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Tamiya Spitfire Mk1 Canopy


Magua87

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Hi, gents. 

 

I'm building a Tamiya Spitfire Mk1. It's got some nice interior detailing, but unfortunately it's got a horrendous canopy which is distorted and thick. 

 

Are there any after market solutions? I've had a bit of a google, but so far the only option seems to be the squadron vacuum formed canopy which is already parted for displaying in the open position. I'd rather keep the canopy closed. 

 

Any advice appreciated. Cheers. 

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If you're going to keep the canopy closed and don't want to splash out on an aftermarket canopy, a dunk in Future helps with the clarity and does indeed help the clear plastic appear quite markedly thinner.

 

Just my tuppence worth.

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I can say with all honesty, I have been looking for a decent replacement for ages and not had any luck, the Squadron and Falcon ones are the same thing, a multi piece affair, which takes a lot of work no matter how you do it.

 

I am considering using a one piece one that is for the Airfix kit, but it will need a bit (well a lot) of fetteling to get it to fit, it seems to me the Tamiya (shock horror) got the canopy a little wrong, the slope on the forward part seems to be a little too steep which is the bugbear.

If you do manage to get something I would very glad to hear about it

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The scale would help us.  In 1/72, there is not just one Falcon Spitfire canopy, but several in an RAF Fighters set, plus an entire set devoted only to different Spitfire canopies.  The vast majority of them are closed.  Rob Taurus also do closed canopies for early Spitfires, including the Tamiya one.

 

Given the rest of things wrong with the Tamiya 1/72 Spitfires  Mk.1/V,  I'm a little surprised you are bothering about the canopy.

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2 hours ago, Graham Boak said:

The scale would help us.  In 1/72, there is not just one Falcon Spitfire canopy, but several in an RAF Fighters set, plus an entire set devoted only to different Spitfire canopies.  The vast majority of them are closed.  Rob Taurus also do closed canopies for early Spitfires, including the Tamiya one.

 

Given the rest of things wrong with the Tamiya 1/72 Spitfires  Mk.1/V,  I'm a little surprised you are bothering about the canopy.

Whoops. 1/72. 

 

I haven't seen any closed canopies for the Mk 1. Only some of the later canopies. 

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You should eliminate the Squadron canopies in any case since all of them (in the current Falcon website listing) are for other kit manufacturers.

 

The Spitfire Special set referenced above includes several options, open and shut, original and bulged for the Tamiya kit.

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On 8/31/2017 at 2:00 AM, Graham Boak said:

Given the rest of things wrong with the Tamiya 1/72 Spitfires  Mk.1/V,  I'm a little surprised you are bothering about the canopy.

What all is wrong with the Tamiya kit?

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6 hours ago, Graham Boak said:

Wing is the wrong shape, fuselage is too fat, prop and exhausts are poor.  Fits together perfectly.

When you say that the wing is the wrong shape, could you elaborate?  It looks pretty much like any other Spitfire kit's wing that I have on hand (save for that it is a Mk.V wing).  I haven't read anything about the fuselage being "too fat", will have to take another look there.  As for poor prop and exhausts, well that can be said of many kits out there.  True enough on the fit though!

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At the trailing edge, the elliptical wing on the Spitfire starts to curve forward just outside the centreline.  On the Tamiya kit, this curve does not begin until the wing "appears" from the root fairing.  Therefore the curve is too full by mid-span, with excessive chord.  If you try reshaping the trailing edge by removing chord, you are eating into the flap area.  It lacks washout at the tip, but then so do others.  (Hurrah for the older Airfix Mk.I, which was beautiful.)  The fuselage appears too fat aft of the cockpit, around the trailing edge of the wing.  It has been accused of being too short between the cockpit and the tail, but it isn't.  I'm not sure whether it is a little short in the nose, like most kits.

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10 hours ago, Wm Blecky said:

What all is wrong with the Tamiya kit?

 

9 hours ago, Graham Boak said:

Wing is the wrong shape, fuselage is too fat, prop and exhausts are poor.  Fits together perfectly.

 

FWIW,  the same faults (except exhausts IIRC) are in the 1/48 Tamiya Mk.I/Vb kits.

 

 I don't have the 72nd Tamiya kit,  but from what I have read,they are very similar in error.

 

For a lengthy description of the 1/48 Tamiya fuselage,  see here

http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/234968337-two-148-mkvb-spitfires-tamiya-and-airfix-new-spitfire-collection-expansion-project-finished-photos-now-in-the-rfi-section-080615/&do=findComment&comment=1763656

 

It's been photobucketed,  but you can now get an extension in Chrome  and Firefox which unblocks the pics.

 

The mods in 1/48th are a fair a mount of work,   but panel lines are in the right places,and it has very fine surface detail.

 

Hope of use.

 

 

Edited by Troy Smith
tidying up, corrections
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