International Scale Modeller

Call sign "Greycap".



Air Vice Marshal James Edgar "Johnnie" Johnson CB, CBE, DSO & two bars, DFC & bar, Air Medal (US) and Legion of Merit (US).

Johnson was born in Barrow upon Soar, Leicestershire on 9th March 1915 and grew up in Melton Mowbray. He was educated at Loughborough Grammar School (where his fees were paid for by an Uncle who had survived WWI). After leaving school Johnson attended Nottingham University and graduated as a Civil Engineer at the age of 22.

After the Munich Crisis of 1938 Johnson applied to join the Royal Auxiliary Air Force but was turned down due to his social status. After serving with the territorial unit of the Leicestershire Yeomanry Johnson applied to and was accepted into the RAF Volunteer Reserve and began flight training. Johnson's flying career was put in doubt by an old shoulder injury sustained whilst playing Rugby and he was forced to undergo surgery thereby missing the Battle of Britain.



Johnson's operational career began with 616 Sqn., part of the Tangmere wing where he found himself flying alongside Douglas Bader, Tony Gaze and Hugh Dundas. His first combat got off to a shaky start when he called 'Break' too early resulting in his flight frantically splitting up, losing each other and returning singly to base.

In 1942 Johnson was appointed Squadron Leader of 610 Sqn., flying the Spitfire Mk. V. The introduction of the Fw 190 however was taking it's toll on Spitfire squadrons.

'Yes, the 190 was causing us real problems at this time. We could out-turn it, but you couldn't turn all day. As the number of 190s increased, so the depth of our penetrations decreased. They drove us back to the coast really.'

By 1943 Johnson had risen to Wing Commander and appointed to lead 144 (Canadian) wing, equipped with the L. F. Mk. IX. Johnson was already a prolific ace and the number of his victories continued to mount. He had reached 23 victories by April 1944 and by the 27th June his score had risen to 31 making him the highest scoring RAF pilot still on operations. 144 Wing was the first to be stationed on French soil after the invasion. An encounter with 190s whilst on patrol on the 27th August brought his total to 33.



Johnson's last victory came over Nijmegen on the 27th September 1944 taking his final total to 34 confirmed, 7 shared, 3 shared probable, 10 damaged, 3 shared damaged and 1 destroyed on the ground. Unfortunately, it was on this operation that his friend Sqn Leader Wally McLeod, 443 Sqn. RCAF went missing (above photo, on the right). McLeod was last seen pursuing a 109 into Germany.

Johnson finished the war as a Group Captain commanding No. 125 Wing, flying Spitfire Mk. XIVs.

Call sign "Greycap".

This is the kit I'll be using:



This kit has been reviewed many times and the quality of the engraving is sublime.

Sprues bagged. These have been shown on here before so I'll save the un-bagged shots for the start of the build.



Clear parts. Wheely good!



Photo etch, canopy mask and decals (only some of which will be used):



I'm going for this scheme although there are several conflicting images of MK392 out there:



Paperwork:



And some reading for inspiration:



My first GB and I'm really happy to be taking part. "Johnnie" Johnson was a Leicestershire lad and an old boy at one of the schools I teach in, so I feel a real connection with the subject.

Nice one

wow.. great choice
Love the Spitfire
Good luck on your first GB mate!

Great back story! Looks like a great kit too, enjoy

Very nice spit dude!!

GG

Good choice and a really cool story dude... this will be an excellent build I'm sure.
Nice tartan too.

Many thanks for the kind words of encouragement guys. I've enjoyed reading through all the GB threads and there are builds, kits, ideas, research and creativity to really do justice to the subject.

@Coen: Not sure what clan the tartan is Mike, but you did remind me that is was laundry day.

On with the build. So this morning's target:



Lot's of lovely detail OOB as one would expect given this kits reputation. I started by drilling out the lightening holes in the cockpit seat bulkhead using a pin vice:



The result. If you squint a bit you can see the holes. (Believe me I was squinting at this thing all morning).



