224 Peter

They actually use copper... I agree it looks wrong. I suspect that they used a colour photo of a museum engine. Following your advice it looks as though the ignition harness should be semi gloss black of a nickel like silver, with the actual plug leads a silver grey, probably braided metal. As the wiring harness is not fixed to the crankcase, yet, a repaint is a simple matter! Thanks for the heads up, Jordi.

Saturday and Sunday we have had A/C associated with the BBMF flying over the village. Saturday the BBMF three and the FAA Hawker Sea Fury. Sunday afternoon a lone Spitfire with D Day invasion stripes under the wing. I'd never before realised just how conspicious they make the A/C.

Or will that be the 2nd release, like the Typhoon, first with sliding hood, then car door.

A couple of young Red Kites working the thermals above the allotments behind our garden just to the south of Salisbury. Magnificent to behold, but possibly not if you are a mouse, vole, shrew and so on.

At 09:15 this morning (27 June 19) a Spitfire, possibly a Mk IX as it had equal sized radiators flew over my garden on an easterly heading, altitude about 1000ft. Could be something to do with the AFD Event in Salisbury over the coming weekend. A glorious sight and a wonderful sound! Of course, my phone was in the house, I was out watering the plants in the greenhouse!

Thanks, I don't have any 85, but I do have a tinlet of "smokebox black" from somewhere, a semi gloss black: that will do for now. I agree, dark grey is the best colour for tyres.

Now the painted engine, ready for the plug leads, all 36 of them. The front ones are essential, but the bac ones: I;m not sure! The colours are as directed, mostly. The cylinders I dry brushed with Humbrol Metalkote matt Aluminium, the pushrod tubes likewise in polished steel and the wiring "horseshoe" in Metalkote Bronze, The paint is at least 30, possibly 40 years old, but still is good.

Can anyone explain the difference between Humbrol 33, the matt black that I've used for years, and Humbrol 85, Coal Black. Both appear to be matt. So it cant be the degree of lustre. The reason for this question is that on the new Airfix Hellcat the instructions call for 85 when I'd have used 33. That colour seems to be directed at tyres. In my humble opinion tyres are best shown in a matt grey, not black. Help and advice much appreciated!

The Pratt & Whitney R-2800-10W Double Wasp Part 1: Stages 150 to 158 This section provides the main components, crank case, cylinder blocks and pushrod tubes. It took a lot longer than expected, because almost every part required careful cleaning up to remove gate marks in unhelpful places and there were a number of other challenges. The “elephant in the room” follows from step 150 where parts J 3 to 5 are brought together to make the crank case, around which everything else fits. A keyway ensures proper alignment. The first hint of trouble came with my attempt to slide part J6 over the crank case. I’d cleaned up the inside, but there was NO way it was going to fit! Careful measurement with my precision Vernier callipers suggested that 0.5mm needed to be removed from the crankcase to get everything to fit. The solution was a dowel rod inserted in the crankcase, using a cordless drill on slow speed and a coarse sanding stick. With the crankcase now of a size that allowed parts J6 and J7 I could turn my attention to the rear row of cylinders. These require part J7, all 9 of them, to be attached to the cylinder head. The instructions imply that there are locating holes on the rocker boxes. Wrong.. they have to be located, a bit vaguely, in the right place. They are also very small and a couple pinged off my tweezers, never to be seen again. HSS came to the rescue: Airfix provide 18, no spares. Gluing the two parts of the cylinder block together was trouble free, other than the need to check the fit over the crank case. Assembling the front row of cylinders was a repeat of the rears. This photo shows all the parts laid out, ready for painting. Keeping paint out of the centres and the main part of the crankcase will be essential...... The next photo will show the assembled and painted motor, ready to have ignition leads fitted in place, steps 159 and 160. Airfix quote lengths, from 12mm to 47mm. I hope they are accurate, I have some suitable fuse wire, but it will need painting copper: watch this space! After the plug leads we move on to the mares nest of inlet and exhaust pipes. Rushing ahead a bit, after the last step, 186, there is a comment that if it is wished to leave the engine free from the rest of the aircraft, used part K6. Otherwise leave it out. Not sure why Airfix provided that part, really, unless they plan to offer the engine as a separate kit. Peter

Started with the engine. It is LARGE... It is going to be slow. mould gates in unhelpful positions, so careful trimming is needed. The engine is built round the crank case, which is made up of 2 pieces and is circular. Everything slides over this, or rather once sanded down, they do. As moulded they are too tight to properly position. Photos later in the week.

The review is certainly tells it as it is. Hornby hobbies are just about financially viable, but need to count every penny. Hence the "Made in India". the downside of outsourcing is that it makes QC harder. This spitfire kit is OK, but it it has its in built flaws. I'll get round to it, but it isn't a priority anymore. I have just compared it with the HK Models Lancaster and Airfix Hellcat. Both, from a close inspection of the sprues, are moulded to a similar standard, significantly better than the Spitfire. But neither are up to the standard of Wingnut Wings, or some other main stream producers of kits. Given the price of the HK Kit I'm disappointed and may move it on before building, it depends on the price of the Wingnut one. When comparing the 1/24th Hellcat with the Lancaster it makes the Airfix product look incredibly good value.

