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This is my 1/32 scale Spitfire Mk Vb by Hasegawa. I wanted to
build an airplane flown by Pilot Officer George “Buzz” Beurling while flying
with 249 RAF Squadron in Malta during Sept-Oct of 1942. Because Malta was so
short of Spitfires, even with several being ferried off of the Carrier’s Wasp
and Eagle, pilots shared their mounts with fellow pilots. S/L Maurice Stephens
also flew this particular bird. Beurling, a master at deflection shooting,
amassed 32 confirmed kills during WWII flying Spitfires.
The kit was fairly easy to build, and I added the
Eduard Photo Etch set to the interior, drilled out the cannon barrels and
replaced the kit wheels with a set from Paragon.
After pre-shading the plane, I began airbrushing using Poly
Scale paints of Dark Earth and Middle Stone on the upper surfaces and Azure Blue
on the underside thinned with distilled water to a ratio of 80:20. I tried
mixing the paints with white to add a bit of different shading on areas such as
the leading edge of the wings, various panels and the control surfaces. Because
I could not find the T-L codes in this scale I made a template out of bond paper
and sprayed them on. The serial numbers were made from Letraset.
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I ran into trouble when I began decaling the plane. After a
good 2 coats of Poly Scale Gloss clear coat, I commenced with placing the kit
decals. That was a mistake, because the kit decals were so old, they did not
react well to even the lightest of applications of Microscale Set. I stopped the
process, and got out my sheet of Eagle Strike spares. They went on beautifully.
I attempted to spray the underside roundels, because even the Eagle Strike
decals would not settle down around the two large scoops. Its not perfect, but I
tried this procedure and with great help from Brian Cauchi, I was able to get it
done. I then waited until a sheet of stencils arrived from a great guy named
Glen Cannon, who helped me out with a set of Arrow Graphic stencils.
After a final coat of Gloss was applied, I began the
weathering process. As you know the kit’s majority of surface detail is
raised. I did not rescribe, but left well enough alone. The recessed access
doors and the control surfaces were given a nice wash of burnt umber chalk
pastel mixed with water and liquid soap. The raised detail was dealt with by
applying pastel chalk along the lines. I think it worked out nicely. I also
gave the wing surfaces, and elevator’s a good dose of light grey pastels to
simulate sun fading and dust effects from the region of Malta. I picked out a
few areas at the wing root, around panels and the spinner/propeller with MM
Aluminum. The mg’s got a small amount of black chalk pastel, and the exhaust
stacks received dark brown and a bit of grey. All in all, I was happy with the
results from this old kit. I wish to thank all the guys who helped me out with
this project, and Steve Bamford for taking the pics.
References:
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A. “Malta, The Spitfire Year”
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B. Osprey “Spitfire Mk V Aces 1941-45”
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C. Spitfire, The History
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D. Extremely valuable emails from HS’ers and ARC’ers
Brad
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