**** DONE: GB-57 1/48 Spitfire MK.XVIe Low-back - WW2 Foreign Service

[Crimea_River]

So given this wingtip mystery, I'm thinking of a Plan B for a scheme if you guys can allow a little leeway on the date. Several schemes with known clipped wings in the occupying force during summer of 1945. Looking at 2I-V of 443 Squadron at Utersen Germany August 1945. I have the Kagero Topcolors sheet for this one but it's missing the small "Doris" script near the cockpit that I would have to create somehow. There are other possibilities in the same time period.

 

[fubar57]

Do it

 

[Wurger]

Andy, I'm sure the TB891 had the clipped wing. I have spent some of time trying to find the pic of the kite. But it may not exist though. So I made a focus on the Spitfires of the serial range the TB891 belonged to. I found images of the TB885 , TB886, TB 889, TB890, TB892, TB898 (profile), TB900, TB902,TB991. All of them , no matter what fuselage type , had the clipped wing. I know that there were delivered Mk.XVI with the full span wing but actually I have found a couple of the era pics with such Spits only. But these belonged to different batches. Personally I doubt the factory workers would make an exeption for one kite while all batch had the clipped wing.

 

[Crimea_River]

Wojtek understood and appreciated. The wing tips were easily changed in the field though.

In my opinion, there MUST be a pic in existence otherwise how could someone make the observation that the s/n was faded? Bracken had probably the largest collection of RCAF Spit photos and not all were published in his books. Unfortunately he passed several years ago and I don't know who got his collection.

All I've been trying to do is to see if someone has that picture, both here and at Britmodeller.

 

[Wurger]

Wojtek understood and appreciated. The wing tips were easily changed in the field though.

That's true. But in all pictures of the Mk.XVI with the standard wing, the continuity of the camo spots can be noticed. IMHO neither the factory nor maintenance crew would prepare a pair of the wing tip sets for each airframe and attach them respectively to keep the camo layout. Also I haven't heard the CBF provided the spare wing tips for any Spitfire they made. Either the full span wing or the clipped one. Just my two cents.

 

[Vic Balshaw]

Go for you life Andy, its your build.

 

[Crimea_River]

So, I'll reserve a decision on the scheme til a bit later but will get going on the kit. I made a mistake regarding the "Doris" script in post 21 as I was going by memory there. Turns out that "Doris" was painted on a contemporary Spitfire XIV of 443 Squadron coded 2I-K and so it doesn't apply to 2I-V. I do like the scheme though (from The Spitfire Mk XVI in the Dominions ):

This is the old ICM kit whose moulds date back to 2001 and it leaves a lot to be desired. The claim to fame of the ICM Spits at the time was that they were the most accurate dimensionally and, with all the included details, were great value for the money. Eduard of course came out with their Spitfire IX/XVI in 2013 and this blew away everything else in terms of accuracy, details, and surface textures. The other issue with the early ICM moulds was the use of soft plastic and this was evident when I reopended the box last night and noticed the warped fuselage halves.

I don't think this will be a big issue though as the plastic is so soft that it can easily be brought together but it does mean extra care as there are no locating pins. That said, I seem to be missing all the clear parts for the kit which could have been disasterous if it weren't for the fact that I have a spare windshield and the unique sliding canopy left over from previous Spitfire builds. They aren't from the same kits (Tamiya and Airfix I think) but they match reasonably close so it seems I'll get away with this if I pose the model with the canopy cracked open.

This build will be a bit of a let-down after the amazing engineering on the Tamiya P-38 but the kit is there and needs to be built. I'll need to go over my old ICM Spitfire IX build to see what learnings I can pick up from that and I'll see you again soon once I launch into this kit.

 

[le_steph40]

Andy,
If I'm not mistaken, the opening at the rear of the fuselage was provided by ICM to receive a dorsal fin for the versions concerned
Well, OK, I go out

 

[Vic Balshaw]

Some of these old kits can be a bit of a challenge but for a modeller at your level, child's play. You have also proven that one should never chuck surplus parts from completed models, even if you have to hire acquire a shipping container to store them in.

