Troy Smith

What scale? If 1/35th, there are figures that could be adapted, and quite possibly a dedicated set, Masterbox do a vast range, certainly WW2 era civilians. Hmm, I just stuck 'resistance' into the Creative site http://www.creativemodels.co.uk/masterbox_135_french_resistance_maquis-p-11753.html also which maybe of use http://www.creativemodels.co.uk/miniart_135_french_civilians_30s40s-p-34267.html http://www.creativemodels.co.uk/miniart_135_german_civilians_193040s-p-48591.html http://www.creativemodels.co.uk/miniart_135_sitting_passengers-p-45667.html I know masterbox do other civilian figures. Other scale would require adapting railway figures most likely. HTH T

The prop is a Rotol unit, the blades are compressed wood composite, with most likely brass sheathing on the leading edges. To confuse matters you do get metal blades! There is a very detailed explanation on the markings on the blades (coloured circular discs) which say what the blade is made of.... https://forum.keypublishing.com/forum/historic-aviation/79363-questions-on-spitfire-propellers-merged this is a great close up of this type of Rotol prop, (the link above is down) but IIRC the whole balde is covered with a type of fabric or covering Seafire by Etienne du Plessis, on Flickr note the red discs, and wear, but not metal on the blade material. Other types of wood composite blades have external brass sheathing, and the paint does chip on those this very atmopheric shot shows this Spitfire XIVE by Etienne du Plessis, on Flickr Note the yellow colour of the brass, as well as the red disc at the base. Great build, and very interesting story from @303sqn @rymulus weathering is a 'it depends' subject, a p[lane just land will look different to a plane ready to be used, and on the length of time it lasted (some had very short lives) and where it was used. I often recommend @Etiennedup Flickr, here are the Spitfires, a selection of period colour, and very handy for detail, the two pics above are from this Flickr stream https://www.flickr.com/search/?w=8270787@N07&q=spitfire if you change the plane name in the address bar then it just bring up the type specfied here are the Seafires https://www.flickr.com/search/?w=8270787@N07&q=seafire Very good for pinning down details not as clear in black and white pics./ HTH

Yes. The is the 32nd kit? The moulds are based on the Mk.II kit, and the modifcation allows for the horn balance elevator seen on later Mk.IX's the 1/48 Eduard and ICM kits come with both types of tailplane for example.

@Work In Progress suggestion is a good one, but you could try making a new tail bit firstr, if you are not happy, sell the kit on, if it works, you have just acquired a new skill. Hmm, He 280, so not that big. shape a piece of plastic card to an aerofoil section. From what you say, a replacement tailplane, that is reasonably easy shape too make, and as you do this for fun, even a basic part will suffice? OK, a quick search turn this up If you can, print the above to 1/72nd. Trace the shape onto a a piece of plastic card, if you don't have any you can use an old bank or store card, probably need two for thickness, cut out (might be easier before making sticking together) scrape/sand to aerofoil section, add elevator lines. This is a good easy one to start with, flat, simple shape, no fillets to make. Or, look for a scrapped model part that can be modified. We have some avid model modifers here, I'm sure @AdrianMF has done a build showing this, and he maybe able to point you to a build showing this, as it's not too difficult. If you are totally new to what can be done from scratch, many years ago the chap who is one of the pioneers of scratch building in plastic card wrote a book, long OOP, but scans are here http://web.archive.org/web/20080122045153/http://www.wwimodeler.com/harry/contents.htm which maybe of interest as what can be achieved. HTH Edited for clarity. You could also buy another Huma he 280, and then try copying the part, a lot easier than working it out from a drawing. I am assuming that printing out a scale drawing maybe a faff, the above has no scale, but find the wingspan https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heinkel_He_280 12.2 m (40 ft) 12200mm /72 = 169.4mm if you can print the above out so it has that as a wingspan, that should give a reasonable guide.

