SPA Modeler

I didn't think about that but you're right John. Very comfortable with worms, whether real, plastic or putty!

I adjusted the demarcation line on the nose today. Pretty simple. Masked off the new line parallel to the panel line.


The Ocean Gray was sprayed first and then masked off with putty.


The Dark Green is sprayed and the fix is complete.



Just a few photos of wartime XIVe's to show what I was trying to reflect. Never trust profile paintings and kit instructions without referring to photos first.

Nice, easy, quick fix John. And it came out perfect

Mighty large propellers for a small Spitfire after seeing the wartime photos

Very nice!!!

Thanks guys!

The upper wing roundels were painted next. One helpful hint for anyone using vinyl masks is to attach the mask to Post-Its or small pieces of paper before applying. This makes placement so much easier as it helps prevent the mask from being floppy and attaching itself where you don't want it.


After the outline masks are placed onto the wings, the yellow and white areas are sprayed on.


The entire interior portion of the mask is then placed within the outline. This ensures proper position of the interior parts. The appropriate element(s) can then be removed. In this case it is the blue portion. In the past, I've used MicroMask to seal the outermost mask joint but this time, I cut an overlapping mask to use instead.


The blue is then sprayed.


The center red circle is the last element to be painted. I also used a custom-cut overlapping mask to cover the joints outside of the red/blue border. I found this easier than trying to re-place the blue mask exactly.


This is where things got a little ugly. Port wing... roundel came out ok but some paint lift on the aileron.


Starboard wing... roundel not so nice. I was really pissed off when this happened last night and knew that I had to step away before I did anything rash.


So before I went to sleep, I started on the repair to the port wing, which will be really simple since it is constrained to the aileron only. I masked off the aileron with a Post-It and sprayed the Ocean Gray on. I'll let that completely dry before I use the putty worm to restore the Dark Green.


Having slept on the paint lift issue, I've realized that the starboard wing situation isn't too bad. Interestingly, only the yellow came up and only a small portion of the yellow at that. All the way down to the plastic so the bond between the primer and plastic was not good here.


So I've initiated the first steps of this repair. I used Micro Mesh (#4000 and #6000) to try and smooth down the edges of the paint lift as much as possible. I've never been able to feather down paint to plastic perfectly so there will probably be tiny artifacts to this repair but I don't want to create a bigger issue and remove the roundel altogether. If this repair causes more paint lift, which is always a possibility, I may have to consider removal of the entire roundel.


Like the port aileron, the repair area is given a coat of Ocean Gray. This will be allowed to cure fully before any repair masks are put on top of it.

Oh boy...

I was going to document the repair process on the starboard roundel but let me just cut to the chase...


Another nasty paint lift. Not good. I don't think repair is a viable route now and I've shifted gears toward removal and replacement. To that end, I aggressively used masking tape in this area to purposefully try to lift as much paint as possible.


And instead of Micromesh, I used proper sandpaper (400# and 600#) to remove as much of the roundel as possible without degrading the surface details. This was followed by the Micromesh to remove any discernable paint edges. Yes, there is much of the roundel left over but my paint layers are very thin and I should be able to cover the roundel colors completely with the Ocean Gray.


Which is what I did next. I'll let that dry and it looks like I'll have to restore at least a few rivets as they have become clogged with paint residue.


I will restore the Dark Green and I should back to Step 1 on this wing. Prior starting the painting, I used one of the spare wing tops as a paint mule to test alternative chipping methods (sponge, dry-brushing, colored pencil). Tamiya Ocean Gray and Mr Hobby Aqueous Dark Green were sprayed onto the plastic without any surface treatment or primer (and minus the black pre-shading layer). I did the tape thing all over this wing, even more aggressively than I did on the model, and not a single piece of paint lifted.


So I'm wondering about the fuselage now. Do I proceed with the masking of the markings or do I apply the tape test? It would be much easier to deal with any paint lift issues now while the marking layer is not yet on the model.

Ohhhh Magannya!

Oh to be a fly on the wall when this was happening

What I like to do especially after using Mission Model paints (or any acrylic paint if I know it will pull up on tape) is spray a
somewhat a light coat of enamel clearcoat. Worked for me.

The Dark Green has been restored.


Phase II of the starboard roundel has begun. Let's go!