1/48th Spitfire Vc, 136 Sqn, Burma, 1943-44.

[Airframes]

This will be the third in the Bob Cross trilogy, this time his Spitfire MkVc, which I believe is for Max's brother in law.(For the background to Bob Cross, DFM, see the first post in my Spitfire MkVIII thread in the Commonwealth GB.)
Bob used this aircraft, coded HM-F, to destroy two '01' Oscars on December 26, 1943, another on December 31, plus a 'Type 97' bomber and 2 damaged, and then another '01' on January 16th, 1944, whilst based at Ramu, Burma. Shortly afterwards, the Squadron had converted to the Spit MkVIII, as featured in the above-mentioned thread.
I was going to do this for the 'Aces' GB, but as Max is coming up north in late August, I want to get it finished by then, without rushing.
The basis for the model is the Tamiya Spitfire MkVb Trop which, although being an excellent kit, will need some modifications and corrections to make it a MkVc.
PIC 1. The kit box art.
PIC 2. The upper wing panels for the MkVb, which need altering.
PIC 3. The shaded areas will be removed, and the 'holes' plated and filled, and the correctly shaped and positioned cannon bulges fitted, using 'spare' parts from the ICM Spit VIII kit.
PIC 4. The cannons and the reinforcing plates on the leading edges of the wings will be removed. The correct cannon barrel sleeves, and the 'stub' fairings, will be fitted, using parts from the spares box.
PIC 5. The kit's wing undersides, showing the large cannon bulges, and the landing lamp covers forward of these.
PIC 6. The underside cannon bulges will be removed, and filled as above, and the landing lamp engravings filled. The correct small bulges will be moulded from Milliput.
PIC 7. The radiator provided in the kit is incorrect for a 'Tropical' Spit, as it should be deeper. A (Trop) radiator bath from the old Airfix kit will be used, which also has the benefit of having an open shutter, which will mean that the radiator 'block' moulded onto the wing will have to be removed. The oil cooler is also the incorrect shape, but a straight swap for the parts from the Airfix kit will remedy this.
Other corrections are minor, mainly involving the elevator mass balance engraving and a few detail areas, and all of these corrections will be done before main construction commences.
I hope to make a start on this just as soon as I finish the Bf109 in the current GB, which will hopefully be by Sunday, so I'll post the first WIP pics then.
Hmm. For some strange reason, the 'Manage Attachments' function is showing the 'Log in' page, and won't let me attach the pics!
I'll post them in the next post of all else fails !

 

[Wayne Little]

look forward to your conversion/mods Terry! but first.....where's the pics?

 

[Airframes]

OK, try again with the pics. Description as in previous post.

 

[Airframes]

The 'system' wouldn't allow me to attach any images Wayne - see the last line of my first post. Never happened before, but I got the 'Log in' page, telling me I wasn't logged in, when I was, as proven by being able to submit the post !

 

[Wayne Little]

No worries mate, all is fine now!

 

[Nxthanos]

I look forward to it, I'd like to see more of the RAF vs Japan as its not a subject you hear a lot about in America.

 

[B-17engineer]

Gonna be another stunner Terry!

 

[Wildcat]

Very cool Terry! No doubt another great model in the making!

 

[rochie]

nice one Dogsbody

 

[T Bolt]

Sounds cool Terry. I'll be watching.

 

[Airframes]

Thanks guys. All being well, I'll make a start on Sunday afternoon.

 

[Wurger]

 

[Crimea_River]

Great! Can't wait for the fourth one in the trilogy either!

A lot of work to do to make this a Vc. Is there not a kit out there that would have saved the work?

Terry, something has changed in the manage attachment feature as I'm experiencing issues as well. Posted in the problems thread.

 

[Tony Hill]

Looking forward to seeing her progress Terry.

 

[Wayne Little]

Special Hobby do a Mk.Vc got 2 for some Aussie Spits...

 

[vikingBerserker]

Well done!

 

[Airframes]

Yep, I looked at the Special Hobby kit, but it has its problems, not least around the rear cockpit and canopy areas. I reckoned I'd get a better-looking overall result by a simple conversion of the straight forward Tamiya kit. Not saying the SH kit is bad, but it just doesn't look quite right to me.

 

[brucejscott]

Should be a great build! Looking forward to it.

 

[Airframes]

Thanks Bruce.
Well, as I still haven't got the paints I need to continue with the '109 in the GB, I've made a start on the minor surgery required to convert the 'B' wing to the 'C' wing.
PIC 1. Many MkVs had twin strengthening strakes fitted to the upper wing above the wheel wells, some added as a retro-fit. The 'C' wing was essentially a 'new', stronger wing, so the kit's moulded strakes were removed with the aid of a chisel blade in the scalpel. To the right in this photo can be seen the small 'blob' representing the undercarriage indicator peg, not used on the 'C' wing, which was also removed.
PIC 2. The cannons have been removed, along with the reinforcing plates around their mounting points, and the 'B' wing cannon bulges cut out with the aid of a razor saw. The main spar panel line has been re-scribed where it runs across the area previously covered by the removed strakes.
PIC 3. A loose test fit of the 'C' cannon covers, sourced from the ICM Spitfire kit. The apertures will be 'plated' with plastic card inside the wing, and the covers cemented in place, with any filling being attended to as required, along with any re-scribing needed.
PIC 4. The underside of the wing has had the large cannon bulges removed, and the apertures will be 'plated' on both sides. The radiator 'block' has also been removed, and work is currently under way making some minor adjustments to the old 'Airfix' radiator bath, which will be fitted in place of the incorrect kit part.
That's all for now folks, I'll post another up-date soon.

 

[Wurger]

I smell the next great Terry's job.