Tamiya's New Spitfire Mk I N3200 of 19 Squadron

[Tony Hill]

Beautiful work Mate!

I have no idea what the box over the pneumatic bottles is supposed to be... but definitely has no place there on an early Spitfire or even a Mk V that I can find.

 

[Airframes]

Nice work Andy.
Just noticed the intake scoop on the port side, under the windscreen lower frame line - don't think that was present on the Mk.1.

 

[Crimea_River]

Thanks cellmates.

Beautiful work Mate!

I have no idea what the box over the pneumatic bottles is supposed to be... but definitely has no place there on an early Spitfire or even a Mk V that I can find.

Yeah, I now regret jumping the gun on that one before checking. I tried removing it last night but it was beginning to tear the underlying plastic so I stopped. I'm going to need to think of something else. By the way, the kit does supply the voltage regulator which is mounted on the back of frame 11 so this box, whatever it is, is not that.

Nice work Andy.
Just noticed the intake scoop on the port side, under the windscreen lower frame line - don't think that was present on the Mk.1.

Correct Terry, another clue that a Mk V is in the works. The instructions do say to file that scoop off but I just haven't got to it yet. I'm actually "yellowing off" the instruction steps as I complete them to keep track.

Last night I drilled out the lightening holes on frame 11 and the seat mount and glued these all together. Pics some time later today.

 

[Airframes]

I'm wondering if that 'box' on the port side is something that was on the 'pattern' aircraft used for the research for the kit, presumably a restored, probably airworthy example, maybe Duxford based.
It could be a 'modern' fixture or requirement, maybe a fatigue meter, or associated with radio / nav aids ?
Just a guess, but I don't recall seeing that on any Spitfire.

 

[Crimea_River]

Not sure Terry. If you look at the restored N3200 shown at the bottom of my post #35, a peek through the rear window confirms it's not there on that one. In any event, I've now been able to remove it without damaging the outside of the fuselage so it's in my distant past now.

 

[Airframes]

Good stuff. Maybe it was a storage box for anti-virus face masks ...............

 

[Crimea_River]

.....which would be ransacked by now.

Just checking in with some progress pics before splashing on some paint. The black that you see was because I had some left over from another project and I used it to spray some shadow areas.

As mentioned earlier, the seat and frame 11 have been assembled after drilling out the lightening holes. Another thing that needed to be done per the instructions was to remove the nubs for the head armour and that's why you see a bit of roughness at those locations.

Work on the starboard wall includes, from left to right:

1. addition of an oxygen line to a scratch built bayonet fitting for the hose.
2. Above the bayonet fitting is a cockpit light and electrical lead going down to the longeron.
3. Height and airspeed computor added (round circle with the holding flap which is hard to see)
4. Wires emanating from the bottom of the signalling switch. These no doubt would need to continue down through separate tub but it's a bit hard to make that happen.
5. Toggle release and wire for the seat harness sitting on top of the longeron
6. Fabricated the hydraulic tank and stuck it in place.

I don't have any references for what goes on in the area in front of frame 11 so am not sure if I need to add anything. Darryl's earlier picture of tube and wire runs does suggest some adds to be done but the picture seems to be of a partly assembled cockpit so maybe there is more?

On the port side, the pesky box behind frame 11 has been removed with some damage minor but hopefully hard-to-see damage. I'm not sure of the routing of the two wires coming from the wireless selector switch. Do these stay on the longeron through frame 11 or do they continue on a downward trajectory as they go aft?

Thanks again for you interest and for the great inputs so far.

 

[Airframes]

Nice work Andy.
Purely a guess, but I think the wiring from the radio selector would continue along the same level, which is roughly that of the radio equipment.

 

[Tony Hill]

Great job so far!!


Agree with Terry re RT control Bowdens.

Ok

RED the routing of the oxygen line to bayonet... needs to turn 90 degrees and go through lightening hole in Frame 8.
Yellow.. very thin main oxy line from bottle... probably too small to bother with or maybe a small line of gold paint?
Black Pneumatic lines forward from handpump.
Orange pneumatic line rearward to tank.
Blue electric line for U/C Up Light Circuit.

