Jim Kiker

Hi all, Quite an interesting thread here, and figuring out a way to make a model is a poser! Not being a Spitfire boffin, I studied the pictures presented here and had a thought regarding the lengthened nose. Would a Mk IX nose have the desired additional length? If so, perhaps a Mk IX fuselage mated to some Mk I wings would do the trick as a baseline. Pro and con welcome, I'm just tossing an idea in front of the bus. Happy modeling, Jim

Hi Fernando and all, While I would agree with your statement in general, in some cases it goes farther than that. I was just finishing an early MiG-3 when a lot of the Russian materials were making significant first appearances on modeling boards outside of Russia and eastern Europe. Pilawski's AII colors (AII green and AII underside blue in particular) are more than a little off compared to all the new- to Westerners- information. Having done a review of the existing information and acquired a copy of Pilawski's book, it stung more than a little to finish my MiG, only to find that it is rather marginally similar to the newest color information at best. You may take this last statement with a little "salt," since I do try to be as precise as possible when painting and finishing specific aircraft; your mileage may vary as they say. I use solvent-based paints, so unless a modeler has access to the AKAN line of acrylics, making use of the paint chips now shown on the Soviet Warplanes site mentioned above and mixing from there will get one into the neighborhood of the correct colors. Happy modeling, Jim

Hi Nic and all, As I am sure some of you know, there is quite a lot of information in the book "Eye's For The Phoenix" on those two-cannon Hurricanes, FR IIC's if memory serves. I believe these aircraft flew mostly low altitude photo work, and like their Mustang IA cousins (such as 268 Sq in Europe) were often engaged in strafing targets of opportunity in conjuction with their recon duties. Lots of gumption to do that kind of work! Cheers, Jim

Hi David, With respect to the Project Bullet a/c, I also note stripes on the outer wings that appear to be the same colors. Do you have specific information on the colors for both the main color and the outlines? Given the overall look of colors in that picture, red-orange seems rather too dark to my eyes. It looks more like a deep yellow to me. Could the stripes be done in dark yellow and navy blue, representing the Marine Corps colors? Thanks, Jim

Hi Jonners, I really like where you are going with this, and I'd happily sign up for one. This is one of those aircraft I've wanted to do for a long time. As for markings, I do not have any direct information to contribute, but there are two schemes I'd love to see. First, several RF-8's were used during the Cuban Missile Crisis, and second, the markings for John Glenn's record breaking Project Bullet flight. I do know that both schemes are gull gray over white, and the Project Bullet a/c had specific markings instead of standard squadron ones. Surely there are Crusader boffins out there that have the details? How about it, gents? Please keep the pics coming! Cheers, Jim

Hi Mike, I chimed in on your other thread about this aircraft on the WWII board; glad to see your in-progress pictures and I hope you will post more. Looks like you got the additional oil tank's fairings added and I think they look good. As for the wing-tip fuel filler caps, a scribing template would be the ticket, but you could also use a draftsman's plastic circle drawing template for scribing. Failing that, you could also use some .015" plastic, drill a hole of the right size, and use that to scribe with. This works best using clear plastic sheet. I've used all three at times and can be made to work; just practice on some scrap. If yoyu want more help on this, leave me a PM and I'll be glad to help. Cheers, Jim

Hi Mike, I checked my copy of the same reference book you mentioned, and I also agree that PRU Blue would be the correct color. I do not know if you noticed, but that book also has a color profile of this aircraft, rendered in PRU Blue. One unusual note I imagine you have noticed is the extension of one of the vertical camera lenses (actually I think it is a tube with the actual lense body inside); it sticks out of the bottom of the fuselage and is not the norm for PR IV's in general. I also agree with the other posters in that there are no fuel pump fairings under the wings as you see on PR XI's and PR XIX's. When I built my 1/48 PR IV, I used the resin bits from the old Airwaves set for the fairings above and below the port wing for the additional oil tank. Let me know if you cannot find a picture/drawing of them, and I'll send pics of my finished model. And if Airwaves are correct, the lower fairing is more of an elongated teardrop. Were I scratchbuilding that part, I would take a slender cannon bulge (such as from a MK IX), blunt one end and round it off and make it a bit less deep (or less tall). The upper fairing for that tank is pretty small. Others will no doubt know more, and perhaps someone has a drawing to show this better than my description. As for the strengthening strips, as has been said, generally not found on PR IV's. That one picture does seem to suggest them; I think I would look for more information before adding them, but that's just my take. I don't think we are looking at shadows from the pilot's entry door however. If you need anything I'd be glad to help; just drop me a message off-board or reply here if you like. HTH, Jim

