Thanks Jason!
Well, only eleven hours later than planned, but here's the latest group of pics!
She's nearly there! A few more bits to do, and some cleaning and touch up here and there, and the Spitfire MkXIV, out of Revell, by Hasegawa, will be born!
The gun bay has been fitted out and painted, and just needs a little touching-up, the tail wheel has been taken care of, and some scratch-built detail parts made and fitted in various places.
PIC 1. The gun bay, with the single Hispano 20mm cannon, the firing hose, BFM and heating duct, and the belt of somewhat over scale 20mm shells, the latter painted as AP and HE rounds. The mouldings for these look more like the 40mm grenades used in the M203 grenade launcher, being short and fat, instead of the long round used in these cannons. But, at least there's a belt of ammo in place, and it doesn't look too bad overall.
PIC 2. The 'retractable' tail wheel and the bay doors have been adapted from the Revell kit, and fitted into the carved-out tail wheel bay. This part is typical ex- Matchbox, being a bit on the 'chunky' side, but doesn't look too bad from normal viewing angles, and should look even better once the kite is up on her legs. The rudder actuator rod can also just be seen in this shot, slightly modified from the Hasegawa kit part.
PIC 3. Short lengths of stretched sprue were bent and inserted into pre-drilled holes inside the roof of each radiator, to represent the de-icer spray nozzles, then painted a dull silver colour. The 'grainy' appearance around this area is dust from a tissue used to wipe off excess PVA adhesive, which had been used to help position and hold the part in this awkward-to-reach area, until cement could be used, applied with the tip of a cocktail stick.
PIC 4. Strips of thin, glazed tissue, taken from the protective cover of one of the kits decal sheets, were glued over the machine gun ports, using PVA adhesive, and the material pressed into the drilled-out ports. These were later painted to represent the doped fabric patches, used to protect the gun muzzles from dirt and icing. Once the paint had dried, the patches were torn open around the gun ports, and then smoke streaks added, using thinned paint and some pastels.
PIC 5. The gun patches after painting, looking more like the guns have been recently fired.
PIC 6. The exhausts have been painted in various metallic shades, then some discolouration and staining added. The paint has not quite dried in this shot.
PIC 7. The canopy has had the locking latch made and fitted, cut from (very) thin plastic sheet. A 'blob' of PVA was placed on the end of a very short piece of thin stretched sprue, glued into a tiny hole drilled in the canopy frame and, when dry, painted gloss red, to simulate the rubber ball used as a handle on the canopy jettison cable. Although they can't be seen in this view, the jettison cables and rods, on the bottom frame each side of the canopy, have been made and added and painted bright red. Again, very fine stretched sprue was used for this job. The canopy frame had already been painted but, due to handling, some of the paint has worn off, which can be seen on the rear frame in this shot. When the delicate fittings have fully set, the framework will be touched-up as required.
The shape of the Spitfire canopy makes it difficult to photograph, in this scale, as an individual item, but hopefully, the scratch-built additions will be more visible when it's photographed in place on the model.
So that's it so far. The main landing gear will be fitted next, and time needs to be spent on this, to ensure the adapted wheels align properly, and that the model sits evenly. Once that's done,the cockpit entrance hatch and canopy will be added, and the radio whip antenna, the beam approach antenna, and the pitot tube and IFF di-pole will be fitted, all the antennas being made from stretched sprue or plastic rod.The model itself will then be finished, with the exception of the covers for the open gun bay, which will be positioned in suitable places once the model is on its base. I still haven't decided whether or not to make and fit a rear view mirror, but that can be added at any time if required.
Thanks again for your interest and kind comments, and hopefully, the next pics will be of the finished model.