 

[Crimea_River]

Thanks for your vote of confidence Vic. In order to refresh my memory of all the tribulations I had with these ICM Spits and to hopefully not fall into any traps, I went through my earlier two builds (**** DONE: 1/48 Spitfire MkVIII - Home Country Modern Aircraft/Spitfire Marks GB and **** DONE: 1/48 ICM Spitfire Mk IX AE-B Ian Keltie of 402 SQDN RCAF Commonwealth GB) and now shudder at the work ahead. Having just come off a superbly engineered Tamiya P-38, I now see that I will have a potentially frustrating build ahead. The weird thing that my wak down memory lane revealed is that I DID have the clear parts for this kit as I made reference to them in the Ian Keltie build. So now the question is, what the heck happened to them? My practice has been to keep a large kit box and collect spares from all related kits in that box. In this case, I have all spares from all my previous Spitfire builds in an Eduard Spitfire IX box and that's where I looked for the clear parts, given that they weren't in the box for this unbuilt ICM kit. I thought maybe I used the parts on later builds but that's not the case either so I'll need to look a litte harder for them.

Anyway, I hope to make a start on this soon. I've been fiddling with the parts a bit already but there's been no glue spewing yet.

 

[Vic Balshaw]

The modellers dilemma.
Check kit, work on an idea, ponder, question, work solution, decide, think again, find possibly a better solution, think of starting a spreadsheet, decide that's a bit over the top. Realize it's all to hard, close kit box, have a beer, go watch TV, will try again tomorrow.

 

[SaparotRob]

It makes it easier if you don't bother with the insides and stuff. I found it quicker to get down to dog strafing that way.

 

[Crimea_River]

Did all those except the beer Vic. On a bit of a weight loss kick right now so have to give up everything I like of course.

 

[Vic Balshaw]

"weight loss", ugly words that echo through my mind, going away on a little train ride in a few weeks and looks like I'm go'na have to go buy some new slacks.

 

[36feet10inches]

I'm looking forward to this one. I have a couple of ICM Mk XVIs that I got as cost-effective "carriers" for leftover Eduard decals.

Remind me, is there a way to "follow" a build, i.e. get notifications on updates?

 

[Snautzer01]

I'm looking forward to this one. I have a couple of ICM Mk XVIs that I got as cost-effective "carriers" for leftover Eduard decals.

Remind me, is there a way to "follow" a build, i.e. get notifications on updates?

See first post. On top of that there is a "watch" / follow button.

 

[Crimea_River]

Oh Lordy, the pressure is on now!.

 

[fubar57]

36feet10inches If you have contributed to a thread, whether a comment, photo or link, an update to the thread automatically shows up in the little bell at the top right

 

[Crimea_River]

OK, I've tiptoed into this build now with work on the cockpit. Not all the details are correct for a late Spitfire but I'm not going to fuss over that too much as I'm likely going to pose the canopy closed or slightly cracked open. Things started with the addition of the air bottles and a shot of aluminum that I had in the brush when I did the last few bits on the Lightning.

The landing gear lever was chopped off and moved to the DOWN position though it's hard to see in the above pic. I also would normally add the oxygen bottle on the starboard side but this time it will be hidden under the deck.

The floor and frame 11 were then assembled. Though it doesn't appear so, the lightening holes in the frame are drilled out. The back armour plate is from another ICM Spit and, rather than make a new one as I've done before, I simply rubbed this one on some 80 grit sandpaper to thin it down. I like the grey plastic a lot more than the white.

The seat has always been a sore point with me. Both my previous ICM Spits benefited from aftermarket Ultracast resin seats but I wasn't going to blow more cash on this kit. I thinned the walls on the kit seat to make it look a little more passable. The painted seat in the below pic is an unused one from one of the other ICM kits posed for comparison next to the one I modified.

There are still issues with the seat, namely the missing depression in the bottom and also the notch on the left hand side. However, I'm going to borrow a trick from Terry and scratch up a parachute pack that will occupy the bucket so none of this will matter.

Finally, I shot my mix of Tamiya paints for the cockpit grey-green, adding a darker coat in areas that will be in shade. I wasn't sure how much of the floor would be seen so I made sure to paint the inside of the lower wing half to hide this bright white plastic. The paint is basic at the moment and details will be picked out in the next steps.

Thanks for looking in chaps.

 

[Vic Balshaw]

Glad I did look in. With your usual flair for the finer detail, its looking good Andy.