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Eagle Squadron Spitfire


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For 2016 as usual I decided to at least complete 3 builds, the theme for the year was US operated Spitfires, the first two builds, both Hobbyboss Spitfire Mk. V's went smoothly and were finished but the Revell Spitfire through no fault of it's own lagged behind. It went that slowly that I did not start a build thread, but I did take some photos as I went along.

 

Before I started the build I went through Edgar's list of faults and decided to fix as many of them as I could.

 

1/. it needs a "Mk.I" oil cooler.     Barracuda detail set
 

2/. it needs the crowbar deleting, unless your model dates after January 1942 (the fit was retrospective.) Barracuda cockpit door
 

3/. 2-bar rudder pedals are o.k., but need the fabric straps over the top. Tamiya tape or similar
 

4/. gun button was brass, with a silver surround, not red (post-war elfin safety?)Paint
 

5/. Very pistol cartridge rack was normally left off, and Castle Bromwich had (red) plastic seats, not (green) metal. Use a Barracuda seat
 

6/. seat armour is missing. Use a Barracuda seat and armour
 

7/, seat backrest has an odd depression moulded in, which I've never seen. As for 6
 

8/. I have no idea what part 40 is (see later), and 41 (oxygen bottle) should be black, not green. Paint 41 black
 

9/. part 42 (compressed-air bottles) was silver, not green. Paint silver
 

9/. rudder and elevators' "stitching" is overdone. Sand down a tad
 

10/. I have no idea what the two "lozenges" (on the top of each wing) are. Remove
 

11/. unless your Mk.II dates from 1940, the rudder "prong" shouldn't be there, neither should the aerial. Cut off the prong and leave off the wire
 

12/. post 1940, IFF aerials were fitted, and the position of the discs is marked. Fit wires
 

13/. if you drop the flaps, the door, in the top of the wing, needs to be cut out, and opened. I will not drop the flaps, no need for action
 

14/. 50B is/are/were "station keeping lights," which might have been coloured like the navigation lights, but that remains a mystery, for now. Whoops see later

15/. while over-prominent, the "rivets" are nowhere near as bad as the photos appeared to show. Good

 

16/. the fuselage is about 2mm shorter than the Hasegawa Vb (all at the spinner end,) but it doesn't "shout," and it appears to have better curvature than the (somewhat slab-sided) Hasegawa fuselage. Leave well alone

 

17/, wingspan and chord (minus wingtips) are identical to the Hasegawa Vb. Good

 

18/. Revell have matched Tamiya, in the wheel wells, by providing back-sloping walls - very well done - but the "orifices" are too oval. Leave alone

 

19/. there are three oblong "protuberances" on the spinner, but Revell do tell you to file them off. No problem

 

20/. Revell have confused Sky with Sky Blue (oh, yes, they have.) No problem

 

21/. instrument panel is fixed, but is missing the landing lights control. Using Yahu IP

 

22/. The air scoop on top of the kit’s upper cowl wasn’t for the Heywood compressor which wasn’t introduced until March 1942 on the Mk V, but the Spitfire already had a compressor, which was fitted once the Mk.I went from the “pump-handle” u/c retraction system to the hydraulic type. From what I can tell the early compressor had a small almost invisible scoop while the Heywood needed a larger type which was more prominent. Modify the air scoop and bulges

 

23/. You'll need the early (circular) HF radio controller in place of the push­button VHF  type (37/38); Barracuda cockpit detail set

 

25/. Kit part number 25 This should be replaced by a circular item rather like the headrest.

This refers I believe to the voltage regulator fitted to the fuselage frame behind the pilots headrest which on the kit and later Spitfires is a double barrel shape.

 

26/. 40 should be fitted to the instrument panel above the pilot's left leg, not on the 

starboard wall; See 8 above 

 

27/.Ailerons should be fabric­covered, though that isn't as noticeable as some make out  (just fine lines where the stitches go); Barracuda wing detail set

 

28/.there should be two fuel **** levers to the right of the compass (which, incidentally, is black inside and greenish­grey on the outside); Use the Barracuda cockpit detail set, not sure what to do about the levers, probably nothing.

 

29/.the throttle quadrant has one lever too many (the one pointing forward);  Use the Barracuda cockpit detail set

 

30/.(probably the most difficult) replace the single fuel gauge (bottom RH corner of the  instrument panel) with two smaller items; Use the Yahu Instrument panel

 

31/.aerials were stainless steel, not black or copperNo problem

 

32/.There's one other item I've since noticed, and that's the oxygen hose, which should not be moulded on the starboard cockpit wall. On the Mk. I & II, the hose was "attached" to the pilot, and plugged into a socket on the starboard wall. Sand, cut or cover.
 

