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Tamiya Spitfire Mk. Vb 1/72 Stanisław Skalski mojo build.


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It’s time for an update here. In fact, it’s way past time for an update on all my WIP threads.

 

This year got off to a good start. A nice interstate move, Mrs. T. had found  a new job, we went on a nice trip to the Southern NSW Coast to buy an old convertible. Had a really nice ‘weekend holiday’.

 

Lots of enjoyable purchasing of furniture, electrical stuff, spoons, fans, a toaster, the odd tin of Tuna and a nearly new ‘Zen’ vacuum cleaner for just AUD$5.00 because it had a wheel missing. 

 

Birthday visit to the Australian War Memorial, successful applications for Masters courses back in Blighty, Germany and Sweden.

 

Then one day, walking across a car park with a few shopping bags full of vegetables, fruit, other quite heavy things... I stopped.

 

Couldn’t move at all. To cut a long story short; lumbar 2/3 moved. A lot. Many here will know it’s a touch painful. With me it also bleeds, creating a lot of pressure in a small space. The haemorrhage can spread a bit if left unchecked.

 

This has grounded me for most of the year since around May. Been mainly stuck in the (admittedly very pleasant) bedroom, away from the office/mancave/second bedroom since then :(.

 

Mrs. T brought a small set of shelves in, put them at the side of the bed. This now holds, within arms reach, a good selection of books, models, two trays intended for modelling use, some of my paints and tools :).

 

The local Oz medical system has been quite wearing. Staff and facilities really marvellous.   It’s the linking of stuff together whilst bedbound, that is overly complex. 

 

People knock the British NHS, but it’s something that British people can be very proud of. Only in (mainly northern) European and Scandinavian countries have I felt as safe, or more safe, than in the U.K., in terms of almost comprehensive national health care .

 

Contrary to what the media says, Australia does not have a comprehensive national health system in the same way. It has a ‘public health system’ that for those with chronic conditions, can ‘dis’ able the person rather than positively ‘en’ able the person. The provision varies from state to state. People in the U.K. may not know what ‘Bulk Billing’ is. It’s nice, that’s what it is and more or less applies to every British NHS GP practice. Here in ACT, it’s rare and in our case, a doctor far, far away. Three buses away. An AUD$150 return taxi away. A $900 ambulance away. Community ambulance? Rumoured to exist; we continue to try to get one here.

 

The buses are actuallly superb, but no good for bedbound stuff. So one can end up a little stuck, if a little short on cash.

 

I know that I’m tremendously lucky to have ever experienced a public or national health care system at all, so mustn’t sound spoilt or unappreciative. Haemophiliacs can’t get full ‘private’ health insurance in many countries, so have to pay, rely on organisations/charities or wait, get crippled due to lack of treatment, or kick the proverbial bucket.

 

If the basic weekly medication wasn’t covered by a ‘public’ system; I would need to find, in Britmodeller currency terms, around GBP £6000 a week. So I’m very, very fortunate. I wouldn’t be so fortunate in The Ukraine, the USA a few years ago (and possibly soon again), or nearly all of the 3rd world. 

 

Therefore; not complaining. Just a bit stuck and bored. It’s frustrating when a superb system is ‘nearly’ there; just tiny, liberating, essential linking bits missing.

 

What relevance has this to the thread(s)? Progress; or lack of it. The gaps in the system have resulted in much self management here at Tiger’s Teetering Towers, so a very slow recovery. Hence some days/weeks I won’t touch a model at all; can’t sit up enough. That has really slowed down this and all my builds.

 

Frustrating.

 

This Spitfire isn’t finished yet, but is a lot further on than indicated by the last post. Unfortunately a combination of the immobility, local internet problems (apparently an external cable with bare wires, occasionally submerged in 6” of water!), the Photomuppet debacle and my own stupidity in not backing  photos up to a hard drive, has conspired to slow me down even more.

 

All I can say in that respect is that Photomuppet are party poopers,  but that Postimg, Flickr and others are very helpful people :)!

 

I’ve rambled on a bit (I don’t get out much, obviously) but it’s best to explain. I might just put a link to this post in my other stalled threads, rather than typing the same explanation in many places.

 

My next post will include photographs, progress and the usual tangental, fairly freeform scribblings of this particular, very eccentric, probably quite hatstand, Britmodeller :winkgrin:.

 

Meanwhile, just a little scribbling and colouring to get the ball rolling:

 

I found out that it could be a fib that Tamiya kits don’t need filler. It’s probably my fault, but I needed to enlist the help of the good old ‘Flex-i-File’ s.

 

32838579593_0abff38284_b.jpg

 

Complete clot that I am (although not with reference to sanguine issues), I hadn’t cleaned them, or replaced them in their little zip-lock bags after last using them. I had little idea of the grit/colour relationship :dunce: .

