Thankfully I have enough sheets, that finding numbers to match – almost – those on the rear fuselage proved relatively painless, if not a little time consuming. Some of this was down to actually finding suitable numbers, but most was thanks to my mind wandering onto other projects, as my fingers worked through sheet up sheet of future possibilities.
14th July 2025
It’s definitely been one of those days. Following an early morning trip out of town to take my granddaughter to school, I settled in for a few hours work on the Airfix Spitfire TR.9. Having already painted it as discussed several days ago, it was a simple case of decalling the model, letting all of that dry and then sealing in the results with a nice wet coat of VMS XXL Satin. At least that was the plan. But as we all know: plans can be broken…
It all started off well enough. There are precious few decals on the Spitfire so it’s hardly a taxing job to apply them. Obviously, I was modelling the Irish machine, so other than trying to ensure that the roundels were annotated correctly (which I’m sure is still not the case, despite the model now being fully decalled…) it should only have taken an hour or so to complete the task. That was, until things started to go sideways…
I love decalling, but sometimes I can be a little hamfisted when deadlines force the pace and speed is of the essence. Today, that manifested itself as I stuck one of my fingers on top of the ‘161’ under the wing, a decal that was perfectly placed, happily bathing in a layer of VMS decalling softening solution, that was helping to unify decal ink with painted surface. Result? An utterly destroyed marking, blue air and the need to hunt for some similar numbers in my spare decal collection. Thankfully I have enough sheets, that finding numbers to match – almost – those on the rear fuselage proved relatively painless, if not a little time consuming. Some of this was down to actually finding suitable numbers, but most was thanks to my mind wandering onto other projects, as my fingers worked through sheet up sheet of future possibilities.
Crisis averted, I then managed to wrinkle the edge of the tricolour under on of the wings (thankfully fixed with little more than water and a soft brush) and then as the decalling came to a relatively pleasing conclusion, noted that one of the ‘WALKWAY FORWARD’ stencils had been displaced on the port upper wing. Another hunt for replacements and more time wasted. Still, it’s all done now and the model is drying out on my desk. Tomorrow I’ll wash the panel lines and finish off assembly so all being well, within the next day or so, I’ll have a completed model!
SEPECAT JAGUAR – A FINAL CHANCE TO BUY YOUR COPY!
Alongside working on this month’s models, I’m completing the Jaguar book ready for it to go to the printers next week. I’ve decided to keep the window open for modellers to order their copy until this Friday, the 18th of July. As this is a print to order book, once the window is closed, there will be no additional chance to buy a copy unless I chose to reprint the book later in the year. If you would like to buy one for your library, please check out the link below.
TAMIYA F-35C LIGHTNING II
Work has also continued this month on the Tamiya F-35C. My main preoccupation with it this week has been the painting of those oh-so-dull grey finish, or more specifically, the lighter grey panels. Though the decal sheet includes much of that trim, as mentioned in earlier updates, I decided that I would paint as much of it as I could which has meant that there has been a lot of masking. That being so and given my dislike of that particular aspect of our hobby, I’ve been breaking the paintwork down into manageable chunks. Much like building individual track lines, I settled in for a few hours here and there to get the job done rather than doing it all in one, tedious, soul-destroying, go. This has simplified the process and stopped me from becoming too bored and too distracted., the results being I feel neater and sharper than they perhaps could have been had I tackled the painting, without breaks.
As it stands, the model is virtually painted, so should be ready for decalling later this week. With so much of the decal sheet dedicated to the trim and so much of it already painted in place, the decalling shouldn’t take too long, at least where the airframe is concerned. I’m not sure I can say the same for the weapons and their stencils, all of which I know from experience will take a few days to complete.
AND FINALLY…
My brother and his family are over from Brisbane for the next few weeks so that has given me the chance to catch up with him today if only fleetingly given their obvious fatigue after such a long journey. I’ll be seeing more of them later this week which will be very pleasant, but in the meantime I think it’s best to let them be, and let them catch up on some sleep!
See you tomorrow.
SPENCER POLLARD'S KIT BOX 
Spencer, it’s good to know that professionals like yourself are prone to cock ups. Just like us mere mortals.
Tom
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