**** DONE: GB-42 1/48 Spitfire Mk.Vb - MTO II

[fubar57]

Whacking great attachment point...

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...more whacking great attachment points and mold shift(?) Not happy with attachment point locations as it took forever to clean up...

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....again it took a long time to clean up the trim wheel...

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Steps 1 & 2 parts, minus throttle quadrant...

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Steps 1 & 2 complete with throttle quadrant. I'll let the glue dry and tidy it up

 

[fubar57]

Turned the lightning divots into holes. Pretty nerve wracking doing the cross-member on the left as there wasn't much plastic left.

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A bit of clean-up to do yet

 

[rochie]

Good stuff Geo.
Have this kit and its not filling me with confidence!

 

[Wurger]

 

[fubar57]

Its not too bad Karl..............yet? Many past build out there too help get passed the pitfalls. I'm glad I worked on the cover right off the get-go to get that major hurdle off my mind. A small issue coming up; because of the CAD "precision" in making the kit, any paint or left over attachment point may hinder assembly. It's mentioned in a few builds that the slots in the fuselage side walls were a bit narrow and needed to be widened to accept the cockpit. I just did a test fit and the left side was snug and the rear slot on the right side was very snug.

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I'll widen it out a bit and watch out where the paint goes. Note the half circle hole on the bottom of the sidewall halves. This is where the ID(?) light ends up after it goes through the fuselage. Several builders had problems here; the hole is too small and the clear part may interfere with the cockpit. As it won't be seen in the end, I'm going to make it flush with the fuselage

 

[Wurger]

 

[Crimea_River]

Looks like your research is paying off. Once together it all looks pretty good.

 

[fubar57]

Thanks. Seat is done.

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At this stage of the war, would part of the harness go through the notch in the seat back or just over the top and into the fuselage?

 

[Wurger]

 

[Airframes]

Harness over the top, through a slot in the head armour, with a 'Bowden' cable running to the anchor point in top, mid fuselage.
The slot was fro lifting the seat out of the cockpit.

 

[fubar57]

Many thanks Terry. I think I have one set of PE harnesses left.....somewhere

 

[fubar57]

Forgot the seat adjustment lever, seat is now done. Parts for the next step: armour and seat frame which is in four parts. I have since opened the slot in the head armour plate to accommodate the seat harness.

 

[Crimea_River]

Good stuff Geo. I have yet to see a manufacturer that doesn't make the sides of that seat look like 2 inch slabs of granite. I always file them down to make them thinner.

 

[fubar57]

I totally dropped the ball on that Andy. The sides were separate and it would have been so easy to thin. It was only after I had painted it that smart George showed up for the build. Anyhoo...........the rudder pedals and more great whacking attachment points.

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Preferring not to incur puncture wounds, I opened up the pedals while they were still attached.

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I.P. prepped for the deecal

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A.1 is pointing to the part of the decal that needs to be removed and placed separately as it won't fit

 

[Wurger]

 

[fubar57]

Hard to see but I got up at 0dark30 and thinned the edges of the seat...

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...onward...............

 

[Wurger]

 

[Gnomey]

Lovely work so far George!

 

[Crimea_River]

Sorry I brought it up. Had you tossing and turning did I? Looks better now.

 

[fubar57]

Thanks guys. Finally started painting. First up, the aluminum bits using Tamiya X-32 Titanium Silver. I like this over the XF-16 Flat Aluminum as I think it adds a bit of depth. I will go over the bottles with the -16. I'm not too bothered about the ejector marks; it going to be darkish back there looking through the brace, around seat harness parts and through clear plastic.

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