Spitfire Mk Vb Italeri 1:72 – Modeling

After a time spent on German armor kits some still in the pipeline, I've been tempted to start a kit on one of the most important fighters WWII, el Supermarine Spitfier Mk Vb a scale 1:72, Pear why I have chosen a brand like Italeri that closely fits a budget and quality is quite good, although there are brands much better and more detailed.

The kit in question is this:Spitfire Mk Vb Italeri 1:72The kit has three versions of the fuselage with the amendments to the air intake for the engine in its nose and decals for their respective nations, USAAF y RAF in the theater of operations in North Africa. vb versions Italeri kit spitfire mk 1:72

For this work I chose the version of the RAF with the characteristic of his nose with modified air intake that comes in the kit cover.

A little history on SPITFIRE : Spitfire North africa

The Supermarine Spitfire was a British single-seat fighter used by the Royal Air Force (RAF) and many other Allied countries during World War II. It was produced in greater numbers than any other British aircraft and was the only Allied fighter in production throughout the war.

The Spitfire was designed by R. J. Mitchell, chief designer of Supermarine (subsidiary of Vickers-Armstrongs from 1928), interceptor as a high performance short-range. Mitchell continued to refine the design until his death from cancer in 1937, whereupon his colleague Joseph Smith became chief designer. Spitfire's elliptical wing had a thin cross section that allowed him to reach higher than the top speed Hawker Hurricane and several contemporary fighters. The speed was seen as an essential quality to carry out the mission of national defense against enemy bombers.

During the Battle of Britain was the public perception that the Spitfire was the RAF fighter in battle; when in fact the largest Hawker Hurricane was the one who had assumed a greater share of the burden of fighting the German Luftwaffe.

After the Battle of Britain, the Spitfire became the backbone of Fighter Command of the RAF and participated in the European theaters, the Pacific and Southeast Asian. Much loved by its pilots, the Spitfire served in various roles: interceptor, fotorreconocimiento, cazabombardero, I boarded fighter and trainer. It was built in many different variants, configurations using multiple wing. Although the original structure was designed to be powered by the Rolls-Royce Merlin engine of 1.030 HP (768 kW), was adaptable enough to later use significantly more powerful Merlin engines and later Rolls-Royce Griffon; the latter was able to provide a power 2.035 HP (1.520 kW).

The success of the Spitfire is undoubtedly linked to the Rolls Royce Rolls Royce Merlin and Griffon which, in their own development, increased the engine power to improve the performance of the Spitfire.

Were produced over 23.000 units of all variants, including two-seater training aircraft. Although his opponent in war, el Bf 109, production exceeded Spitfire, It is the only British fighter in being in continuous production before, during and after World War II. The Spitfire Mk V was the most common type, con un total de 6.479 Units manufactured, followed by 5.665 Spitfire Mk IX.

It is a kit with few parts and simple to assemble, parts fit almost perfectly, and here the plastic parts of the kit.

rev-spitVb-2 rev-spitVb-3

And their decals in two versions:rev-spitVb-4The assembly instructions and camouflage schemes.

spitfire mk vb italeri 1:72 instructionsI start work separating parts kit, assembling and gluing the parts that I will not interfere when the first passes of primer and paint.2013-09-25 07.43.18As we can see in the picture the walls inside the cockpit without any recorded.

2013-09-25 07.43.52

To give a little more detail to the model we will create the skeleton of the interior with small strips of Evergreen.

Inside the cockpit of a Spitfire.Interior cockpit of a SpitfireAfter cutting the thin strips we stuck to the plastic.

2013-09-25 07.44.08 A rather dry glue panels painted inside with various shades of green and their respective colors for controls, Watches, cables etc.

2014-04-28 19.59.59 2014-04-28 20.00.09Finally I give a wash in very diluted and then black matte varnish it before the pieces together cockpit.

2014-04-28 20.03.42 2014-04-28 20.03.50Once the pieces together and add dry well and protect the glass to begin with and camouflaged exterior paint.

The first and always a gray primer last throughout the model before starting with the first layer of camouflage.

2014-05-01 08.51.48 2014-05-01 08.52.01Sigo with black paneling for this use Tamiya XF-1 and take the opportunity to paint the propeller blades.

2014-05-01 09.46.29 2014-05-01 09.46.39Prepare the colors to use, red, blue sky, brown and yellow desert for this model.

2014-05-01 10.23.12To camouflage scheme I use clay that is very manageable, Fast mold and gives good results, at least to me.

2014-05-01 10.33.37I apply the first layer to the background model and camouflage, reddish brown XF-64.

A dry once the background color plasticine remove and re-shape the other camouflage scheme for topcoating model and camouflage, XF-59 Desert Yellow.

2014-05-01 10.48.51Retirement completely dough and here the final scheme spitfire.

2014-05-01 11.20.22Pintor red tip aerodynamics and low propeller plane with blue sky.

2014-05-01 11.36.04And I recall the protector of the cristale.

2014-05-01 13.20.14Apply a thin bright to protect all paint and prepare the surface for the decals varnish layer.

2014-05-01 13.35.37 2014-05-01 13.35.44 2014-05-01 13.36.44The decals to be used are those of the RAF theater of operations north Africa.

2013-09-25 07.44.19Apply the decals using liquids for such work.

2014-05-04 13.29.26Once well adherent varnished with glossy varnish decals to protect and continue with the paint job.

2014-05-04 13.29.392014-05-04 13.30.09Step paneling model using oils, I can choose black or dark brown, this Spitfire I will use the black, with a brush and a solution very liquid mixture of black and white spirits or turpentine oil passage to mark lines paneling.

Once dry paneling to protect the work step with satin varnish Vallejo.

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Autor Armand C.M