I did the same for the rear bulkhead:



The cockpit sidewalls built up quickly and the addition of photo etch gives the armour plating a real sense of scale-thickness:



The armour plating on the back of the seat is the same and I managed to use CA glue without a) sticking tiny parts to my fingers or b) getting ugly blobs of it all over my work.



There is a tiny bit of filler that you can see on the sidewall to the right. Just a couple of sink marks in two pieces that look like boxes. So there is the result of a morning's work. Not much but this kit is very detailed.



A bit more to do after lunch.

Thanks for taking a look.

Those holes...
INSANE..
Love the work.
Great kit.
Will keep my eye on this one..

Nice start - those extra touches are going to make for a special model, I am sure

Nice start, always love a Spit!

Off to a great start

Hi Willem ,

Very nice entry ! Another of the many great entries to follow here in this GB .

Great , and very nice intro !

Ohh....I love a good Spit and this one looks like a beaut! Good choice Willem, especially that he was a local lad to us!

Great history lesson, too!

Cheers,

Martin

looking good so far nice story about J J

Finally got some paint down. Primed the cockpit parts and inside the fuselage halves with black and then thought about a cockpit green.

My present weapons of choice:



Parts left to dry overnight:



So this morning I spent a happy hour or so brush painting some interior details. I decided to use some old Humbrol enamels and a fine brush:



I went for the enamels as the kit calls for a red on the seat and the only match I could find was an old tin of matt 100 (brick red I think). I've read somewhere that later Spits had a Bakelite seat so well done to Eduard for calling this out. The oxygen tanks are light gull grey so I tried satin 166 and other details were black satin 85.



Once this is all dry it will be dry brushed then varnished then followed by a wash before adding the harnesses then matting it all down.

Then it was on to some etch origami which is a pet hate for me. The instructions show you this:



Exhibit A):



After some puzzling I worked out that it concertinas up into the finished article which is somewhere in this picture:



And after some messing about it now lives in here:



Where it will never be seen again. I also added a tiny piece to the control column but, if you think the last few pics were blurry, you should see this one (well you're not going to as I couldn't inflict it on nice people).

To give my eyes a rest I started on the wing construction. Part G76 was attached to the lower wings and then clamped to provide the dihedral.



More work on the wings to come later.

Thanks for taking a look.

Coming along nicely, Willem!

Cheers Martin. Really enjoying this one. Really nice kit.

Willem wrote:Cheers Martin. Really enjoying this one. Really nice kit.

I just have to get my Mojo back, so I can begin my Hasegawa Typhoon!

I know the feeling. I tend to have a few months where I can't wait to get at it and then it goes quiet for a few months. It'll be back mate.

A few shots of my progress on this build. I'm really impressed by the level of detail OOB in this kit.

I've finished painting and weathering the cockpit. After dry brushing I coated it with clear and once that was dry I used a Flory mud wash to liven up the details:











I wish my photography skills were a little bit better. I just need to add rudder pedals, gun sight, control column and harnesses then I can get the fuselage together.

I built up the wings. 18 pieces in total- 7 pieces for each wheel well. The wings are taped up to dry. Photos are not great but you might be able to see some of the fine rivet detail provided.







You might be able to see it on the fuselage.



So that's it for now. Unfortunately I'm away working for the weekend but I'll get back to it early next week.

Thanks for looking.

It's been a few days since I've been able to retreat to the man cave but I managed to steal away for an hour this evening. So here is a small update on this Spit.

I started by fixing the cockpit sidewalls to the inside of each fuselage half:



Port side with the oxygen tanks:



and starboard side with bulkheads and instrument panel:





The etch lap belts went on without too much of a battle and once again, I managed to avoid getting CA glue everywhere.



The seat slotted into place with an audible click and just needed a dab or two of glue to make sure it won't move again.





Shoulder harnesses up next and that will mean gluing etch to etch so I'll approach that when I'm a bit more awake.

This kit provides a beautifully detailed cockpit and I'm pretty happy with how things are going so far.