 

It was a case of ‘strap it to your frame tool and guess how hard it will sand’. 

 

Gentle rubbing at first, to judge the best grit for the task.

 

:hmmm: 

 

This kit, unlike most that I (try to) build, has locating tabs for the fuselage sides. I used them, but after much clamping (see last post), was left with a noticeable step on the top join.

 

33651965095_f0534e0991_b.jpg

 

The photographs really don’t show how much of a step it was. I need better lighting.

 

Unfortunately, due to my current lack of a pair of bifocal spectacles, I often don’t realise that I’ve focussed the camera on the wrong area. In this case, the paper kitchen towel, rather than the fuselage/cowl top. Nevertheless, although blurred, this possibly hints a little more usefully at the annoying step:

 

32809381564_8d65d235ca_b.jpg

 

After a little more action with the Filey thing that’s Flexi, the step more or less vanished from just in front of the cockpit, but not from  the upper cowl; worse than it looks here.

 

33269229680_b632d17dfb_b.jpg

 

Old habits die hard and after a couple of decades of short run, mainly cheap, questionably tooled kits; the part of my brain that remembers old Eastern Bloc 1/72 Yak 7b kits, cast in cow pat brown shatter happy plastic, with more flash than can be put in even the largest pan, said:

 

“шпатлевка!”.

 

So I got it out and slapped it on the fuselage, after applying a little Tamiya tape to minimise the spread:

 

32809376794_36852e81f4_b.jpg

 

I love Humbrol filler in a completely irrational way. I did manage to get out of bed twice since May, and somehow managed to buy a 1985 Volvo 244.

 

I mention this as the Humbrol stuff is my ‘Volvo 244’ of fillers. Reliable, solid, not pretty, not fast, not slow, practical, comfortable to use, lots of people don’t like it, those that do really do :heart: .

 

Splodged on a nice moderate layer:

 

33495476852_71d36ba2bc_b.jpg

 

:blink2:

 

Left it to dry overnight, to be on the safe side.

 

I should mention that the cockpit/seat assembly isn’t installed yet. It can be pushed in from below later. I decided to try this order of construction in a (vain?) attempt to keep any kind of dust out of the cockpit area. 

 

I stuffed soft kitchen paper towel in carefully from underneath to further discourage dust ingress:

 

33611471856_d709414992_b.jpg

 

A strange photograph; but that’s how it looks from below. Stuffed.

 

Will it keep dust out and possibly pull any dust out when removed :shrug: ? I don’t know, but that’s the idea.

 

It’s very disheartening when the clear canopy fills up with dust from inside, just at the stage when it’s been firmly glued in place, faired in and painted :undecided:.

 

Thank you for popping in, reading and watching this little strand of Britmodeller.

 

Next time; Wings and Things.

Hope you had a nice modelling weekend, Bye for now :bye: 

TonyT

Edited by TonyTiger66
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2 minutes ago, Beard said:

Sorry to hear of your back-related problems but.glad to see your Spitfire moves on.

Same here, Tony. I hope you get some sort of relief soon.

 

Ciao

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Thank you very much everyone, that’s very kind indeed :thanks: 

 

I thought I would try another update :).

 

This photograph should have been in the thread before the Humbrol filler was applied. It shows the cowl ‘step’ more clearly. If I had carried on with the flexi file, the shape of the cowl wouldn’t have looked right.

 

32838569743_afb9ea4602_b.jpg

 

Talking of health, here is an accessory I use a lot to keep the surface of builds as clean as possible; isopropyl alcohol medical swabs. I’ve probably mentioned before. Very handy, very cheap in packs of e.g. 100 from the local chemist. 

 

Dymo tape :hmmm: ? I couldn’t find the Tamiya tape at first, so tried the Dymo for masking around the area to be filled. A profound failure, I’m glad that I found the Tamiya tape :phew: 

 

Another use of the alcohol swabs; squeeze quite a lot of the moisture out, then gently clean the dust out of Flex - i - File strips:

 

33523785811_b9dc6a31bb_b.jpg

 

Too much moisture and/or rubbing too hard will unfortunately take the original grade rough surface off. These strips are relatively expensive here in Oz, so this is one way to get a little more life out of them.

 

I realise it may look odd, but next I gave the exhausts their first colour. It’s a Humbrol ‘mini’ pot of paint; the  kind that is included in Airfix ‘Starter Sets’. I’ve had pleasant results with this shade in the long distant past. Maybe I’ll not like it as much now we have so much choice with AK Xtreme Metal, Gunze and other metalliser types, Alclad, Vallejo and so on, but I feel it’s worth giving it a try.

 

It’s number 171; “Antique Bronze”. I thin these (acrylic?) gloopy paints with a little normal tap water and apply with around a 00 size sablene brush.

