**** DONE: GB-62 1/48 Spitfire Vc Trop - Spitfires

[Crimea_River]

Thanks again. A small bit of work today.

Exhaust stain added. Strangely, it didn't cover the fuel spill but that works for me.

Cockpit external bits added. Lots of PE here with the latching mechanism on the hatch, the rear view mirror (2 pieces of very fiddly PE), and the sliding canopy latch all visible in the below pic.

Eduard's fit on the windscreen is the best I've seen on all my Spitfire kits. No fettling was needed.

I still see some decal flakes now that I look at this close up - I can't see them with the naked eye but I might see if I can remove them.

Thanks again for the looks and likes.

 

[Vic Balshaw]

Looks better every time you show it.

 

[fubar57]

Yep, love that PE

 

[Wayne Little]

looks real nice Andy.

 

[Viking1066]

 

[Wurger]

 

[Crimea_River]

Thanks very much gentlemen. Should get this one buttoned up by early next week.

 

[Crimea_River]

A few fiddly bits were added late today added and the surface dusted up with a VERY thin coat (like 95% thinner to 5% paint) of Tamiya Buff mostly over the rear areas.

IFF antenna wires:

Antenna mast and light lens added. I chose not to depict the base of the antenna in the bare red/brown colour, reasoning that the application of desert colours at the MU would have covered it.

Finally, I added the undercarriage down indicators on the wings. These are often overlooked in kits but Eduard supply PE parts for these. That said, I chose not to use them as they seemed a bit large and so I made them myself from painted styrene card.

Finally, I'm looking for opinions on this last bit: Eduard's instructions say to apply the little hooks that allowed the drop tanks to fall cleanly away from the aircraft (PE38 below) to only one scheme and that they are not applicable to my Malta Spit option.

However, given that BR301 was flown off the USS WASP in Operation Bowery, I have to think that this aircraft carried ferry tanks for that journey and that, if that's the case, the hooks would have been needed for those tanks. I also assume the ground crews would have left them on the plane.

Thoughts?

 

[Vic Balshaw]

All good stuff Andy.

 

[Jock Tamson]

Very nice I agree with your assumption that ferry tanks would likely have been used and that subsequently the hooks would be present.

 

[Vic Balshaw]

Check out this:

Operation Bowery - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

It does give an indication that tanks were used.

 

[Crimea_River]

Decided to attach the hooks but, uncharacteristically of Eduard, the instruction sheet is a bit vague as to placement. So I cut the ferry tank from the sprue , loosely placed it, and glued on the PE hooks accordingly. If I had put them in the rough area shown on the instruction sheet, the tank would miss the hooks and live up to its name "slipper tank".

Funny how I discover things only after I look at my blown up pics. The hooks aren't centered - dang it!

Here's the same set up, sans tank and with the hooks painted. I'll mull over whether or not they are worth moving at this point. Those of you who prefer a relatively clean underside will be horrified. I added plenty of oil stains and dust as would befit, in my humble opinion, operational Spits during the frantic Malta campaign.

Thanks again for looking. Finished pics should go up in a day or two.

 

[Wurger]

 

[Gnomey]

Good work so far Andy!

 

[Crimea_River]

Thanks guys.

I corrected the errant hook and they are now centered, though the one I moved is now cockeyed when viewed at 3x zoom:

One thing I noticed is that the cannon ejection ports, as moulded, don't reflect the outer gun placement on the wing. The outer port is faired over and the inner one has the port opened. Two of the schemes that Eduard allow you to do would require work in this area to represent this area correctly - mine with the outer gun and another with both cannons - but Eduard's instructions don't address this. At this point, I'm not going to risk breaking off fiddly bits in trying to correct this. At least I'm aware of the issue.

Here are a couple of final detail shots to close out the build:

That concludes the mission and I'll post the Finished pics shortly. I'd like to thank all who've followed along, those who offered insight and advice, and those that dropped some comments and likes here and there.

 

[Wurger]

 

[Vic Balshaw]

Very nicely done Andy, a great build.

 

[Berny5664]

It has been a pleasure for me to follow this work of yours Andy. I learned a lot of new things and got to know the history of an interesting aircraft.
Thank you for all this

Berny

 

[le_steph40]

 

[Crimea_River]

Thanks everyone. Surely another picture of BR301 will now emerge!