John Dell.
I do plan to complete all during this summer vacation.





Picture 2
Side view of the fuselage, I need to improve at masking the seams at where the upper area of the fuselage curves.




Picture 3
If you haven't tried Canon Matte Photo Paper, I cannot recommend it enough.
This stuff is excellent and the print quality when printing on this paper compared to Staples Cardstock is extremely noticeable.
Although, the downside is this paper is expensive! 50 sheets for $9.99 will give you a run for your money, but I think it's worth it!





Picture 4 (Picture 5 is too big of a file)
Remember that Canon Matte Photo Paper? Well here are some prints I did with it off of a laser printer.
(I know, I know, I do have an ink jet but this was a test.)
I was impressed to say the least, usually when I print off of my laser with Staples Brand Cardstock,
and many other types of cardstock, the print shows signs of flaking and the color isn't uniform.
However, this Canon Matte Photo Paper is superb. The colors are so crisp and uniform, despite
the laser print, and there's no flaking! Also, to my surprise, the occasional water droplet, (small droplet) will not discolor the ink!






So that's that for now, also a small note, the picture quality is slightly better because my father let me use his EOS 7D. Sadly, I can only use it to photograph on rare occasions. Ah well!