stevehnz Posted May 13, 2016 Share Posted May 13, 2016 Not posted anything on this yet but I have made a start on seperating the pieces from the humungous sprue gates, the surface detail on this is great but there is a lot of clean up where the sprue gates go on plus inside of mating surfaces. Hopefully I can get this all done over the next few days. Start up sprue shot. I'm hoping to do this as Gray Stenborgs DL-M from 91 sqn, pending delivery of some code decals, the rest from roundel sheets & hopefully a hand drawn Nigeria sign. They may not be quite chunky enough for the 91 sqn codes but will be as close as I can get. Steve. 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul J Posted May 13, 2016 Share Posted May 13, 2016 Love those Ventura kits. Look forward to seeing how this one pans out Steve. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Learstang Posted May 13, 2016 Share Posted May 13, 2016 (edited) Steve, I've built several of those Ventura Seafire/Spitfire kits and although they needed a bit of cleaning up, they all turned out very nicely, I think. They can look a bit daunting in the box with those huge sprues, but they have nice surface detail as you mention, and they appear to be accurate. I don't know how the Jays Model Kits are, but the Ventura kits always had nice decals and nice vacuform canopies, not surprising as Ventura sold decals as aftermarket items and the canopies may have possibly come from Falcon. I'll be interested to see how you turn the Seafire Mk.XV into an Mk.XII as I've also thought about trying that. Best of luck with your build! Regards, Jason Edited May 14, 2016 by Learstang 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gingerbob Posted May 13, 2016 Share Posted May 13, 2016 Glad to have you join in! bob Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beard Posted May 13, 2016 Share Posted May 13, 2016 A MkXII... I'll be following your build. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Giorgio N Posted May 15, 2016 Share Posted May 15, 2016 (edited) Steve, glad to see that you jumped into this project ! Sure takes some courage and will require some work but I'm sure you'll end up with a good model. I share Jason's opinion, the Jay/Ventura kits need quite a lot of preparation on every part but once this is done they actually fit much better than some recent mainstream kits. Canopies are indeed from Falcon, if you get it right the first time, the spare one they supply in every box can then be used on another Spitfire. My main disappointment with this kit was the lack of guns, there are however aftermarket options. Now for your conversion aftermarket may have been required anyway, the XII had the common style of barrel fairing as seen on c-winged Spitfires, the XV had a different fairing also seen on late Seafire IIIs Edited May 15, 2016 by Giorgio N Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevehnz Posted May 15, 2016 Author Share Posted May 15, 2016 Thanks for the moral support there Giogio. I've got the wings together & currently scratching a sort of cockpit, enough to look busyish thru the canopy. I've recently bought the Sword Seafire III kit which has the Vc parts in it too, I'm using this as a guide to which lumps & bumps to knock off & which to keep, which panel/fold lines to fill etc. It also has some spare cannon barrels/bumps so when I work out which I need to keep for a Seafire I can poach the others for the Spitfire XII, if that doesn't work, I'll use some from an Airfix Spitfire IX that I've reserved to do "Skippers" plane from the BoB movie. Steve. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SimonL Posted May 15, 2016 Share Posted May 15, 2016 I once tried a Ventura Seafire XVII, picked up while at a conference in Wellington 10 years or more ago. My limited skills at the time were really not up to the task! I think the partially completed airframe is languishing somewhere at the back of the garage. Look forward to seeing how this turns out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Giorgio N Posted May 15, 2016 Share Posted May 15, 2016 Steve, good idea to use the sword surplus Spit Vc parts as a guide. That box also have the right gun barrels and you can use the clipped wingtips too. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevehnz Posted May 20, 2016 Author Share Posted May 20, 2016 Time for an update, I've been to busy filing filling & fettling over & above & beyond the call of duty to do much of that. This is wings clamped after gluing, & fuselage ready for joining but waiting on me to finish a cockpit module       Steve. 8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Giorgio N Posted May 20, 2016 Share Posted May 20, 2016 Love the surgery, looks like a XII now ! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beard Posted May 20, 2016 Share Posted May 20, 2016 Splendid work, Steve. If you'd like a prop from a Sword Seafire XV, pm me and I'll pop it in the post. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cookenbacher Posted May 20, 2016 Share Posted May 20, 2016 That's looking great Steve! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevehnz Posted May 21, 2016 Author Share Posted May 21, 2016 Steve, good idea to use the sword surplus Spit Vc parts as a guide. That box also have the right gun barrels and you can use the clipped wingtips too. Giorgio, which are the correct barrels for the Mk XII? The Seafire kit has long & short barrels, from pictures I see, they're the same shape as the long barrels with a straight or concave taper, whereas the shorter barrels appear to have a convex taper & maybe more like what went with an E wing, not a subject I'm sure about. Steve. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gingerbob Posted May 21, 2016 Share Posted May 21, 2016 You want the longer ones. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Giorgio N Posted May 21, 2016 Share Posted May 21, 2016 As Bob says, the longest of the 3 types supplied in the kit 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevehnz Posted May 22, 2016 Author Share Posted May 22, 2016 A bit of a grumpy moment tonight, after saying I had no decent plans, I remembered that I had an Aeroclub vac conversion set for a Spitfire Mk XII with some nice John Adams plans in it, something I've had squirrelled away for nigh on 30 years I reckon. Anyway, on diggin them out, I was pleased to see the overall dimensions matched very well, another recommendation for Ventura's accuracy. I was though displeased to have confirmed my suspicion that the starboard wing was everso slightly lacking in dihedral. Bugger, so out with razor saw, sluice carefully along wing root join, flood with liquid poly & tape up till it matched the Aeroclub drawings. Mañana. Steve 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Learstang Posted May 22, 2016 Share Posted May 22, 2016 (edited) Nice work, Steve! So it can be done. I too had that Aeroclub conversion kit that I was using with the old Spitfire Mk.Vb kit, as I recall. It was partially finished, but I lost it somewhere along the line years ago, unfortunately. If I could find that conversion kit, I'd have another go but that kit, along with the Xtrakit Mk.XII has apparently disappeared from the face of the Earth, unless John has one of his conversion kits hidden somewhere. Maybe I should PM him, or wait for your magic to bring forth a new-mould 1/72nd scale Airfix Mk.XII. The Mk.XII (along with a stinger-hook Seafire Mk.XV - a Sword kit of this is someday going to be mine) are two of the three major gaps in my collection of Spitfires/Seafires (the other is/are the early Seafires). Regards, Jason Edited May 22, 2016 by Learstang 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevehnz Posted May 23, 2016 Author Share Posted May 23, 2016 & when tomorrow came, I took the tape off the wing & it happily relaxed to its previously one wing low status. Sod this, I hacked the poly out of the join, maybe too cold overnight for it to set properly, & redid the exercise with superglue gel, Some hours later its all good still, we'll see what tomorrow brings this time. While the tape was holding & the SG was setting I got to with drilling holes for machine guns, cannons, props shafts etc, I also managed to cut out the vac canopy with out mishap. Really looking like a XII now. I love that big spinner. Steve. 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beard Posted May 23, 2016 Share Posted May 23, 2016 Looks good to me. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cookenbacher Posted May 23, 2016 Share Posted May 23, 2016 Excellent modification work Steve, especially on the oil cooler. Suddenly, the Brigade/Sword combo doesn't seem so difficult. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevehnz Posted May 23, 2016 Author Share Posted May 23, 2016 I don't know Cookie, I've been telling myself, if you can manage that with yours, mine should be a doddle. Yours look much harder from where I sit but have come up great. Steve. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Giorgio N Posted May 24, 2016 Share Posted May 24, 2016 Looks good Steven, good job ! The Falcon canopies included in the Ventura kits are not only very nice, they are also among the easiest to use vac canopies around, Falcon is one of those aftermarket producers that I rate a notch above all others Aeroclub is also one such producer... their Griffon Spit conversions were very nice and I still believe them to be the most accurate in 1/72 scale. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Learstang Posted May 24, 2016 Share Posted May 24, 2016 So Steve, is the Mk.XII spinner basically the same as the spinner for the Mk.XV? Doing that little hump thingy on the front cowling would be easy (sorry for the techno-jargon), but I wouldn't fancy having to modify/scratchbuild a new spinner. Regards, Jason Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevehnz Posted May 24, 2016 Author Share Posted May 24, 2016 Jason, I have always assumed so & seeing as no-one picked me up on this in the chat thread I've continued to believe so, it sure looks right to my eye. Steve. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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