**** DONE: GB-55 1:48 Supermarine Spitfire Mk.VIII - MTO lll

[fubar57]

Okay. Hold everything. I was over at a Japanese site Supermarine Spitfire Mk.Vb Airfix 1/48 that has awesome plans that I am told are accurate and found this....

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I then head over to home and check out the Contract Numbers and it looks like aircraft, JF470 is an early production model

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What say ye, Gents?

 

[N4521U]

Hmmmmmmm?
all I can offer.

 

[Vic Balshaw]

Fill the holes in unless you want pretty colours on your under-wing.

 

[Wurger]

 

[Donivanp]

A whole new ball game. I mean the Japanese should know everything about the Spitfire right? It is after all made by Mitsubishi right?

 

[fubar57]

Fill the holes in unless you want pretty colours on your under-wing.

Thy will be done. Part 1 of the wheel well boxing done, a tad awkward. Eduard would have you build the box first and then install. I glued #1 & #2 together and let it set up. I then placed #3 in position first as it was the most positive fit. Waiting a minute or so to allow for wiggle room, I glued #4 in place. Waiting a bit longer, I slotted #1/#2 into place; nice and snug. The multi-part wheel wells proper is next up

 

[fubar57]

Wheel wells done. Once again Eduard ask you to join the parts together before gluing them to the wing. For me, who was born with only two thumbs, this is a bit fiddly. I mounted #1 first as it has a positive lock with the small tab and then glued on #2 and then #3

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It was only after I started editing the photos that I noticed that #1 hadn't seated properly and there was a bit of spare plastic hanging on at #2. I went down and corrected

 

[Crimea_River]

These pics can be useful in their own way. Good work. No clue on those lights.

 

[N4521U]

Awesome stuff!

 

[Vic Balshaw]

Talk about complicating modelling. Well executed Geo.

 

[Donivanp]

While l like eduard kits, I feel they go out of there way to over complicate the kit. Tamiya gets you all the details without adding an additional six hundred fiddly bit parts. This seems to me to be a case of adding six (three each side) parts that could have been pre-molded as part of the wing assembly or at a outside one extra per side. Sometimes I'm sure they are just trying to jack the kit parts number up. Look folks is 15000 pieces.
Well my two cents worth. I did their 109G-6 a while back and compared it to Hasegawa's. Yes I enjoyed Eduard but I preferred the Hasegawa. Now I have Tamiya's and will probably enjoy it even more.

 

[Wurger]

 

[fubar57]

Thank you. The togetherness is about to happen. Just need to finish gluing up the left wing. A test fit of the fuselage/right wing join shows no gaps, a first for me

 

[Wurger]

 

[fubar57]

More fiddling. Four part exhaust that has to be installed before painting the camouflage. Had the upper cowl been a one piece affair instead of two, this could have been avoided. Roy Sutherland(sp) makes a one piece replacement but I'm cheap.. The two upper cowl pieces do fit together very well on the fuselage but the seam is still visible. Back to the exhausts. I glued part G12 to G4 first as this fit firmly into the slots. When dry I offered up part G11 which takes a bit of fiddling. When dry part G44 is glued to the end of part G11 only

 

[Wurger]

 

[Vic Balshaw]

Very complex, got the brain cell working overtime.

 

[Donivanp]

Brain cell overload. Interestingly enough I have several of the Eduard Spits in my stache.

 

[fubar57]

Wing attached. Seamless wing roots and on the bottom, a first for me. Dihedral spot on as well. Tail feathers tomorrow. Heading to PG on Monday. While the family is back to school shopping for the grandkid, I'm going to look for some Vallejo Model Air PRU Blue. If it can't be had, I found a Tamiya mix

 

[Wurger]