Galligraphics

Following with interest - I've always found this particular aircraft more attractive than the MkII or Mk V. So much so that I made one in my teens from the Matchbox kit - probably not very accurate; I just looked at some photos, IIRC.

🍷

mmmmm

Applausible

That is a remarkable transformation of a rather basic ancient kit… terrific work . Nige

Strange how often that sort of thing seems to happen, innit?

This takes me back to the conversion articles that I read in the likes of Airfix Magazine in my youth when Alan W Hall would describe adding a chunk of balsa wood and then blithely say “and carve it to shape…” I was in awe then of the skills of someone who could produce a recognisable shape from a lump of wood, much as I am in awe of the milliput-whittling/filing skills demonstrated here. Nige

What they said… nicely done cockpit

Nicely done and that is such a striking scheme!

Fiddly it may be but those decals seem to have settled down really nicely - I've produced my own decals in the past and because the film is quite thick I haven't always been entirely happy with them... Nige

As it's nearly two weeks since my last update, I'd better let you know what's been happening in my workshop. Not a lot, as it happens... some fiddling about with the canopy join - alternating coats of Mr Surfacer and then rubbing down around the edges. I'm nearly happy with it now. I've added some small details to the V1 - gauges, filler caps and rudder actuator - given it a final coat of primer and then an initial spray of the undersides with light blue; I've just realised that the pics are a bit blurred - sorry about that. And an initial coat of medium sea grey for the undersides of the Spit - you'll also notice in the background that I took the opportunity to do the undersides of my two Pegasus Mk22s (which have been somewhat neglected since last year's Not My Comfort Zone GB). I may resurrect them in a new WIP thread later... I've also spotted some unevenness just inboard of the starboard radiator... I foresee some more sanding and fettling in my future... I still need to add the Rebecca beam approach aerial "bump" and also figure out whether the identification(?) light on the underside would have been moved backwards (because it would have been covered by the slipper tank when fitted)... More soon, I hope... Nige

Mmm… Anne Hathaway… 😊

Amazing - I keep having to remind myself that this is 1/72 scale…

Go on… you know you want to…

A little bit of sanding, a squirt of primer, and a decision... Decision first - I'm not going to add the slipper tank. The reason is that, whilst looking into the positioning of the tank under the fuselage I read that, during combat, the pilot would jettison the tank to improve his manoeuvrability. I'm assuming that, in order to catch the V1, they'd have to squeeze as much speed as they could out of their aircraft and so it would be unlikely to see a Spitfire with slipper tank fitted chasing a V1... What this means is that I'm going to have to spend a bit of time tidying up the underside which would otherwise have been hidden by the tank . First coat of primer (Hycote rattle can - it seems to go down very smoothly . So smoothly that it has highlighted quite a lot of further tidying up that I need to do - for example, there's some lumps and bumps where the gull wing was grafted in, the ejection ports need squaring up a bit, some of the scribing went a tad askew, and I'll have to take some finer sanding pads to the area around the rear of the cowling... However, it is starting to look like a Spitfire . And the V1 is now looking more like the real thing as well...

This is looking better and betterer each time I visit this thread - some terrific detailing going on . Nige

Thanks Adrian. So am I! I’m keeping fingers (and legs, and eyes…) crossed that it won’t highlight too many issues. Nige

It's been a few days since I last posted an update. Sorry about that... however, I have been doing odd bits here and there when I could find time to nip out to the workshop. The carburettor intake has been fully removed and a resin copy added (from the Airfix Spit 22, a spare from when I was working on my two Pegasus Mk22s in the Not My Comfort Zone GB... Then, I chopped off the Frog/Novo upper cowling (I wasn't happy with the shape over the exhausts - obviously a result of the moulding limitations back in the day, but it just didn't look "right" to me). Resin cowling (again, a spare from the Pegasus Spit efforts - a copy of the Quickboost replacement cowling for the Fujimi MkXIV) just held in place here... slight discrepancy in length, look... Now where is that old Tiger tank wheel...? Tiger wheel glued to nose front (and then chopped in half), and resin cowling now in place. Some sanding of the tank wheel required to blend it in. I will also have to sand down the joint between cowling and plastic... To my eyes, it's an improvement, but the proof of the pudding will be once it has a coat of primer. Radiators (yep - resin spares from the Pegasus.. etc) added. The vacform canopy has been glued in place with Glue n Glaze - there's quite a gap along the starboard side which will require filling. The prominent upper edge of the wing fillet was absent on the kit, so I copied the shape by sticking some masking tape along that section of a kit which DOES have that feature, cut along the raised edge and then stuck the cut masking tape to plastic card to create a scribing template and scribed the line on the model (I know it should be a raised edge rather than an engraved line, but I couldn't figure out how to do that easily and this at least looks better than nothing...). I'm just hoping that when (hopefully soon) I get around to priming this thing, it doesn't highlight TOO many errors and flaws that will need fixing - there are always some but fingers crossed I won't want to chuck this in the bin... Finally, just to prove I haven't neglected the V1 - the pulse jet engine as it now stands, corrected (a bit) shape, revised front support fairing added (still needs filing to an aerofoil profile), and rudder correction. I'm starting to think that I might actually finish this build before the end of May . Nige

Looking good, Adrian. May I ask how you achieved that stringer effect? Nige

I do often find myself doing things I didn’t originally intend to do, but then can’t bear NOT to do them… However, I do need to take a leaf out of your book and start making lists… although I might scare myself when I realise just how many things need doing… Nige

A little bit more done over the last couple of days. Firstly, the wings have been added - note the gaps at the rear by the wing fillet; I have a cunning plan to deal with those... The spare Ventura vacform cockpit after much fettling of both vacform and kit, just dry-fitted here. Nearly okay but will need some filling around the edges. Much better than the kit item, anyway. And cockpit inserted - I knew it wasn't worth adding much detail . Wing undersides - a couple of plasticard fillets inserted to give the resin insert something to sit on... oh, and I've added another sliver of plasticard beneath the carburettor intake because that's coming off later to be replaced with a better shaped replacement and I'll need to fill the gap Resin gull wing part roughly in place. It is slightly short-shot on the edges of the small auxiliary flaps under the wing fillets... ...so the cunning plan is to cut out the small flaps and (in due course) replace them with shaped plasticard parts. This should enable me to fill the wing fillet gaps as mentioned before . Of course, more filling will be required around the insert, although those edges will be partially covered by the radiators, and also by the slipper tank which I shall be fitting (as the famous photo of this aircraft taxying out shows it with one fitted).

I’m definitely nicking that idea 👍🏻 Nige

Wow - that canopy only looks good as the basis for moulding a replacement. I believe Falcon did a set of Clear-Vax canopies for a range of Fleet Air Arm aircraft which may include a Sea Venom… although it would be costly if you only need the one canopy from the set.