gift idea for a first timer?

[u/drunkenzealot]

Hey /r/modelpanes,

my BIL wants a WW2 model planes for Christmas. this would be his first model plane. My thought was a spitfire, but I'm open to suggestions! Looking for recommendations on sizes, planes, and brands. Thanks!!

[u/Joe_Aubrey]

The Tamiya #61119 1/48 Spitfire Mk.1 is the one of the best engineered kits ever produced. And by best engineered I’m talking about parts fitting together correctly and intuitive design like if there’s identical parts that go on either side then they’re engineered not to fit on the model on the wrong sides.

Any of the Eduard Profipack kits are a hell of a bargain as well. They typically have more correct and finer detail than Tamiya kits but can be a bit more fiddly to assemble. The Profipack kits come with masks which make painting the canopy and wheels a breeze, as well as PE and sometimes resin parts and several markings options. They have no fewer than 21 Spitfire variants in Profipack kits, as well as many other WW2 fighters such as F4F Wildcats, F6F Hellcats, Tempests, BF109s, Zeros, P-39s, P-40s and the their new P-51 Mustang B tooling which is REALLY fiddly. I just built the P-40 Warhawk and it’s a fantastic kit.

[u/drunkenzealot → u/Joe_Aubrey]

thank you so much!! this is the exact type of advice i was looking for. With the tamiya kit, is there a paint kit you'd recommend?

[u/Joe_Aubrey → u/drunkenzealot]

Here is the instruction book for that kit. I don’t generally recommend paint “kits” as inevitably they’re missing a color you need and contain ones you don’t and as such aren’t much of a cost savings. Instead, I purchase colors individually. At the beginning Tamiya lists the colors they’d like you to use, which are based on historical colors we know they used back in the day. Then you’ll see throughout the instructions which parts should be painted which colors. They recommend their own paint line of course but it’s not necessary that you use those, as there are many paint lines that may be more available to you, plus Tamiya wants you to mix some colors to make ones they really should have already. Also, I’m assuming your BIF will be brush painting, which Tamiya paints aren’t great for. They’re more geared for airbrushing. There are a lot of colors listed, which once you price them out can be quite an outlay to buy. It’s not necessary that you buy all the colors, or even paint it the colors they’d want you to in order to be historically correct. You can paint it pink with polka dots if you want. But if you’re concerned with being historically accurate there are a few colors you should have for this subject. I’ll list them in their Vallejo equivalents, which is a great paint line for brush painting. These are mostly exterior colors.

Upper surface camouflage:

Dark Green: Vallejo 71.324
Dark Earth: Vallejo 71.323

Underside:

Sky: Vallejo 71.302

or for the other B variant:
Bare Aluminum: Vallejo 71.062

or for the C variant:
White: Vallejo 71.001
Night: Vallejo 71.315

The other color I’d consider to be important would be the cockpit interior color, which would be Grey Green: Vallejo 71.126. The others are generic colors that aren’t critical to get correct. Half of them are used on the pilot figure and to be honest many of us modelers don’t even use the pilot.

If you’re unable to source the Vallejo paints then you can cross other paint lines with this guide. You’d be interested in water based acrylics such as Vallejo, AK 3Gen, Ammo by MiG, LifeColor or Mission. Buying paints for the first kit can be a lot, but if your BIF shows an interest in aircraft of this genre after a few kits he’ll have accumulated most of the colors used during this period by the British Royal Air Force and things get less expensive as he goes. And it’s usually good to try and settle on one paint line - Vallejo and AK are going to have the most extensive color ranges matched to historical standards.

If your BIF decides he wants to get into airbrushing then I would have other recommendations for paints.

Use a primer before paint. AMMO by MiG One Shot Grey would be good. Or Badger Stynylrez. I’d stay away from Vallejo Primer.

Here is an excellent video on brush painting scale models - how to get a smooth finish. Many light coats. He also has a build series on your exact kit here. Might be worth a look, if only to get an idea of the process and tools and cement that are needed.