There are probably more faults with the kit but these are the ones I wanted to correct.

 

 

The build will use quite a few Barracuda resin detail sets:

  1. Seat and seat armour
  2. Cockpit upgrade set
  3. Spitfire Mk.I/II wing correction set
  4. Spitfire Mk.I-V Cockpit door without crowbar
  5. Spitfire 5 slot mainwheels.

Plus the amazing Yahu instrument panel and the equally amazing RB Productions Sutton Harness.

 

More coming soon.

 

Cheers

 

Dennis

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In keeping with my US Spitfires theme for this year the subject of this build will be XR*D Spitfire Mk.IIa, 71 (Eagle) Squadron, I bought the Eagle Cals decals though I am hoping to use masks for the majority of markings.

I also intended to use the same camouflage masks from AML that I used on the Trumpeter Mk.Vb kit but it turned out that XR*D has the B scheme camouflage pattern and the AML masks are for the A pattern.

Coincidently I saw a post on Britmodeller advertising paint masks (Top Notch) and miracle of miracles one was for a B pattern Spitfire camouflage.

 http://topnotch-success.net/

The camouflage masks were duly ordered and Sean also volunteered to make up a complete set of mask for XR*D. The masks when they arrived looked great and I look forward to using them.

http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/235005822-new-shop-update/#comment-2488101

So hopefully with all my ducks in a row it’s on with the build.

Here is the box art

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And the Barracuda wing correction set, this set has the radiator flap missing from my first set.

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The YAHU IP which is pretty amazing.

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As usual I started by cutting parts off the sprues and mounting them ready for painting, initially all the interior green and silver parts.

I’m getting quite used to the Barracuda parts for the cockpit now and the resin parts were cut off and cleaned up ready for painting.

The Barracuda seat and back armour were cleaned up and the back armour painted with Humbrol 120 which is the colour that I have chosen for RAF interior green.

The seat which in reality could be anywhere between red and brown and all shades of these two colours was painted with Humbrol H133 Satin Brown.

The seat pad was painted with H85 satin black.

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The cockpit walls in the fuselage halves were painted green (H120), the green section was then masked off and the rear of the cockpit painted Aluminium (H56), note in the photo below I got it wrong and the silver should be further forward.

The cockpit bulkheads, sidewalls, floor and lower wing section under the cockpit were all painted with green (H120) apart from the rear bulkhead which was painted silver (H56).

 

The wheel wells in the upper and lower wing sections, undercarriage legs, and wheel well covers were painted silver (H56).

The Barracuda resin cockpit parts were painted as per the guide supplied with the detail kit, and very good it is too, I find that a lot of resin sets do not have very good instructions or painting guides which is a waste, but the Barracuda ones are great.

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The RB Production seat belts were assembled using tweezers, cocktail sticks, Formula 560 glue and my magnifying lamp, without the latter though it would have been nearly impossible.

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More very soon as I am cheating and the build is a lot furthers along than this

 

Cheers

 

Dennis

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The oxygen hose that is moulded into the fuselage half was a problem, it should not be there, I could have carved it out but would then not be able to sand the surface smooth again, so I carved it out and plated over the resultant mess with some very thin plastic sheet, not perfect but better.

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I did try to attach the wire to the control column but failed at the first step which was drilling out the holes for the wires so I gave up and left just ran them down the side of the column.

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The kit electrical regulator on the frame behind the pilots seat was wrong for this Mark of Spitfire so it was changed from the kit one (double cylinders shape) to an early style round one which I bodged up from the scrap box.

The rudder pedals were converted to single step ones by cutting the top step off, then some strips of Dymo tape were cut up to make the straps on the pedals.

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The lights (station keeping lights?) on the fuselage sides were then given some attention. I had never noticed these before on a Spitfire and Edgar was unsure of them as well so I fitted the clear parts, covered them with CA and polished them smooth ready to paint over them.

Then of course I found “the” photo of my subject XR*D and there they were clear as day, so I will have to find some coloured decal to represent them once I have finished the paintwork. I should have known better and checked a bit more before acting.

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Cheers

 

Dennis

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And on to the wings, to fit the ailerons the Barracuda instructions tell you to trim the kit wings to enable them to fit, and they were correct, there is no way they would fit otherwise, made a bit of a mess on this one will have to tidy it up a bit..

