++ **** DONE: 1/48 Spitfire IXe - Military Conflicts of the 1950's

[Crimea_River]

Username: Crimea River
First name: Andy
Category: Judge – Non-competing
Scale: 1/48
Manufacturer: Eduard
Model Type: Spitfire IXe
Aftermarket addons: None planned

This build will be a continuation of my stillborn attempt at completing the same model under the previous post-war GB. I only got so far as to get a little work done in the cocpkit and on the lower wing half. To see the build so far, go here

The model will depict a Spitfire IXe of the 107th Tayeset, Ramat David Air Bases, 1954.

 

[Crimea_River]

As mentioned in the separate thread noted above, I had stalled on this model during the last GB and, with thanks to the participants, I was able to move the build to this active GB. To show what little has been done since last working on it, I took the below pic with today's paper in the background.

 

[Wurger]

 

[Crimea_River]

Thanks for adding the "++" chief. Missed that.

 

[Wurger]

No problemo.

 

[Wayne Little]

thought you would be finished by now...

 

[Crimea_River]

Thanks guys.

Over the last two days, I did a bit of work on the cockpit, assembling the floor, instrument panel, and control stick. Eduard provide some really nice details here and I may enhance them a bit with the addition of some of the more prominent tubing.

 

[Wurger]

 

[T Bolt]

That does look nice

 

[Wayne Little]

Good stuff!

 

[Crimea_River]

Thanks guys. My busy summer continues and I'm away from my work bench again until Sept 3. Things should calm down after that though there is a master bathroom reno in the offing.

 

[Airframes]

Looking good Andy.

 

[Gnomey]

Lovely work so far Andy!

 

[Wayne Little]

have fun then...

 

[Crimea_River]

Hardly much fun Wayne. My parents are in their mid 80's and 2 months ago surprise us by buying a new house. I'm now sifting through 60 years of accumulated mementos, furniture, books, and, frankly, junk to help sort what goes and what doesn't.

Yesterday we removed some cabinets and a solid maple German workbench from the garage and carted it the 2 hours to the new place. Today I'll be replacing light fixtures and tomorrow we'll be painting.

 

[fubar57]

Liking it. The model that is. Moving.............sucks. Done 7 do far and hopefully the next and last one will be in the far distant future, 6ft. down and light packing

 

[Crimea_River]

Back home and back at it with a sore back.

I enhanced the cockpit by adding some hydraulic lines to the undercarriage selector, an oxygen hose, hand drawn placards, and cables on the control column.

Oddly, the PE belts that Eduard provide with this kit are the early Sutton harness type which are almost certainly inappropriate for this late production Spitfire. I was able to find a set of late war belts in my spares stash so I went and installed those.I further added the retraction cables and hanger using stretched sprue. I'll go back and slacken the belts a bit as they look a bit stiff now that I look at the pic.

With that done, I went and glued the fuselage together, taking care to line things up carefully and not mar the fine details near the seam behind the pit. The seam in front of the windscreen did not fully close despite my coaxing so I glued a piece of stretched sprue to this location which will fill the seam nicely after it's filed and sanded down. There is no surface detail in this area so I can go to town here and not worry about obliterating anything.

Moving quickly now, the wings were also glued together after I remembered to drill out the holes for the bomb pylons.

Eduard actually provide a de-icing tube with the kit. I must admit that I didn't see it on the instruction sheet before I assembled the radiator tubs to the lower wing. Installing it after the fact was a bit of a tricky operation and I ended up losing the part as it was so small. The simple remedy was to drill a hole from the inside of the wing and insert a piece of lead wire before I glued the upper half of the wing to the lower half. After the CA glue had set, it was relatively simple to bend the soft wire to the desired L-shape.

That's it for today. Hopefully I'll find a groove again and post more regular updates. Thanks for looking in.

 

[fubar57]

Great looking innards. Did you mix colors for the seat?

 

[Airframes]

Love the cockpit detail Andy - it's going to be another winner I think.

 

[Crimea_River]

Thanks guys. Geo, yes, it's a blend of Tamiya XF9 Hull Red and XF7 Red. I didn't record the ratio but I started with the Hull Red and added small quantities of the plain red til it looked about right.