Tears were once my only way back home (1/72 Eduard Spitfire IXs)

[rob85]

As if my phone is tracking my every tap I went onto this thread and was instantly reminded by my eBay app that I am watch an Eduard my ix.... some could call this fate, and I should by it now... however my inner (not that far in mind) scrptic (and my wife) would put it down to clever programming.... does look very good though.

 

nice work sorting the armoured head rests Mr P

 

Rob

[Ex-FAAWAFU]

A typically thoughtful Procopian intro.  I was brought up near Newark (Notts, not New Jersey), which had and still has a large Polish community, mostly because the Polish Parachute Brigade (wot dropped at Arnhem) was based around there for much of the war.  An evening at a Polish ex-Serviceman's Club is an experience everyone should have at least once.  Mad, wonderful, passionate, deranged heroes.  

 

You got me, despite (shh; whisper it quietly in these parts) me being a bit Meh about Merlin Spitfires - models, that is; the real thing entirely another matter.  I built a Mk.XIV as a kid and was capitivated by that long, purposeful Griffon nose.  I realise thus is sacrilege to many, but the Merlin versions have looked a bit snub-nosed to me ever since.

[Procopius]

2 hours ago, rob85 said:

As if my phone is tracking my every tap I went onto this thread and was instantly reminded by my eBay app that I am watch an Eduard my ix.... some could call this fate, and I should by it now... however my inner (not that far in mind) scrptic (and my wife) would put it down to clever programming.... does look very good though.

 

 

Speaking as someone who sets up advertising campaigns through Facebook and Twitter, you might be appalled to discover how much they know about you. (But you should still consider getting one.)

 

1 hour ago, Ex-FAAWAFU said:

A typically thoughtful Procopian intro.  I was brought up near Newark (Notts, not New Jersey), which had and still has a large Polish community, mostly because the Polish Parachute Brigade (wot dropped at Arnhem) was based around there for much of the war.  An evening at a Polish ex-Serviceman's Club is an experience everyone should have at least once.  Mad, wonderful, passionate, deranged heroes.  

 

That sounds like an incredible experience. 

 

1 hour ago, Ex-FAAWAFU said:

You got me, despite (shh; whisper it quietly in these parts) me being a bit Meh about Merlin Spitfires - models, that is; the real thing entirely another matter.  I built a Mk.XIV as a kid and was capitivated by that long, purposeful Griffon nose.  I realise thus is sacrilege to many, but the Merlin versions have looked a bit snub-nosed to me ever since.

 

I'm rather the reverse. As a boy I loved the Vb, and when I first saw a Mark IX, I thought to myself "yes." It's been my favourite ever since. I can recall requesting every book on Spitfires from the local system on interlibrary loan (very few, but curiously, the local library had a 1942 edition of Jane's Fighting Ships, and you can bet that I read the heck out of it), and one of the ones that showed up was the Airco/Aircam book on Griffin-engined Spitfires. I don't think I'd ever seen one before, and I remember thinking the 11-year-old equivalent of "what the hell is this?" when I saw the aircraft on the cover.

[The Spadgent]

Very somber and grounding intro P.  I live close to Malvern so these builds have a local link for me. Sometimes we forget the story behind these models we build. On a brighter note Congats on the new bump. (You gotta have two) they're brilliant in a duo mine almost look after themselves.  (No really)

 

Great start on the plastic too. 

You're getting me all spitfire/Hurricane happy. 

 

Have fun, I'm in for the ride if you don't mind.

 

Johnny.

[Procopius]

23 minutes ago, The Spadgent said:

On a brighter note Congats on the new bump. (You gotta have two) they're brilliant in a duo mine almost look after themselves.  (No really)

 

To be quite honest, it was you and Ced and everyone else on here claiming that it's much easier with two. I don't really believe you, but Mrs P has been looking pretty cute, and Winston's grandmother spent $500 (for my UK readers, this is equivalent to the GDP of the Hebrides) on toys for him in a single day, which pretty much settled it: if we don't have another, he's going to be spoiled rotten. Also, this is my revenge on him. He monopolizes one of my favourite parts of his mother (her beautiful eyes, of course, just gazes into them all day), and this is an overelaborate Bond villian-esque revenge scheme.

