How to cover a Spitfire

Supercubber95 · Post by **Supercubber95** » Fri Jun 17, 2011 11:01 pm

I don't know how to go about this- I'm going to order Easy Built Tissue for this job and want to know if it is possible to cover this plane in the typical camouflage paint job using just colored tissue, no paint WITHOUT sacrificing a good looking cover job. If this cannot be done, cannot be done by me, or cannot be done and still look good, what true-to-WWII solid paint schemes are there? Solid colors, not camo. Thanks!

scigs30 · Post by **scigs30** » Fri Jun 17, 2011 11:19 pm

Here is my Spitfire done with EasyBuilt Tissue. Then I did a Comet Spitfire and painted it, trust me painting looks much better.
http://virtualaerodrome.com/image_brows ... 7&offset=0
http://balsamodels.com/phpBB/viewtopic. ... re&start=0
http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1254652

Szyp · Post by **Szyp** » Sat Jun 18, 2011 5:28 am

I too am building a spitfire, and I cannot tell from your excellent build photos if you covered the bottom of the fuselage where the wing mounts, I did note that the top of the wing center you left uncovered, so is it safe to believe you left the section of fuselage uncovered for better glue adhesion?

Phugoid · Post by **Phugoid** » Sat Jun 18, 2011 5:45 am

Scigs,

I actually really liked your tissue only Spitfire. The tissue finishes score higher than painted ones in the kit scale competitions over here so I like to see how folks achieve the more complicated schemes without paint and yours looks super.

I have always wondered if you dope red tissue over green does it look brownish? this is because most of the Battle of Britain Spits were green/brown camo with baby blue or light green undersides......

Time for an experiment.....

Supercubber95 · Post by **Supercubber95** » Sat Jun 18, 2011 10:07 am

Wow, Scigs. Looks way beyond what I can do!

How do you apply the different colors? Do it all in gray and then put strips of green on it? I guess weight is not an issue, because I want to be able to look at my next models longer than two weeks

. About the paint-I'm not sure I want to do that because I have never done i before and I don't want to ruin the looks of this job. Is painting easy? I just want it to look as good as I can get it with my skills!

ADW 123 · Post by **ADW 123** » Sat Jun 18, 2011 10:09 am

http://www.easybuiltmodels.com/Notes_on_tissuing.pdf

easy built models has some tutorials for tissue covering. i believe they cover layering tissue over tissue to get a camo scheme. its worth checking out.

they also have a bunch of others, wich are great to answer many questions.

Supercubber95 · Post by **Supercubber95** » Sat Jun 18, 2011 11:57 am

Thanks ADW! Might try it. What do I use to paint it? Regular spray paint?

Supercubber95 · Post by **Supercubber95** » Sat Jun 18, 2011 12:27 pm

I guess I could do it like this: http://www.airliners.net/photo/UK---Air ... f3cda52ea8 No worries about camo then.

Phugoid · Post by **Phugoid** » Sat Jun 18, 2011 1:38 pm

One of the Spits in the Battle of Britain memorial Flight has the later colour Scheme..... It's a nice one as it is marked up "the last!"

try this link:

http://www.raf.mod.uk/bbmf/theaircraft/

Of course there is always Shorty Longbottoms Spitfire, it was Pink as it was used for Aerial Photo reconnaissance!

Supercubber95 · Post by **Supercubber95** » Sun Jun 19, 2011 8:34 pm

Those are good Pughoid but I guess I really wanta stick with the camo though. I am expirementing with tissue only camo. Scigs,would you tell me how you put yours on, please? Also, does anyone know of a company that sells camo tissue? Or can I just print red blobs on green tissue with our Inkjet printer?

ADW 123 · Post by **ADW 123** » Sun Jun 19, 2011 8:41 pm

it is actually glued onto lighter shaded tissue. i forgot where i read about it, i think it was that easy built models link i gave you.

Supercubber95 · Post by **Supercubber95** » Sun Jun 19, 2011 9:14 pm

Okey dokey! Thanks-thats just what I wanted to know. What should I glue it on with? The gluestick?

Phugoid · Post by **Phugoid** » Mon Jun 20, 2011 6:49 am

When I do this I cut out the shape from tissue using the sharpest blade I have and with very light pressure. This ensures that the edge of the shape is not rough or raised and sits flat.

I put the shape where I want it, then I flood thinners through the shape so it melts the doped surface underneath and sticks. The surface can go a bit wrinkly but it soon recovers and goes flat again. I tend to use a small soft brush to apply the thinners which also serves the useful purpose of a "shoving stick" to finally position the shape.

If the shape needs to conform to a compound curve then you can wet it first, so you can stretch it a bit.

The letters and leading edge on this Jodel Bebe were done like this and turned out really well, so your camo colours could be done the same....

The obvious advantge of a purely tissue decorated model is of course weight, it is a very light method in comparsion to painting and I always seen to have trouble getting decals to stick on a plain tissue and doped (rather than painted) surfaces.

You can ink jet tissue with paterns etc, but you have to be able to cover the surface with one piece and of course acurately position each piece on the surface. The other think to watch out for is the compatability of the ink with water and the dope that you seal with, otherwise you can end up with a runny mess!

Andrew

ADW 123 · Post by **ADW 123** » Mon Jun 20, 2011 10:33 am

this is true about the ink. actually most ink will run. i would stay away from it completely.

Supercubber95 · Post by **Supercubber95** » Mon Jun 20, 2011 11:15 am

Thank you, Pughoid! I won't try printing my own in case it would run. Good think. But there's one problem-I don't use dope. Just using a gluestick to glue it on isn't working good enough for me. I am not trying on a real plane yet, just test frames. How do I do it without dope?