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The next thing on my list of things to do was to correct the kit oil cooler, for this I bought the Barracuda wing correction set which has the oil cooler, radiator and fabric ailerons.

I was a bit daunted by the idea of cutting out the radiator from the lower wing but in the end decided to give it a go. The cutting out went well and then it was just a case of dry fitting, cutting and test fitting until it all fitted. Unfortunately the radiator flap was missing from my set but I’ll try and use the kit part or steal one from my other set.

I fitted the resin radiator into the wing and then found that the wing halves would not close, so then it was a case of chipping away at the resin until they would.

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Oil cooler assembled and wing cut out to fit it.

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and fitted

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Cutting out for the new radiator

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And new radiator in place

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Some paint

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And finished, just a bit of Mr Surfacer 1200 to fill the slight gaps

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And some trimming to get the wings to fit together, once I was happy that it was a good fit the wing halves were joined and the leading edge seam was sanded smooth.

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Cheers

 

Dennis

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15 hours ago, Steve27752 said:

Wow, just a few 'Extras'.

Well it is a Spitfire and the base kit was cheap as chips.

22 minutes ago, Val said:

Expert work on the corrections, I'll be watching this with a lot of interest. Great start :)

Thank you Val, though I'd be a bit shy of the expert tag !

 

Cheers

 

Dennis

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As Spitfire pilots who taxied with their flaps lowered were fined mine will be raised, but first a little voice in the back of my head was telling me that somewhere I had read that there was a slight problem with having them closed. A test fit revealed that there are little rectangles of plastic to be removed on the upper wing to get them to fit snugly. These were removed and with some more sanding/cutting to get a flush fit with the wing they were glued in place.

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The wing tips were joined and the seams sanded smooth then they were test fitted to the wings, the join was not the best and took a bit of sanding and test fitting to get a good fit, the slight gaps were filled again with Mr Surfacer 1200, excess was removed with a cotton bud dipped in Mr Color thinner.

Then the ailerons were test fitted, one was a bit short so some plastic card was glued to the end with CA and then I tried to sand it flush but it fell off, cleaned it up again and the same thing happened, it must be imune to CA so I will have to try and shim up the wing.

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Below is the test fitting

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Cheers

 

Dennis

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The cockpit "tub" sidewalls are finished and the fuselage side wall details are completed, the kit IP has been sanded flat and the YAHU IP installed in it's place, the RB seat belts have been fitted to the seat so it is time to assemble the cockpit.

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Cheers

 

Dennis

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15 minutes ago, Christer A said:

This looks very interesting. Definitely bookmarked for future reference!

A Revell Spit is almost dirt cheap compared to a Tamiya one so the amount of extras is understandable (and needed).

 

Really liking your efforts so far!

Thank you for the kind comments Christer, the Barracuda detail sets are amazing if a tad fragile, but well worth it

12 minutes ago, Crossofiron1971 said:

Very good work sir!

Thank you, I'm glad that you like it.

 

Cheers

 

Dennis

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And on with the cockpit, the cockpit tub sidewalls were fitted and all looked good.

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But when I offered it up to the fuselage halves and taped them together, the fit was not so good, the aft bulkhead did not fit into the fuselage at all, it was dangling in space and the fuselage halves would not fully close. In the end I had to make the tub narrower by shortening the sides and making them flush with the bulkhead holding the seat and then sand the sides at the front. The aft bulkhead would not fit at all so I cut the floor behind the front bulkhead and fitted it separately.

The tail wheel leg was painted with Medium Sea Grey and glued in place, and then the fuselage halves were glued and closed, once dry the seams were sanded and polished.

With that all done it was time to join the completed wings with the fuselage, test fitting showed a pretty good fit with only slight gaps at the wing roots, so out came the CA and clamps and the join was made.

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And that brings us bang up to date, I'm sitting here now filling, sanding and polishing the seams.

 

Cheers

 

Dennis

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The other cockpit problem that I did not tackle was the cut away that Revell have made to the fuselage just aft of the entry hatch and the other side of the fuselage, you can see it in the photo above, I was going to put some plastic sheet in the notch but then the rear clear part would have been too short, I could have then put some inserts against the fuselage to push the clear part forward a bit. But i would have to move the rear bulkhead forward as well, in the end I gave up, though I know that some clever people have done a fix for it.

 

Cheers

 

Dennis

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As the seams on the wings were pretty good I just added some Mr Surfacer 1200 to them with a cocktail stick and removed the excess with a cotton bud, this fills the gap but still leaves a panel line so it works well on slight gaps.

