1/32nd Scale 'Revegawa' Spitfire MkXIVc

[Airframes]

Get to it Evan! I've found even more slides of the PR19 for you, that is, if some shots of it stripped down for deep service, lacking its engine, are of any use?! I'm hoping to get them (and many more interesting pics) scanned fairly soon.
Well, the destruction stages are nearly finished, only some small areas to attend to, before some construction can begin, at last! I was begining to think there would be very little plastic left, especially on the wings, which have now lost a lot of their rigidity due to all the extra ventilation!
PIC 1.Shows the recess cut from the MkVI forward centre-section, slightly oversize, to allow some room to position and fit the new, longer lower cowling from the Mk.22.
PIC 2.Shows this item test-fitted, taped in place. A backing strip will be glued inside the centre-section, to support the cowling, which will be glued in place, and then the gaps filled with plastic strip, and filled, before sanding smooth and blending into the surroundings.
PIC 3. This is the bottom wing, after the removal of the radiator, oil cooler and the lower cannon blisters. These areas will be blanked-off with plastic card and filler, and then the Mk.22 radiators will be fitted, along with some home-produced, small cannon blisters, which will be moulded from thin plastic sheet. I need to check to see if the gun heating exit ducts, near the wing tips, should be removed, as I don't think these were present on the Mk.XIV. If not, then it's more cutting and filling!
PIC 4. Shows the wing tops, with the cannon blisters of the 'B' wing removed. The port wing will have the opening filled, and another hole cut to take a modified gun cover and blister, from the Mk.22, to represent the 'C' wing of the Mk.XIV. The ammunition hatch for the cannon will then be scribed, and the hatches for the .303 MG's will be lightly scribed over the current raised detail.
I hope to be able to utilise one of the Hispano cannons from the Mk.22 kit, and fit this into the starboard wing, in which case the wing will undego further surgery, to open-up the gun and ammo bay, then the same procedure of filling and scribing will be followed. I've got a couple or six spare .50 cal Brownings, so I'm toying with the idea of fitting one of these alongside the cannon, although these were rarely, if ever, fitted into the 'C' wing, being more common on the 'E' wing, which then omitted the .303 guns. As I've more or less settled on a colour scheme representing an earlier Mk.XIVc, I'll have to give this some thought before proceeding.
Apart from some minor surgery to construct the retractable tail-whell of the Mk.XIV, and a few other small areas, the major 'destruction' is virtually complete, and I can proceed with the construction, following the steps in the Hasegawa instructions, apart from some scratch-built detailing additions. Once the interior parts have been painted and assembled, and the fuselage and wing joined, then the critical part begins. This will be the alignment and fitting of the engine, onto the scratch-built firewall, which has to be absolutely accurate in order to allow the cowlings to fit, and the prop and spinner to line up. I'm aiming to display the starboard side of the engine, which will allow a little leeway for aligning the cowlings but, of course, this could all go to rat poo!
Thanks again for your interest,
Terry.

 

[Wayne Little]

Goddam Terry.....great work mate...so no sleep again 'eh?

 

[A4K]

Great work Terry! Not a small project by any means!!!

About the servicing photos, they would be great! Thanks mate!

 

[Tony Hill]

Looking good mate!!!!


D

 

[lesofprimus]

Lookin good Terry, almost ready to put the saw and blade down and pick up the talc....

 

[Airframes]

Thanks guys. Yep Dan, nearly ready for lots of different fillers!

 

[Airframes]

