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Hi all 

i have an old air waves conversion for an airfix mkv spitfire. I made an attempt mny years ago at this conversion. Including a 2nd kit of a mid production mk IX for the mid production vertical tail. After some work i eventually shelved the whole pile. Well 14 years later im considering a second go and now i wonder is the airfix mk XII the way to go? Or would it be better to attempt converting another brand ie Tamiya mk v or Hasegawa/Eduard mkVIII. On top of those questions if i convert i still have no decals/markings for the mk XII.

    Im in a long term quest to build a certain number of spitfires for my collection. I currently have a mk2 in empire flying school markings. Two mark v's a usaaf midstone/dk earth from the mediterranean and sailor malans mk v. A mk XIVe from the continent in 1945. And a seafire mk 46. Id like to add a mk 1, mk 8, mk 9, the 12, a 19 and a 22 from the far east. Not to mention at least one more seafire. Well if anyone wants to chime in and give me there 2 cents it would be appreciated. Oh just so you know im a newbie here at BM. And im still trying to get a connection for displaying my work so patience on that please. Also i took a 10 year break from the hobby from 2005 to the end of 2014. So im getting back into things but having to start from pretty much nothing( no airbrush only rattlecan, and rebuilding all my supplies up from scratch. 

 

Thanks all 

Dennis

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That was my original question chuck. I wasnt sure which route would be best the new airfix mk12 or converting a Tamiya or Hasegawa/Eduard with my existing conversion. My original problem comes in two parts. The original airfix mk 5 kit didnt have all the correct parts to complete the conversion. It didnt come with 5c wings or mid-production mk9 rudder. Plus the airfix 5 had wings that were as thick as a hurricanes. Two the lack of markings. 

     Now my question stems from this does anyone know if the new airfix mk 12 is a new mold or a modification of the old mk 5 kit. Another big problem is i can only really get airfix online here in the states. As they dont really have any hobbyshops in chicago anymore. Weve gone from about 8-10 good shops 20 years ago to just 1 shop for the greater chicagoland area. Its a dying business sadly.  

 

Thanks again for the help

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The Airfix Mk.XII is a new tool,  but has faults,  It's too  deep fuselage,  'tamiya' too broad wing, etc etc, It's fixable, but requires a load of work to be  accurate, and new prop blades. 

 

 it's late, you want details, I can dig out threads on this,but they get convoluted and might give you a headache.

 

I'd  be wary  of an Airwaves  conversion, a lot of their stuff is, erm, not great.

You couldn't use a Tamiya Vb or hase Vb, as both are B winged. (without getting into what's wrong with them)

You possibly could convert an Eduard IX,  but I'd bet that the  Airwaves  bits would be noticeably crude in comparison to the Eduard base kit, and you'd still need decals.

 

If you are in the market for a 1/48th Mk XII, and you want accuracy, get the Special Hobby kit,it will be as easy to get as the Airfix XII online,it has  more decal options, and  some  etch parts.  Short run so can be tricky too build if not careful.

 

You will get some naysayers to  this, but  I have the Airfix XII, SH XII, and the Aeroclub XII fuselage, and I did a lot of cross checking of other Spitfire kits,  the accurate ones for shape and dimension comparison, as well as he trusted plans,  and while the SH is not 'perfect' in my opinion it's the best overall option for a XII.

 

HTH

T

 

PS 

Quote

 Id like to add a mk 1, mk 8, mk 9, the 12, a 19 and a 22 from the far east. 

Mk.I - new tool Airfix

Mk.  VIII/IX, Eduard

XIX - Airfix

22  - Airfix

 

Edited by Troy Smith
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Thank you troy special hobby is one id forgotten. Im not afraid of limited run or short run kits. Did a grand phoenix Fj fury about two years ago. Not afraid of extra work just checking all my options. No i dont need the threads but thanks for the offer. I guess i can use the airwaves stuff for spares or naybe a seafire 15 conversion ? Again thanks for the info 

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SH also do a range of Seafires with etch & resin included..  Very buildable kit that finishes really well.  I have both a Seafire II & II on the go...

Edited by Grey Beema
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Some years ago I combined the Falcon vac-form XII conversion with a Hasegawa / Gartex Vc (itself a limited edition of the Hase Vb kit with some C wing conversion parts). It went together very well and I wtill have it on the shelf.

Edited by Work In Progress
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Hi, CorsairfoxfourUncle,

 

The way I followed is using an Aeroclub conversion (complete fuselage, prop, radiators) with a Spit IX kit (I have used a Hase, but an Eduard wold be equally good). Bear in mind that surface detail in a too modern and good kit would be much better than in the Aeroclub fuselage. I do not know the Airwaves conversion for the XII, but have used one for a Seafire XV (basically the same airframe) and worked perfectly with a Hase donor kit.