Thanks for looking. Any comments etc. are welcome.

Looking pretty awesome so far, Willem!

Cheers,

Martin

Looks great so far Willem

A bit more work done, a dilemma, and a solution.

Hi all. A bit more work done on this Spit. The shoulder harnesses went on and I've managed to close up the fuselage.









I like the way that Eduard have supplied the full length of harness as you can see it fixes to the rear cockpit bulkhead.





Fuselage got the Tamiya Extra Thin treatment and now clamped up to set.



Something had been nagging away at the back of my mind; was MK392 a IXc or IXe? If it was a IXe then I'd got the wrong wings. I went back and checked my references and there it is:



The cannon are in the outboard position which would suggest an 'e' wing (that's assuming that this is MK392, but I can't imagine why it wouldn't be). I also did a Google search and, after some dark and mysterious blind alleys, I ended up looking at a Spitfire forum where a massive argument seemed to be raging between two members in polite but venomous language. I did ask myself whether I was being a bit of a rivet counter, but I'd like to do justice to this build and the photo speaks for itself.

There are only 'c' wings in the profipack kit. Luckily this kit arrived yesterday:



and inside the box are two sets of wings, one set of 'c' wings and one set of 'e' wings.



This is the 'e' wing with the cannon bulge in the right position for Johnson's aircraft:





So all I need to do are swap the wings.

The black and white photo gave me an idea as I've got an RAF pilot figure and a dog in the stash. I thought it would be nice to do a little dio with JJ and his dog sitting on the wing. Trouble is that the dog is obviously a Lab and the dog I've got looks more like a springer.................dilemma...........

More soon. Thanks for looking.

Nice save!!

GG

generalgrog wrote:Nice save!!

GG

Cheers General. I got lucky!

Managed to get a couple of hours at the bench today so here is a progress report.

I built up the wheel wells on the set of IXe wings:





15 pieces in total and lots of lovely detail.

Then the upper wings went on, note the cannon bulges line up with the outboard cannon positions:







A quick test fit of the wings and fuselage:





The under wing to rear fuselage fit is often a problem area on Spitfire kits:





Not this one though.

The wing root fit is nice and snug, I fettled around with it for a moment or two and then 'click' and everything lined up.



I was so happy that I ran some extra thin into the joins and taped the wings up to dry.





So that's where it stands. I'm happy as she is starting to look like a Spitfire.

Thanks for taking a look and all comments are welcome.

looking good nice cockpit detail

Watching this one with great interest. I have the early version of this Spitfire under my desk waiting for me to get up the courage to work with PE. Looks great to me at this stage.

Taking shape nicely now...the fit of the fuselage to the wings looks great!

Looks very promising, keep up good work.I have the same kit in my stash so I'll be watching very careful your progress. Nice clean job.
Cheers

Your effective use of a couple hours here and there is remarkable. I like your attention to the subject detail and I love Spitfires in general. Can't wait to see your next updates! Very nice work Will.

Many thanks for the kind words and encouragement gents.

More soon.



PS- Now is probably not the right time to admit that I've forgotten to install the control column, will have to fiddle with that later.

wow. Great work so far.
Nice trick with the tape

fly1ngdutchm4n wrote:wow. Great work so far.
Nice trick with the tape

Cheers Frans.

jbellos1 wrote:Your effective use of a couple hours here and there is remarkable. I like your attention to the subject detail and I love Spitfires in general. Can't wait to see your next updates! Very nice work Will.

Many thanks for the very kind words Jon, we Spitfire fans need to stick together.

Today's update is brought to you by the letter 'M' for....... Empennage.



Empennage. Lovely word, indeed one of my favourites and I wish I could use it more in everyday conversation. Empennage. Imagine saying this word and elongating the last syllable, perhaps with an extra soft 'g', in fact- I'm doing that right now, not out loud obviously (that would be silly).

