GB-37 1/48th Spitfire M k1a - Helicopters / Military aircraft of BoB 1940

looks terrific. all that extra work on the sides is very pleasing along with the harness.

Thank very much Michael.

Progressed quite a bit overnight - I stayed up all night, trying to get my 'body clock' back in line.
There were a couple of things that needed attention before making and fitting the gun sight reflector screen, and these are shown below.

PIC 1. The first 310 Spitfires had the original, tubular antenna mast, slimmer and taller than the later 'streamlined' mast commonly associated with the Spit, at approximately 68 cm in height. Most, if not all, Spitfire kits have the later mast, which had a substantial, slightly raised, reinforcing base plate, shown here being filed off.
PIC 2. The early mast had a thin rectangular plate in this location, with the mast set into an insulator 'pot' on the base, and the plate is in the process of being engraved in this pic, along with the panel joint immediately aft of it. The mast itself will be fitted after painting the model, and I'll probably use alloy tube, with the 'wire' threaded through the inside bore, as on the real aircraft.
PICS 3 and 4. The reflector sight at this period had a circular reflector screen, so the 'square' screen was removed from the gun sight, the sight body painted, and then cemented in place. Once set, a disk was punched from clear sheet, and attached to the front of the sight. I would have preferred to have used thinner clear plastic, but this tended to 'dish' when punched. There should also be small support brackets on either side of the screen, but that job was beyond the capabilities of my stiff hands at the moment !
PIC 5. The upper wing sections are moulded with the muzzles for the two outer guns protruding from the leading edge. Whilst this was the original arrangement in early RAF service, by the time of the BoB, modifications had been made to the barrel nut, and the removal of the flash suppressors, with the muzzles now inside the wing blast tubes. The muzzles have been removed, and the blast tubes opened up - they'll eventually be covered with painted tissue, simulating the doped fabric patches.
PICS 6 and 7. The undercarriage indicator pegs on the upper wings are represented by small 'blisters' (red arrow). These have been removed, and small holes drilled. Once the model has been painted, decalled and clear coated, the 'pegs' will be added, made from stretched sprue, painted red.
PIC 8. The windscreen and rear canopy in place. A small part of the lower, port frame on the windscreen cracked off when removing the part from the sprue. The gap will be filled with PVA. Once fully set and blended-in, the clear parts will be masked, and the frames painted in the interior colour first.
PIC 9. The wing has been assembled, and the leading edge seams cleaned up and sanded. The base of the internal section has been painted in the appropriate interior colours, matching the corresponding areas of the fuselage interior. The radiator and oil cooler assemblies will be fitted once the wing has been attached to the fuselage, along with the lower cowling section, and any filling required has been completed.
PIC 10. Test-fitting of the wing assembly, only pushed in place here, is positive, and shows that any filling will be minimal, if indeed any filler is needed..

That's it for now. Got a routine hospital appointment later, and possibly going out tonight (if I'm still awake !), so the next up-date will be some time over the weekend.
Thanks again to all for the interest and positive comments.

Good progress Terry.

Thanks Wojtek and Andy.
Can't get any more done at the moment - had my monthly blood test a couple of hours ago, and can only just raise my arm. Don't know what the nurse did, but it's left me bl**dy stiff and sore !!
Maybe a couple of pints will relax things a bit - to the pub !!

Long time since I met a nurse who left me stiff and sore......

Ah, you just have to have the right 'patter' Andy - and of course, me being so handsome, dusky skinned and my brown, 'moody' eyes, and dark hair helps, and the moustache of course.
Oh, hang on !
The 'tash' is no more, the eyes are cloudy, hair receding (with dark bits in he grey !), and the skin is dusty, not dusky !
"What ?"
"Oh, yes Nurse, OK, i'll go back to bed ............. is it time for my cocoa yet ?"

Got everything in place that needs to be for now, and the model will be ready for paint after a clean and check-over of the joints etc.

PIC 1. All canopy parts attached, sealed with PVA, the damaged lower windscreen frame repaired, again using PVA (difficult to see in this pic, as it's clear !), and masked. The windscreen became detached when applying the masking tape, so I took the opportunity to add the supports for the gun sight reflector glass.
PIC 2. All of the various small holes have been filled with PVA, and the slots for the exhausts have been masked with tape, to prevent any chance of spray 'mist' entering the cockpit. This will be peeled off after painting and clear-coating the model.
PIC 3. Main wings on. These only needed a very small amount of sanding around the leading edge wing root joints.
PIC 4. The joint at the rear of the underside of the wing has had a bead of PVA applied, to seal the joint.
PIC 5. Oil cooler, lower cowling panel, carb intake and radiator fitted, after painting the internal parts of the rad. The thin primer coat was applied to check the joints around the carb intake and lower cowl, which were sealed with PVA.
PIC 6. The canopy frames have been painted in the interior colour. A touch more PVA will be added to the repaired area, in order to fill it out a little more.
PIC 7. Tail-planes on. A hole has been drilled in the port wing root for the gun camera aperture, and the camera access hatch engraved, and then given a thin primer coat to check the work and the root joints.

I'm aiming to get the underside colour (Sky) sprayed either tonight, or some time tomorrow, so I'll be back when it's done.

Spit's coming along nicely Terry. Yes nurse, whatever you say...

Thanks Kirby. Makes a change to build a simple kit. Oh, did I say it was going to be 'OOB' ?
Er ... ahem !

Thanks Wojtek.

Quick work there Terry.

Thanks Andy - once the cockpit is done, the rest just falls together, and not that many parts to assemble either.

Doing great there Terry....nothing wrong with Simple...

Great work so far Terry!

Looks great Terry
That cockpit looked fantastic with all the mods you did

Thanks very much chaps, it's most appreciated.
Just cleaned and checked the model, and should get the underside sprayed soon.
Pics probably tomorrow.

Got the 'Sky' sprayed on the underside last night, using Model Master enamel.The gear legs and doors were also sprayed at the same time.
It looks a tad greenish in the pics, due to mixed lighting. I should get the Dark Earth done on the upper surfaces later today, if the 'Sky' is hard enough to mask, which it should be the time I get back to the spray bench.

You are moving like lightning Terry.