1/32 Spitfire Mk.Vb - Defence of Britain/Atlantic.

[Jeff Hunt]

Holy crap!

Cheers,

Jeff

 

[Airframes]

Thanks Wojtek and Red Two!
If I'd been more awake and remembered, I would have drilled-out the 'holes' in the grommets, as the printed black centers I think detract from the rest of the rather nice effect. Ah well, maybe with the second set in the pack, on the Revell Spitfire kit.
Hopefully, I might get a bit more done later this evening, and possibly get the fuselage joined, although there's a possibility I might have to go out later, so not sure.
EDIT : Thank Jeff - we were probably posting at the same time, so I missed your post first time around.

 

[Wayne Little]

Like it! Doing great Terry!

 

[Crimea_River]

Coming along beautifully.

 

[parsifal]

That IP is just outstanding terry

 

[Airframes]

Thanks chaps !
Lost Internet connection for the past two days, but haven't made much progress anyway, as I had a bit of a relapse, with stiff and painful hands. Hoping to get back to it later tonight, or sometime tomorrow.

 

[Wurger]

What happend to the net connection? I hope you will get better quickly.

 

[Airframes]

Thanks my friend. Not sure what the problem was with the connection - it kept dropping out, then couldn't get connection at all. Been happening quite a lot lately, and I've complained to my service provider, as it gets slower by the week too !

Made a little more progress, although I think it's below standard in some areas - definitely due to the arthritis.

PIC 1. The 'plumbing' for the undercarriage selector in place, but no yet bent into shape properly.
PICS 2 to 4. The cockpit assembly in place, with the tail strap of the harness attached to the 'Bowden cables', made from stretched sprue. The tail strap seems rather long, compared to the real harness, so I've allowed it to sag. I've decided against attaching an 'anti-sag' cable, as it would be too much trouble, and possibly spoil the harness finish. As this feature appears to have been something not always fitted, and can hardly be seen anyway, once the glazing and open canopy are in place, I think it will be acceptable.
PIC 5. The fuselage has been joined, and taped whilst the joint sets. The joint lines will be cleaned up once fully set.
PICS 6 and 7. General views of the cockpit in place.
PIC. 8. Attention now tuns to the wings, where the moulded cannon will be removed, in order to fit the excellent turned-brass items from 'Master'.
The pencil lines indicate where the reinforcing strips will be added, a common feature on' clipped-wing' Spitfires. The small 'spot' in front of the wheel well 'blister' represents the landing gear indicator peg, and this will be removed, and a more realistic peg added from stretched sprue.
PIC. 9 What the strips and peg look like on the real aircraft.
PIC 10. A rather poor close-up of the detail on the brass cannon.
PIC 11. To fit the brass cannons, the kit parts need to be cut off, and the remaining part inside the wing drilled-out. This will be done once the wings are joined, to avoid damage to the leading edges.

I've got a lot to do in the next couple of days, in preparation for the BoB airshow at Duxford in three weeks time, but hopefully I'll get some more done and post another up-date soon.
Thanks again for your interest and kind comments, they're much appreciated.

 

[fubar57]

Looking great Terry.




Geo

 

[Airframes]

Thanks Geo !

 

[Crimea_River]

Lovely stuff.

 

[Airframes]

Thanks Andy !

 

[Airframes]

Got up early after a few hours kip, as I have a lot to do today. As I have to wait for the battery on my mobility scooter to fully charge, I cracked on and made quite a bit of progress with the wing, although some clean up is still required.

PIC 1. Walls have been added to the wheel-well 'troughs', the cannon shell ejector slots opened-up and blanked-off inside, and the oil cooler blanked-off at the rear and painted, and 'roof' added to cover the open top in the wing.
PIC.2. The 'walls' of the radiator shutter have been thinned down, and the actuator and braces added from stretched sprue. These have yet to be refined at the joints, which will be done after they've fully set.
PIC.3. Oil cooler internal blank painted, walls thinned and painted inside.
PIC.4. Radiator fitted and painted, and the de-icer spray nozzle made and fitted, again using stretched sprue.
PIC.5. The cannons have been removed, and the moulded M.G. port patches filed down. The remaining stubs of the cannons will be drilled-out once the wings are joined, and the gun port 'patches' replaced with painted tissue after drilling-out the ports, and once the model itself has been painted.
PIC.6. Fuel filler joint filled and the vent holes drilled, with the raised cowling panel lines removed and then engraved, and the cowling fastener 'buttons' lightly drilled.
PIC.7. The cannon shell and MG cases ejector ports.
PIC.8. The I.D. signal lamp has been drilled-out and backed with scrap plastic inside. The moulded lamp area was off-center within the 'retaining ring' but this can be rectified at the painting stage. Once the model has been painted, the 'lamp' will be painted and glazed.
PIC.9. The holes for the undercarriage indicator pegs have been drilled on each wing, and the reinforcing strakes added from various gauges of plastic strip. They are in the process of being chamferred and sanded to shape here. Unfortunately, I noticed after gluing them in position, that the starboard wing strakes are slightly angled, but there's not a lot I can do about this, without ruining the wing surface, so I'll have to live with it, and hope the paint finish hides at least some of this stupid error !
PIC.10. The top and bottom wing surfaces have been joined, and will have the leading edge joints sanded, and the holes for the turned-brass cannons drilled-out once fully set.

That's it for now, and I hope to get back to it over the weekend, time allowing.

 

[Wurger]

 

[Crimea_River]

Great progress Terry. What's the irregular-shaped panel in front of the cannon blister in pic 7?

 

[Airframes]

Thanks Andy - I'm a bit narked about those starboard wing reinforcing strakes though.
That panel is one of the landing lamp hatches - one on each wing. The kit provides clear parts for the actual lamps, which can be fitted to the inside of the hatch cover, with the cover cut around the recess, and fixed in the down position if desired.
I'll be filling the recesses slightly once I get around to the 'clean-up' stage, otherwise they'll be too pronounced.
BTW, sent you an e-mail re the DX badge.

 

[Crimea_River]

Got it and responded, thanks. Doing my final trip plans as we speak and posted a question on the Duxford thread.

The large gaps in that light panel would be good candidates for CA glue or stretched sprue.

 

[rochie]

Nice work Dogsbody, like you've never been away !

 

[Gnomey]

Nicely done so far Terry!

 

[Airframes]

Thanks chaps.
Haven't made any further progress, as I've been buy preparing and organising for the DX trip in three week time, and my hands and wrists are now too painful to do delicate work.
Hope to get some more done tomorrow.