Brendan 'Paddy' Finucane Spitfire Mk Vb.

Thanks Guys. Good to be back. The research on 'Paddy' Finucane, that was keeping me out of the pub, as it were, is completed and I've forwarded it to those who've already sent e-mail addresses. If anyone else is interested, please PM me an e-mail address and I'll send on a PDF.

Gerry

I've managed to get some basic painting and scratch-building done on this build. Detailed painting and dry-brushing still to be done on everything. The interior green has been sprayed and a contrasting muddier wash sprayed over and hand painted in places. I'm very aware that there have been at least two really impressive builds of Spitfires recently, Zaxos354's (John's) Mk IX Tamiya kit and Ajcmac's ongoing MkVb build of the Hobby Boss kit so I've got very high standard to aim for. Here's my progress so far.



This is the Aries pilot's seat. The seat belts will be painted and added later.



The Aries frame and support for the pilot's seat.



The top fuel tank (kit) and the control stick (Aries). The cable detail was moulded on, and the painting needs careful retouching.



The Aries cockpit floor. The centre black box and cable are additions. I'm hoping to follow John's example and add lots of cables and wires to make this look more authentic.



Basic painting done to pick out the main panels and controls. I intend to add a lot of the 'plumbing' to make it look busier.



As you can see, I've also scratch-built the anchor point for the seat belts in the rear fuselage.



I'm still working on the port cockpit side. Again, I'll add as much detail as I can.

That's it so far, but as I've been building, there are a couple of questions that have arisen which I would appreciate a steer on: Would the inside of the engine compartment have been finished in interior green or Alumimium ( I have the choice of leaving some of the panels off to expose the engine); would the wheel bays be interior green or Medium Sea Grey?

I'll keep you posted as I make more progress.

Gerry

Nice start Gerry glad to see you back at it.

Good stuff Gerry. Engine bay was in the Cockpit Grey/Green. Wheel wells were normally the exterior underside colour, but the channels for the gear legs were often Cockpit Green, unless over sprayed at a later date. Inside of gear doors was the same colour as exterior.
Note that the seat harness anchor point and release pulley was further aft - the part you've made is the guide bridge for the Bowden cables of the harness.

Thanks Jerry - and Terry, thanks for the information. I think those cables will now extend into the dark recesses of the fuselage.

Gerry

Great start Gerry. You'll find an excellent series of cockpit detail shots here to assist with your details: http://spitfiresite.com/2010/07/anatomy-of-spitfire-cockpit.html

Lovely work so far Gerry!

Great work!!

Good stuff Gerry

...and let's not get confused in here...no more mentioning Gerry, Terry and Jerry in the same post!

Verry good advice Wayne.

Thanks Guys, and Wayne, believe me, I'm as confused myself.

Andy thanks for that referral to the link. I had it tagged from before and am finding it enormously helpful for the cockpit interior.

Cheers,

Gerry

Nice going Jerry....Terry...sorry, Gerry!

Thanks Lucky. Here's what I've been up to since my last photos post. I've been concentrating on detailing and painting the cockpit. The cockpit is largely the Aries resin and PE kit, which I have supplemented with some controls from the kit and with various gauges of painted fuse wire for the plumbing lines and cables. I have also added some AirScale cockpit placards.

Picture 1. The cockpit floor. The fuse wire cables still need to be tensioned. The rudder pedals are from the kit with PE straps added.

Pictures 2 3. The port cockpit wall. I added my interpretation of the IFF radio between frames 12 13. Other than that,it's from the Aries set and the kit with a couple of plastic card panels and electrical cables made from painted fuse wire.

Pictures 4, 5 6. The starboard cockpit wall. Lots of painted wire plumbing. Unfortunately, as you'll see later, most of the detail on the lower half of the wall will be covered up when the pilot's seat is added.

Pictures 7 8. The Aries instrument console. The printed instrument dials on acetate were sandwiched behind the PE bezels which I dry-brushed. The compass decal came from a set of 1/32 instrument decals, which I had (not included in either the kit or the Aries instruments). Other than that, only a couple of wires were added.

Pictures 9, 10, 11 12. As I'm still testing for fit when the fuselage is joined together, the only parts that have been cemented are the frames and part frames. The floor is just 'clipped' into position and the instrument panel is loosely positioned. the seat is just sitting on its supports. I have already discovered that when the fuselage is joined the seat is pushed out of straight on the starboard side. Either some more sanding is needed or I may have to remove something (hidden by the seat position) from the wall. And obviously, the cables still need refining and tightening.

Next step is to work on the seat harness, then the engine and tail wheel, at which point I could think about closing the fuselage.

An aside for those of you more technically minded: The last photos post I sent via Photobucket. I found that it allowed me to intersperse the pictures with my comments, which I prefer rather than front-loading them. However when I tried to use it for this post I found that it wouldn't allow me to copy the 'IMG' address for each photo, despite downloading a recommended newer version of Flash. Just wondering if anyone else is having the same problem?

More anon.

Gerry

Coming along nicely Gerry!

That's superb work there Gerry. Love the instrument panel - top notch!

Very nice indeed Gerry, and I agree about the instrument panel too.

Really nice Gerry that I.P. looks great.

Sorry Guys, but I just can't avoid it: Terry, Jerry, Andy and Gnomey, thanks as always for your continuing support.

Gerry

Beautiful work mate!