Hi all, Thanks for your suggestions and ideas; they are all useful and appreciated. John's link took me to a great site that I had not found, and he's right; tons of good information there. Thanks again, Jim

Hi all, I am primarily an aircraft builder but I have finally gotten around to doing a mid-war U.S. PT boat. I'm going to use the very old Revell PT-109 series kit in 1/72 scale as a base. I am also gathering a number of the WEM sets including photoetch and additional weapons. I rather like the mid-war weapons fit with a 20mm and maybe a 37mm on the forward deck with a 40mm Bofors mount at the stern. One thing I have found is that while the kit has a planked deck, mid-war and later Elco's seem to have had a flat deck surface; so what is a good way of filling in all the planked detail? I do think I will be cleaning off all of the raised details so that should make things easier. I also want to show the boat underway, perhaps at 'action stations'; to me that also helps tell the story. I have no clue how to do that but I do know there are a lot of on-line articles about modeling water- but 'points' to good ones or some specific techniques related to the PT boats would be great. The other thing I could use some "points" for is, I'd really like to find a good story for this model. While I like the weapons fit mentioned above, I know there was a great deal of variation and I can be flexible. Many modelers like the S.W. Pacific boats due to the camouflage, but again I would rather find a story with enough information to model the boat regardless of theater. What I do not have is a huge amount of time to wade through all the available books, but if I could narrow it down some it would help a lot. How about a Mediterranean theater boat with a story? D-Day in the Channel? Thanks in advance for any light any of you may shed; all input is welcome! Cheers, Jim

Meanwhile, back at the ranch... Hi all, I think we will be wrapping this one up on this go around. "All" we have left is the painting and finishing! ;-) You recce types will no doubt have there two pictures, for just so you can see where I started from here they are. First up is a picture of the right front of this plane, taken on the occasion of it's first operational mission in late November 1939. The second picture was taken in December 1939 from the left front; I lightened up this image quite a bit, revealing the large roundels on the lower wings. I think the camera port is barely visible in the blue ring, indicating how far inboard the roundels were. This first pictures shows several important features. First, my conclusion is that this aircraft carried an armored windscreen. It does not match up to existing information that I know about, but I think I am correct in this direct observation. Next, no antenna or wire, as is to be expected. Next, the fuselage roundel appears to be relatively small or at least no huge. Also note the lack of chipping and no exhaust stain to speak of. Last but not least, the right landing gear strut, interior of the wheel cover, and the wheel hub are all light, most likely in white. Why white? Because the second picture clearly shows the left landing gear strut, interior wheel cover, and wheel hub to be dark, indicating black, and therefore indicating the right side gear color was indeed white. While neither picture shows the serial number, unless it was painted in a light gray and in small size, I do think that these pictures show the lack of a standard sized serial in black (night). We do know that it was common practice among Spitfire squadrons at that time to have the serial numbers painted out; so my modeler's choice was- no serial number shown. So then, on to the painting. I use enamel and lacquer based paints, thinned with lacquer thinner or Zylene depending on the paint and a little experimentation. I started with Humbrol #90, an old tin; however, I did blue it up some some while keeping the tone the same. I think any shade of Sky will do; based on Nic Millman's excellent research we know that this Camotint shade would have been the same basic mix as the later color we know as Sky. I also added a little Model Master Metalizer Sealer in the airbrush, since I wanted a gloss coat when I was finished. Here is a picture of the underside with basic paint applied. Note that I painted the wheel wells in black/white. This is also a modeler's choice; I haven't seen a definitive picture. Some Spits with black/white on the bottom sported painted wheel wells to match, some didn't. I went with the former. Applying logic, which is of course dangerous, I assumed that the real aircraft, when painted, had been jacked up, the wheels tucked up, and some simple masking done over the exposed portions of the wheels. I used a spare pair of covers and taped up some tires, taped them into place over the white and black wells, and painted the exterior color, leaving a soft edge along the outer wheel wells. Your mileage may vary- it's just the way I did it. My usual method for finishing from there on out is to use clear gloss acrylic (actually Future in this case, a departure for me), then the decals, then another coat of future to seal things in, panel line washes and weathering, and a final coat of clear flat acrylic to seal the deal. I used A type roundels from Phantasy Printshop, X-tra Decals, and some bits from Aeromaster. The lower roundels also feature an larger, non-standard size of red center which I replicated. I wanted a glossy finish but not showroom wet; just waxed, so after the final clear coat I polished the surface out with Novus plastic polish. This evened out the clear coat and gave me a somewhat shiny finish, which was exactly what I wanted. The previously painted spinner/prop, landing gear, the tail wheel, and the sliding canopy were added last along with the pitot tube, and she was done. I hope you've enjoyed the journey, I surely did! Cheers, Jim