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The tail feathers were next and again the join was good so Mr Surfacer 1200 was used again.

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Then I had a panic, I could not find the rudder I had glued the two parts together and polished the seams, I had test fitted it but could I find it, eventually I tracked it down to a box of spare Hasegawa Spitfire V/VI parts that I had been searching through for a more accurate spinner, I must have scooped it up when I put everything back into the box.

Talking of Spinners below is a picture of the kit spinner with a Hasegawa Spinner for comparison.

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My subjects (XR*D) spinner is a bulbous one nothing like the short point one in the kit, the Hasegawa one is more bulbous but nothing like the real one and to make matters worse is a smaller diameter than the kit one so some nose mods would be called for.

Below is a photo of my subject, the photo came from the net so I do not know if anyone owns it, but I will remove it if requested.

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So I had a search on the internet for a suitable prop and spinner, Both MDC and Eagle Parts do one so I sent away for the MDC one as it was fairly local and I have used their parts successfully before.

The bottom engine cowl was glued in place and a very nice fit it was, I just had to trim the aft end a tad and get rid of a slight lip at the front..

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Cheers

 

Dennis

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With the rudder recovered I could "pin" the flying surfaces in place, I don't like hit and miss joints for them so I always go for positive connections, as usual I used 15 amp fuse wire and my handy little pin vice and micro drills to drill the holes.

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The clear parts were cut from their sprues and cleaned up, this is not my favourite job as they are usually brittle and don't take kindly to being handled, but this time it went well, after clean up they were polished and then dipped in Johnson's Klear and put into my handy lettuce saver to keep them safe from any dust.

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Cheers

 

Dennis

 

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While the clear parts are drying I have been pottering away at the build, first up is the "bumps" on the nose, Revell must have been working from a restored example as they are not correct for a Mk.IIa, on which there are two "bumps" each side, plus a small air scoop for a compressor on the starboard side see Edgar's point 22 above.

The Coffman starter bulge on the forward starboard side of the nose is a lot larger than the Revell one which is a tad puny, it's a shame but I used a Hasegawa Mk.Vb Coffman starter bulge to replace the large scoop that Revell supplied for the starboard side large "bump" so I had to bodge up a new one from some scrap sprue.

This is what I ended up with.

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Then I decided to do some forward planning for the IFF wires and drilled the fuselage and tail planes.

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The radio fit on my subject in 1941 should be VHF which did not require an aerial wire from the mast to the rudder, looking at the photo above it does have a radio mast with the triangle still attached this article at the Spitfire sites explains this very clearly. As the Revell mast does not have a triangle I have had to graft one onto it.

Info on Spitfire Masts radios and aerial wires is here - http://spitfiresite.com/2010/04/spitfire-masts-and-aerials.html

 

Cheers

 

Dennis

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2 hours ago, Christer A said:

Nice attention to detail!

And there is a lot of detail to worry about, I realise that whenever I look at the Spitfiresite...

Thank you, the more I find out about Spitfires the more I realise how little I know.

 

Cheers

 

Dennis

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44 minutes ago, P.o Prune said:

Beautiful build.
Got a Mk.IIa myself and have big plans for it (when the time comes) So it's nice to follow your build and get ideas.

Thank you, a lot of the stuff in my build is the result of scanning other peoples builds, it's a great way to avoid mistakes, and make new ones !

 

Cheers

 

Dennis

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  • 2 weeks later...

The clear parts were attached to the fuselage with CA, the separate armoured glass part was fixed in place with Micro Kristal Klear, and masking was applied.

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The rear part was a tad small and left a slight ledge on either side of the fuselage, but I hope that the canopy will cover this.

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The canopy was attached to a cocktail stick and masked ready for painting.

The MDC resin parts arrived and very nice they looked too, however the spinner was too small for the kit backplate, I had ordered the complete Mk.I correction set as it said it was for the Revell kit, but I have a feeling that it is meant for the Revell reboxing of the Hasegawa Mk.I/II kit which utilised their old Mk.Vb fuselage with new wings ( Revell kit 04715). The resin correction kit will not go to waste as I have one of those kits in the stash.

So the kit spinner has had the strange projections sanded off as per point 19 at the start of the thread, and has been airbrushed with Xtracolor X7 Sky as has the fuselage band.

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The Quickboost exhausts were painted with Humbrol 113 and then rubbed with some pencil lead to give a nice metallic brown colour.

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Next up will be the underside painting.

 

Cheers

 

Dennis

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