1:72 AZ Models Supermarine Spitfire F.Mk. XIV

[Navy Bird]

Uber-fiddly indeed!

 

Next question - would it be typical for the XIV to have the flap at the rear of the radiator housing open slightly when on the ground? That would be an easy modification to make that could conceivably make the model a bit more interesting.

 

Cheers,

Bill

[Beard]

I think the radiator flaps were thermostatically controlled and opened at a set temperature (115 degrees Celsius sings to mind),so it depends on whether the radiator is hot, or not.

[Navy Bird]

Thanks, Beard. I figured it would be something like that.

 

I'm finishing up the work required to close the fuselage halves, and the thought came to me that most Spitfires were only Interior Green around the cockpit area, and that other areas on the inside of the fuselage were aluminium. Since one of those aluminium areas is right under the rear canopy, I suppose some painting is in order (right now it's Interior Green). Unless, of course, that everything was Interior Green on the XIV, and then I can go ahead and close it up...so which way was it?

 

I bought some nice resin exhausts, designed for the Fujimi kit, and they fit into the AZ fuselage OK, but don't set in far enough because the slot in the fuselage is closed. To make them work, I used my Dremel tool to grind away from the inside so I now have an opening in the fuselage. Like so:

 

 

I now have some latitude for positioning the exhausts in place. I'm not exactly sure how far out the exhaust stubs come, but I'll find some photo references to guide me. This means that the exhausts will have to be glued to the fuselage now, before the halves are joined, and I will most likely add some small strips of styrene to provide a more secure backing to the exhausts so they won't push through.

 

 

We were talking about oxygen bottle earlier, and wouldn't you know it, but AZ does not include these with the kit! I was quite surprised at that, since they're visible through the rear canopy. I guess I'll have to steal them from another kit, buy some aftermarket (does anyone make them?), or try to scratch something. Ugh.

 

Cheers,

Bill

[Beard]

I have some oxygen bottles, in the spares box, which I can send you... if you can wait a few days.

(Edited to add punctuation.)

Edited July 6, 2016 by Beard

[Navy Bird]

On 7/6/2016 at 16:16, Beard said:

I have some oxygen bottles, in the spares box, which I can send you... if you can wait a few days.

(Edited to add punctuation.)

 

Thanks, but I think I found some that can work. Of all the 1:72 Spit/Seafire kits I have in the stash, the only ones to include the oxygen bottles are the Sword kits and the Airfix Mk.I/II. My Revell VB included them, but AZ doesn't have any, nor Fujimi, nor Special Hobby. Odd. Anyway, I have some small oxygen bottles from a Quickboost resin set that are the same diameter as those in the Sword kits, but are 1mm short in length. Since you can only see the top of the bottles through the rear canopy, I figure the length isn't a big deal. The Quickboost bottles are actually leftover from my PB4Y-1 build.

 

I went through my copy of the SAM Modeller's Datafile on Griffon engined Spitfires, and it looks to me like the entire inside of the XIV fuselage is painted Interior Green. Of course, these are all warbird photos, so they don't really say much about WWII birds. So unless someone can tell me otherwise, I'll leave the inside of the fuselage Interior Green.

 

Cheers,

Bill

[keefr22]

Hmmm, I'm three pages late again - but here for the rest now Bill!

May I add my compliments to your very neat work on the p.e. in the 'pit - lovely stuff!

I've got this one in the stash to do on that mythical 'one day', & have already learnt much to help when that day comes!

Keith

[lunarhighway]

nice build so far!

the oxygen bottles can be made with some rounded off toothpicks, they're really not that visible, once they're in the dark of the closed cockpit.

with some details added and a coat of paint it looks perfect under the rear canopy

As for the radiator flap, you could drill two tiny holes in the side and insert a tiny metal wire axle you can make the flap posable... it's a bit of a gimmick, but fun

gimmicks asside, metal from a soda can works very well for making this type of flap, just fold the edges up and you have something that's scale thickness

Edited July 6, 2016 by lunarhighway

[Navy Bird]

On 7/6/2016 at 19:04, keefr22 said:

Hmmm, I'm three pages late again - but here for the rest now Bill!

May I add my compliments to your very neat work on the p.e. in the 'pit - lovely stuff!

I've got this one in the stash to do on that mythical 'one day', & have already learnt much to help when that day comes!

 

Thanks, Keith. At last count, I have about 500 kits waiting to be done on that "mythical one day." I hope it has more than 24 hours in it!

