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Spitfire Mk 1 616 sqdn Jul/Aug 1940


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Good morning John. Hope you had a good walk and that it's not too hot yet. I'm already tempted enough John - just got to pace myself. I'm already a very slow builder of kits and have a few plans in place for the next few builds. But you're right - the additional detailing possibilities are a big attraction in that scale.

Hope you have a pleasant day. Sun's up here I the midlands but it's not to warm yet - I'm not a big fan of hot weather - don't know how you cope!

Kind regards,

Stix

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We just get up early and hide from the sun in the afternoons, this summer has been unusually hot here, it's usually high 20s to low 30s but you do get acclimatised to some extent. Last week when the temperature dropped by 10 degrees for a few days we actually felt quite chilly, especially in the mornings.

Back to the sanding now, door frame not plastic I'm afraid.

Cheers John

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I did a little more painting yesterday and made a discovery which might be of interest to anyone watching. Tamiya spray paint and Xtracrylics do not mix. I still had to paint the rear of the fuselage bottom and horizontal frame so I thought I would use Tamiya AS12 and also paint the seat aluminium. I sprayed the seat over the Xtracrylic that was already on it and left everything for an hour. When I returned I found that the AS12 on the seat had bubbled up, but not anywhere else where it was sprayed over the green which is a mix of Humbrol enamels.

You learn something new every day.

Joh

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Oh dear, can't like that John - sorry to hear that... but I'm sure you'll sort it out. :)

For me I hope it's just Xtracrylics... I've just bought some Tamiya smoke for weathering. Must do some tests!

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Hi John. It's good you were able to get more done despite the hot weather, decorating (or not) and paints deciding they don't like each other! Not using anything really other than Humbrol and Revell Acrylics, and not owning an air-brush, I haven't really experienced different makes of paint not going well together. I do remember a while back that I tested some rattle-can Tamiya matt varnish over some acrylic paints and they bubbled up - so it was a good job it was just a test piece.

Hope it doesn't get too warm and you have a good day.

Kind regards,

Six

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I think it's probably the Xtracrylics that doesn't like the Tamiya. I've been using the Tamiya rattle cans ( mostly metallic shades ) for quite a while without any problems, I sometimes decant it into a small pot and spray them using an airbrush for large areas, then I have more control over the air pressure.

On the subject of the weather, we had several thunderstorms overnight and quite a lot of rain ( hooray! ) so it's cooler today but more humid. All part of life's rich tapestry.

Regards John

PS My HGW Sutton harness and positive rivets arrived yesterday. I like the look of the harness but I'm not sure how 'positive' the rivets

are going to be. On verra ( we'll see ) as they say in these parts.

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Caught up with this now John. Some great modelling here! You have really made the effort with that cockpit, and its paid off...

I think I need to move to France it sounds good, and the wife has always loved the idea of not living in the UK (Her sister lives in Paris as well so is a big influence there! ).... Shame I work in retail and can only speak English!

Rob

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Hi, thanks for the kind words, hope you had a good holiday.

I told you I probably wouldn't catch up with you while you were away. I have most of the cockpit bits and pieces painted now, and am hoping to attach them before my enforced 'rest' next week.

I'll be watching yours though.

Regards.

John

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  • 2 weeks later...

I'm FREE!! Visitors departed, house empty and quiet (except for SWMBO and dogs ) and the Milliput arrived today, so I shall make my seat cushion this afternoon then I can attach the harness to the seat and the seat to the frame etc and hopefully I will have a proper update with photos by the weekend?

Multiple smiley faces ( see Ced B's Spitfire thread )

John

Edited by Biggles87
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UPDATE 27/08, a little later that I had hoped but here goes

It's beginning to look a little more like a Spitfire cockpit, I hope. I decided that my pitch control was too out of scale so I made another one by melting a plastic rod at one end with a heated blade and filing the resulting blob into something resembling what I'd seen in photos of the recently restored Mk1. I then I filed ahead of the knob into a (roughly ) square section, it's not perfect but better than my original attempt. Next was the seat cushion, it's a long time since I've used Milliput and had forgotten that it's easier to shape after being left to cure for a couple of hours, all it needs now is a little tidying up and a coat of brownish black paint. Also in the photo is my Mk 2 back armour because when I test fitted the original I found that I had made the holes for the upper seat fittings too high so that the top edge of the armour was level with the seat back rather than just above it.

The instrument panel is from Yahu and was designed to fit the newer Revell Mk II but is near enough to a Mk 1 panel as to make no difference. The biggest problem I have encountered with this build is trying to adapt parts which were not designed to fit it and the Yahu panel was no exception, it is bigger all round than the kit panel, so I thought that I would use a spare etched panel from an Aires set, but this was also too big! I am gradually filing down the Yahu panel to fit, you can see from the photo of the rear of the IP how much it overhangs the frame although I should not need to remove all that as I think that the frame is intentionally smaller than the IP. Yahu also supply the face for the compass but I have misplaced that so used a Barracuda transfer instead.

DSCF2819_zps468mpdhm.jpg

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The morse key and gunsight bulbs came from the Tamiya sprue and the early style radio remote control (port side) is from the Barracuda Mk 1 detail set. There will be a raised disk on the starboard sidewall to represents the fitting for the height and speed computer which I believe would not have been in use at this time, I think that Fl Lt Gillam and his colleagues would have had more pressing things on his mind than working out the correct airspeed for height in Jul/Aug 1940. You might also notice the lack of the black box ahead of the undercarriage emergency control, this was the IFF destructor device and as mentioned earlier, IFF would not have been fitted at this time. I have brushed on some gloss varnish for the Barracuda transfers (still a few to go ) and some weathering and if I can get the seat harness fitted and all the bits and pieces joined up over the next couple of days and install a little plumbing I might even get the fuselage halves together by the weekend.

