Spitfire

Now I know since this is 4 Little Wheels, that perhaps a Triumph Spitfire would be more appropriate, but for today it is 3 Little Wheels, and I have a Supermarine Spitfire Mk II, flown by the RAF in World War 2.

This was a kit that I had picked up last year around Christmas time while it was on sale for a great price. It had been a LONG time since I have built an airplane, and thought for the $9 it cost, that it would be a nice change of pace.

It is 1/48 scale, and was manufactured by Revell.

It was a great little kit, and went together without any real difficulties.
The build was also an excuse for me to try out a couple of things that I had not done before.
Most obvious is the camouflage pattern, which I sprayed using an airbrush, and cheap acrylic hobby paints. After a few trial and errors, I got the consistency about right, and got a nice two-tone green and tan pattern.

The underside was also sprayed using the airbrush, and a shade of light blue that I simply mixed by eye until it looked right to me.

A little easier to see in this picture, is my use of pastels for shading and weathering.
Again, a simple set of artists pastels, ground up on a small piece of sandpaper, and applied with a dry brush to the areas where I thought some wear and tear should be aparent.

Adds a little "used" look to the finished product.

While I wouldn't consider myself to be a great air-plane model builder by any stretch, I certainly did enjoy the change of pace and experience.
I already have another I found on sale, and have in my stash, just in case I need something to break up the monotony again.

I'll save that one for later.