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Flashback about 3 years ago. I was
in a bookshop, and saw some Airfix kits. Not built one of those in YEARS I
thought, and as we were in the middle of a long, drawn out, quiet Dubai summer,
I thought "I wonder what it might be like to build one?"
So I did. I had a basic knowledge of kit building from childhood, and picking up
a few tips from this site I found called ARC, I built this..
Click on
images below to see larger images
I thought it was great, and I
was really proud of myself.
I started buying a few more kits, and then the bug hit me. Once I had been
on ARC enough, picking up tips, etc, I realized how many things I had done
BADLY, and there were so many techniques I could have employed on the Spit
that could have made it a real winner, that I thought, why not try it
again? It's such a nice kit, it would be a shame not to try and do it some
justice.
So, I stripped the kit down with oven cleaner and then began the
restoration project that took around six months on and off.
I
wanted to finish it off as a bare metal Spitfire. Don't ask why. You just don't
see too many around. It wasn't the easiest of finishes to complete, as there
were various disasters along the build progress, but overall, as my first metal
finish, I'm happy with it.
I
eventually decided on the idea of it being a Spitfire from No.1 Squadron of the
Southern Rhodesian Airforce, Rhodesia, 1953. I had found out during research
that their Spits could have been grey, but as I'm not a fan of grey planes, I
decided to stick with silver instead.
The
decals are Eagle Strike "End of the Line Mk 22/24, part 3" and the
canopy's from Aeroclub (well the bubble is). The front part's the original
Airfix one. The panel wash is Promodeller.
If
you're interested, there's a more detailed build thread here..
http://www.arcforums.com/forums/air/index.php?showtopic=150024
Anyway.
I hope you like it, and thanks for looking.
Cheers,
Nick
Click on
images below to see larger images
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