As they say, “Now for something completely different”. Typically, I build 1/48 scale aircraft. This will be a multi-kit build log of 1/72 scale aircraft. A client needs some aircraft to hang up for display. He sent me five aircraft to build for him. As noted before, these are all 1/72 scale. They will all be built mostly out of the box with the wheels up. One will have a different scheme, one will be a conversion, all will have pilots, and all five will be in this one build log.
The aircraft being built and the order in which they will be built are:
1/72 Airfix Spitfire MK 1a – with different scheme decals than what comes with the kit.
1/72 Arifix Spitfire MK 1a – This will be converted to a MK II using 3-D Kits MK II conversion set.
1/72 Eduard MK IXc – This is the Prolifipak version that include photo-etch. Will be adding aftermarket pilot.
1/72 Tamiya P-51D – Will be adding aftermarket pilot.
1/72 Academy F-35A – The paint scheme will be the newer overall dark gray
1/72 Airfix Spitfire MK 1a
Starting off with the cockpit, it was painted with RAF interior green, aluminum seat, and black instrument panel. The instrument panel has the gun sight molded in the gray plastic. I trimmed this off and used a small piece of clear acetate to represent the glass. The panel has a decal for the instruments. The pilot figure has some good details to it except for the seat belts. I cut a thin strip of Tamiya tape and used this to make the seat belts. Once the cockpit was assembled I detailed the cockpit area in the fuselage and installed the cockpit assembly. The propeller was assembled and painted. Getting ready to assemble the fuselage.
1/72 Airfix Spitfire MK 1a – After completing the cockpit I assembled the fuselage. The exhaust from the kit was modified by drilling out the pipes. Since these all are going to be built wheels up, I installed the landing gear up. The underside was then base coated with sky gray. The topside was base coated with RAF dark green and dark earth for the requested scheme. The client included a specific set of decals for the scheme as well. With decals applied and some mild weathering the aircraft was top coated. I polished the canopy and painted the frame then installed it. Right behind the canopy is a red navigation light. I removed the molded in one and replaced it with a clear lens. Finally I used EZ-line for the antenna. This now completes the MK-1a Spitfire! Now starting on the MK-1a Spitfire that will be modified to the MK-II Spitfire using the 3D Kits conversion parts. For now here are the final photos of the MK-1a.
1/72 Airfix Spitfire MK II – This week I started work on the second Spitfire. This is the same kit as the MK-1a with the addition of the 3D kits conversion parts. The difference that the conversion kit changes is the pilot seat, a bulge on the starboard side nose and the propeller and hub. I installed the seat and realized the seat is a little narrower than the kit seat. The kit pilot figure is too wide to fit in the seat. I have some PJ Productions resin pilot figures so I used one of the RAF figures instead. I looked online and noticed the instrument panel is slightly different on the MK-II as well. So instead of using the kit decal I found a photo of a real MK-II panel and made a decal out of it. The pilot fit perfectly. The interior of the fuselage was detailed and the cockpit tub installed. Working on getting the fuselage and wings assembled.
1/72 Airfix Spitfire MK II – This was stopped as the client wanted a slight change to the scheme. He wanted to use Mission Models paint colors for this. So this build is paused until the paint arrives. While waiting on the paint, I started on the Tamiya P-51D.
1/72 Tamiya P-51D Mustang – Since this is mostly straight out of the box this build went very smoothly. The cockpit was detail painted and lightly weathered. I added some of the cabling to the equipment section behind the pilot seat. This kit did not come with a pilot figure so I used one of the PJ Production pilots I had. The figure fit perfectly in the seat. The cockpit was mounted in the fuselage and the rest of the fuselage assembled. The tail wheel doors were molded with the fuselage in the open position. Since this is being built “wheels up” I cut off the open doors and trimmed the doors to fit closed. The fuselage was sprayed with gloss aluminum with the nose and spinner painted blue. Next the decals were added and a gloss top coat was sprayed on. For the recognition lights (see Recognition Lights) I drilled a divot where the lights go, Painted the inside chrome silver, then filled the divot wit acrylic gel. Once dry they were painted using Tamiya clear paint for each color. The canopy was then polished, painted, and installed. This completed the P-51. This makes the Multi-Aircraft build 50% completed.
The paint for the MK-II has arrived so I will finish up the MK –II then start working on the MK IXc Spitfire.
1/72 Eduard Spitfire MK IXc Late Version –This is the fourth out of five aircraft. This Eduard kit is the ProfiPACK which includes photo etch parts for the cockpit. The cockpit was assembled and I used another PJ Production RAF pilot since the kit did not supply one. The photo etch instrument panel had three sections as well as the compass. The cockpit had separate walls so I was able to add some details and paint. The resin figure had the seat belts molded on. These were partially trimmed off and the photo etch seat belts were modified to match the molded seat belts and I had to make the buckle for the belt to hook together. One set of seat belts mounted to the back of the seat and there is a second set that mounted to the back wall of the cockpit.
With the fuselage together, I added some more photo etch details to the underside. The bottom was then base coated in Sky Grey. The camouflage was then done with RAF ocean grey and RAF dark green. The spinner and fuselage stripe were painted with duck egg. The kit decals were applied and I added some EZ-Line for the antenna. The canopy was polished, painted, and installed which completed this aircraft. The Eduard kit has a little better fit and much better quality decals than the Airfix kits. The photo etch accessories were a nice feature. Even with a pilot and canopy closed the instrument panel details can be seen. With this one finished I am now finishing up the MK II Spitfire then I just need to build the fifth (and last) one of this multi-aircraft build which is the 1/72 Academy F-35A.
1/72 Academy F-35A – As typical the cockpit was painted and detailed using the kit decals. This kit came with the pilot so he was painted and detailed then placed in the cockpit. I assembled the fuselage. The fit of the parts is great. Everything fit /aligned correctly. The canopy was tinted using Tamiya X-19 Smoke. The fuselage was then painted with FS36170 “Have Glass Gray” I then painted the trailing edges, intake edges, canopy frame, and nose with FS35231. The exhaust was painted with “Jet Exhaust” the weathered and stained using Black, light gray, medium gray and brown.
The client only wanted the two AIM-9 sidewinders mounted so these were painted and installed. I used the kit decals to complete the aircraft.
1/72 Airfix Spitfire MK II conversion – The client wanted this one painted using the Mission Models colors. So the fuselage was painted using these paints. The RAF dark green between Tamiya and Mission Models is very close. The Tamiya is a very slight darker. The RAF dark earth is a different story. The Mission Models is darker and has a different hue. The conversion kit decals were used. These were better than the Airfix kits original decals. This completes the aircraft and finishes the multi-build project!
Here is the photo of them packed and ready to ship out to the east coast to the client
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