 

37 minutes ago, The Spadgent said:

Great start on the plastic too. 

You're getting me all spitfire/Hurricane happy. 

 

It's a fun kit, for sure. It doesn't come close to the perfection that is their Hellcat (hands down the best 1/72 kit I have ever built), since there are a lot of weird little things you have to do with it, but it's still very cool. The sprues make it look a little more complex than it is, @Beard, it's only slightly trickier than the Airfix Spitfire I so far, I'd say.

 

 

[Beard]

17 minutes ago, Procopius said:

 

[...] it's only slightly trickier than the Airfix Spitfire I so far, I'd say.

 

 

You've not seen the mess I can make of an Airfix Spitfire.

[Mitch K]

19 minutes ago, Procopius said:

 

it's only slightly trickier than the Airfix Spitfire I so far, I'd say.

 

 

I long ago came to the conclusion that the "trickiness" scale is actually log-based: a trickiness of 2 is ten times harder than a trickiness of 1!

[JasonC]

18 minutes ago, Procopius said:

To be quite honest, it was you and Ced and everyone else on here claiming that it's much easier with two.

 

Interesting. Among my peer group who are knee deep in toddlers at the moment, the consensus is that 'one is not enough, but two is too many!'. Benefits of hindsight , or rose tinted specs?

 

J.

[Procopius]

Just now, Beard said:

 

You've not seen the mess I can make of an Airfix Spitfire.

 

 

 

ATTENTION YOUNG PEOPLE: Do not watch this without a caring adult.

 

1 minute ago, JasonC said:

 

Interesting. Among my peer group who are knee deep in toddlers at the moment, the consensus is that 'one is not enough, but two is too many!'. Benefits of hindsight , or rose tinted specs?

 

J.

 

Frankly, even one is too many. But it's wrong to hit children, so you have to have a second child to do it for you sometimes.

 

2 minutes ago, Mitch K said:

I long ago came to the conclusion that the "trickiness" scale is actually log-based: a trickiness of 2 is ten times harder than a trickiness of 1!

 

Oh, the box scales are meaningless. But I would never lie to you.

[SimonL]

Ok, I am late to the party but that introduction sucked me in. Oh, and congratulations as well. 

[CedB]

1 hour ago, The Spadgent said:

You gotta have two) they're brilliant in a duo mine almost look after themselves. 

44 minutes ago, Procopius said:

... if we don't have another, he's going to be spoiled rotten.

 

22 minutes ago, JasonC said:

Benefits of hindsight , or rose tinted specs?

 

Hindsight for me. The rose tinted specs got broken years ago...  

[jean]

Dear Master Procopius,

 

just found your thread on this rainy and thoroughly miserable afternoon and after reading your introduction I am thoroughly depressed and had to stop and check I had not gone into the twilight zone and been teleported into another dimension....

Pheeew....

One really has no idea what your threads are going to yield. Keep it that way.

Your words reminded me of a rainy afternoon in the Hague, when I decided to go to the Gemeente Museum. On arriving, I noticed that the leafy road leading to the entrance had several parked field grey Kubelwagen and lorries with a sprinkling of red flags with swastikas. So far nothing unusual, I told myself.

On entering through the glass doors, I bumped into several uniformed SS, guarding a long column of very sad looking people all wearing a yellow David star on their garments... That did strike me as odd, I dare say...

Bottom line, the twilight zone syndrome was all over me... I had traveled through time... to the best place and time ever..... Lucky me.

And as I passed the last of the gun-totting guard and Auschwitz-bound men, women and children, I came face to face with a clown, obviously paid by the museum to entertain the kiddies, sporting a curly yellow wig, a red nose, long shoes... the whole enchilada.... Interesting contrast.