The designers at Eduard are very cool dudes as the horizontal stabilisers have a lip on the front upper surface and then the two-part pieces almost clip together with no seam to tidy up. These are then fitted to the tail:



and the one piece elevator slotted in:



The rudder slots in and is a nice snug fit:



Word of warning to anybody else building this kit; I almost missed the rudder actuator (part F21).



A minor hitch occurred as I was juggling the model, parts and glue brush and I ended up with splashes of Extra Thin on the wing surface:



I think the best idea is to let it dry then polish it out but, anyone out there... advice more than welcome.

I know that I'm building this thing in spurts when I can, but I'm in danger of getting some primer on this Spit soon.

As always, thanks for looking and any comments are welcome.

There is a lot to be said for bunking off work a bit early, getting to the bench, putting the test match on the radio and spending a happy hour gluing stuff together.

Today's target was the exhaust and upper and lower engine cowlings.



I don't think I've ever seen hollow exhausts actually moulded in styrene before. Quite complex though, as each exhaust is made up of 4 pieces and then fitted into it's slot. At first I thought this might be a bit fragile but there is plenty of room to run extra thin into the join from above and below.



I usually like to leave the exhausts until the end of the build but I don't see a way that this is possible on this kit.





Here is where things get a little bit over-complicated (my only real gripe with this kit so far)- The upper cowling is moulded in two halves:



I understand that there is the option to buy and install a resin engine but the upper cowling with exquisite detail now has a dirty great seam. Not too much of a problem I suppose but I hope that I don't lose too much of that detail on what is a very noticeable part of the model.







I can't help feeling that a one-piece cowling would be the best compromise.

Lower cowling goes together with a lovely bit of PE mesh. Here again, the fit to the airframe isn't spot on (though, it being a Friday afternoon it could be me).





So I'm left with a little remedial filling and sanding to do. That's ok, we're all big boy modellers right? I suppose that this kit has been so pain free up to now that I've been spoilt.

That's all for now. Comments, advice and constructive criticism welcome.

Enjoy the weekend and the World Cup Blimey Holland, who'd have predicted that?

Filling and sanding seam lines- never my favourite job particularly on a Sunday morning whilst feeling a bit delicate after the night before. The first attempt, using Mr Surfacer was not a great success.





Time for a strong cup of coffee and a bit of a think.

Second attempt using PPP. A bit better, I think, but some of the delicate rivet detail on the upper cowling is gone.









I'll find out if it's good enough when I get some primer on.
Then added ailerons and wing-tips.









Waiting for these to dry then will get on with the radiators under the wings and the airframe is just about done.

Thanks for looking.

A short progress update ('Hurray' I hear you shout).

I built up the radiators except for the cooler doors and the linkages at the back.



Added the fuel filler cap for the header tank in the nose and the base insert where the antenna fits.



Cut the canopy parts from the sprue, cleaned them up, dipped them in klear and popped them in an old mint tin to keep the dust off them whilst they dry.



For a while I've been wanting to put a model into a diorama and I also wanted to include a figure of the Wing Co with his dog so I bought this set a while back.



I think it was originally an ICM kit.



Some useful stuff in here but I just want the pilot with his jacket over his shoulder and the dog.





My first figure since some Tamiya British Tommies in North Africa and a) they were bigger b) I built them when I was 10.

Still, seemed to come together with just a bit of sanding the mould seams.



So here is the Wing Co, his dog and a flying jacket. The dog is not a black lab but I'm not going to rivet count over a dog. The figure looks a bit like he's doing the Morcambe and Wise dance without the jacket over his shoulder but it will probably be easier to paint separately.



I've got some paints on the way for the figures (and I'm seriously considering those big glasses). I will also be watching lots of vids on figure painting. I've also heard that wine corks are great for mounting figures on for ease of painting so that gives me a good excuse to go and open a good French red.

More soon. Thanks for looking.

Willem wrote:The figure looks a bit like he's doing the Morcambe and Wise dance...

Lovely work mate looking forward to the dio.

