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1/48 Airfix new tool Spitfire Mk.I X4382 from No.602 Squadron - Completed on 31-10 at 11.50 pm


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When looking around the Britmodeller forums, I stumbled upon this Battle of Britain Group Build. As I started the new tool 1/48 Airfix Spitfire and Hurricane kits to commemorate this occasion, I thought why not enter this Group Build with these two builds, making it my first participation in such an event, also giving me some motivation to finish them within a reasonable time.
I want to make the Spitfire in the markings with the underside roundels at the very end of the wing tip, and the choice was either X4474 GV-I from No 19 Squadron or X4382 LO-G from No 602 Squadron. After seeing the pictures from AndyL of this aircraft with a non standard leading edge camo in Col’s WIP http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/234984685-were-in-with-a-chance-lass/ the choice was clear. Sorry Col, that I build the same aircraft.
According to Spitfire Mark I/II Aces, this aircraft was flown by 11 kill ace Pilot Officer Hanbury, using it to destroy a Bf 110 near Beachy Head on 15 September 1940, half a Ju 88 over Tangmere on 21 September and a 2nd Ju 88 on 30 September near Selsey-Bembridge. In December, the aircraft was passed to No 610 Squadron for a few month before becoming an OTU aircraft. It was struck off charge in January 1945.
602sqdn-spit1.jpg
I will use the new tool Airfix 1/48 Spitfire Mk.I kit together with a Yahu instrument panel and HGW Sutton harness with marking from Xtradecal X48143 and the kit. Unfortunately the squadron code on the kit decal and the Xtradecal set aren’t correct in shape as too wide. But it should be easy to correct this.
X4382-1.jpg
The Airfix kit is a lovely kit and a huge improvement over the previous offering, coming close to the quality of the Eduard Spitfire Mk.IX. But I wanted to have a similar surface finish like on the Eduard kit. So out came Rosie the Riveter and it was all done over a few evenings.
X4382-4.jpg
X4382-5.jpg
It was the first time I riveted a kit and I read about it that it is a bit of a chore to do. But I rather enjoyed doing it and I will certainly do it more often. And when comparing it to the Eduard kit, it looks not bad at all.
X4382-6.jpg
Currently I am finishing off the cockpit with same scratch built additions before painting.
X4382-2.jpg
Am I right in saying that the kit seat represents the none-metal seat and that in theory X4382 could have had a metal or none-metal seat in September 1940? And was the flair gun ammunition rail already introduced in September or is the seat correct without it?
X4382-3.jpg
I hope my next pictures will show some paint on the model. I appreciate any comments, suggestions and productive criticism which assist my build.
Many thanks for watching. Cheers, Peter
Edited by Basilisk
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You have done an excellent job with the rivetting, does that tool come with different sized wheels?

I think it has been accepted that the flare cartridge rack would not have been fitted at this time. The seat is another matter, both metal and 'plastic' seats would have been in use during the Battle of Britain so it's your choice really. I have chosen a metal seat for my Spitfire, the only thing I would suggest if you use the kit seat is that you do something about the back cushion, which doesn't look quite right.

Good luck

John

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You're off to a great start with this one Peter :thumbsup: I'm also trying to represent the surface detail of the Spitfire's skin but your riveting tool looks more suitable than the Trumpeter one I'm using.

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Hi, me again. I forgot to mention that early marks of Spitfire ( at least up to Mk IX ) had raised rivets on the fuselage aft of the cockpit.

If you havn't done so already, have a look at the Spitfire builds by Plastix.

Cheers

John

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You have done an excellent job with the rivetting, does that tool come with different sized wheels?

I think it has been accepted that the flare cartridge rack would not have been fitted at this time. The seat is another matter, both metal and 'plastic' seats would have been in use during the Battle of Britain so it's your choice really. I have chosen a metal seat for my Spitfire, the only thing I would suggest if you use the kit seat is that you do something about the back cushion, which doesn't look quite right.