 

Well, your intro was on the same level. And thankfully you started talking about a Spit IX, just when wrist slitting was becoming a tempting hobby. That was the clown at the end of the concentration camp line up...

Next time put a warning sign for fragile souls like myself: this thread may contain nuts, upsetting scenes, flashing lights, scenes of sex and violence, or whatever takes your fancy!

 

Really looking forward to your Spitfire build!

JR

[rob85]

8 hours ago, JasonC said:

 

Interesting. Among my peer group who are knee deep in toddlers at the moment, the consensus is that 'one is not enough, but two is too many!'. Benefits of hindsight , or rose tinted specs?

 

J.

My two are fine together girl sorts the boy out went he gets carried away and the boy is entertainment for the girl as he is a joker... and he is good protection they now at school together and he has stepped in a number of times for his sister (who can talk her way out of most things truth be told, but is built from sparrow bones... the boy is built with the bones of a Minotaur with the will of one as well...) they just take themselves off and play now, 21 months apart....

 

all that said I am 1 of 5 my wife is 1 of 8 and we have 27 nieces and nephews.... I think.... so probably rather used to volume

 

Rob

[Harley John]

20 hours ago, Procopius said:

 

I blame the parents. Whenever I show Winston a Spitfire (sometimes, if he sits still, he's allowed to watch short youtube videos of them), I always say "that's a Spitfire, it protects you." Gotta get them when they're young. 

 

Oh so do I in so many ways but in this case no blame attached for taking me to RAF Leuchars at an early age, where I saw Lightning's on a QRA scramble take off and climb, so it seemed to me, straight up and up and up till they disappeared the damage was done, mostly to my hearing, but my head & heart was seduced by jet power.. I have nothing against the Spitfire, per se, its a magnificent aircraft, I just like the good old solid dependable & therefore, in a way, very British, Hurricane. 

[Procopius]

2 hours ago, rob85 said:

all that said I am 1 of 5 my wife is 1 of 8 and we have 27 nieces and nephews.... I think.... so probably rather used to volume

 

My father is one of seven, but it's such a large number of children to me, it's practically an algebraic variable; you might as well say "I'm one of X children," where you're literally saying "X".

 

48 minutes ago, Harley John said:

I just like the good old solid dependable & therefore, in a way, very British, Hurricane. 

 

 

Not a lot tonight, just putting on the ailerons and fixing some wingtip droop. I really am not a fan of these engineering choices. 

 

20170109_194119 by Edward IX, on Flickr

 

Even after a bit of sanding on the second ones I did, they still fit proud. I had the same problem on the Fw190, and while I'm generally willing to take the blame for modelling issues, this one is all on Eduard. Nobody needs poseable ailerons. 

 

20170109_194124 by Edward IX, on Flickr

 

Nobody. No, you don't either, I'm sorry. We checked.

 

I also did some clamping to close up a gap:

 

20170109_200528 by Edward IX, on Flickr

 

But it would seem I don't know my own strength. 

 

20170109_200345 by Edward IX, on Flickr

 

Incredibly, the kit was undamaged. The bulkhead and spacer forward of the instrument panel are great engineering choices, credit when credit is due. 

[modelglue]

25 minutes ago, Procopius said:

But it would seem I don't know my own strength. 

 

I think they whip the plastic before injecting it to make it go farther... at least, that would help explain the constantly breaking cheap plastic clamps our hobby is lousy with.

 

I'm with you on the Ailerons. I don't need them. But, I do need all that rivet detail and that feature will make any other spit in my case look obsolete and unworthy. That is why I can never have one. 

[Learstang]

Well let's see about the intro: W.H. Auden, check; Heinrich Himmler, check; Hans Frank, check. But wait, no quote from John Milton or Xenophon? You're slipping PC. Of course, that was a brilliant introduction, well worth the price of admission to one of your legendary builds. (My builds are legendary also, but only in the sense that I finished my last model so long ago it has slipped into the misty depths of legend, like King Arthur and moderate Republicans.) Perhaps following your build will actually prompt me to finish one of my many unbuilt/nearly-built/why don't I just primer the blasted thing and finish it! Spitfire models. It has gotten to the point where I'm starting to use scientific notation to express the number of Spitfire kits I have. At any rate, enough of my prating and best of luck with your builds!