 

As Troy said, the fuselage in the Airfix kit is too deep ("tall", if you like) so the general shape is really awry. Something you notice immediately upon first sight if you are familiar with Spits. I remember when the kit was first issued and some of us noticed that we were flamed out mercilessly.

 

YOu also have a Special Hobby kit, which comes with a good fuselage but has the wing four millimeters back. There are some methods to correct this, even some proposed in this very forum, mainly regarding SH Spitfire V/Seafire III, which shares the same basic problem. I have not tried neither of these.

 

Hope that helps,

 

Fernando

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I work in 1/72 where I have had good results in mating a Griffon front to a IX kit. You will of course also need a mk V oild cooler, but it's much easier by having a 'C' wing that trying to modify a 'B' wing.

 

resized_e254d879-d5c7-499c-933a-45c0fbce

Edited by FinnAndersen
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3 hours ago, Fernando said:


As Troy said, the fuselage in the Airfix kit is too deep ("tall", if you like) so the general shape is really awry. Something you notice immediately upon first sight if you are familiar with Spits. I remember when the kit was first issued and some of us noticed that we were flamed out mercilessly
.

YOu also have a Special Hobby kit, which comes with a good fuselage but has the wing four millimeters back. There are some methods to correct this, even some proposed in this very forum, mainly regarding SH Spitfire V/Seafire III, which shares the same basic problem. I have not tried neither of these.

 

Hope that helps,

 

Fernando

Hi  Fernando

 

the wing is at most 2 mm back, more like  1.5  mm,  having just lined up the  new  tool Airfix V and  the SH  XII.

Again, due to  a 1.5 shortness just in front of the cockpit,  if this was a big problem, a complete fix would be a splice, in the fueselage fuel tank ,  but an easier fix would be cutting off the leading edge fillet on fuse, (maybe use  an Eduard spare?)  and over the wing and  trim the trailing edge fillet.

The  SH kits also have the correct cockpit  with 'sidewalls'  (in reality the  fuselage sides)

as seen here

4674411354_639b017b2f_o.jpgSpitfire boneyard. by Etienne du Plessis, on Flickr

 

note wing fillet formers

 

 while most Spitfire kits have the cockpit curving into the  wing fillets.

 

The SH Spit Vc.Seafire III is also about 1.5 mm short in front of fin,so the  Spit  XII and Seafire XV are better.

 

The Airfix XII (and Seafire XVII) share most  of the faults the  Academy XIV is damned for,  too deep, including the fin, and thus the rudder, and on  the nose the  exhausts are too low, wing too broad,  though they get the nose ring size right (Academy get this  too big which is  why their XIV really looks  off)  and useless prop blades

the  Airfix  also has  separate  flaps and heavy panel lines.

 

Sure, there is  the Falcon vac fuselage (is this raised line detailing) or the  Airwaves (OOP) or Aeroclub (OOP)  but the point  I was trying to make for Dennis,  is if  you are looking  to buy a  kit for a  1/48th Spitfire XII the Special Hobby kits is the best overall package, not  least as it  has 4 decal options, 

There is a in box review here

 

There has been much debate over these kits, and comparisons etc  etc,but much of  this predates the issue  of the new tool Airfix I/V, and  the Eduard VIII/IX/XVI kits, both of which I have yet to see any criticism of for overall shape and  dimensions.

The SH XII match up with the Airfix V very well apart from being 1.5mm short just in front of the cockpit.

 

Anyway Dennis, welcome to 'Spitmodeller'  and I  hope  this helps!

 

cheers

T

 

 

 

 

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Hi, Troy,

 

Agreed SH is the best option. Might be I exaggerated the wing misplacement, I was writing out of memory. Wasn't aware of the longer rear fuselage. I was thinking about the cure you had proposed of just forcing the wing forward and fairing it in fore and aft.

 

Fernando

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Thank you to everyone and there advice please keep it coming. Finn thats why i originally shelved the project in 2004 tried to make too many changes and it felt like every time i started one change it would reveal 1-2 more i needed to accomplish. So i finally got frustrated and said in the future.

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  • 3 weeks later...

For any manufacturer of 1/72 scale aircraft out there - a decent spitfire Mk.XII in 1/72 scale would be very welcome.  With a lot of recent spitfire models in this scale coming onto the market mainly through AZ Models, Eduard and others, we do not have a good spitfire Mk.XII.  To the best of my knowledge, this is really the last main operational variant that requires to be produced in 1/72 scale.   I hope soon that this gap in the market will be filled. 

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