Good luck

John

Thanks John. Rosie the Riveter has a fixed wheel and is not meant to be changed, but it can be bought in different sizes. But this is a big plus as the wheel rotates freely without any play, allowing you to get straight lines of following a radius freehand.The wheel is actually made by RB Productions who sells his own version of a riveting tool. I used it at some places where the rivets had been further apart, but it just doesn't rotate as even as "Rosie" does!

Great info about the seat. You are right, the Airfix seat back cushion does look a bit odd. As I have an Utracast metal seat, I may use that instead.

You're off to a great start with this one Peter :thumbsup: I'm also trying to represent the surface detail of the Spitfire's skin but your riveting tool looks more suitable than the Trumpeter one I'm using.

Thanks Col, but I still have a bit of catching up to do. I bought the Trumpeter tool a while ago, but found it too flimsy and difficult to see where you going. Yes Rosie the Riveter isn't cheep, but a joy to use. I also found using Grade 0000 Super Fine Steel Wool works much better than sanding to remove the pushed-up edges as the steel wool is cutting the plastic away and not grinding it away as when sanding, which fills the tiny holes with the sanding dust. It is a bit messy as there will be fine steel wool particles everywhere.

Hi, me again. I forgot to mention that early marks of Spitfire ( at least up to Mk IX ) had raised rivets on the fuselage aft of the cockpit.

If you havn't done so already, have a look at the Spitfire builds by Plastix.

Cheers

John

Yes I am aware of this and I was planing to use positive rivets from HGW. But unfortunately I found their production is not very consistent. I had a set I bought a while ago and the rivets looked very crisp (maybe a bit on the small side). But when I bought some new sets direct from HGW in June, they looked terrible.

Rivets-3.jpg

The top row (481011) look nice and have a 3d effect. The new sets are the other two rows (481012 and 321010) and they are just some colored dots much larger in size but no 3d effect whatsoever!

That is how they look like on the HGW website

positive-rivets.jpg

I contacted HGW about this. They told me that this was a problem with old sets and if I purchase them now they will be fine... I then told them that my old set was fine and that the new sets have the problem - I am still waiting to hear from them. A real shame as it could be a very neat way of representing rivets to scale. But unfortunately not with the new stuff. Are there others who had the same experience with the HGW sets?

I also tried Archers rivets, but they are just too large for 1/48 scale. So currently I don't know what to do.

I had a look at Plastix Spitfire builds, but didn't see anything about rivets. Would you maybe have a link

Cheers, Peter

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Hi Peter, sorry I misled you when I talked about Plastix. I just meant for you to have a look at his Spitfire builds for any tips etc., he's done some nice ones.

Bad news about the HGW rivets, I'm waiting for some to arrive at the moment. Perhaps they will be OK in 1/32.

Looking forward to seeing it with some paint on.

Cheers

John

Edited by Biggles87
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  • 2 weeks later...

Bad news about the HGW rivets, I'm waiting for some to arrive at the moment. Perhaps they will be OK in 1/32.

Looking forward to seeing it with some paint on.

Cheers

John

John, have you received the HGW rivets - and how do yours look like?

Anyway, time is moving fast and still lots to do. I primed the internals with black Mr. Surfacer 1500 and airbrushed the internal metal parts with Alclad II white Aluminium - or how they call it, Aluminum.

Here the fuselage is ready for the Interior Green to be airbrushed.

X4382-7.jpg

I am using Pale Green from Coat d'arms which I think is a good match for the Supermarine interior green - and it looks nothing like the green on the picture below. The second last picture is a much better match

X4382-8.jpg

Here a comparison with the normal interior green I used on the Hurricane build.

X4382-9.jpg

I added some shadows and highlights with darker and lighter versions of Pale Green. Unfortunately the JPEG compression doesn't do the best job in showing the subtleties of the hues.

X4382-10.jpg

This was followed by a brown wash using Abteilung 502 oils thinned with white spirit. I like this oils as the pigments are very fine.

X4382-11.jpg

This picture shows the bottom half with the wash and the top without. The white spirit is still a bit whet, showing the wash still a bit darker.

X4382-12.jpg

Here is the end result.

X4382-13.jpg

X4382-14.jpg

I prefer it washes with just a hint left as this can be easily over done.

