Airfix Spitfire F Mk.22 - Part I

After prolonged odyssey with Revel's Junkers 88, I was in the mood for something simple and hopefully quick to build. And so, I picked up Airfix's Spitfire F Mk.22 from my stash - not only was it a kit I was already familiar with after building Spitfire I, but also, it's bare-metal finish offered minimal paint-job effort.
The kit itself is an excellent, simple build that pretty much falls together all on it's own. Also, it's panel line engravings are delicate and not as deep as those of its Spitfire I sibling. The only minor issue during the build of airframe consisted of slight inaccuracy in fit between fuselage and the wing roots, but it was easily fixable with little putty and a low grade sanding stick.

Once the airframe was put together and was ready for some paint, I was faced with the only serious issue in this project, if it can be called as such. Since I had set my heart set on metallic finish, a decision had to be taken - Alclad2 or not Alclad2. After all the problems I've experienced with this system on first occasion I used it, I had my doubts. However, I did spent a bit of money on several products from that company and it would be a bit silly not to give it another shot. So, after long deliberations with myself, I convinced myself to give Alclad2 another chance. This time around I would really ensure that the kit would be blemish-free.

The first unpleasant surprise presented itself once I poured the Alclad black filler-primer into the airbrush cup. When I first opened it for last year's Thunderbolt build, there was no problems with its viscosity, it could easily be sprayed directly from the bottle. Not so some nine months after the bottle was opened for the first time - primer's consistency was now almost syrupy and wouldn't be pushed through an airbrush in a million years. Only after thinning it with cellulose thinner was I able to work with it. Even then, the surface, after drying, was extremely porous and  needed some serious sanding and polishing. As for the airbrush cleanup that followed, let me limit myself to saying that it made me immensely grateful for existence of acrylic paints.

After very laborious polishing process, I discovered that in a couple of places (raised edges and details) I managed to rub off the primer. Not willing to put my Badger through another contact of third degree with enamel paints and cellulose thinner, I instead drybrushed the primer over those exposed sections and polished them yet again after that brush-applied coat has dried. I then prayed a little prayer that the distinctly different finish of dry-brushed bits and pieces wouldn't show once metalizer was sprayed over them.

Some 24 hours after all the fuss with the primer, it was time for the main event. Following Alclad2's instructional video on Youtube, at first I sprayed only a light, barely visible on the model, dusting of metalizer. It was a good thing that I did, because as soon as that was done, it was obvious that I could have saved my prayers - these dry-brushed areas stuck out like sore thumb.

It was time for plan B.