Hi Popeye and all, Actually, I thought you expressed the thought very well and I'm glad that this diary may prove useful to you in the future. This is the type of article I enjoy as well, so it seemed natural to emulate the things I like to read! For the build process on a project like this, I like to do as much of the "grunt work" of major changes/updates to the airframe as I can before starting assembly. Thus, I did the fuselage lengthening and all of the wing panel line fillings and the camera mods before starting the assembly. With any model, I recommend a dry fit of all the major airframe components before assembly anyway. As I worked through the big stuff, I also planned the more minor items and details like the cockpit and landing gear. Also at this stage, I decided to use the kit horizontal tails and mate them to the ICM fuselage. The Tamiya pieces were just better looking to my eyes. I cut off the elevators as well. I later used resin elevators and dropped them, attaching the pieces with steel piano wire stiffeners. The resin rudder went on much later but also has wire stiffeners; I normally use CA glue on these resin/plastic joints, but it can be brittle and the wires help keep things from flexing and breaking off. All right then, let's get on to the cockpit. I like a level of detail that gets up to perhaps 80% of the real thing. This is one of my "things," as is the landing gear/wheel wells, but not everyone is into it and that's fine by me. Back when Roy Sutherland had his Cooper Details company, I picked up one of his cockpit sets for the Spitfire Mk I- Mk V. This is out of production now, but I'd love to see him bring it back at Barracudacals. Roy's side panels extend down and there is a realistic inward curve to the false bottom; beautiful stuff, but somewhere along the line those pieces went missing. I decided to use the kit side walls as given and add the dimensional pieces from the set. This set also has a very nice seat and photoetched instrument panel pieces plus a film for the instruments, as well as additional details. I also used an Eduard Zoom set for some pieces both in and out of the cockpit. If you scroll back to the first set of pictures, there is one showing the inside of the two fuselage halves plus the resin and PE bits without paint. To all that, I added the back end of the shoulder harness that leads to a common fitting and the dual-wire attachment that runs back into the upper fuselage behind the cockpit. I also added the pilot's oxygen bottle on the right side of the fuselage from a piece of the parts sprue. This was a new aircraft, so like the exterior finish I did a minimum of weathering to the cockpit. I painted the interior sidewalls off-black, painted from bottom. I then painted the Interior Grey Green from the top, leaving a dark shadow along the interior stringers and bulkheads. Some areas later got a dark wash along the bottoms and side of the raised detail as well. The instrument panel pieces were painted off-black, the instrument films glued behind, the clear markings for the instruments were painted off-white from behind, and they were mounted to the kit instrument panel. As an early Mark Spit, the seat was metal instead of Bakelite/Tufnol/Plastic/phenolic resin- meaning it was painted IGG instead of ruddy brown, and with a brown leather back pad and tan leather straps. Here is the completed instrument panel; the seat has been attached to the bulkhead. I also drilled out the lightening holes in the two bulkhead pieces. In this picture the seat assembly is just sitting on a chunk of resin to prop it up. I normally use enamels or lacquer paints, so interior parts get a coat of clear gloss acrylic to form a barrier, washes are added as desired, and finished with a clear flat coat. I used a spare brass belt buckle to make the rear harness assembly, added a plastic disk, and ran a piece of thread for the attachment wires. The thread was coated with white glue to eliminate fuzz and painted. I have found that when sliding the interior assembly up into the fuselage on these Tamiya kits, it will tend to slide too far up at the rear, causing fit problems with the rear canopy section. I taped the rear canopy in place on the fuselage and then glued the cockpit into place. I used vacuform pieces for all of the canopy bits this time, so I slid the cockpit assembly in until it touched the clear plastic. This left a small gap between the pieces at the end. I like to paint the vertical frames on the fixed canopy pieces and glue them on before adding the wings. In this case, the Falcon windscreen was not a great fit (likely my own fault), so it took some tender care to make right. I painted the interior frame color first, then the exterior color. The wings were also together by now, the elevators were glued on, the horizontal tails had had their fit tweaked to get a close fit, so the airframe went together quickly. Here is a shot of the completed airframe before exterior paint. I filled in the kit's canopy rails; they sit a bit too high, and they will not be visible if you display the canopy fully open as I did here. I used the kit spinner and back plate, combined with a cleaned up prop from the spares box (Monogram Mossie kit), shortened a bit and slightly re-profiled. This gave me a solid one-piece prop with no need to fit individual blades to muck up. I've always thought pretty much all Spitfire kits sit too high, plus the legs seem a bit thin to me. So I used 1/16" tubing, bent to form an axle and running into the wing mounts, with a telescoping 3/32" piece for the main strut and a small piece at where the axle tube "bends" at the bottom to form the hub assembly. These were detailed out and the brake lines were added to the wheel covers. I don't have any in-progress pics of these, but if anyone is keen on them I can try to add a picture or two of the completed installation. I use clear 5 minute epoxy for attaching these struts, which gives a strong bond but allows me to get both struts fitted and aligned before the glue sets up. In this case, the gear was detailed, assembled, painted, washed, and clear flat coated before they were added at the end of the build. Next up- painting and finishing! Cheers, Jim

