Subject: Re: For your great site - hope you can include it.
From: "Submissions for ARC" <[email-masked]>
To: "ELMAN Family" <[email-masked]>
Date: Sun, 2 Dec 2007 19:34:08 -0800

Hi,
I just wanted to let you know your article went on ARC today.  Thanks again for sending it in.

Steve Bamford
Aircraft Resource Center
http://www.aircraftresourcecenter.com

Live like there is no tomorrow;
Love like you've never been hurt.
Work like you don't need the money.
Dance like nobody's watching.
Sing like nobody's listening.
Live like it's Heaven on Earth.

  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: ELMAN Family 
  To: [email-masked] 
  Sent: Sunday, November 04, 2007 4:17 PM
  Subject: For your great site - hope you can include it.

  Gallery Template #04

  "1/48 ICM Spitfire Mk. IX" 

  by Richard Elman
  --------------------

        Steve Bamford will insert full sized version of photo 01.jpg here  

  Hi, this is my first submission to ARC and only my third or fourth model completed after returning to the hobby after nearly 30 years (I think my last model as a teenager was the famous 1/72 Avro Anson from Airfix).  Anyway, here is ICM's Spit which makes a great completed model although the build was tricky in a couple of places.  This kit contains a really nice engine and the option to pose the cowl open to display it.  After many evenings working on it, fitting the whole engine assembly between the fuselage halves proved just impossible, so I gave up on it and decided to keep the front closed.  There was some puttying around the wing roots, and a little along the fuselage halves, otherwise it was a good fit.  The cockpit was brush painted in Humbrol enamels and lead foil harness and buckles were added; otherwise it's all OOB.  Exterior surfaces were primed with grey car primer (from Halfords in the UK) and preshading applied. Xtracrylix Dark Earth/Mid-Stone/Azure Blue were then airbrushed on .  A couple of coats of Future/Klear went down before trying to apply the kit decals which promptly disintegrated. Techmod's aftermarket set were hurriedly purchased and went on a treat!  I used an oil wash for the panel lines, but it tended to make the blue rather dirty - still it makes it look a bit more "used".  Exhaust stains was Tamiya "smoke" and weathering along the wing roots was Humbrol 11 applied with a cocktail stick (I'm never really happy with this and will try a silver pencil next time).

  Click on images below to see larger images

         Steve Bamford will insert a click-able smaller version of photo 03.jpg here.  Clicking on that photo will bring up the full sized version of photo 03.jpg   Steve Bamford will insert a click-able smaller version of photo 04.jpg here.  Clicking on that photo will bring up the full sized version of photo 04.jpg  

  The aircraft depicted was flown by Flt Lt Eugeniusz Horbaczewski of the Polish Fighting Team (aka "Skalski's Circus"),  No 145 Sqn, spring 1943 based in Tunisia.  Horbaczewski later served in Italy and southern France where he was eventually shot down in a dogfight with 60 Fw190s in August 1944.  He was credited with 16 kills + 1 shared + 1 probable (as well as 4 V-1 flying bombs). 

        Steve Bamford will insert full sized version of photo 02.jpg here  

  Photos and text © by Richard Elman