The Baby Blitz

dknights · scratchbuilding Joined: 11 Feb 2009 Posts: 288

The Modelwife and Modelchild are at the in-laws for the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday. That presents me with an opportunity to do a "Baby Blitz". This isn't a full blown built it in 24 hours straight build. Rather, since I still have to work for a living (why, oh why!) I will do a timed build over the next few days with my goal of completing the model in about 36 hours of build time over the next couple of days. My goal is to be finished by 12 noon on Friday, EST.

Photos from last night in the next post.
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David M. Knights
http://www.davidmknights.com

Paul Bradley

Alright! Go, David, go! Very Happy

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Paul Bradley
Happy Modelling!

stamford

On your marks, get set, g..........what are we building here?

airjiml2

Isn't the Spitfire done yet?

Jim

Beany

dknights · scratchbuilding Joined: 11 Feb 2009 Posts: 288

I held off telling you the Blitz subject in the last post. I have a little explaining to do.

This is the build subject.

I will now make a confession that will probably get me banned. I am not really a Spitifre fan. I do think the early marks (I and II) are attractive, and I like some of the last ones with the Griffon and the cut down back, but in general I am not much of a Spit enthusiast. (Ducking to avoid rotten fruit)

That having been said, when I first saw the new Airfix PR XIX kit, I was impressed, It wasn't what I think fo when I normally think of Airfix. When I looked at the kit markings I fell hard for the gray over PRU blue scheme.
I vowed right there that this kit would be my next blitz. Ohio attorney and bon homme Jim Bates was building one, so when the chance came over Thanksgiving, I jumped at the chance.

Here is how I am keeping track of the time of the build.

I started last night when I got home from work. I plan to put in a few hours tonight and tomorrow with a big push on Thursday and a final finish up on Friday. I figure it will take around 25-30 hours of total time.

In the next post, I'll show you where I ended last night's building.
_________________
David M. Knights
http://www.davidmknights.com

dknights · scratchbuilding Joined: 11 Feb 2009 Posts: 288

dknights · scratchbuilding Joined: 11 Feb 2009 Posts: 288

Here is where I ended the night last night.

The kit has a couple of ejector pin marks down in the back part of the cockpit on the sidewalls. If I was doing a more thorough build I'd have gotten rid of them. For this build I didn't

The seam on the underside of the wing needed some Mr. Surfacer 500. I applied it and will allow it to dry until tonight.

The back plate for the spinner needed a little corrective surgery in order to get the spinner to fit snuggly against it.

Finally, here is the time that has expired so far.

Building should resume tonight around 9pm EST and I'll try to post while I am building.
_________________
David M. Knights
http://www.davidmknights.com

stamford

Not really a Spit fan? Have you ever seen one live ? If not give it a go - the sound of one flying past you is emotional.

dknights · scratchbuilding Joined: 11 Feb 2009 Posts: 288

Yep, I've seen one in person. Neat, but just nor my favorite a/c. Of course, I didn't like the Hunter before I built the Revell kit. THe Hunter has definitely grown on me since then.
_________________
David M. Knights
http://www.davidmknights.com

dknights · scratchbuilding Joined: 11 Feb 2009 Posts: 288

My friend/boss had a computer emergency last night. Therefore, no modeling. That puts the pressure on me for today and tomorrow. I need to have this thing in paint by tomorrow afternoon to have any hope of finishing.
_________________
David M. Knights
http://www.davidmknights.com

Narayan

dknights · scratchbuilding Joined: 11 Feb 2009 Posts: 288

OK, here we go.

Just like my previous Blitz of the Tamiya F4U, I need the encouragement of my fellow modelers to keep going. I arrived at MMCL club president, Dr. Terry Hill's house for some group building.

Here is the stopwatch reset to zero for tonight's building. REmember, we are already 2hrs and 19 min into the build.

Here we are at the current break point. Not as far as I need to be, so I suspect there will be little sleep for me tonight.

I gave the intererior a quick wash and painted the molded on details.

The tips of the prop were painted yellow. They have been masked. Black has been applied to the prop.

Here is the time used so far tonight. 3 hrs 16 min. Added to Monday night's total, I am looking at 5 and half hours so far. I am taking a 60 minute break to post and rest and then it is back to it.

Now for the secret of a good blitz build. Getting blitzed. Nothing better for that the Pugs Pilsner, the homebrew beer of Ohio attorney and former Canadian Jim Bates. Its good!

_________________
David M. Knights
http://www.davidmknights.com

dknights · scratchbuilding Joined: 11 Feb 2009 Posts: 288

Well, she is together.

As I feared, the fit is not nearly as good as the Tamiya F4U or the Revell Hunter. I used super glue and Mr. Surfacer 1000 to fill. Now it has to dry. I need to get it sanded quickly and in primer in the morning to have any hope of finishing by noon Friday.

Here is the additional build time.

Add another 1hr 30 minutes. Total build time so far, 7 hrs. See you in 5 hours for sanding. Lets hope it goes quickly.
_________________
David M. Knights
http://www.davidmknights.com

dknights · scratchbuilding Joined: 11 Feb 2009 Posts: 288

Update, no photos this time.

As I feared, the fit of the Airfix kit is going to necessitate a second set of filling. There are a few spots with bad seams, even after the initial fill and sand.

I am off to eat turkey, and hope to get back to building in about 5 hours. That will give me about 12 to 18 hours to get this one done. I am just not sure I can get all the painting masking and decals done in that time. We will see. Build time from sanding session was 1 hr 20 min. Total build time 8 hrs 30 min.
_________________
David M. Knights
http://www.davidmknights.com