Hi all, Thanks for the kind words and I am glad folks are getting some useful tips from this. Bill, I agree completely with you on the length. I like the results and I can see it because I have studied the subject aircraft a lot. On the other hand, it is a PITA to do! All presented from the perspective of what I did, not necessarily what anyone else should do. Jens, you raise a good point. From the few pictures I have, the headrest was retained; only the armor plate was removed. More to come! Cheers, Jim

OK Troops, It's time to get this bird Cottonized. Sydney Cotton had been employed as a British spy before the war started, flying over Germany on "business" and taking secret photographs from his Lockheed Model 12. After the war began, he was brought into the RAF and given command of the fledgling RAF aerial reconnaissance unit. He and his small team were eventually loaned two standard Spitfire Mk I's in the fall of 1939. The team sprang into action to convert the two aircraft into recce birds. They removed all the guns and ammo, and sealed the gun ports and the shell chutes. Armor and radios were also removed. They then used Plaster of Paris to seal all of the joints on the wings- all the access panels and all of the normal panel lines. Everything was sanded smooth and the aircraft were repainted in Camoutint. Hence the common nickname for this process, "Cottonizing." Initially, two cameras were mounted into the Spitfire's wings, one on each side and located in the former ammo storage boxes between the two inner machine guns. In modeling terms, I eliminated all the panel lines on the wings except for the cameras and selected inspection doors and panels. Having done several recce Spits, my usual drill is to use CA glue to fill in the panel lines. I use a pin as an applicator and apply perhaps an inch or so into a section of recessed line. I let it dry less than a minute and sand it out. If there is any line repair work to be done, I also do the rescribing immediately. The CA glue will continue to harden and once it gets harder than the plastic, it becomes very easy to gouge out the plastic around a CA'ed line. Sometimes I will put a piece of tape over adjoining lines that will remain in place to help keep them cleaned out as I sand back the CA. Here is a picture of the inside of the wing while the recce mods were in progress. The shell chutes got some sheet plastic backing and the camera ports have been opened up. During fry fitting I found that there is a gap around the wheel wells, which has been the case with all of these Tamiya Spitfire kits I've worked on. This time, I drew the wheel well shape on a piece of .030" sheet plastic held over the opening. I cut the sheet slightly away from the line, then glued them on top of the wheel wells. Once dry, I then carefully opened up the sheet to match the opening. Finally, I test-fitted the upper wings and sanded the new wheel well edge down until the upper wings just fit. Here is a picture of the lower wing plus one of the uppers. I also added the hot air vents, made from plastic tubing that was shaped into a wedge and just glued onto the surface. Thinning out the rear edge leaves a nice dark shadow to replicate the opening. These vents were left