Gallery: Airfix 1:72 Supermarine Spitfire Mk. IA

Brand: Airfix

Scale: 1/72

Kit No: A010718

Tooling Date: 1999

Completed: 2023

Engraved Panel Lines: Yes

Available For Purchase: Sold

Another Father's Day gift from my "babies" (not so baby anymore). Another great kit. A lot of fun to build. Not too long on fine detail but for the scale pretty impressive. Decided to not do any additional riveting detail on this: just wanted to cut some time off the build. I am posting the build log of this model. You can read about it here ... Airfix 1:72 Supermarine Spitfire Mk. IA (Pt.1)

Gallery: Airfix 1:72 F4F-4 Wildcat "Guadalcanal"

Brand: Airfix

Scale: 1/72

Kit No: A02070A

Tooling Date: 2015

Completed: 2023

Engraved Panel Lines: Yes

Available For Purchase: Sold

This was a really nice kit. Love what Airfix is doing with their 1/72 scale kits these days. The kit came with some nicely engraved panel lines and the major rivets were provided, however I added additional riveting for the extra detail. I would be curious to see it without them though. Was pretty happy with the weathering and the decals went down like butter!

Gallery: Academy 1:72 USAF F-16A

Brand: Academy

Scale: 1/72

Kit No: 12444

Tooling Date: 1976

Completed: 2023

Engraved Panel Lines: Yes

Available For Purchase: Sold 

 

Build Log: Airfix 1:72 Supermarine Spitfire Mk. IA (Pt.3)

 

After the cockpit was completed, the fuselage was assembled. This went together beautifully, using putty only on the leading edged of the wings and the upper fuselage seams. The wing root join was near perfect.

I wanted to try out my AK Extreme Metal. After laying down the Alclad II Gloss Black Base I sprayed a layer of AK 479 Aluminum. After the base and metallic layers were in place, I sprayed down a coat of AK 11859 US Interior Yellow Green as the primer applied at the factory.

Build Log: Airfix 1:72 Supermarine Spitfire Mk. IA (Pt.2)

 

As usual I began with the cockpit. The first thing I did was drilled out the holes on the frame that the pilot's seat attached to. I bought a set of Micro drills and they have proven to be a godsend, particularly when working on 1:72 scale aircraft. 

Everything was then based with a coat of Stynylrez black acrylic primer and lightly gone over with AK Interactive's Gen3 AK11859 US Interior Yellow Green. These were light coats intended to allow the dark undercoat to create lowlights and shadows.