**** DONE: GB-49 1:48 Spitfire Mk.I (EARLY) - Favourite A/C of WWII

[fubar57]

Hope you mend in a hurry Bernardo. Done with the Innards Green and when dry I'll add some other colours, wash and little bits

 

[Wayne Little]

Cool...!

 

[Wurger]

 

[rochie]

Looks great Geo

 

[Crimea_River]

Liking what I see.

 

[Berny5664]

Thank you Geo....
Lovely work in the while

 

[fubar57]

Thanks guys. Gout flared up and as my modelling room is downstairs, I'm limiting for a bit. Had I hadn't been a brain dead tard and recognized the early warning like I normally do, I could have popped a blue and white and prevented this. I should be able to get back shortly. Have to go up and get some more pain-killers. In the meantime, going back to one of Terry's posts, I found some Airfix magazine PDF's and on a whim, went looking for the another pic of AR212. There are only 88 issues shown and none have the photo. The search continues. This is where I was. Internet Archive Search: subject:"airfix magazine" Though they are oooooooooooooold, some are still relevant today

 

[Airframes]

I can feel your pain Geo - even after my recent medication treatment, standing and walking is still difficult, and getting up / down stairs is as dreaded nightmare. I'm also still having some attacks of inflammation / mild pain in the hands, wrists and fingers, and although nowhere near as severe as it has been, its prevented me getting much done on the Mossie this last 24 hours, so I understand how you feel.
I've just had a touch over half a bottle of pain killer, a rather nice, fruity red wine, and about to have an early night and hope things ease off. !

Regarding the magazine article I mentioned, it might have been in another modelling mag, or maybe even an aviation mag, such as "Flypast" - I do know it wasn't in "Airfix Magazine", although it might have been in one of the Airfix on-line articles.
I know I did keep all the magazines with "interesting" features, profiles etc,, but I fear it's now included in a solid block of "paper brick", which was once a pile of magazines stored in a carboard box, which was soaked when I had a flood from the water system header tank !

 

[fubar57]

Thanks Terry. I found a forum that said the "one and only" photo was in a Flypast magazine. You'd think a novel Spitfire would have had a few photos taken of it. Slowly progressing on the cockpit, just need to add seat harnesses and then I can start the fiddly business of putting it all together. I spent some time today whittling the bulkheads/IP slots to make sure they go in seamlessly and it took a bit. While the tape harnesses paint is drying I thought I would tackle another issue with the kit, the wonkie landing gear. One part needs to be added to the wing before you join the wing halves together. This part is about 1cm at its longest arm and you need to attach it in three places. The other problem is, when it comes to attach the landing gear to this piece, the join is very weak. Hard to see in the photo but the A arrow is pointing to a half moon mating surface and is the same on the gear strut. To strengthen this I took a .79 drill and added a hole to which a piece of wire will be inserted. B is showing a nub that needs to be inserted into a socket but the nub needs a lot of thinning to fit. It has to fit properly in order for the other end to rest in the cradle. Then and only then will C butt up against its very small mounting point. I don't know how many times I dropped this piece while test fitting and gluing. The part is now in and resting. I'll do the other side in the A.M.

 

[Crimea_River]

Sounds complicated but I trust you.

 

[fubar57]

Sounds overly complicated but I trust you.

I fixed that for you and I agree. The second one is now in place and went in a lot easier being forewarned. Hard to seen in the photo but mold seals ran all the way around the part (see above photo). These little parts are attached to the sprue at point "A" and the attachment points are as wide as the part. The best tool to remove this is the Tamiya Fine Craft Saw. I now use this exclusively to remove parts form the sprue. I takes a bit longer to remove but more than makes up for the time I would need to clean the part using sprue clippers. Probably 90% of the time, only a light sanding is required and other times I need to put my magnifying visor on to see where the attachment point was. "2" points to the attachment point Airfix has chosen for the wings. Part of it lies along the leading edge and part lies inside of the part. Using the saw required no cleanup along the leading edges and a knife and sand paper for the inside. I do like this method Airfix chose. Odd that Airfix chose not to add locating holes and nubs for the wings but that can be a good thing at times.

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Side-note to Andy regarding the saws. I use this "E" blade almost exclusively to remove the part and it is quite rigid. You mentioned your blade was flimsy and wondered if it was the folding method.....I think. A few days ago I swapped the blade out to remove a part that made "E" difficult to use and for the first time use the "A" blade. What a difference!! This blade was very wobbly, bending every time I made a cut. I noticed that it extended a bit further out of the knife a bit further. After I got the part remove, I swapped back to the "E" blade

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[Wurger]

 

[fubar57]

 

[Wurger]

 

[fubar57]

Edit to the above. Andy, I just noticed that there are three different craft saw blades. I have the "II" issue and they seem to be thicker. For those curios about the blades, two videos...

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[rochie]

Wow its like airfix tried their hardest to over engineer the landing gear connections !

 

[fubar57]

Yep. The earlier kit that I'm also doing has the normal method and the gear pops right into the hole and is very rigid, no glue needed

 

[Crimea_River]

Thanks for all that Geo. I have the II's as well. The problem I have is that I have 4 different holders and I was damned if I was going to drop another 25 bucks for Tamiya's wallet-grabbing holder. The thing is though that all of my holders aren't deep enough to allow the grip of the blade to be inserted all the way into the chuck and so I've made a compromise and snipped the grip half way down to make it fit. I've only used the one blade so far ( D or E, can't remember which) and it does work great, even with the shortened grip.

I've used PE saws for years to cut parts from sprues. I had (still have) the thinner Hasegawa ones but their big disadvantage is that they don't come with any kind of handle and so you have to grip them with your fingers, which is fine for most cases but very uncomfortable for others. Their thinness makes them good for scribing panel lines though

 

[fubar57]

Started cleaning up the upper wing halves and noticed Airfix had, on first inspection, added an injector mark in the most awkwardest of spots...

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Before grabbing my removal tools I took a close look and it turns out to be a hatch...

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...which is on top of the wing as well...

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Nice move Airfix however....why are there six fasteners on top and only four on the bottom? Completely unacceptable Airfix.....I almost tossed the kit

 

[Crimea_River]

I suggest you add the other two. 2BA Plain Nuts Hex Head.