in place and used to heat the cameras; this was one of the innovations Mr. Cotton had already tested to keep the camera lenses from frosting over at altitude. I like to use automotive sandable lacquer primer in cases like this; here in the U.S. it comes in gray and white. I sanded everything out, which reveals any high or low spots. Repeat the entire process until everything is smooth and even. I don't have a picture of it, but I used some 1/8" plastic tubing to simulate the camera lenses. I cut pieces off and fit them into the camera opening and glued them onto the inside of the upper wings before assembling the wings. I thinned the inner edge of the tubes before gluing them in. I then painted the area painted the area and added drops of clear 5 minute epoxy for the lenses. Beyond the camera fit, I built the interior without any seat or head armor and removed the raised mount for the aerial as well as the aerial post on the rudder; the antenna post hole was filled after the fuselage was assembled. Naturally, the gun sight was omitted when the time came. Well, lots of words here and not many pics. Once I got rid of the panel lines, the camera mods were a snap by comparison! Next time, we'll tackle the interior and other areas ripe for some extra detailing. Cheers, Jim

Hi gents, Thank you for the comments! With 20-20 hindsight, you are likely correct with the idea of scribing some lines into the ICM parts; and they really are pretty soft as you described. I find it interesting that no two kits seem to really match in their outlines and especially in their cross sections, particularly with the Spitfire. An elusive shape, to be sure. Sometimes I find that I get something in my head and I tend to ignore other paths. One could certainly use an ICM kit and swap out the nose. Two things run against that for me; first, the ICM fuselage is a bit skinny; I have read that it needs an .040" spacer, tapered along the spine, from the cockpit back. The other thing is that the Tamiya kits have a wonderful system of tabs to provide a problem-free wing to fuselage joint, not to mention that they also have noticeable twist and washout built into the wings. I really appreciate that, and those are the reasons I kept to the Tamiya kit. I also think that the ICM kits feature a slightly deeper curve in the very front of the fairing into the vertical fin. At least compared to the Tamiya kits (and that's really not the comparison one should make), the ICM tail fairing looks a bit lower and with a different line to its curve. That said, I now think there is at least one other way to do this, and that is to make the same cuts I made, make the interior strips longer, and just use the Tamiya tail and fill in the width of the joint with some more strip and putty. That would make fitting the horizontal tail planes a bit easier as well. Your mileage may vary, of course; I just really like the way the added length enhances the look of the Tamiya kits. It is almost too bad these kits have been around a while; a well-done lengthened rear fuselage piece in resin would have been a fairly easy thing to do (I think) and would perhaps have been very popular had it been done earlier in the run of these kits. Cheers, Yoda aka Jim

