Spitfire 24: I cleaned it, so I'll build it.

[azureglo]

I have bit more time between gigs so I thought why not a second project as well as my HB mig 15 quickie? Last year I was the assistant chief deputy airframe dust reduction officer (3rd Class) at Solent Sky. As part of my extensive duties I performed crucial maintenance work on our Mk24 as these images will show:

Note unskilled staff should never use the contamination containment and removal tool (or Mr. blue fluffy thingy as we pro's call it) without extensive training and some semblance of sobriety.

Now a local chain has been having a blow out of AF 1/72 kits at £2.99 a pop so these were duly acquired, mostly for practise. Then I thought , as I have rivet counting dyslexia, there's very little difference betwixt a Mk22 and Mk24 and certainly not ours which is far from original...right down to the dodgy late seventies paintwork lovingly applied by BA apprentices and occasionally retouched by yours truly.

Thus I will attempt to recreate this masterpiece of museum fakery (any thoughts on how make Mr. blue fluffy thingy will be greatly appreciated.). Now for some reference:

Here she is without me molesting her:

She was struck off charge after a heavy landing which pretty much broke her back and made her not air-worthy: I may attempt to recreate this with micro chisels , Mr Hobby Cement and ineptitude, I hope to be guided by the spirit of the fine airman that rendered this machine un-flyable and apply the same level of skill in modelling her.

Another good reason to tackle this is these are pretty much the only stencils on whole damn thing and the whole airframe is as shiny as hell, so no matt coat futzing about..

For historical accuracy I will attempt to correctly portray my skilful restoration of the rusty exhausts using a two step process of Halfords stonechip and then vigorous polishing with pledge furniture polish as I did to the real thing. Professional aircraft restorers should find a secluded room to silently weep in at this point.

I will also attempt to dutifully portray the unique and hand beaten shape of the elegant spinner which may or may not have adjusted in situ by the hapless ATC cadets who had to manhandle PK683 into the building many decades ago.

Finally a cool link about PK as she really was and a happy reunion.

A

[Beard]

I'm assembling an Airfix Spitfire 22 at the moment so will be following you.

Which chain was selling Airfix kits at £2.99?

(Edited to correct spelling.)

Edited June 18, 2016 by Beard

[Alpha Delta 210]

Very amusing introduction! Looking forward to your next post!

[Miggers]

This is great.

I'd love to start the Griffon and watch the paint burn off those exhaust stubs.......

You'll love the Airfix 22,it's a little gem of a kit.

[malpaso]

Given the work done to create new flying Spitfires, the wrinkled rear fuselage wouldn't be a show stopper. But I like her the way she is.

I recommend the museum to anyone visiting Southampton. Interesting exhibits, very friendly staff / volunteers and reasonably illuminated compared to other air museums! And if you're lucky you can sit in the pilot seat of the Sunderland whilst your wife pretends to be Maureen o'Hara!

Cheers

Will

[azureglo]

I'm assembling an Airfix Spitfire 22 at the moment so will be following you.

Which chain was selling Airfix kits at £2.99?

(Edited to correct spelling.)

Home Bargains, my local ones in Hampshire have the 1/72 TBD, Spit V (raised panels lines but cool decals), Spit F22 & Hurricane 1 all series 2 kits @ £2.99. Others have reported Vampire T11 and F-51 as well in other regions.

A

[Beard]

Home Bargains, my local ones in Hampshire have the 1/72 TBD, Spit V (raised panels lines but cool decals), Spit F22 & Hurricane 1 all series 2 kits @ £2.99. Others have reported Vampire T11 and F-51 as well in other regions.

A

Thanks. There's one of them near me, I might have to visit.

[Miggers]

There's three of 'em near me !!!!!

[CedB]

Great subject and an interesting project Anil. I'll tag along if I may

[azureglo]

Great subject and an interesting project Anil. I'll tag along if I may

This is great.

I'd love to start the Griffon and watch the paint burn off those exhaust stubs.......

You'll love the Airfix 22,it's a little gem of a kit.

Miggers, I have plenty more stonechip to replace any paint you burn off, good luck getting past the spider horde in the cockpit. Looking forward to making this but not too keen on the soft bendy styrene AF use- drove me nuts on my AF P-51 racer build

Great subject and an interesting project Anil. I'll tag along if I may

Glad to have you Mr C.

A

[azureglo]

An unusually libation free Sunday meant I left the GF watching reruns of Inspector Morse while I cracked on. First off, was the obligatory Airfix duff canopy:

As I have 5 more to choose from, I selected a more likely candidate without these horrible flow marks. You'd need more than Future to make this work. I wont add my voice to the clamour as others have spoken at length about Airfix QC. These were cheap at £2.99 so based on that I'm ok with this. Now the first job was to open up the cockpit door as per the real thing. Some interesting moments with the spongy AF plastic but I got a reasonable result.

Then these very prominent lightening holes needed to be drilled out.