 

Yours, etc.

 

Jason

Edited January 10, 2017 by Learstang
Minor correction.

[Procopius]

39 minutes ago, Learstang said:

But wait, no quote from John Milton or Xenophon?

 

Stay tuned for part two! I have a lot of Spitfires to build. I already had my first good news of 2017 that was clearly attributable to Spitfire builds, and all of you in the UK are welcome. I shall keep it up, like Moses at Rephidim, for as long as I can.

 

Anyway, I dug out another kit for some best practice testing, because these wingtips and ailerons are irritating me.

 

So, the wingtips share a continuous panel line with the rest of the wing. Those of us who've built a few AZ Spitfires probably assumed that it took a jog there, but no, no it doesn't. If you put it on after you close up the wings on the Eduard kit, you stand a good chance of getting the jog again. So put it on before putting the top part of the wing on the lower piece:

 

20170109_223115 by Edward IX, on Flickr

 

There's still a slight jog on the underside:

 

20170109_224400 by Edward IX, on Flickr

 

With the ailerons, the little tab that goes into the wing to situate them is too tall and a trifle too long. The important part is to lower its height, like so:

 

20170109_223831 by Edward IX, on Flickr

 

The top one is a sanded-down one, the bottom one is the ordinary unmodified part. This still needs some sanding down to make it fit better.

 

Anyway, filler has been left to dry on my two right now:

 

20170109_222558 by Edward IX, on Flickr

 

20170109_222604 by Edward IX, on Flickr

 

These were the roughest areas for me. The upper cowl, fuel tank in front of the cockpit, and the spine will likely need varying degrees of glooping too.

[Pete in Lincs]

All hail the gloop!

 

Keep them coming, PC.

 

And, it seems, the incoming administration have

declared they will clamp down on overclamping.

Beware!

[Procopius]

4 minutes ago, Pete in Lincs said:

And, it seems, the incoming administration have

declared they will clamp down on overclamping.

Beware!

 

They can kiss my grits. It'd be a badge of honour to be jailed by them. I'll plea bargain to keep my hobby tools and really crack into the stash.

[CedB]

Eduard / Edward 1, Clamp 0. More tool purchases required, I like it!

I share your views on the wingtips PC. It drove me mad on mine, trying to line up the panel lines and the leading edge and the top and bottom. And the other side was 'different'. Annoying.

Looks like you've sorted it out though and thanks for the tip on the ailerons.

[Jamie @ Sovereign Hobbies]

I'm enjoying this one

[Michou]

The start of WW2.  Just found this on the BBC site:

 

http://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-38573643

 

Mike

 

[Procopius]

57 minutes ago, Michou said:

The start of WW2.  Just found this on the BBC site:

 

http://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-38573643

 

Mike

 

 

I was just reading this myself! The King David Hotel bombing is incidentally one of the reasons I've always felt deeply ambivalent about doing an Israeli Spitfire. 

 

8 hours ago, SovereignHobbies said:

I'm enjoying this one

 

And well you might, I'm seriously impressed with your wares.

Edited January 10, 2017 by Procopius
Forgot to finish the post!

[Tomoshenko]

Watching and reading intently. Not so keen on that aileron and wing tip malarkey though, but useful heads up. Bring on the gloop!

 

"I already had my first good news of 2017 that was clearly attributable to Spitfire builds, and all of you in the UK are welcome. I shall keep it up, like Moses at Rephidim, for as long as I can." So the more Spitfires you build, nice things will keep happening in 2017. Yes I like the idea. We just have to keep you in Spitfires and modelling material. I'm sure we can set up a benefit gig, hopefully we'll get a few big names along. Happy to donate some vintage tins of Humbrol enamels...