You have done an excellent job with the rivetting, does that tool come with different sized wheels?

I think it has been accepted that the flare cartridge rack would not have been fitted at this time. The seat is another matter, both metal and 'plastic' seats would have been in use during the Battle of Britain so it's your choice really. I have chosen a metal seat for my Spitfire, the only thing I would suggest if you use the kit seat is that you do something about the back cushion, which doesn't look quite right.

Good luck

John

I decided to replace the seat with an Ultracast metal version I had in my stash as it does look much better than the Airfix rendering of the non-metal seat.

X4382-15.jpg

I did leave the flare cartridge rack in place after seeing this picture.

Seat.jpg

This is the unrestored seat of P9374 which belly landed off the French coast on 24 May 1940.

The next steps are detailing the cockpit with various colours, showing some paint chipping and applying some weathering.

Until then, Peter

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Thanks John. At the speed I am going, it will be another two weeks until the cockpit is finished.

I started to work on the HGW fabric harness today. Unfortunately it is a fiddly and slow process, but it will look great when done.

Harness.jpg

Cheers, Peter

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I am pleased with the progress I made this week as I managed to finish painting the cockpit. When doing so, I noticed that the gun firing button on the stick is at the wrong spot.

X4382-16.jpg

I cut it of and turned it 90 degree around.

X4382-18.jpg

Now it looks much better. I intended to replace the rudder pedals with PE, but they just looked too flimsy and nothing like the cast one Supermarine used. So I kept the Airfix once, but added a strap from some HGW seatbelt material.

X4382-20.jpg

Looks fine when fitted in the cockpit. The IP is from Yahu and looks really nice.

X4382-22.jpg

Only the seat and the throttle controls are now missing here.

X4382-17.jpg

I am still working on the seatbelts. I found them a real challenge as the material is tearing easily. The one above has already two repairs. And gluing one part the wrong way round didn't help... But I hope I can finish the seatbelts tomorrow and add the seat to the cockpit.

Thanks for watching.

Cheers, Peter

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Today I added the Ultracast resin seat and HGW seat belts to the cockpit.

X4382-23b.jpg

After finishing off the seat belt placement and adding the seat raiser, I am very pleased how it turned out.

X4382-24.jpg

X4382-25.jpg

X4382-26.jpg

I also started the oxygen tube. I found using a hand drill works well to wind thinner wire around a core wire. Here the core is 0.4mm and the wrap-around wire 0.2mm

ox-1.jpg

But this looked a bit too bulky in the cockpit. So I redone it using a 0.3mm core wire with a 0.15mm wrap around wire. It was a bit more fiddly with the thinner wires. but worked out at the end.

ox-2.jpg

Cut to length and using insulation from electronic cables for the valves worked well.

ox-3.jpg

After a cote of Mr Surfacer 500 and some paint, voila - an oxygen tube.

ox-4.jpg

Unfortunately I can only fit it after I glued the cockpit half together due to the way I broke down the assembly. So that will be a bit of a challenge. Hopefully I will have it all together by next weekend.

Thanks for watching.

Cheers, Peter

Edited by Basilisk
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Time for my weekly progress report. As I also had the Tamiya and old tool Airfix kit in my stash, I thought why not build them at the same time too.

And here is how the cockpits compare to the new tool Airfix kit. Top to bottom is new tool and old tool Airfix and Tamiya.

Comp-1.jpg

Comp-2.jpg

Maybe not the fairest comparison as I replaced the seat in the new tool Airfix kit and scratch build additional detail whereby the other two kits are build OOB. The old tool Airfix looks chunky and the Tamiya doesn't look too bad considering it's age. But it is clear that Airfix came a long way, giving you a great starting point.

When having a closer look at the cockpit, I wasn't too happy how the rudder pedals looked, specially as they are more visible than I originally thought. So I went back to the Eduard PE rudder pedals. But I gave them a bit of volume by brushing Mr. Dissolved Putty on them. Here is a comparison to the one in the kit.

X4382-27.jpg

I think it is an improvement.

