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

[Airframes]

Seems a bit of a struggle with that gear attachment - a bit complex for no apparent reason, rather than accurate-ish shape ?
BTW, I have the Airwaves saw blades, and although they work very well, I found a problem.
They are supposed to fit the Swann Morton No..3 handle ( I already had one handle, but bought another specifically for use with the saw blades ), but they don't !
I found that the narrowing "slot" on the blades will not allow the blade to fully engage onto the "ridge" of the handle, causing a slight bend at the rear of the blade, and therefore it's not completely secure.
The blades can be used without the handle, and have an etched "grip" area, but my knackered hands don't allow me to use them this way.
I need to check-out the SM No.4 handle, as I think the Hannant's instructions may be incorrect.

 

[fubar57]

Puttering along. Installed the I.P. onto the left sidewall and once dry, I'll join the two sidewall halves together. I noticed that I moved the rudder pedal piece while filming and went down and straightened it out. This is the beginning of another fun part on Airfix's behalf. There are no locaters on the sidewall halves. So the I.P. will fit into a slot on the other panel while the cross-member for the radiator lever fits into a 1.5mm hole on the other panel while the cross piece of the rudder assembly fits into a 1mm square hole on the other panel. While holding this all solidly together, one needs to use their third hand to add glue

 

[Crimea_River]

Not sure the vintage of this kit but their Mk XIV is well engineered except for the famous fuel tank issue.

 

[Wurger]

 

[rochie]

Good stuff Geo, looked last night and my Spitfire Vb kit from Airfix is the same as this one !

 

[fubar57]

Andy, this spawn of Hell comes from the original Mk.V upgrade (sorry Karl). I did that in GB49 and I should have gone back and reviewed it more. I did widen the slots that the frames and I.P. fit in this time and they did fit in much better last night. Compare that to the Mk.V where I broke the rear frame in four pieces trying to sledgehammer it into place. There's really no need for the radiator lever to span across the cockpit floor as 99% of it is invisible once all is buttoned up. Its not really bad, just fiddly and needs a little extra work. Anyhoo..........all the cockpit parts are now glued and setting. On a side note, I have three more Airfix Spitfires, Mk.XII, PR.XIX and Seafire F.XVII and these have none of the fiddlyness

 

[rochie]

The MkXII is an excellent kit, mine went together very well !

 

[fubar57]

Good to know. Time permitting, I may do the PR.XIX as well. Bill has done the RAF version so I'll do the Swedish one. Started gluing the wing parts together. With no locating holes a bit fiddly. The upper half has the wing tip as one piece and the lower part butts up against this so I glued here first and as the glue started to set, I lined up the leading edges and started gluing from the tip to the wing root and got a very nice fit

 

[Crimea_River]

I built the XII as well. **** DONE: 1/48 Spitfire Mk XII - OOB (Out of Box) unofficial GB-2015.

 

[fubar57]

Good read and will use as a reference later on. A shame more squadrons didn't use them. Even though I press fit the I.P. into the fuel tank cover and got it to seat properly, now it doesn't. This was the same as the Mk.V. I filed away for quite a bit then I decided to run black paint around the I.P.. You can see the problem area on the left. Filled in an ejector mark in the radiator housing which I doubt you would have seen anyhow. Grills done with a base-coat of Flat Aluminum, washed with Citadel Black Ink and dry brushed with Flat Aluminium.

 

[Crimea_River]

Rad rads.

 

[Wurger]

 

[rochie]

Good stuff

 

[Wayne Little]

 

[fubar57]

Thanks all. Stuff getting done, slowly. Bored out the exhausts...

​

...and got the main parts together. I'll add the tail feathers next and then bolt it all together. A test fit shows some gaps at the wing/fuselage join. I'm first going to try adding a spacer behind the mounting lugs under the fuselage and if that doesn't work....there be mud

 

[rochie]

Nice

 

[Wurger]

 

[Crimea_River]

Don't forget the signal lamp lens like I did!

 

[fubar57]

As I did on the other GB?

 

[Wayne Little]

looking good Geo.