Alley Cat Spitfire Mk.Vc Conversion for New Airfix Spit Mk.Vb Kit- 1/48th scale

[JasonC]

This is the icon I'm talking about (circled):

and the menu that appears when you click on it:

Edited September 15, 2014 by JasonC

[jenko]

Tony, I had the same problem with photobucket (remember my Airfix Vb WIP etc) I had to wait the best part of a month to be restored. It pays to have a cull of old pics once a month.

Nice work by the way

HTH

Edited September 15, 2014 by jenko

[tonyot]

Hiya Folks,

Thanks for the advice and info regarding Flickr etc,......unfortunately my Flickr pages don`t have the same icons for some reason and I`ve been unable to transfer photos onto BM or anywhere else for that matter! For this reason I`ve opened another temporary account elsewhere to use while Photobucket is playing silly beggars and I`ve copied a few photos onto it to add to the earlier pages of this thread so that it makes some sort of sense and I`ll continue with the updates here.

Latest update;

After a coat of matt varnish a watercolour wash was applied;

And here is the wash after it has been removed with a damp kitchen roll;

I meant to add that as the rear of the propeller blades were scoured back to bare metal by the rough desert sand on the real aircraft the rear of the blades received a coat of silver spray paint and then black acrylic was painted on top. When the paint was dry it was carefully sanded back to reveal the silver underneath.

Cheers for now,

Tony

Edited September 15, 2014 by tonyot

[tonyot]

Hooray,......my Photobucket photos have re appeared!!!!

[tonyot]

FINISHED!!!!!,,,..........Well after the photo problem, anybody who is still with me might like to know that the Spit is now finished, here it is;

Cheers

Tony

[JackG]

Could the Alley Cat wings be used to create Seafire III, and would they require any further modification?

Other than adding an arrestor hook (AM source?), what else is required?

Any chance of Airfix having this as complete kit in the future?

regards,

Jack

[Troy Smith]

Could the Alley Cat wings be used to create Seafire III, and would they require any further modification?

Other than adding an arrestor hook (AM source?), what else is required?

Any chance of Airfix having this as complete kit in the future?

regards,

Jack

the Seafire III had folding wings, so you'd need to scribe these in and usually a 4 blade prop, sometimes 6 pipe exhausts.

You might be better off correcting the Special Hobby Seafire III, as it has all this in the box.

The SH kit is a bit short, and the wing is too far back and the ailerons need some shimming, All fixable.

For more on the SH Seafire III wing postion read page 2-3 of this.

http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/234968126-148-airfix-seafire-xv/

Though it might give you a headache...

Any chance of Airfix having a a VC kit? Maybe, if they tool up a new wing sprue. I'd be surprised if happens before next year though.

HTH

T

[heloman1]

lookin' very good Tony.

Colin

[tonyot]

Cheers Colin,

Could the Alley Cat wings be used to create Seafire III, and would they require any further modification?

Other than adding an arrestor hook (AM source?), what else is required?

Any chance of Airfix having this as complete kit in the future?

regards,

Jack

Just noticed your query Jack;

As Troy said you`d need to scribe in a wing fold for a Seafire Mk.III and this version also had a 4 bladed prop plus 6 stack exhausts and the fuselage was externally braced with `straps' rivetted below the cockpit and around the radio hatch with strengthened hoisting points just behind the engine nacelles and also alongside the arrester hook .

If you required an after marker prop, hook, exhausts and strengthening straps then MDC do a nice Seafire III conversion set for the Tamiya Spit kit which includes all of these plus a set of resin wings which has the wing fold engraved but I don`t know if this will fit the Airfix kit?

The Special Hobby Seafire Mk.III kit is a much cheaper starting point and the kit is still very nice.

If you wanted to do a Seafire Mk.II then the wing fold would not be needed and most retained the three stack exhausts but depending on which variant you wanted to do they were fitted with the Rotol 3 bladed prop or a 4 bladed prop.

Only Airfix can say whether they have a Seafire Mk.III planned,.......but even if they do it would probably be years away.

Hope that helps,

Tony

Edited May 22, 2015 by tonyot

[pacificmustang]

Great stuff Tony. Im dabbling with a Vc conversion at the moment too. Slowly converting the HobbyBoss 1/32 Vb to a Vc. Just about got the undersides of the wings done. My intention is to do one of the silver RAAF 85 SQN machines

The new Airfix kit is a lovely bit of kit isn't it? Just misses out on a perfect score with that overly complicated cockpit and oleo assembly.

I just about have the Mk1 ready for paint. I deviated from the instructions, joining the two fuselage halves and adding the fuel tank cover without the cockpit in place. I found this gave me a nice clean join without the need for filler. I then slid the completed cockpit into place from below, sanding the instrument panel and bulkhead until a good fit was achieved

[blueliner]

Very nice Spitfires.

As my father would say, "a lot's good, more's better!"

Jim, the Spitfire-oholic.