It was a bit of a challenge to fit them to the assembled cockpit. but it worked at the end. I also added a bit more colour to some items, aged the seat belts and gave it an oil and crease wash to the lower part of the Cockpit.

X4382-28.jpg

X4382-29.jpg

X4382-30.jpg

I decided to remove the entry door. Originally I had intended to keep the cockpit closed, but it would be a shame to hide all the detail I ended up adding.

Finally the fuselage is ready to be glued together.

X4382-31.jpg

This is the last picture of the "internals" I bore you with - promise.

Due to my unorthodox breakdown of the cockpit assembly, I have a bit of a challenge to add the seat belt harness wire. I added them loosely and will glue them into place after the front of the fuselage is glued together.

X4382-32.jpg

No turning back anymore!

X4382-33.jpg

So far, I only glued the bottom of the cockpit tub together. I prefer to glue things in sections using very thin glue. This takes longer, but allows for more accurate assembly.

When this was curing, I had a look at the troublesome undercarriage assembly Airfix came up with. The way PlaStix plans to solve this problem in his build gave me an idea - thanks for that. As I already glued the small top parts in the wheel-well, I came up with following solution.

I have some old Contrail styrene tubes and one of them had the correct opening to function as a sleeve, to hold the legs in place. I then trilled a 0.7mm hole from the inside of the wing into the leg. This allows an insertion of a 0.7mm pin.

X4382-34.jpg

Here with the undercarriage leg removed after drilling the hole .

X4382-35.jpg

And here with the sleeve removed.

X4382-36.jpg

The pin is glued in with CA. I used a 0.7mm Albion Brass Tube for the pin which is more rigid than just a metal wire.

X4382-37.jpg

And here the result with the leg bushed onto the pin.

This allows adding the legs at the very end, eliminating the danger of being broken off. I may even keep the sleeve in place when gluing the legs on for additional strength.

Thanks for watching.

Cheers, Peter

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I think this will come together quite quickly now, looking forward to more.

Regards

John

I wish so too, but knowing me, I am sure I will find a few things to tweak. So I don't anticipate to have it done soon.

Great work on the cockpit, and excellent attention to detail.

Really like the fix on the landing gear having heard horror stories about this facet of the kit.

Karl

Me too, which is the reason I done the mod.

Also thank you Karl, Craig and Ozzy for your compliments. I am pleased myself how it turned out.

I really wanted to finish the cockpit, so I added the seat belt wires, connecting to spar 15, the throttle, the oxygen bottle and the oxygen hose. It needed lots of patience to get them at the correct spot with the cockpit closed - but I managed at the end.

X4382-38.jpg

May I introduce the little brother of X4382.

Spit72-3.jpg

I started this AZ Model kit last year, but it kind of stalled. So I thought why not trying to finish it at the same time as X4382.

The cockpit is OOB, but I replaced the seat with a Quickboost resin seat.

Spit72-6.jpg

The Quickboost seat is a real beauty.

Spit72-1b.jpg

The coin size (1 cent from Singapore) is 16mm in diameter!

I will be back on track on the main build with upcoming posts. Until next time.

Cheers, Peter

Edited by Basilisk
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Time again for my weekly update. Now that the fuselage is together, several panel lines across the fuselage needed re-scribing. Specially the one across the front of the nose as it didn't align on the fuselage joint.

X4382-39a.jpg

Then I removed the Airfix representation of the engine cover fasteners which should be flush with the fuselage as can be seen on this pictures of the Mk.I in Hendon and the IMW which I took earlier this year on a visit to Europe.

X4382-39.jpg

Spit-1.jpg

Spit-2.jpg

When looking at above pictures, I realized that the panel line across the nose shouldn't be there, so off it went.

X4382-40.jpg

Now I applied the outer ring of the engine cowling fasteners with a beading tool.

X4382-41.jpg

Followed by the hole in the center representing the screw.

X4382-42.jpg

Now a light sanding brings everything back to an even surface.

X4382-43.jpg

After brushing over with a soft toothbrush an repeating the process with the beading tool and the needle, a slight swap of thin solvent desolves the remaining sanding dust and removes the sharp edges. I found Mr. Cements best for this as it evaporate very quickly and not damaging the surface.

