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Airfix PR Mk.XIX--what happened?


NPL

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I don't care about all this about 3D scanning, if only I could get this damnes system of downloading pictures from Photobucket correct (saw Edagar exasperatión a month ago) .

Have some new photos comparing te Mk.XIX to Airfix XII and Airfix XII top SH XÌI

NP

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Succeeded at last:

XIX-XIItop.jpg

Top Airfix XII, bottom Airfix XIX. As you see, the wings are a kittle forward on the XIX example.

XIX-XII.jpg

And from the other side.

XIX-XIIbund-1.jpg

As seen from below.

An Airfix/SH Mk.XII comparison:

XII-XII-1.jpg

The wing problem is definitely there, but I am not shure that SH is by necessity "small". Checked their back parts against the drawing of Montforton, MAP 2896, and Clint.

Which also lead me to a similar thing about Tamiya's 1:48 kits as too short, too fat etc. Well, in comparison to Montforton's drawing the back is short byat5 least one mm, but spot on when compared to MAP 2896, and almost spot on when we compare them to Clint.

How much mythology is around out there?

NP

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Are you on some kind of mission??

If you don't accept this 'mythology' that's your prerogative - but countless others have also made the comparisons and measurements and come to their own conclusions, most of which appear to tally.

These topics have been discussed time and time again - why stir it all up again?

Nick

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Are you on some kind of mission??

If you don't accept this 'mythology' that's your prerogative - but countless others have also made the comparisons and measurements and come to their own conclusions, most of which appear to tally.

These topics have been discussed time and time again - why stir it all up again?

Nick

Because it still lurks behind most discussions about this aeroplane.

When you don't have an easy access to the real thing (I have 300 km to the PR Mk.XIX in Linköping, and 400 km to the Mk.IX in Stauning in Western Jutland, and to get there I have to pay for crossing two big bridges, intogether about 100£), it will be the case to find the best drawings, and--something I recommended shortly--select you set of drawings and follow them. It could be the MAP set by Peter Cooke and others, or it could be the Clint drawings in Bracken (doubled up, as they are in 1:96). Montforton's is only of the Mk.IX & XVI. I haven't had time to study the new drawings in Kagero's Topdrawings.

We should also remember Monforton's words that no Spitfire is alike, and he based this on his study of five existing Mk.IXs.

Or we could forget all about dimension and just make the models including Hasegawa, Academy, you name it. But few would be satisfird with that solution.

If any mission, it is directed against what you "hear": This version is too fat, this is too long, this is too short, etc. etc. In my daily work verification (rather falsification) of a thesis is what it is all about. Thus I have objected against the easy dismissal of Tamiya's 1:48 Mk.I & V, and against the alomost automatical dismissal of Special Hobby's meny different Spitfires as too small. We should always ask for documentation.

It would be possible to write a whole book about these matters (or a library of books), but Airfix, Tamiya, Hasegawa, Special Hoby, etc. etc., will hardly survive if books are written and models left in the attic.

NP

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does anyone really care?

after seeing Jen Wright's gorgeously finished Airfix PR19 at Yeovilton last week, the kit looks every inch a spitfire, capturing the long, sleek lines of the 19 perfectly. One mm here or there is pretty pointless to argue about.

Edited by lufbramatt
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does anyone really care?

after seeing Jen Wright's gorgeously finished Airfix PR19 at Yeovilton last week, the kit looks every inch a spitfire, capturing the long, sleek lines of the 19 perfectly. One mm here or there is pretty pointless to argue about.

Plainly these guys do mate. So why not leave them to it?

No one doubts it looks like a Spitfire, but some of us want to explore the subject a little further. I'm rather enjoying this thread.

Jonners

PS I think they'd all cope well in an emergency! :)

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"We should also remember Monforton's words that no Spitfire is alike, and he based this on his study of five existing Mk.IXs."

Yes, and he also talked about Mk.IXBs, and did not understand the difference between early and mid-production Mk.IXs. However, Spitfires were not assembled like a piece of Meccano Forth bridge, one piece added to another with tolerances building up to sizable dimensions. Key parts such as wings and fuselages were made on overall jigs: significant variation in overall length or differences between the key datums were just not possible, and these are the kind of basic measurement that are under discussion here. It doesn't matter that his drawings were only for Mk.IX/XVI, because the dimensions being called into question were the same on ALL Spitfires, certainly up to the Mk.XXs - and I'm not certain that the rudder post moved on those. You want to argue whether this was 20thou or 40thou or 60thou on the original, and you might have a case. 10cm? Absolute twaddle. Stronger words apply but are not permitted on the forum.

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Does anyone care? Of course we bleeding care!. Armed with facts -an individual can then choose how to deal with them. As for re-treading old ground, don't assume for a minute that everyone on here has read the "old ground" ! I never knew about issues with the Mk XII, so when I get one, I can choose what to do about it - if anything, and ...while I'm on my hobby horse, this site IS supposed to be a discussion forum.........