I've been reviewing the instructions carefully, in particular trying to work out if by not sticking parts N30 and N34, the hinges for the wings down or N39 and N40 into the wings it it would be possible to build so it could be shown wings up, or down. Or would the upper wing gap just look wrong with wings down? It would mean flaps up, but that isn't a problem. Has anyone else had this thought? Some dry runs are called for... ideally some additional bits to play with, but that isn't going to happen....

Could the early F6F-5 with windows have been replaced by a later one, due to damage?

I'm planning the build... devouring the instructions. Can't wait.

FAA, 808 Squadron..Australian. Squadron codes C7. Some were in the Temperate Sea Scheme, others in all over blue. I'm going for the Temperate Sea Scheme, 100% out of the box.

72 pages, 310 steps....!!

The box arrived at 16:00. First impressions.... 1. A big box packed with a lot of plastic...600 parts they say. 2. VERY fine detailing, moulding flawless, reasonable length runners, even on the smallest of parts. 3. I cannot see any short shot parts. The instructions have you start with the cockpit. I'm still thinking about the best way to do the instruments. Airfix provide separate instrument transfers to apply to the back of a clear panel and then fix the front over. Confusingly they offer 3 instrument panels, R3 and R4, but no where I can see do they link the choice to a model. On the transfer application page there is no mention of the choice, either. So I'm going to start on Page 39, step 150 and build the engine!! Photos to follow...

DPD have just sent me an e-mail to tell me that my kit will be delivered today, 21st Jun, between 3:30 and 4:40!! Happy days. 😃 Guess what I'll be doing this weekend?

DPD will be delivering my kit between 15:30 and 16:30 today, Friday 21 June!! 😁

Hi Dave, thanks for your feedback. I think your description of the interior colour is spot on. I don't know quite where on the Spitfire this part came from, based on the camouflaged part it has been suggested that the lighter grey could have been a code letter, rather than the under surface. Given the A/C only carried a single letter I'm not convinced. The sheet is quite thick, 2.5 to 4mm, which is thicker than the basic monocoque. I'm temped to think it could have been somewhere near the tail wheel. It is interesting that most, if not all of the Griffin engined Spitfires were built in the Wiltshire shadow factories, including in Salisbury, where I live. Recent research has confirmed that more than 10,000 aircraft were built in Wiltshire between 1920 and 1980. The uncertainty is that no records appear to exist of the number of Short Stirlings built at the Swindon factory, before it switched to Spitfires. Peter

The other evening I went to a talk by Sally-Anne Greville-Heygate: she gave us a magnificent and fascinating overview of her Dad's RAF career through WW2. The talk was built out of her book, "From Sapper to Spitfire Spy", well worth a read. Available from Amazon and other book sellers. He spent the latter part of the War flying a Spitfire FT XIV with No 2 Squadron. His aircraft wore the letter J, No 2 Squadron didn't carry Squadron Codes. It also had a narrow sky fuselage band, just ahead of the tail planes: I'd estimate the width as possibly 8": very unusual. At some point his A/C was hit by ground fire, and slightly damaged. A part of the skin was punched into the fuselage and given to him by the ground crew after repair as a souvenir as the damage was caused by a 20mm shell that failed to explode. David was a lucky pilot, flying low level from 1943 to 1946 without major incident and including a stint on Typhoons with 168 Squadron. Her Dad kept the part in a box, Sally inherited it and brought it along for us to inspect. Two things caught my attention. The interior green is far brighter than I expected, almost like the US colour. The outer surfaces were painted in a very smooth semi gloss paint. Here are two photos, taken using an I phone 8. the wood looks different as the upper photo used flash, the lower didn't. First, the inner surface: Next, the outer skin... The paint is very thin, and very well pigmented. Given the A/C was made during the war and expected a short life, the quality of the paint work is excellent. I had been under the belief that matte paint was used until after the war. This fragment suggests it was not. I'm trying to get the serial number of the A/C to find out when and where it was made.

Encouraging news for when I start on my kit!

Excellent job, looks just perfect.

I'm confused by the positive and negative comments about this kit. My example, supplied directly by Airfix, is as well moulded as any of the other recent 1/48th Airfix kits. There is no flash: yes the gates are a bit short, but that isn't a real issue. The plate over the tank in front of the cockpit should be obvious, it is thicker alloy than the surrounding, to provide a bit more armour. The example we have seen built, as above, looks about perfect to me. Could it be that Airfix has more than one company moulding parts and one is cutting corners by taking runners out of the moulds too soon? Or is it a shift supervision issue? Either way the moulding company needs a stir.

That is what this hobby is all about, in my view. A good kit, a super model and it looks like a "real" Spitfire. Well done!