With the destruction virtually complete, the construction has commenced!
Before starting on the cockpit and other kit parts, I wanted to ensure that the wing was protected from possible damage, warping or splitting, as it has lost a lot of its rigidity due to chopping off so much plastic! I also needed to test-fit the fuselage to the wing properly, in order to construct a rigid firewall, some internal bracing, and the support for the lower cowling and supercharger intake. Consequently, the numerous holes have been 'plated over' with plastic card on the inner surfaces of the wing, and the main work around the gun bays taken care of.
PIC 1. Shows the starboard cannon and ammunition bays cut out around the hole left by the remobval of the 'B' wing blister, and a plastic card insert cut to shape and glued into place, forming the new shape. This bay will be displayed open on the finished model, and will be boxed in, and the gun, ammo and other scratch-built details added when the main construction is finished.
PIC 2. The port gun bay has been cut to the correct shape, again around the hole left from the 'B' wing blister, and is ready for sanding and 'plating'.
PIC 3. The inboard cannon cover from the Mk.22 kit will be used, and here the twin - blister covers have been sawn in half, ready to fit the longer of the two.
PIC 4. With the cover glued in place, the underside has been backed with plastic card, and an insert cut roughly to shape to fill the remaining depression.
PIC 5. Shows the resulting 'step' in the aperture, caused by the thickness of the plastic of the wing, which will be covered by the insert, then filled and sanded smooth.
PIC 6. With the insert cemented in place, the outline for the ammunition bay hatch has been lightly scrided. The scrathes and cuts from the previous 'surgery' will be covered by the filler, or by sanding and polishing later.
PIC 7. The large holes on the bottom wing, left by the removal of the cannon blister, the oil cooler and the large radiator, have been blanked-off on the inside, once again using plastic card, then backed-up with more card on the outer surface. These areas will be filled and sanded as required, before adding the deeper radiators from the Mk.22, and the small cannon blisters, which I have yet to mould from thin plastic sheet.
The top of the wings were cemented onto the lower wing section, taped, and put aside to set properly, whilst some work was commenced on cleaning-up the kit's cockpit parts, ready for painting and detailing. When the wing had fully set, it was carefully taped onto the fuselage, which itself was taped together for the exercise, in order to check alignment, and take accurate measurements for the parts required for the forward end of the model.
PIC 8. Shows the wing and fuselage together, and it was noticed that the wing is still somewhat 'floppy', having lost a lot of its integrity due to the relatively large amount of surgery, particularly in the area around the large underwing radiator, which, of course, no longer exists!
PIC 9. Shows the area at the front, where most of the next stage of work will take place. A substantial fire wall will need to be constructed, in two sections, to fit into the open front of the vertical and angled cowlings. This will need to be braced, and be absolutley rigid, in order to take the weight of the engine and large engine mounts. These items must be properly aligned, and perfectly solid, in order for the cowlings to fit properly, and for the large 5- blade prop and spinner to locate and align squarley. Once these and the other engine bay detail parts have been successfully fitted, then the lower cowling can be cemented in place, squared up, and blended in with filler, before fitting the forward section of the supercharger intake. I suspect this is going to be the most difficult part of the whole conversion.
PIC 10. Shows the portion of the lower fin which has been removed. The inner faces of both fin halves will be thinned down, and a plastic card fillet fitted, to join with the upper rear fuselage. Once the fuselage halves have been cemented together, and are fully set, the fillet will be coated with Milliput epoxy putty, blended into the fuselage and fin and, when set, sanded to the correct shape of the broader chord Mk.XIV fin. The modified Mk.22 rudder will be matched to the new fin, then fitted later.
So, that's the main cutting and butchering done, and it's now time to get creative!
Hopefully, I'll get a bit more done in the next day or so, in between finishing the Avenger for the GB, doing more work on the Spit 22, tackling still more stencil decals on the Hunter, and writing some bits and pieces for various people.
Good 'ere, innit?!!

 

[A4K]

She's making progress Terry! Like the idea of back-filling the inside of the gunpanels...(he he, new stolen idea..!)

 

[Lucky13]

I say old boy! Splendid craftmanship! Looking marvelous what! Top hole old chap!

 

[Airframes]

I say, thanks awfully old chaps!
Evan, if you use the above method on anything bigger than 1/72nd scale, ensure that the plastic card fitted onto the inside surface of the wing is thick enough not to flex, but not so thick that it will foul the wing joint. Because of this, I've used the same method as in the past, by 'plating' the inside, then cutting an insert for the outside faces, which is then glued to the inner piece. Once this has totally set, the joints/gaps can be filled and sanded flush. Sometimes the outer 'plating' will be slightly recessed, due to varying thicknesses of plastic of the component being filled, so what you are in effect doing, is providing a base for a thin layer of filler, which is then sanded smooth and flush with the surroundings. I find Milliput, or a similar epoxy putty, is best for this task, as it doesn't 'shrink back', sag or crack. It can also be 'wet moulded' to conform, and engraved easily, as well as drilled, tapped etc. Using this method is often more accurate than attempting to 'pack' the plastic inserts, as it's not always possible to obtain an even 'sit', again due to the varying thickness, compound curves etc.

 

[lesofprimus]

Great stuff Terry and great explainations of the work involved.....

 

[Catch22]

Looks great Terry!

 

[Airframes]

Thanks guys. The wings etc shouldn't be a problem, but the nose area is going to be a bit tricky methinks!

 

[Maglar]

Splendid old bean, crack of the bat if you ask me, cheeerio!!!

 

[vikingBerserker]

That is impressive, NICE!

 

[A4K]

Thanks for the explanantion Terry! By wet moulding to conform, do you mean smoothing over to shape with a wet finger or something rather than leaving a lump of putty inplace and sanding later?

 

[Wayne Little]

Doing a great job Terry, it's great to see the various methods of "destruction and construction' that you use....

 

[rochie]

great progress Terry, along with nice explanation of what each step involves

 

[Wurger]

I cannot imagine what we could make working both together Terry.... Excellent job so far.: D

 

[Airframes]

Thanks very much chaps.
Wojtek, maybe if we started with an Albatross and a Sopwith Camel, we could end up with a Bf109E !?!!
Evan, yep, you got it. You can use a wet finger, or the back of a wet scalpel blade, and mould the Milliput, smoothing it as you go. When it sets, it will only need a tiny bit of sanding. You can also wet very thin slivers of Milliput, and get it to 'flow' (almost) into small cracks, gaps, wing roots etc, although I only do this if I've started using Milliput for a bigger job. If the job is small, say a panel line or wing root, then rather than drag out the Milliput and have the hassle of kneading it etc, I'll use alternative methods, such as talcum powder mixed with varnish.