Hi Antoine, Welcome aboard and regards to all! Today we move on to the fuselage corrections. The Tamiya kits are a bit over 1/16" too short according to my information, so I decided to add the length by using the rear fuselage pieces from one of the ICM series of Spitfires. I cut the Tamiya fuselages towards the rear and in a place with no vertical panel lines; I find it easier to repair the splice off of panel lines rather than along them. I glued a series of plastic strips running fore and aft inside the Tamiya pieces. I taped one of the Tamiya fuselage pieces to an Airfix unit as a way of managing the correct length, then measured, cut, and glued the ICM unit in its new place. I let all that set up, then used the completed half to repeat the process on the other side. The cuts worked out to have the same vertical height along the cut for all four pieces. Alas, the cross sections did not line up completely. This was not a big surprise since the ICM fuselage is a bit more slender than its Tamiya counterparts, but it did take some work to bring them together. Here is a picture of the completed surgery; this was taken later in assembly. Here is a later picture of the inside of the surgery, showing the multiple pieces of strip I used. The use of many small pieces makes it easier to conform to the curvature compared to using one long strip, and it also makes for a stronger joint. The next two pictures show the edges of the joint that needed thinning down. Before doing the thinning, I flooded the area inside with CA glue and let it harden for a day or so. This gave me a hard additional layer of material to work against. Spit boffins like Roy Sutherland and Bruce Archer have pointed out that the Tamiya fuselage is a bit chunky along the rear wing root area; they are certainly wider than the ICM pieces there, so I sanded quite a lot of thickness away there, leaving the line of the wing root fairing intact. After the fuselage sections were sanded fairly smooth, I used CA glue in the joint from the outside as a filler, sanding it within a few minutes of application. I found I needed to fill, sand, and replace some of the panel lines since they do not line up exactly. Again, I used CA glue, applied with a pin into the lines. Applied this way, the CA sets rapidly so after a minute or less, I could sand down the old lines and rescribe new ones. Be aware that thin applications CA will harden very quickly, and must be worked immediately. If you wait even an hour or so the CA continues to harden and becomes much harder than the plastic, making it very easy to gouge out the plastic while trying to work on the CA. Here are a couple of comparison pictures showing the lengthened fuselage compared to an original. Note that while 1/16" isn't a lot, it does make a very noticeable difference, in part I think because it moves the horizontal tail planes back. Well, that's all for today; next up, we'll get to the modifications for the reconnaissance role. Cheers, Jim

Hi all, This will be a "build diary" of the corrections, updates, and conversion of one of Tamiya's 1/48 scale Spitfire Mk I kits into N3071, one of the first two Spitfire PR I's and the first recce Spitfire to be flown operationally. Since this project is now complete, I am presenting this as a build diary rather than a true "work in progress." Having been in the reconnaissance business, I have been doing reconnaissance a/c for a while now; doing recce Spitfires dates back about 11 years. My buddy Wally steered me into Ed Powles' PR XIX; having had the opportunity to speak with Mr Powles directly was a special treat. That was my first recce Spit build, and much to my surprise, it turned out to be the first of a number of them. Here is a picture of the finished PR I; this angle tends to exaggerate the length i added to the fuselage, but it does illustrate the shape changes I made very well. Thanks to input and information from several sources here and elsewhere over a period of time, I found that there were two main areas I wanted to work on; first, to improve the Tamiya kit, and second, to convert it to the PR I configuration. I began with the kit improvements. There are three areas that I feel the Tamiya kit falls short. First, both the leading edges (to a small extent) and the trailing edges (to a larger extent) are over-exaggerated. Second, the fuselage is approximately 2mm too short. Third, the upper forward engine cowling is rather too blocky. That is, it looks nearly flat across the top in cross section, where it should be more of an oval shape. A fourth area for me is that pretty much all Spitfire kits I have seen, indeed most model kits I've seen, have the landing gear too long and hence, they sit too tall. There are other more minor thing which can be addressed, but these make a big difference in the "feel" of the finished model. Starting with the wings, looking at them from the top,the trailing edges appear too bulbous. If you look at the mid-span about where the break between the ailerons and flaps is, they are about .8 mm or 1/32" too wide in chord. I chose to leave the outer end of the wing and the wing root unchanged, take off the 1/32" in the middle, and reprofile from there. The leading edge of the wings in this kit appears to bulge forward a bit as well, rather that running straight out and then arcing bck to the wingtip; this worked out to about .030" to my eye. Here is a drawing I found on the internet, not the best, but it shows the elliptical curve of the Spitfire's wings pretty well. I sanded the trailing edges back and re-profiled the shape, thinned out the trailing edges, glued the wings together, and was able to sand back the leading edges after assembly (which actually came later, by the way). Here is what these corrections look like. I compared the reworked Mk I wing with one of Tamiya's MKVB upper wings (the tan plastic). I think this first correction goes a long way to improving the look of this kit. Next up: lengthening the fuselage! Cheers, Jim