DSCF2788_zps7zrbfbzf.jpgDSCF2810_zps1hit72ia.jpg

DSCF2795_zpsl33qtiqt.jpg

Oh, and you may have also noticed that the rudder pedal assembly is missing, my plan was to use the Tamiya pedals suitably modified to the single step type with masking tape straps. Think again Biggles, the Tamiya pedals are not on the same sprue as the other cockpit parts, so I will have to modify the kit pedals which are not as good. Watch this space, but don't hold your breath.

Thanks for looking and feel free to comment.

cheers

John

DSCF2817_zpsprvcjqap.jpg

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Thanks for that, it's strange that you see things in your photos that you've overlooked, like the black leather patch on the left sidewall of the seat and that I havn't weathered the seat pan. I think you'll still beat me to it on the joining of the fuselage halves, even if you are having an enforced rest.

All the best

John

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Hi Ced, thanks for the comment, and yes that is my 'man cave' door.

I'm in ' one step forward, two steps back ' mode again I'm afraid. I managed to de-laminate my nice Yahu instrument panel the other day while filing it, but I have found yet another spare Eduard panel, and this one is smaller but not entirely accurate so I will have to amend it slightly. I still havn't started on the Sutton harness but I am going to give my usual Sunday morning activity (no, shooting ) a miss and concentrate on the Spitfire. I will post some pictures of my progress, or not, this evening

Smiley and slightly frustrated face.

John

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Here is yesterday's delayed update. For various reasons my plans for spending most of the day in my 'man cave' did not work out and this is the total of the day's achievement.

DSCF2833_zpshvaoimf4.jpg

DSCF2837_zps6fn5f7mq.jpgDSCF2830_zpsanptmkma.jpg

DSCF2841_zpszr3rnbni.jpg

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Apologies for the rubbish photography, especially No3 I tried two cameras and just could not get it right.

I will post an explanation of the photos tomorrow, I am being called for dinner, so I'd better go.

feel free to comment

EDIT The first picture shows how I started the day, with the backing to the Yahu panel prised off the frame. It took some doing, that Gator Grip is pretty strong stuff but eventually it pinged off without leaving any damage, you can see the components of the panel in the second photo. In the fourth photo I have added the central blind flying from the Yahu to the Eduard etch, it is a little oversize but I only had the curved top panel from the Eduard set and this would have been incorrect. When I have glued the etch to the film I will tidy up around the coloured bezels and attach the landing lamp control and I'm going to call the IP finished.

My plan for the rest of the week is to fit the HGW harness and then glue all the frames together and into the fuselage. We all know what happens to the best laid plans don't we?

Bye for now

John :pilot:

Edited by Biggles87
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Your build comes along nicely - I like your apple green. In regards to the 3rd picture, it looks like you camera focused on the background an not on the IP. It should work if you place the object onto a flat surface (white paper), eliminating the distant background.

As you put a lot of effort in the accuracy of your cockpit, there are two things you may like to consider. The seat would had the flare cartridge holder most likely in place. It was fitted on the seat of P9374 which crashed on the coast near Calais on 24th of May 1940.

I would have thought that by the time the BoB commenced, the two stack rudder pedal was in use. This was introduce to delay the onset of black-out by raising the feet higher. So the upper position was only used during combat.

Cheers, Peter

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Hi Peter thanks for the comments, that was a really stupid beginners mistake with the photo, I didn't even notice thet the background was in focus. :banghead:
I chose the single step rudder pedals because in one of my Spitfire references ( Spitfire at war Vol. 3 ) there is a copy of a report by Bob Stanford Tuck, who was asked to try out the two step pedals, which is dated 23/7/40. As I am depicting my Spitfire in Jun/Jul 1940 I am working on the assumption that the pedals would not have been changed yet.
The question of the cartridge rack is more difficult . I saw the picture of the recovered seat on your thread and was surprised to see the rack ( and the back armour ) in place. There has been quite a lot of discussion on BM about the dates of introduction of various items and the general consensus seems to be that the racks were fitted later. Also as I persuaded Plastix to leave them off in his B of B builds, I think that it would be a little hypocritical of me to include one on mine.

All the best

John

Edited by Biggles87
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Hi John. Good to see more progress even if it is of the two steps forward one back variety!! I can imagine your frustration about the IP but it looks like your solution is well in hand. Your detail work does look excellent.

Not a problem if you want to use the rack - I was struggling to get mine to look right anyway! So you suggesting it may not have been fitted was to my benefit!

.........and retired are you! :thumbsup:

Kind regards,

Stix

Edited by PlaStix
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Ooo, new avatar, another cute picture... :)

Hi Ced, that's Dora, she's six years old and French, and it's her turn this month.

.

Hi John. Good to see more progress even if it is of the two steps forward one back variety!! I can imagine your frustration about the IP but it looks like your solution is well in hand. Your detail work does look excellent.

Not a problem if you want to use the rack - I was struggling to get mine to look right anyway! So you suggesting it may not have been fitted was to my benefit!

.........and retired are you! :thumbsup:

Hi Stix, it has been very frustrating lately but it's my fault really for using parts which were designed for other kits, you'd think that I would have learned by now. I will leave the flare rack off, now that it's beginning to look like I can close the fuselage soon I won't push my luck by adding anything else.

Cheers

John

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