Good questions, point on the camera size vs fuselage depth, though this maybe not such an issue as this was a FR, so more likely to be used at lower altitudes, and I don't know how much difference the depth would make, given the spine is pretty small, Hmm... is google my friend? not sciemtfic better PR XI cutaway, note the camera installation detail. also from the Spitfire site from the overview of the camera equipment http://spitfiresite.com/2011/07/guided-tour-of-the-spitfire-mk-xix-camera-equipment.html There was a rear fuselage tank on the low back IX/XVI, but where the cameras are IIRC, so probably not an issue? Good, thought provoking points though. I'm surprised that @gingerbob has not pitched in. HTH HTH

I thought posts 127 and 129 above were quite specific, 129 has the kit parts next to Mk.18 wings. This clearly shows the different panel layouts. As the post above shows, the under wing panels were also eliminated. From a modellers perspective the changes are noticeable. There are also the under fuselage camera pair. This requires new upper AND lower wings. The broader rudder will account for the longer length. The Spitfire books are notoriously vague on the specific external differences, the photos I posted kindly supplied by Peter Arnold clearly show the changes, these are all in the post I made in Jan 2017 Note the annotated drawing from the manual, as well as the photos. This also has info on the rudders. I don't have info on the rocket fittings.

have a read of this which may give you some pointers as to what tracks actually look like.. @Das Abteilung maybe able to help with painting techniques as well. Depends on how much money you have, and how much you like making things. if you have not applied a wash, try it on scrap first, though the water based ones will wash off. There are masses of different techniques, what works for you is I'm afraid trial and error, though a hunt on youtube will undoubtedly turn up some tutorials. One hint, modelling, has 'fashions' and fads, and many modellers fall victim to looking at other models, and not what they are trying to model, or even understanding what they are trying to model, hence tank models looking like they have been left derelict for 5 years, on something that maybe lasted 3 months, see the first post in the linked thread for some useful detail observations on the real thing.... Your model to finish how you wish of course, I'm of the school of aiming for accuracy, and my comments are from this perspective. HTH

what's the square meterage of your roof? Mines maybe 48 square metres, which is about 16 sheets, so, yes, if you are insulating somewhere you will use lots of the stuff, which is why I suggest hunting for offcuts, as a full board is 2.4x1.2 m (or 8x4 ft in old money..) but then it gets cut up to fit... a 100 mm thick board of that size looks to be £30 to £40, so apart from not wanting a blinkin' great sheet, it's not cheap either. It comes in a variety of thickness's as well. Hence my comment about offcuts and skips... bear in mind you can always stick bit together onto a base board as well. HTH PS for the small amounts a modeller would need, @Black Knight suggestions are good.

Board size and thickness vary. Kingspan is a brand, there are others, eg Celotex. they are @Gordon J you won't need much, and a big sheet is quite pricey, keep a look out for building jobs, if you see any used always worth asking for off cuts. You won't need much and a foot square chunk isn't much use. I'd also look in the skips on jobs. technically the contents are someone's property, so best to ask, but in reality it's waste that cost to dispose of, so anything that makes more space in a skip is not frowned upon Also, if you have some thing like Freecycle or Freegle, again, asking for offcuts. You can also use expanded polystyrene, and there load of that about, won't carve in the same way PIR will, squirt it into a box the size you want. it will stick to the box but you can just cut it off. HTH HTH

unfortunately a Mk.18 will require more than that note the deleted gun bays underneath, in the sprue shot, look at the ammo door panel between the gun access doors note how the spce in the outer wing where the ammo boxes are in the C wing, is now sealed at the bottom, but the space is now accessed from above. A new lower wing wound be needed, with the different panels and camera openings under the fuselage. The parts trees have not been set up to do this, so I don't see a Mk.18 boxing being done. Plus, the work involved in the conversion is not difficult. baby blue Airfix plastic, now that's a blast from the past! PS why are there two canopies?

Fill and rescribe outer gun bay panels, upper and lower wings, add under fuselage camera ports, identification lights in outer wing. as can be seen here, the upper gun panels are eliminated, and the rectangular panel in the lower wing is moved to the upper wing for survival equipment compare with wing panels above. more pics here https://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/235014550-spitfire-mkxviii-mk18-photos-of-wing-panelling-differences-confirmed/ no. It needs some tweaks.

