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Spifire help,opening a can of worms?


andyphipps

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This may start a major discussion but here goes. I want to build a large scale spitfire 1/24 airfix or similar.

my question is which one is the most accurate / best kit ? what resin / etch do I need to make a reasonable representation. I am not a super modeller and I am not rich. I would appreciate any help members can offer.

Thanks in advance Andy

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I am building the airfix 1/24 vb atm and I would say if you can afford and find the trumpy one it will be less work at a guess and a lot more detailed I can't vouch for accuracy on either but the airfix sprues go back to 1970 and they show it now. But I believe the shape is good. With the airfix kit it has flash and is a product of its time. Mine will be built with panels closed Because the detail is crude underneath and I will still need to box in the wheel bays and detail them. There is aftermarket available mainly for the Trumpeter kit. So depends on how much work you want to do I've heard the trumpy has issues with tailplane but not sure what. And you can pick up the airfix dirt cheap if you look around got mine for 30 quid at hobbycraft and you can build a mk1 or a mkv from the boxing and hannants have plenty of decals for both.

Edited by dazdot
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the Airfix Spit for me is a hands down no brainer winner over the Trumpeter kit, theres something about the patina and texture on the Airfix one i think is great, the moulds maybe a scoche older than ideal but theres something about the trumpeter kit that looks to clinical and not right(imho) theres no more work fixing the blank uc bays on the airfix kit than there is fixing the wrong angle on the trumpeter one.

I usually like Trumpy kits as am not as anal as some over perfection but this is one case where i would say go Airfix

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I bought the Trumpeter kit and soon sold it on. Detail is great as you might expect with a new kit but its just too fat. Compared to the older Airfix kit, its obvious. The Airfix kit is surprisingly good, with accurate raised rivets on the rear fuselage, and big enough that you can detail is with scratch built parts easily enough. I plan to build mine closed up and just detail the cockpit and wheel wells.

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Ok on a roll now!!

which one the mark 1a or theVb

I think from what I read, the VB contains all the IA parts as well

http://www.aircraftresourcecenter.com/Gal8/7701-7800/gal7766-Spitfire-Bacon/00.shtm

You want to search ebay and kingkit for older issues of the kit, which tend to be crisper.

a couple of items which are hard to scratch build easily

Supermarine Spitfire Mk.I/Mk.Vb Full Instrument Panel

http://www.hannants.co.uk/product/AS24SPA

RAF WWII seat belts early version.

http://www.hannants.co.uk/product/ED23005

If you can find it cheap

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/0850590825/

was done as a tie in for the kit. Dated but has some good information still.

And have a good search through Large Scale Planes, as that is the place for info on these big kits.

Posted this before, but if you want to add some detail, the items below will make life a lot easier if you fancy a bit of scratch building.

microstrip ... Slater's do a whole range, but the assorted pack is cheap way to get some very handy scratch building material.

https://slatersplastikard.com/plastikard/microstrip.php

They also do a assorted pack of plastic rod

https://slatersplastikard.com/plastikard/plasticRod.php

the other bargain is Evergreen assorted tube and rod pack, 7 lengths of different types.

Evergreen # 217

AFAIK these are the only mixed packs of these products, which are great, but it can get expensive if you want a mix, but this way for a small outlay you get a lot of different sizes, which make life a lot easier for adding detail.

Sure you can cut strips and stretch sprue but that's hard to do with regularity.

There was a seller on ebay who stocked all 3 which made for one postage charge, still going

http://stores.ebay.co.uk/TRANSPORT-MODELS-OF-PRESTON

ask for the specific items and combined postage charge.

here's the microstrip mix

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Slaters-1001-Assorted-Microstrip-50-Lengths-NEW-/131334949653

while it may seem expensive, but if you try cutting regular strips from plastic sheet you will see what I mean, it curls up and is surprisingly difficult.

tube assortment
No connection, just one place to buy both together, and ask about the assorted plastic rod too.
I recommend these to anyone reading this who ever intends to do some scratch built detailing, as these will last for many models and make life much much easier.
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Thanks for that. Yep the VB kit has all of the 1a parts in it and I would concur get the earliest issue you can as the tooling is definitely feeling the strain of 44 years work now. I would also reccomend just running some abrasive over the raised rivets as they are just too raised for my liking

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Ok stupid question. I have been on wikipedia and can't find the difference between a mark 1a and Vb. can anyone tell me?

And which type did the legendary Douglas Bader fly? I am thinking of doing his as I have been inspired by his story since being a little modeller.

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Hi Andy,

With some patience, the airfix kit can be built up in to a superb build out of the box, perhaps adding some detail here and there out of plasticard. I've seen a few great Mk.I's on here recently. Here's a link to Jonbius's Mk.I finished recently:

http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/234969694-airfix-124th-spitfire-mk-ia-completed/

Gunpowders build - done in a week!

http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/234962908-the-one-week-airfix-124-spitfire-charity-build-finished/

And my Mk.V also finished this year, the only additional detail being plasticard and hope made seatbelts:

http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/234964731-airfix-124-tropical-spitfire-vb-usaaf-tunisia-1943/

The difference between the Ia & Vb are the engine (usually different prop and exhausts externally), cannon / machine guns loadout and deeper oil cooler IIRC. The tropical one has a deeper radiator too. Pretty sure it was a Mk.Ia that Bader flew.

Cheers, Neil

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