Hi all, Here is a quick update on my proposed "build" article. I discussed the idea of a retrospective build diary with the moderators and asked whether or not it is a good idea, and if so, where to put it. The answer was in the affirmative, and that it can go into the Work in Progress board if appropriately labeled. Later, I received an invitation and have joined the Recce SIG as well. Since I approached the moderators here first, I will be posting pictures and text here on the WIP board; these will include corrections to the base kit, PR I modifications, the detailing I did, and a discussion of the camouflage and markings. See you there! Cheers, Jim

Hi Colin and all, Thanks to all of you for the kudos; they are much appreciated! The PR I turned out well, but I stand on the shoulders of many others whose work and research make the difference between getting things 'somewhat like' the subject and really 'hitting the mark.' My thanks to all of them. Since Colin has mentioned my alter ego/nickname, I think I may start using it here. Thanks too for the invite to the Photo Recce sig; I've already signed up! I have also written to the board moderators here and I will be posting some build diary entries on the Aviation- Work in Progress board. In part it relates to the corrections/updates I made to the base kit, and in part the reconnaissance modifications. Cheers all, Jim

Hi all, I have finished my Spitfire PR I, N3071, circa November 1939. She flew the first reconnaissance sorties by Spitfire PR aircraft. This is the Tamiya 1/48 scale kit with lots of work. I special Thank You to many board members here who have helped along the way, including Colin S-K, TonyOT, and Nic, as well as Roy Sutherland and Bruce Archer. If there is interest, I have enough in progress pics and details to present a build diary, including corrections to the kit as well as the recce mods. Thanks everyone, Jim

Hi Tony, Referring to PR IV BR416 specifically, I have two pictures of her. In one, she looks to be in PRU Blue uppers with a very light- white I believe- color high up on the fuselage, and on the lower surfaces I think. Serial # in black, 4" or so. Given what I have discovered with a lot of help, I believe this was her earlier operational scheme. The second one is better known, from a time when she flew in Palestine, I think in an operational OTU. By then she had been repainted overall in a very dark color, most likely the "local" brew known as Royal Blue. She carried a single id letter "X" that looks to be in white, but the serial # is darker, perhaps in Medium Sea Grey, and looks to be close to 8" in height. If I can help further, shoot me a PM. Hope this helps, Jim

Hi all, I've been reading this thread and have seen several of the Airfix PR XIX's built up; it seems a very nice kit. I cannot help throwing in another pic, from nearly 10 years ago. I had the great fortune to talk with Ed Powles; he had retired and was living near Asheville, NC, USA at the time. I was working on a 1/48 scale PR XIX conversion, using the Academy kit. This is the aircraft he was flying when he made that well-known plunge from 50,000' and got going **really** fast. Great story, great markings (from Kai Tek, Hong Kong, circa 1952, and a very gracious man. You cannot see it in this shot, but the undersides really are PRU Blue! Cheers, Jim