 

[Tony Hill]

Red shrouded Bowden cables and end caps for radio.
Purple Bowden cable for airscrew control behnd throttle body and then bent over to enter panel just under Mag Switches.
Blue bowden for Boost Cut Out override.
Green Mixture layshaft
Brown
Throttle layshaft.

 

[Wurger]

 

[Crimea_River]

Excellent Darryl thanks. Was aware of the oxygen line going through frame 8 and left it straight til I can fit the frame. Will look at other stuff and apply the adds when I get back home from picking up my son and his stuff today. No progress til tomorrow.

 

[Gnomey]

Lovely work so far Andy!

 

[Crimea_River]

Before completing the sides, I have to get frame 8 (the IP one) done so that I can thread lines through it. The kit frame and instrument panel were assembled and given the basic colours based on the shot that Darryl supplied earlier. Sorry for the blur.

Note that the through-holes are not, ummm, through so they have to be drilled out. One was missing altogether.

Another major piece of this assembly is the bulkhead forward of this one. As Darryl said, this one was introduced later to lessen the chance of fuel entering the cockpit so needs to be omitted.

Unfortunately, though not essential, the top part has two locating pins that assist in lining up the instrument panel and fixing it to the fuselage sides so this is a nice-to-have. The slot on the lower part receives the end of the frame supporting the rudder pedals and is also nice to have. However, because this area will be visible, I decided that some rigidity here could be sacrificed and so cut the lower portion away.

The upper part of the frame was then glued to the back of the panel, after first pinching in the rather nice PE compass holder. I then set about adding all the missing details and instrument decals. The frame is now finished and looks like this:

The lighting is poor and I could not get the proper bounce off the panel so it looks better in real life. The crackle effect that you see is from the matte coat and I may need to do something about this. Also, I don't know where the red hue on the right side of the frame is coming from as it's certainly not in the paint.

Anyway, while paint and stuff was drying, I worked on a few other things. The wheel wells are a masterpiece of kit engineering and result in a perfect, precision fit in the lower wing halves. The walls some in three parts per side and are made to mimic the slanted cylindrical shape.

When assembled, there is absolutely no wobble in the parts and they come together along seam lines beautifully, privded that you don't overdo the glue and allow it to squeeze out. Fortunately, I was able to avoid that.

Positive locating pieces on the walls and wing inner surfaces ensure a perfect alignment with the well opening.

I'm very impressed with the fit here and in everything else that I've put together so far. Kudos to Tamiya for that.

Thanks for looking.

 

[Wurger]

 

[Airframes]

Nice !

 

[Gnomey]

Looks good so far Andy!

 

[Tony Hill]

Great stuff Andy!!!

Some clean up if you feel inclined..nothing drastically obvious at this scale so take what you want, leave what you don't.

Tier 1
a) LIME GREEN. Under the Voltmetre top right there needs to be an ammetre which is JUST a circle with face as the gauge is mounted behind the panel.
b) ORANGE SQUARE. The oil pressure and oil temp are a burnt orange colour.
c) YELLOW The bottom right under panel silver circle is complete as this is the fuel primer cock, not the later fueltank pressurisation as incorrectly represented here.
in the N3200 rebuild the handle IS red but I am not at all sure it should be, P9374's wasn't. I am not sure whether they had indications of red paint in the wreck that caused them to do this.... possibly.

Tier 2
a) RED CIRCLE top left panel needs drilling out for empty flap gauge hole.
b) RED and ORANGE SMALL SQUAREs switch bats could be brass to highlight.
c) LIME GREEN SQUARE. This looks like either a Spitfire II landing lamp unit or maybe an exagerated Spitfire I. The "I" is almost a ball knob (at this scale certainly a ball...) so the right of the knob could be filed down a good bit.

 

[Wurger]

 

[fubar57]

Fantastic mods Andy. Great to have Darryl onboard