Hi Mathy for a modeller of your obvious talents, you do seem to sometimes fail to refer to the real thing (you did a Hurricane with De Havilland blades on a Rotol spinner a while back) the 610 Sq pics are very well known, I did wonder what had gone on with the roundel but a look at the Tamiya decals shows separate roundel centres, so I suspect you picked the wrong ones.. RAF fin stripes start from the rudder join, and the 'D' is aligned with the 'W' Since I have said this, i'd better explain... You may have have had a mental image of the roundel centre being this... Quite a few Spitfires have a non standard 7 inch roundel centre, a factory glitch, as above, but these are on the 35 inch A1 roundels. They should be 5 inch centres Just to really confuse you....the centre plane has the 35 in A1, with 5 inch centre and over size codes, the oversize roundels happen because they were 35 inch A type. (no outer yellow ring), as seen here Spitfire patrol Spring 1940. by Etienne du Plessis, on Flickr the colour shot above comes from here https://www.flickr.com/search/?w=8270787@N07&q=spitfire which has a load of wartime colour, and is a great resource which then had a yellow ring added, sometime a narrow ring, sometimes a full 7 inch ring, as in J and D above. D retains the earlier size of codes..... H probably had the the 25 inch roundel, and and equal widtyh yellow ring added to that... What you don't get is 35 inch A type with an oversize centre on the fuselage (they happen on unit applied underwings though) for the when and why of these changes, and there are lots... https://boxartden.com/reference/gallery/index.php/Modeling-References/Camoflage-Markings/01-Supermarine-Spitfire Note DW-K willl have had the underside repainted in to Sky, or something similar as well..(see linked to pdf below) I'm posting this as it is clear you are a very talented modeller, and while much of the above is a 'rabbit hole' as a quick read will show, the 610 sq Spitfires are well documented, mostly as in July 1904 a training film was made at Hawkinge, and the film unit stills photographer took a series of photos, also of 32Sq Hurricanes, which have been being used as images of the battle pretty much ever since, and is a reason for the 610 being used for may BoB kit markings. If DW-K survived that long, in Nov 1940 she'd have got a Sky spinner and tail band, and black port underwing.. Apparently DW-K P9495 was issued to 601 Sq 2 June, and was damaged on 12 Aug, beyond repair and and written off 23 Aug. the plane as shown is late July 1940, but was not a new plane then. there are some very interesting specifics on DW-K here http://www.fundekals.com/images/Spitfires/SpitfireProject2016.pdf The build and paint of the model is superb, none of the above is a criticism of that, and with the correct information, would be a historically correct model as well, and so the reason for the detail is to explain why when I first saw the model I something jarred, so I checked, and I thought some background and sources maybe of interest and use for @mathy and anyone else reading as well. Plenty of scope for more models too HTH

P-38's are flush rivetded, note how smooth they are in the pics above.

You could Dennis, but I don't know if it's worth the bother, note Creative do 'free' post in the UK on orders over £30, and they stock lots of stuff. At the moment you wouldn't get hit for import taxes as Czech republic and UK are part of the EU. MJW Models have the A-3 weekend for £16.80, https://mjwmodels.co.uk/edk84112--148-focke-wulf-fw-190a-3-weekend-6817-p.asp post is £4.5 tracked so you could have one in your hands for just under £21... A look at the eduard site says the overtrees are about £10, (295 crowns) but the shipping is 396 Crowns .....

as @Corsairfoxfouruncle has helpfully pointed out, Spruebrothers in the USA carry overtrees http://store.spruebrothers.com/searchresults.asp?Search=overtrees&Submit= $20 and shipping, the A8/R2 is listed, but IIRC one other version has all the bits to do a standard A-8. The A-5 apparently https://modelingmadness.com/review/axis/cleaver/g/190/tc190a6.htm I'd check the Eduard site to be sure what bits you need for your project to be sure.