first release of this kit (without the
resin engine) had a scheme that
included invasion stripes, which I
just had to do. So, I did an aircraft
from another boxing of this kit.
I began by wiping down the
aircraft with a paper towel and
Ultimate Modelling Products
Airbrush Cleaner, which as well as
being a perfect airbrush cleaner,
is great for cleaning your kits of
grease and dust before priming. I
primed the model with Ultimate
Modelling Products Black Primer
through the UMP Apex airbrush.
These two are also a match made
in heaven; a lovely self-levelling
primer through a beautiful, easy
to use (and clean) airbrush.
I use black primer for
multiple reasons, Firstly, black
is a good colour for showing any
imperfections on the surface of
the model. Second, it’s good for
darkening the base coat and helps
with the paint effects I will add
later. When Tamiya released their
1/32 scale Spitfire MK. IXc, they also
released some new paints specific
for that kit and the late-war RAF
camouflage scheme. These colours
are perfect for this aircraft.
Thinned 50/50 with UMP Acrylic
Thinner, I sprayed the XF-82 Ocean
Grey 2 first, roughly following
the colour callouts. Then, before I
sprayed the XF-81 Dark Green 2 I
used a considerable amount of Aizu
tape to mask out the camouflage
pattern (I like the Aizu tape as it
can go around tight bends without
kinking and lifting from the
surface, like the Tamiya flexi-tape
does). The underside was paintedwith XF-83 Medium Sea Grey 2.
Once all the base colours had
been painted and left to dry for
a good day or two, I wanted to
crack on with the invasion stripes.
For a long time, I was under the
illusion that the Tamiya tapes
are perfect for the different scale
invasions stipes, i.e. for 1/48 you
would use the Tamiya 10 mm tape
and for 1/32 you would use the 16
mm tape. It turns out that I was
very wrong, and it also turn out
that 1/32 scale invasion stripes
on single-engine fighters should
be 14.38 millimetres wide.
This became a full day of
measuring out each stripe, thenremoving the tape to spray and
re-mask the appropriate colour.
From spraying the invasion stripes I
also learnt to never spray black and
white; rather, a dark grey and off-
white colour should be used to take
away that factory fresh/toy look.
With all the base colours
down, it was time to start the
paint effects that contribute to
the weathering (I have learned
this technique and adapted it
to my own personal modelling
from Paul Bretland, to whom I
owe a lot of “thank you’s” for all
I have learnt from him and many
others in the modelling world).
To start, I lightened the centreof the panels randomly to avoid the
“patchwork quilt” look, as nothing
fades evenly and I wanted to keep
everything as random as possible.
I then broke up all the lightened
areas with a darker version of
the base colour, then broke that
up with a lighter base colour,
spraying the panels with random
(as best I could) figures-of-eight
and squiggly lines. Going all over
the aircraft with this technique
I managed to get the faded,
mottled appearance I was after.68 • AUGUST 2018 • SCALE AVIATION MODELLER INTERNATIONAL
064-71-RAF100-Tempest-0818.indd 68 12/07/2018 11:49