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Supermarine Spitfire Mk. I

by Arkut Yuksel

Here is Tamiya's 1/48 scale Spitfire Mk. I. 

There is very little to say about the construction of this kit. Drop some cement in the box, shake it and voila! It is ready for paint in no time at all.

The kit was built almost without modification. I just added the seatbelts, brake lines, weighted tires and antenna wire.

The Spitfire in Turkish service has the standard camouflage pattern of the RAF in WWII.

I used my favourite paints for RAF camouflage, JPS Color, Dark Green and Dark Earth.

The underside is painted with Gunze Sangyo H12.

The cockpit and wheel wells are painted using JPS Color.

I did not use any masking for the camouflage. My airbrush is a Badger 100G with the fine head assembly.

I used Tamiya masking tape for the markings.

I believe the most important part of a convincing model is weathering the aircraft.

For the details I used a wash of oil paint, as many of us do. Smoke Grey from Gunze Sangyo(H95) was then applied around the engine area, so that it looks both shiny and dirty.

I applied some paint chipping at the wing root where the pilots get in the airplane and where the mechanics stay for fueling and maintenance of the engine. This effect was also applied to the fasteners on the engine cowling, machine gun access panels.

For the underside of the aircraft I sprayed Gunze Sangyo H77, Tire Black.

The underside has been weathered too. Actually I do not know why it is so grubby, but for the effect I mixed Gunze Sangyo H37 Wood Brown with H12 Black paints to get the tone.

I weighted the tires, but it seems a little bit too much. I did not realise this until I finished the project.

Tamiya's 1/48 scale Spitfire Mk.I is available online at Squadron.com®

Text and Images Copyright © 2001 by Arkut Yuksel
Page Created 17 May, 2001
Last Updated 18 July, 2001

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