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If any mission, it is directed against what you "hear": This version is too fat, this is too long, this is too short, etc. etc. In my daily work verification (rather falsification) of a thesis is what it is all about. Thus I have objected against the easy dismissal of Tamiya's 1:48 Mk.I & V, and against the alomost automatical dismissal of Special Hobby's meny different Spitfires as too small. We should always ask for documentation.

NP

NP, I'm totally with you on that point. Stuff gets said enough times on forums and it becomes accepted fact, even if documented measurements contradict it.

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Does anyone care? Of course we bleeding care!. Armed with facts -an individual can then choose how to deal with them. As for re-treading old ground, don't assume for a minute that everyone on here has read the "old ground" ! I never knew about issues with the Mk XII, so when I get one, I can choose what to do about it - if anything, and ...while I'm on my hobby horse, this site IS supposed to be a discussion forum.........

Very well said Billy.

That's why there's peeps about that DO their research and others that don't care whether it's right or wrong

because it looks "artistic".

To me,it's not about artistic,it's about producing a historically correct miniature of a real aeroplane/car/ship/

locomotive/goods wagon/carriage or what have you and that means that people like you,Edgar,gingerbob,

Nick Millman,Graham Boak,Jon Kunac-Tabinor,quite a few others and yes,me too go out ther and do the

research,research and even more research.

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Very well said Billy.

That's why there's peeps about that DO their research and others that don't care whether it's right or wrong

because it looks "artistic".

To me,it's not about artistic,it's about producing a historically correct miniature of a real aeroplane/car/ship/

locomotive/goods wagon/carriage or what have you and that means that people like you,Edgar,gingerbob,

Nick Millman,Graham Boak,Jon Kunac-Tabinor,quite a few others and yes,me too go out ther and do the

research,research and even more research.

I can't believe that after 70 odd years of Spitfires, we still do not seem to have a set of plans that people can agree are correct. We shouldn't have to do research to measure Spitfires, surely?

I can only assume that many plans out there are incorrect because they have not been measured correctly, i.e. measured from photographs, incorrectly scaled, badly recorded etc.

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Well four pages in and still no actual measurements of the two kits.

This is interesting (as I got it today):

Airfix XII fuselage 16,8-9 From firewall (was it frame 5?) to end of tail (- rudder) 11,2

Special Hobby XII 16,9-17,0 " " " 11,0

The problems lie in the cockpit area, which may also explain that SH has the wing a little further back than Airfix

I made several other measurements confirming that if the SH series is smaller than, say the Airfix ones, it's a trifle.

And to get to the myth about Tamiya Mk.Vb it is exactly (give or take ½ mm) the same as Special Hobby, if we talk about the fuselage. Furthermore Tamiya's wing is in exactly the same position as the Airfix XIX.

For what it is worth.

NP

PS: Everything in centimeters

NP

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And to get to the myth about Tamiya Mk.Vb it is exactly (give or take ½ mm) the same as Special Hobby, if we talk about the fuselage. Furthermore Tamiya's wing is in exactly the same position as the Airfix XIX.

I've never seen anyone complain about the position of the Tamiya wing.

Just to clarify, AFAIK the Tamiya kit has 3 areas of inaccuracy.

1 - it's a bit short, which is fixable

2 - the wing plan form has the curve starting at the wing root, rather than the centreline, as a result the wing chord is too broad at the mid point of each wing. This is fixable

3- it's a bit 'fat' around the cockpit area. This is probably unfixable, or not worth the effort and problems fixing it would take.

HTH

T

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Dear Troy,

as I measured it an hour ago, it is not short, or if it is we talk about 1 mm. I know about the wing problem, and finally fat around the cockpit? That I will have to check another time.

NP

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For what it's worth I have just got the new Airfix Mk X1X and as a benchmark. I think I am safe in saying we have our first truly accurate 1/48 scale kit of any Spitfire. I am using the Bentley and Monforton drawings and my own research. It's even got the the fin tip wooden block in the right place.

Well done Airfix.

John

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It began when I spotted some divergencies between the XIX and XII (both Airfix).

The result of the measurements of today says that the XIX is in perfect order. And thus I can happily agree with John.

So my reason for opening this was not to find something wrong with the new kit.

I made a control measurement with the SH XII.

Moreover checking the XIX wing position with Tamiya, they are exactly the same. It is SH that places the wings to far back.

NP

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It began when I spotted some divergencies between the XIX and XII (both Airfix).

The result of the measurements of today says that the XIX is in perfect order. And thus I can happily agree with John.

So my reason for opening this was not to find something wrong with the new kit.

I made a control measurement with the SH XII.

Moreover checking the XIX wing position with Tamiya, they are exactly the same. It is SH that places the wings to far back.

NP

Ah thanks, that clears it up, I thought someone said the wing position of the new Airfix is the same as the SH kit has, probably they meant the older Mk.XII?

Edited by occa
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Just for clarification. It is now preseumed that both the Airfix Mk. XII / Seafire XVII have the wing in the same position as the SH Sefire XV. Is that correct?

That would explaint why that, other then the significant difference in the shape of the trailing wing root fairing, the wings appears, to me, as being in the same location, in relation to the fuselage.

My XIX is on the way.

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