 

33522767071_56f3e87baa_b.jpg

 

The next step, whilst waiting for the fuselage step filler to dry; Wings :pilot: !!

 

At this stage, still using der siden  spruenerr cutter:

 

33495471842_ce9e2181a3_b.jpg

 

A little medieval for these quite ‘crisp’ parts. I’m quite a convert to

micro ans nano saws and a little more patience these days .

 

The last Spitfire I tried to build was the Italeri Mk. IX.

 

33652932955_ca96089a91_b.jpg

 

It lacked this rather wonderful thing:

 

32810090794_c1f0dd5142_b.jpg

 

No, not my big fingerprint; the nice gull shape present here, simply isn’t there on the Italeri kit. A shame.

 

That, combined with a very odd multi part fuselage in the Italeri kit, resulted in the Italeri kit stalling. So badly it nearly fell from a great height.

 

On that occasion I regained my composure and a Brigade Models Seafire F. XV conversion kit, designed for this very Italeri kit, with a complete replacement  fuselage was stuffed in the Italeri box, for some time after WWIII has panned out.

 

33268985460_e31b1a8579_b.jpg

 

I have no idea how accurate Tamiya’s scribing and rivet detail is  on this Spitfire, but I like it. Subtle, not too deep.

 

One of Mrs. T’s fingernail sanding sticks was employed to remove the remnants of runner from the wings:

 

33523542551_e4ae442450_b.jpg

 

I felt that there were a few high points on the wing surfaces; they didn’t look quite right, so they were also given a swipe or two of the stick.

 

Trial fitting upper and lower wing halves, I found a step by the aileron:

 

33612368556_3a6012ae98_b.jpg

 

As an aside, much more grandiose steps than this are available with any Roden He-111 kit :frantic: .

 

I know that I keep mentioning them.

 

One day soon, a WIP will show what I’ve been doing to co-erce a Roden He-111 into being much more kind, thoughtful, well behaved and fitting into society without impediment, like a good bomber should :thumbsup2: .

 

A technique I’ve employed a lot on the He-111’s has been to thin the wings carefully from inside. It’s important to be sure not to accidentally go too far and e.g. remove a leading edge by accident.

 

I feel this step was my fault. Moreover, I’m not used to parts fitting together so tightly ‘click’, and was using far too much glue.

 

I’ll return to that later.

 

With the far too much glue, the wing upper and lower halves were clamped together and left to dry overnight.

 

33496469062_eebc6c4390_b.jpg

 

Those cannons are very nicely moulded, but almost impossible not to catch with one’s cuff, cardigan sleeve, clothes peg or pickled gherkin. 

 

Finally, something I mentioned to @Beard on another thread; I thought that I had fully assembled the cockpit/seat area. 

 

Oh no. Not at all. I also managed to lose a part (voltage regulator?) to the carpet monster; part D25 on the (very clear) instructions here:

 

32839603843_dc2cfae2a2_b.jpg

 

The next instalment will see me fumbling, chopping, trimming and making a complete Venetian blind of myself, as I demonstrate how I am so utterly useless at scratch building. That a replacement for even just this tiny, tiny part, is a major undertaking :dunce: .

 

Thank you for stopping by again at one of my loose threads. Any comments are always most welcome.

 

Best regards

TonyT

:bye: 

 

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Tony,

I've been trying to find some photographs of the aircraft you're doing and you're right, they are not easy to find but these may be of interest.

 

a14.jpg

 

 

from http://www.polishsquadronsremembered.com

 

7049c1090f8449e2a87b8241553374df--superm

 

from Pintrest.

 

Notice the exhausts and that none of them have the little pipe emerging from the rear (I think it's something to do with heating the guns) but the Tamiya one does. As one would imagine, it's been discussed on here:

 

Also, and I hope I'm not going to rain on your voltage regulator parade, look at the voltage regulator on this 317 squadron MkVb:

a7.jpg

 

Edited by Beard
to add information about voltage regulators.
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Tony, sorry to hear you are still in the wars. Flexifiles are a wonderful thing and I own a set - I must get around to buying the handle one day...

 

Looking at the first of the two photos above, you may just have got licence to do a camouflage scheme with white splatter on the upper surfaces! 

 

Regards,

Adrian

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I think most of us use IPA at some time but I didn't know about the swabs, great idea it reduces the chance of knocking the bottle over  whils you have the top off.

You  seem to have eliminated the step between the wing and aileron so you must be doing something right.

 

Cheers

 

John

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Don't know how I managed to miss this update :banghead: Nice progress, and if I may suggest about scratch building the voltage regulator, a suitable diameter brass pipe (or any rod, for that matter) can be your friend, here. Cut two equal segments and stick them to a square plastic card cutout, and you're done. Just my :2c:

 

Ciao

Edited by giemme
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