Tamiya 1/32 Spitfire undercarriages

[SL721]

I'm new around here, even though my first-ever plastic kit was the first-ever Airfix Spitfire in 1955 or thereabouts. I've been trying to make Spitfire models ever since, and though I've yet to build one with which I was pretty happy I know a convincing Spitfire model when I see one, and the only totally convincing Spitfire models I have seen to this day were the 1/24th scale scratchbuilt models by Peter Cook (or Cooke). I think all of we Spitfire obsessives know the feeling when you see an otherwise beautifully built model and the sit of the undercarriage is absolutely to hell, or the doors are actually on back-to-front, as I've seen recently on the Spitfire Site gallery I think. So I should be in utter Spitfire Heaven when, towards the end of my life, Tamiya have given us their extraordinarily detailed and accurate 1/32nd Spitfire kits. But I'm not. Why? Well, is there really no-one else out there (as it seems from the lack of comments on the internet) who is far from convinced by the sit of the undercarriage, and the (what seem to me) excessively pointy (because not sufficiently semi-circular) undercarriage doors? Edgar, or Mark 12, what do you think?

[Jennings Heilig]

First I've heard of that, and the kit has been picked to pieces by a *lot* of very qualified Spitfire boffins.

[Nick Belbin]

Likewise. And the Tamiya isn't quite a perfect kit - witness Barracuda Studios (Roy Sutherland) replacement parts designed for it.

Both the sit and the pointy bits can surely be modified to how one feels they should be if necessary.

It's still the best Spitfire kit out there by far . . .

IMHO.

NjB

[Edgar]

Since I haven't built the kit, I don't really feel qualified to comment, but this is Supermarine's drawing, which has a note to the effect that the wheel cover is to be trimmed to allow for a 1/10" space between it and the wall of the wheel well, which implies that each was made to fit, so might not have been identical.

Wheel tracking was 5' 8.5", which, in 1/32 scale, comes down to 2.14", or 54.37mm.

Edgar

[SL721]

Thank you very much for your replies, and thank you Edgar for the drawing and tracking information.   As you say, individual doors, being largely hand-made, may have differed slightly, but the shape of the Tamiya door appears to me less 'full' in the semi-circular portion than the doors on say MH434 or the BBMF's Mk IX, both of which I've photographed as full-on as possible, though of course we get into potential pixel ratio issues here.  It doesn't help that, as Roy Sutherland has pointed out, the kit oleos are modelled at seemingly maximum compression, whereas extant Spitfires, lightly-loaded and stripped of armour and guns and other operational items, appear to be standing on tiptoe by comparison.  I believe that Roy was planning on marketing some brass or white metal replacement oleos exhibiting less severe compression, though I don't know if anything has come of this.  

[therollercoaster]

G-Factor sell a set of white-bronze gearlegs for the Tamiya kit.

 

http://largescaleplanes.com/reviews/Aftermarket/WW2/gfactor/32012/32012.php

 

But apart from the sharper detail there is no difference in o/a dimensions between them and the kit parts. I bought my set from Sprue Brothers last year.

Edited January 9, 2013 by therollercoaster

[SL721]

Thanks very much indeed for this link, they look very good, will definitely invest in a set or three given as how I shall be making Tamiya Spitfires for the rest of my life!

[gingerbob]

As you say, individual doors, being largely hand-made, may have differed slightly...

Not a personal attack, but I wish we could quash this notion of Spitfires (and parts) being "largely hand-made". Edgar's paraphrase (?) of the drawing note was that "the wheel cover is to be trimmed". So, we have an edge around the well on the wing skin, we have an "Oleo Leg Fairing", and there's a tolerance to be achieved for the overlap between the two.

A look at otherwise very clean aircraft of any generation often shows ill-fitting gear doors (which to a degree defeats the purpose of retracting them in the first place). There's often a fair amount of fiddly adjustment, then you put the thing in the air where the loads are different, and all your careful adjustment suddenly isn't quite so perfect. Then the bloody pilot drops your airplane hard onto the tarmac, and things are tweaked that little bit more. Rinse and repeat... I can imagine the potential consequences of a gear door that had a little too little overlap, and instead the door edge "dropped into" the well!

Anyway, my point is that a little careful trimming of the perimeter of a piece of sheet metal does not equate to "hand made". As for the shape of Tamiya's covers, I'm afraid I haven't had a careful study of them- my kits are awaiting installation in the eventual place of worship, still under construction.

Sorry, rant over!

bob

Edited January 9, 2013 by gingerbob