Spitfire Build Progress

All ready to go. Clean pieces on sprues, good instructions.

Cockpit takes some time. All pieces ready for painting before assembly.

Cockpit assembled.

Cockpit ready for brown wash and dry brushing with aluminum to show weathering. Will finish with seat belts and harness (not included in kit).

Wing assembly. Very good fit, small seams for a little putty application.

Small seams on fuselage to putty and sand.

Underside parts done, all good fits.

Assembly complete, ready for painting.

Painted with Vallejo green primer. Primer is necessary step. First, it helps your display coat adhere better. Second you can see where your putty on seams needs more work

Next is striping with black, generally along panel lines. This is not mandatory but it will show subtle shade differences with the final painting. I don't do too much, some do all the panel lines (and they are good at narrow lines with their airbrush!)

Top of model with aluminum. This step only needed if you plan on weathering the model (chips and scratches). When you carefully rub off or scratch through the final coat, aluminum will show. I don't do the underside, as I don't weather the underside of aircraft models as they are mostly not visible on display.

Another step if you are weathering. Airbrush on Vallejo chipping medium. This makes it a little easier to just get the top coat off when you weather

Vallejo Sky Blue for the underside

Doing the two color curved camouflage is tricky. I used Loctite blue tak putty to make thin curved pieces

This method didnt work that well, there was bleeding into the lines with the airbrush. Second try was to use very thin white masking tape which could be curved. This worked. Next time I would just use this method

Painting completed. Starting adding decals. Use of a decal setting solution is a must.