Finally , although I have sworn off doing any AMS on this, this is important. What makes a Mk24 a Mk24 (apparently according to our Spit expert who also happens to be in possession of most of the factory drawings including K5054!) is a behind the cockpit fuel tank accessed through this very noticeable filler:

Some madness with 0.75mm rod , a hot scalpel blade and several punctured fingers resulted in this:

Close enough. I'm off to read about one of my heroes , John Boyd, if there's anything left of my eyesight.

Goodnight all.

A

[azureglo]

A day of diminishing returns while I wrestle with a legal problem: Sorted the rear bulkhead by removing the pad which is absent on PK and adding a crude but sufficient hint of the belt attachment point. I need to also think about a nice Yahu IP as the canopy will be open. Their MK IX/XVI might be close enough, well its got a blue bit...

Looking at that crude cockpit door, I feel an hour or two of scratchbuilding coming on. I will also try a cunning method of removing those ejector pin marks using superglue and my new hobby elements detail removers.

A

[CedB]

Interested to know how you get on with the detail removers Anil. I really like his flash removers so may invest if you think they're worth it?

I've just watched the 'Hobby Elements' videos on Youtube and see Vincent also has some other tools now, like micro-files, ball sanders and some sort of measuring devices... I wish he'd get a product list sorted out!

What else, if anything, did you get?

Edit: Just emailed Vincent for a product / price list; I'll let you know how I get on.

[azureglo]

Hey Ced

This is the current haul, there's a vertical distance measuring set of gauges that is overdue as well. The 2mm/1mm files are brilliant, well at least for me...

A

[CedB]

Thanks for the photo Anil, that's quite a haul!

I have my dental burrs for 'detail removal' but I may invest in some of those files to replace the 'needle sanders' I can't seem to find.

I shall dither for a bit longer and then no doubt send off an order.

[huvut76g7gbbui7]

I like the fact that you have the best reference material available!

Have you arranged commission with that shop yet as their sales are now bound to go up.

Richard

[amblypygid]

Home Bargains, my local ones in Hampshire have the 1/72 TBD, Spit V (raised panels lines but cool decals), Spit F22 & Hurricane 1 all series 2 kits @ £2.99. Others have reported Vampire T11 and F-51 as well in other regions.

A

On the strength of this, I detoured to my nearest store this afternoon, where they had a healthy stock of Vampires, F-51s, Cromwell tanks, and some later mark Spitfires that I didn't look at too closely. Happy selection as I've been hoping for a cheap Vampire to fall into my lap for some time. So, thanks for the tip-off, even if Airfix's need to sell off stock at what I suspect to be below cost raises more concerns about their financial position.

Very nice work on the kit, I'm looking forward to seeing more.

[k5054nz]

I absolutely love your intro to the build! Ol' PK certainly is a fine example of the restorer's art

I'm enjoying this build, more power to you and bring on a new update.

[Miggers]

Seafire 47 has that rear fuselage fuel tank too.

(Well it would do wouldn't it Miggers,the 47 was based on the 24)

[charlie_c67]

Ah the joys of a jam packed museum. Have say I'd love to see it moved to a more suitable location, but I'd imagine getting the Sandringham out would be a no-no. Especially considering how it got in and who put it together in the first place...

On a slightly different note, what's the story of the "Hurricane" frame out the back?

[azureglo]

charlie_c67, on 06 Jul 2016 - 12:44 PM, said:

Ah the joys of a jam packed museum. Have say I'd love to see it moved to a more suitable location, but I'd imagine getting the Sandringham out would be a no-no. Especially considering how it got in and who put it together in the first place...

On a slightly different note, what's the story of the "Hurricane" frame out the back?

Ah the saga of our "imminent move"... been going on for nearly a decade, one day when Soton Council and our beloved museum director see eye to eye perhaps. The building is actually not fit for purpose but zeal and the volunteers keep it going. The building can easily be dismantled as it was purpose built around the Sandringham with that in mind, I would of course assist and try and have it away the Napier Sabre and the S6

The Hurri is a fiberglass gate guard that was passed around various ATCs but we have a complete sea venom and possibly a complete Seahawk slowly rusting away under tarps in the open while he tries to re-home Solent Sky but there's more intrigue and politics involved than Gove & Johnson in that tale and is best left untold.

Build sadly is on hold while I set up a temporary base for some upcoming London town contracts, Brexit my a*! , getting even more contract work than before, so much for the end of the world...

A

[charlie_c67]

Seriously? What a waste of two fine aircraft. Get them to Vulcan to the sky and back up in the air where they belong!

With regards to the stand off, sounds a little like two Reg's at work that refused to talk to each other until "the other team contacted them first". Ridiculous amount of willy waving that resulted in the ED consultant kicking off. Shame they couldn't have moved across the water to the old VT site, especially considering its links to R.J. Mitchell and the Spitfire. Maybe they still could, not much started there yet is there? In that case, can I have the Gnat and the SR.1 please....