flarpen Posted May 20, 2012 Share Posted May 20, 2012 Hi, this is my first WIP here on Britmodeller I,m going to try to build a 1/48 scale Spitfire PR.XIX, also known as S 31 in the Swedish AF This is what i have to work with: Academy Mk.XIVc Heritage Aviation PR.XIX Aeroclub Mk.21 conversion Daco Producs Mk.XIV improvement set Aires Mk.XIV cockpit set Quick Boost nose and spinner plus eduard detail set and ultracast wheels After reading several forum discussions and build threads, it seams that the main fault with the academy kit is the shape of the nose and that the fuselage generally is to deep, otherwise i think the kit looks good. After comparing with drawings i think that that's the case. Aeroclub's Mk.21 conversion looks spot on in form, but i think that the panel lines are on the soft side and the casting is generally a bit crude (being a short run kit), so the plan is to use the Academy kit for this project. It would be a shame just to throw it away. The aeroclub set will come in handy in an other build. The Daco Production improvement set corrects the most obvious faults with the academy kit, with a replacement nose and spinner among other things. I will use the wing and lower fuselage camera insert from the Heritage Aviation kit, which will save me a bit of work not having to convert the Academy wing (i hope, the casting of the HA's wing isn't the best). The Quick Boosts nose doesn't seem to correct what is wrong with the academy kit (being about 2mm to deep), so i wont be using that. to be continued //Johan 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
erikmuntz Posted May 20, 2012 Share Posted May 20, 2012 Looking forward to this one! Late Mk. Spitfires are very interesting aircraft, considering the rapid evolution of the Spitfire family! Looks like you have some good aftermarket there and a good kit as well! Watching! Erik Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigbadbadge Posted May 20, 2012 Share Posted May 20, 2012 Will atch with interest too, I built the Academy 14 with the Daco correction set and enjoyed it very much, good luck with your build. All the best Chris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christer A Posted May 21, 2012 Share Posted May 21, 2012 Tjena Flärpen! Very interesting and cool subject!, and I will follow this thread with great interest. I need to do a S31 in 1/48 at some point in time... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flarpen Posted May 21, 2012 Author Share Posted May 21, 2012 Thanks guys A bit of progress has been made. Fitting of the Heritage Aviation PR.XIX wing The general fit is quite good. Actually it's better than with their own fuselage. The only real issue is that the wing is a bit to wide And comparing with scale drawings it needs to be trimmed a bit With that done and the trailing edge thinned down, the fit is spot on. The camera insert also fits without much hassle. Now i need to clean up the wing, the casting isn't the best. There are a lot of pinholes in the front edge of the wing and the wheel wells needs a bit of attention to. But on the plus side you do get all of the XIX bumps and blisters and you don't have to get rid of all the cannon details compared to if you use the academy wing. Chris, how is the fit of the daco nose? Anything i need to look out fore? Stay tuned Johan 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flarpen Posted May 27, 2012 Author Share Posted May 27, 2012 Work on the Spitfire is slowly progressing The front have been sawed off to make room fore the new Daco replacement. Some minor adjustments was needed to make the new nose fit, but with some work it fits nicely. With the new nose the shape of the model is vastly improved. Some adjustments of the fuselage is necessary to get a correct PR.XIX The entry hatch is glued in place and blended together with the fuselage. The rear part of the cockpit opening is extended a little bit aft and the step is removed to make it line up with the forward sliding part. The rear fixed portion of the canopy was bigger on the PR.XIX The opening for the side looking camera has been drilled out and the panel lines for the hatch has been scribed. The hatch on the opposite side has also been scribed and panel lines that is wrong for the type has been removed. next up, the cockpit. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flarpen Posted July 25, 2012 Author Share Posted July 25, 2012 Work on the spitfire have progressed. The Aires Cockpit has been painted with White Ensigns British interior grey-green. All the details are painted. The cockpit is weathered accordingly (a light wash, dry-brushing and flat coated). I have also managed to apply a few cockpit placards and instrument faces from airscale. Here is the left hand side with a few alterations to the Aires pit: All details where the entry hatch used to be is scratched, the oxygen bottles that where molded in are removed and replaced with new details. Also the control box below the trim wheel is a new item and wiring from led wires. The right hand side. Some alterations to the Aires pit had to be done here as well. Everything that is located at the top is scratched and the fuel booster pump box in the center is also a new item. And the "floor". Here is everything from Aires untouched except from a small addition from Eduard. The rudder pedals and control stick has yet to be installed. The rear pressure bulkhead is a entirely scratched item. The IP is as good as finished. The camera control box is made from sprue. The chair has also received it's share of paint and weathering. I've tried to get the feel of worn leather on the backrest, i think it came out ok. Unfortunately it doesn't show up as good in the pictures. The clear gel container on the rear of the bulkhead is made from clear sprue and the fixings is from leftover PE. This looks to get a bit fiddly, the seat belts from HGW is the next challenge. I'm also gonna try to make the oxygen hose for the pilot, but i have a problem whit this. I don't have any good reference material on how that is connected in the aircraft. All i can tell is that it emerges from behind the seat on the right hand side. If anyone has any info or pictures on where the hose goes i would appreciate that, otherwise i suppose I'll just have to make an educated guess. //Johan 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theclay Posted July 25, 2012 Share Posted July 25, 2012 nice progress. really coming along Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Giorgio N Posted July 26, 2012 Share Posted July 26, 2012 Very nice, looking forward to see more ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flarpen Posted July 26, 2012 Author Share Posted July 26, 2012 Thanks for your support guys. I've made some progress. The seat harness is assembled and the lap belts have been installed. The shoulder belts will be installed later when everything is in place. I had to make a slight modification to it thou, the attachment point to the bulkhead were taken from an Eduard seatbelt. The oxygen hose has also been installed. It's still quite vague were it goes but you can't see much of it anyway so i wont bother whit it. All the major components have been installed. Note that the shoulder harness is only loosely put in place to give an idea of how it will look. Next up are the three oxygen bottles behind the seat. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim Starling Posted July 26, 2012 Share Posted July 26, 2012 excellent work. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dogbrush Posted July 26, 2012 Share Posted July 26, 2012 I'm loving the attention to detail - coming along really well!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flarpen Posted August 8, 2012 Author Share Posted August 8, 2012 (edited) The oxygen tanks are done. They are made from the kits tanks which had to be cut down a bit plus a third that is made from sprue that luckily had the same diameter. I also managed to make some decals for the tanks. With some added details they are ready for installation. After a bit of fiddeling here they are in place And the seat harness could be installed as well. to be continued.... Johan Edited August 8, 2012 by flarpen 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marlin Posted August 8, 2012 Share Posted August 8, 2012 Snyggt Very nice. I really like the oxygen tanks. Job well done /Bosse Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ben_m Posted August 9, 2012 Share Posted August 9, 2012 Awesome work on the cockpit! Looking forward to seeing more. How did you make the decals for the tanks with white writing? In the past I have done this using clear decal sheet, and printed a black box with the text in it (clear), and put this over a white undercoat. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Miggers Posted August 9, 2012 Share Posted August 9, 2012 Knowing John Adams and Spits(especially a 21)that conversion fuselage will be the most accurate in the world.Period. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flarpen Posted August 10, 2012 Author Share Posted August 10, 2012 Snyggt Very nice. I really like the oxygen tanks. Job well done /Bosse Tackar Bosse. Thanks a bunch Awesome work on the cockpit! Looking forward to seeing more. How did you make the decals for the tanks with white writing? In the past I have done this using clear decal sheet, and printed a black box with the text in it (clear), and put this over a white undercoat. Thanks Ben I made it much the same way, simply made a textbox in word with a black background and white text which i then printed on white decalpaper, i used size 3 on the text. It turned out resonebly well i think. Knowing John Adams and Spits(especially a 21)that conversion fuselage will be the most accurate in the world.Period. I agree, the aeroclub conversion is a gem. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flarpen Posted August 18, 2012 Author Share Posted August 18, 2012 Some progress on the spit. To try and do something about there not being anything behind the camera windows I've tried to simulate the cameras in an as easy way as possible. Nothing of this will be ever be seen from the outside except for the camera lenses, so i haven't made any effort to make it look good. A structure made of PC to secure the cameras to is in place. The camera window is made from clear plastic from the box that the Aires pit came in. Added some details to the outside of the camera window. Alignments for the down looking cameras added. This will also work as something to attach those camera windows to. Looks a little better with some paint on it The camera objectives are made from brass tubing of different sizes. The camera "body" is from stock resin just to act as a lid on the tubing and something to attach the tubes to the model With some paint it doesn't look to bad Since there is no landing lights in the wings on the PR XIX, I used the kit lenses for those to act as camera lenses instead for the down looking cameras. The lens for the side looking camera is from clear sprue sanded and polished. Here how it looks in place. Now there's just some minor things left then i can assemble the fuselage halves. /Johan 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jens Posted August 18, 2012 Share Posted August 18, 2012 Very nice indeed! Jens Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sprue Posted August 18, 2012 Share Posted August 18, 2012 I'm well impressed, very nice indeed. Mike Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beastieboy Posted August 18, 2012 Share Posted August 18, 2012 This is first class, will follow this build Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flarpen Posted September 24, 2012 Author Share Posted September 24, 2012 Hi It's been a while since i last updated this thread. It's not lack of progress on the build. Here is what has happened. A first aid kit is added in the cockpit. Rear wheel well details added With those things done i could finely close up the fuselage When that was done i could add the final details in the cockpit From the underside /Johan 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flarpen Posted September 24, 2012 Author Share Posted September 24, 2012 A bit more progress The "floor" in the cockpit is done and installed What has taken up most of my time is the vacformed canopy from falcon. It's been quite a hassle to get it to fit somewhat satisfactory. They are not really meant to fit the academy kit. Added canopy framing on the aft and fwd sections The rear section finely mounted after some trials. Still it left a step to the rear of the canopy that had to be filled up. The windscreen in its place. I've also added the sliding canopy rails that goes on the outside of the cockpit sides. To get the windscreen to fit you need to add a piece of pc at the front part of the cockpit as the opening on the academy kit is to far fwd to the real thing. I made the gel container that keeps the moisture out of the canopy from the academy kit canopy. This is how it looks like in place when closed And open (which is the way it's going to be) Also manged to add the heater exhaust on top of the fuselage I'm still not 100% satisfied, but it will have to do. In the pictures the canopies look quite smudgy, but that is after all the handling of the parts and will be polished clean later. Stay tuned Johan 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RNoAF Aerobatic Team Posted September 24, 2012 Share Posted September 24, 2012 Fy fan, så bra! I really love the work so far!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flarpen Posted September 24, 2012 Author Share Posted September 24, 2012 Tackar Ørjan. Thanks, i'll try and keep the updates at a more regular pace. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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