Hi Karl and all, Well as a matter of fact, I do have some images of these fixes! Again, let me say I am happy to share these but I have no expectations that others will want to do these; this is just my "take" on improving both of the Tamiya early Spitfire kits. First is the fuselage fix; I used a spare ICM fuselage to add about 1/16" to the length. The picture shows the length added compared to a standard Tamiya fuselage at the tail. The two kit's cross sections were cut to have the same height at the cut and give the additional length, but the ICM is a bit more slender in the bottom half. I thinned down the Tamiya section just behind the wing root fillet and it does improve the look there as well as in the length. Next up is the wings. This picture shows the modified Mk I lower wing (gray) with a standard Mk VB upper wing (tan); you can see how the shapes change and come much closer to the correct shape. Of course, the trailing edges need to be re-thinned. By leaving the wing tip and the wing roots alone, everything still fits right. Finally, an image (drawing) of the front of a PR Spitfire; look at the oval cross section at the top of the nose over the exhausts as compared to the kit parts. If anyone is interested, I have an MS Word doc with these plus a few more images of the fuselage lengthening. Leave me a PM and I'll be glad to send it out. In the meantime, keep the pics coming Karl! Cheers, Jim

Hi Karl and all, If you are interested there are some shape issues with the Tamiya kit which if addressed will yield a much improved look. The first one is one which may not be worth fixing, and if so, no worries; the Tamiya fuselage is about 3mm too short from the firewall to the rudder post. I am working on a Tamiya Mk I (making a PR I) right now, and I added about 2mm to the fuselage length in the aft fuselage. By the way, if you haven't already glued in the Tamiya cockpit pieces, note that the bulkhead behind the pilot's seat tends to sit too far up in the opening; if you glue it where it seems to want to be, and the upper rear clear canopy will not fit. The easiest thing to do is tape on the upper rear canopy, then glue in the cockpit assembly; this will insure all will fit properly. Back to corrections, the Tamiya wings are too bulbous along both the leading and trailing edges. They are over-curved. If you take out 1/32" from the mid-span on the trailing edge, about at the outer end of the flaps, and reshape the wing leaving the wing root and the wing tip alone, everything will still fit and the trailing edges will look much better. The leading edges look like they go forward just a bit, but of course they shouldn't. Reducing the curve by about .020 two-thirds out along the span on the leading edges and reducing the overall curve will take care of this. You can compare two upper wing pieces from the kits to get an idea of these difference. The third thing on the Tamiya kit is that the upper engine cowling above the exhausts is very flat in cross section. The upper cowling should be more oval in cross section. My solution for this has been to "round off" the cowling edges after assembly; you can take a fair bit of material off without sanding into the fastener details just above the exhausts. All of this is based on information developed by Bruce Archer; he used drawings from the book "Spitfire: The Canadians" which has highly-regarded plans, and compared that to the main kits several years ago. Perhaps he will chime in here as well; it is really great work! I have incorporated all these improvements in the model I am working on and I just wanted to share the information. But it's your model, so feel free to use the information or not as you see fit. Hope this helps, Jim

Hi Colin, He shoots... He scores! I remember that belly shot from earlier conversations and I know others find it as useful as I do. The additional images showing the Mk IA belly scoop is new to me and will be very helpful, and the wing pictures illustrate how many of the main wing panel lines were filled and sanded prior to painting. Great stuff! Thanks and take care, Jim

Well sir, As you may have guessed, it's a bit of a long haul for me at the moment! Mind you, I have had the great fortune to visit a couple of times, and I've been to Duxford several times, including an airshow- but it never grows old as I am sure you know. Curry and Mustangs? If I may I'll take a rain check for now, but I'd love to do lunch some time! In the meantime, I will so some further checking see if the information might be available through another channel. Cheers, Jim