While working on Tamiya’s P-38, I picked up Eduard’s “weekend edition” Mk.VIII Spitfire. Considering that the kit was around $30 CAD it was too much of a bargain not to pick up. This was my first time building a Spitfire, as well as my first time building a Eduard kit. Surface details were fantastic, although I didn’t find that it had Tamiya levels of fit/engineering.
Construction of course started with the cockpit and it’s well detailed. I didn’t spend too much time here but added some wiring and drilled out weight saving holes. I was aiming to have the build completed within a month so progress was brisk.
I had never done a hard edge camouflage before and wanted to experiment with making one. I also tried out the Mr. Color Aqueous range of paint which performed well IMO. The finish was painted with the marbling technique although since I also wanted chipping on the wing root I had to find a way to work around the metallic surface while panting.
I used AK masking putty for the camouflage and was really pleased with how it performed, despite the fact that it took a bit to get used to using. In the end I was really pleased with how the marbling and hard edges turned out.
I used AK lacers for the RAF “Azure blue” And I have to say that it’s a fantastic colour to work with, the contrast between the desert camp above and the pale blue below is very nice.
Eduard includes decals for the wing markings but I instead opted to paint them using Tamiya NATO black. The end result speaks for itself in my opinion/
And with that decals were added and the kit was weathered up! I learned that while durable, Eduard decals need a very aggressive setting agent to settle. I clear coated the model with Tamiya X-22 and MCLT. Oils were used for about 99% of the weathering with some pigments used as well.
Nomad Models 