X4382-44.jpg

This I think looks much better than what Airfix had and it also allowed me to represent the fasteners on the top of the engine cowling which Airfix doesn't show - I guess due to tooling limitations.

X4382-45.jpg

Riveting the fuselage was the next task. But not all the rivets on the fuselage are flat-head rivets as Supermarine used some dome-head rivets on the fuselage too. I studied some pictures I took of the Spitfire at the IMW which can be seen from above, allowing to see some great detail.

Spit-3.jpg

I then marked where flat-head rivets had been used on a drawing in yellow.

X4382-46.jpg

Using "Rosie the Riveter" and Dyno tape as an aid to get the line straight, I added the flat-head rivets. The tape is only a visual aid and the riveter still has to be controlled to get the line straight.

X4382-47.jpg

After the rivets are marked, I found fine steel whool works best to remove the burrs as they are cut of and not sanded off, so there is no dust generated to fill the holes. But it is a bit messy

X4382-48.jpg

Here, now sanding dust in the holes! I found it more difficult to do the riveting on the fuselage than on the relatively flat wing. I am not too happy with the result on the concave wing root rivets and I may do them again.

X4382-49.jpg

X4382-50.jpg

I will represent the dome-head rivets wit HGW positive rivets after the model is primed.

I also started putting the wings together. I struggled a bit lining all up. It looks to me that the problem is with the undercarriage bay as if it is snapped in place, there is very little room to align things. Me thinning the wing trailing edge most likely didn't help the situation.

So some filler was needed on the wing trailing edge. I like to use super glue mixed with talcum powder as a filler. It is great to work with, sands beautifully and doesn't brake loose if scribed through.

X4382-51.jpg

X4382-52.jpg

I should be able to show you the result next week. Thanks for watching.

Cheers, Peter

Edited by Basilisk
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Wow, that's some detailing job you're doing, and lots of tips for me when I eventually get to the outside of the fuselage, especially the cowling fasteners. I know what you mean about riveting on concave surfaces, I'm not looking forward to that at all.

Keep up the good work

Cheers

John

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Wow, that's some detailing job you're doing, and lots of tips for me when I eventually get to the outside of the fuselage, especially the cowling fasteners. I know what you mean about riveting on concave surfaces, I'm not looking forward to that at all.

Keep up the good work

Cheers

John

Thanks John. I enjoy following your build too.

Absolutely stunning attention to detail. I do not know how you have the patience! Very well done!

Thanks PlaStix. It did stretch my patience to near braking point at a few occasions. When it get to that stage, I found it best to stop that task, do something else, and continuing the next day when things normally don't look so grim anymore.

Your previous Mk.V build gave lots of pointer in building the Airfix new tool Spitfire and your current Mk.I build is a "must read" as well!

Cheers, Peter

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This week went by fast. So time for another update

I finally have the wing on the fuselage. It did need a bit of gentle persuasion to get it in place.

X4382-53.jpg

As I thinned the wing trailing edge, I ended up with the wing to fuselage fairing being too think which I didn't think about.

X4382-54.jpg

Nothing which can't be mended with a file.

X4382-55.jpg

Now this is looking more like the real deal.

X4382-60b.jpg

After smoothing things out with surfacer 500, several panel lines needed to be rescribed. I found the RB Production Scribe File work very well to do this which comes with different size blades.

X4382-56.jpg

Next I had to add the remaining fasteners to the engine underside panel. I discovered that using the #0 beading tool for the center hole instead of a needle gives a better representation of the screw.

X4382-58.jpg

X4382-59.jpg

Here the result with restored panel lines and rivets.

X4382-62.jpg

X4382-61.jpg

I hope to have the airframe complete and ready for primer application by next weekend.

Thanks for watching.

Cheers, Peter

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Superb work as always Peter!

Couldn't agree more!

I've just noticed in your last group of photos that the little 'door' which opens when the flaps go down is moulded as a raised panel, do you think that's correct? It looks flush with the wing surface in photos.

Keep up the good work

Cheers

John

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