Fantastic build there pal. Looks a really good kit. Keep up the good work. Looking forward to seeing the end product

Nige201980 wrote:Lovely work mate looking forward to the dio.

Thanks Nige. Will be a simple one though as I'm a dio newbie.

johnpd wrote:Fantastic build there pal. Looks a really good kit. Keep up the good work. Looking forward to seeing the end product

Cheers mate, thanks for having a look and leaving a comment.

Some wine tasting, some fiddly bits and a shamelessly stolen idea.

Not had chance to do much this week but I did set up JJ and Fido ready for priming. I thought about drilling small holes and mounting them on cocktail sticks but, figures seem so small that I thought using some CA to fix them to spare sprue might be a better bet.



A pleasant couple of evenings in front of the footie gave me the chance to do some modelling research- in my opinion both were good but the Rioja was more enjoyable than the Chateau Neufe (and about a tenner cheaper).

Radiator cooling doors fixed in the open position.



Gun-sight fixed in place and painted Humbrol black.



Canopy was dry-fitted (this had been dipped in clear and left in an old mint tin to dry for a couple of days). Fit is beautiful and I'm going to pose the canopy open.





Now this is where I can wax lyrical about the forum as someone (possibly Wally) mentioned using diluted Micro Krystal Klear to fix the canopy. (My humble apologies if I've got the wrong member, but great tip). The beauty of this technique is it flows with capilliary action and self-levels. Clean up is simple with a moistened cotton bud.



Of course, I managed to mix far too much.











The only real drawback is an extended drying time but, for me, this is how I do this from now on.

So, slowly creeping towards the paint stage. I'll be sorting out and prepping for primer this weekend (time permitting).

Thanks for taking a look.

Nice build so far
Great tip on the diluted Kristal clear, got to give it a try myself!

Looking good mate.

Cheers Nige, slowly but surely mate. Have a good feeling about this project. Loving following your epic progress btw.

fly1ngdutchm4n wrote:Nice build so far
Great tip on the diluted Kristal clear, got to give it a try myself!

Totally stolen the idea from someone else here and I've been having a look so can give them credit, can't find it. Shows the benefit though of being part of this massive brains trust. Loving the Churchill mate.

Nice build as I see Willem , the kit seems ful of detail , about the engine cowlings agree that the kit maker could have two options , in halves to use with resin engin and a complete one if you do not to use , it was one less seam line , but you managed quite well that .

Great Tip on the diluted glue .

rodrant wrote:Nice build as I see Willem , the kit seems ful of detail , about the engine cowlings agree that the kit maker could have two options , in halves to use with resin engin and a complete one if you do not to use , it was one less seam line , but you managed quite well that .

Great Tip on the diluted glue .

Thanks Antonio. Does seem a shame that there isn't a one piece top cowling. Think there may be one in the ICM kits, will have to dig one out for a look, too late for this build but maybe a kit bash for the future.

Some small progress but, work is getting in the way. I don't enjoy masking up so I took a bit of a diversion yesterday.



Bought some Alclad supplies during Easter holidays so decided to use the grey primer/micro filler for this project. Sprayed really well in thin coats but it don't arf pong.




Ok Fido, time for your undercoat.







JJ, dog, and flying jacket all primed.



The bullet was bitten and masking commenced this evening. Kit supplied masks and tools set out. One of these days the nurses will let me have a real scalpel.













Slight set back as the filler under the front windshield seems to have shrunk, so out comes the PPP again and I now have some more delicate seam work to do.



That's it (disappointingly) for the moment. I've had the Model Color Flesh tones set, some oils, and some decent brushes delivered so I'm looking forward to having a go at painting the Wing Co, (but not his dog) just don't expect great quality pics. Doing the best I can at the moment but will definitely have to upgrade my camera and invest in some good lighting next payday.

Many thanks for looking.

Nice work! The Spit has to be one of the nicest looking fighters ever built. You are doing it justice.

Cheers DB, thanks for taking a look. It's frustrating at the moment as I'm not getting any real modelling time and can only do the odd little job here or there.