 

On 7/6/2016 at 19:05, lunarhighway said:

nice build so far!

the oxygen bottles can be made with some rounded off toothpicks, they're really not that visible, once they're in the dark of the closed cockpit.

with some details added and a coat of paint it looks perfect under the rear canopy

As for the radiator flap, you could drill two tiny holes in the side and insert a tiny metal wire axle you can make the flap posable... it's a bit of a gimmick, but fun

gimmicks asside, metal from a soda can works very well for making this type of flap, just fold the edges up and you have something that's scale thickness

 

Very cool animated GIF. I have long thought that I should stage the model in the exact same place each time in my photo booth, leave my camera setup on a tripod so it doesn't move, and make one big animated GIF of the model being assembled, start to finish. I imagine someone has already done that, but I have yet to find one.

 

I think I may open up the radiator flaps just for an effect. Hinges are a cool idea - it would remind me of my youth when I built all those old Monogram kits with landing gear that raises and lowers, flaps and rudders that move, bombs that drop, canopy that slides (lube with petroleum jelly on a toothpick!) etc. Heck, now I usually glue the prop in place so it can't move...sometimes even intentionally.

 

Cheers,

Bill

[lunarhighway]

Very cool animated GIF. I have long thought that I should stage the model in the exact same place each time in my photo booth, leave my camera setup on a tripod so it doesn't move, and make one big animated GIF of the model being assembled, start to finish. I imagine someone has already done that, but I have yet to find one.

these are very inspiring, with some good tips:

some nice basic modeling

and some more advanced stuff

[CedB]

Thanks for the link to the videos lunarhighway - I found this mottling tip very interesting:

[keefr22]

Thanks, Keith. At last count, I have about 500 kits waiting to be done on that "mythical one day." I hope it has more than 24 hours in it!

Bill

Me too Bill, indeed it'll need to be rather longer than standard!

Keith

[Navy Bird]

I can't believe I just read this - buried Spitfire XIVs in Burma again. I thought this was declared "just a legend?"

 

Cheers,

Bill

[Procopius]

I can't believe I just read this - buried Spitfire XIVs in Burma again. I thought this was declared "just a legend?"

Cheers,

Bill

In 2016, anything, and I do mean anything, can happen. More often than not, that's a threat.

[CedB]

Ooo, lost Spitfires again! If they're still in the crates and in good condition... imagine a whole Squadron of 'new' Spitfires

I bet the Birmingham Post is having kittens over the extra web traffic from BM (?). Great article though

"...he sought the help of a Harrogate-firm which used X-ray-style satellites based in space." So much better than the truck-based satellites they'd been trying before...

[rob85]

What a great story! Sounds like an awesome adventure digging up legendary lost spitfire..... Indian Jones film in that some where!

Great post bill

Also those toutorial videos are cracking, great for the brush painter 😃

Rob

Edited July 8, 2016 by rob85

[Navy Bird]

Moving ahead...

 

You probably recall how I wasn't too happy about the seam between the wheel well inserts and the lower wing. I filled the seams and sanded them smooth - not an easy spot to sand, so I wrapped a piece of sandpaper around a wooden dowel to give it a circular section. I think it's OK, but I'll know more after it's painted. I should probably do that prior to joining the top half of the wing just in case more filling and sanding is necessary.

 

 

Marabu provide a small piece of photoetch to use as a base for the compass, but you're on your own to provide the compass. I just used a tiny slice of plastic rod, painted it black and added a decal of a round dial (from an F-16 decal sheet!). Pretty advanced those Spitfires were! As you can see, the compass is rather small in 1:72 scale.

 

 

And that has to attach to the bottom of the instrument panel somehow - my choice was to use some CA glue to attach the upright legs to the back of the panel. It worked after a fashion, I hope it stays on. All of the cockpit components were now glued to the starboard half of the fuselage. I included the mysterious second armour plate, not knowing how it was actually attached. I don't think this will matter much once the fuselage is closed up.

 

 

 

The crowbar (which AZ also left out) is just a piece of copper wire. I'm leaving the cockpit door closed since I want Lacey's victory markings to show - they'd be covered up if the door were open. The oxygen tanks are from a Quickboost set, just imagine them painted yellow and mounted in a B-24, and you'll know where they came from. Lastly, I added the resin exhausts and reinforced them on the inside with sheet styrene strips. I don't want them to push through and be rattling around inside the model.

 

I wish you could see the instrument panel better, as the Yahu product is quite nice. This is the best shot I could get:

 

 

The Marabu photoetch cockpit set is a big improvement over the kit parts. Let me tell you, though, it is quite fiddly. The brass bends very easy, and the sheet seems thinner than others I'm used to working with. You have to be really careful! Marabu also include a nice little shelf and some avionics/radio components that mount behind the headrest, but with the second armour plate there I was left with no room. I guess that's OK, I won't be able to see much inside the rear canopy once everything is together anyway.

 

I tested the fit of the two fuselage halves, and the Marabu cockpit does not interfere. The fuselage halves close up nicely. You have to remember to paint the inside of the lower wing Interior Green, as it is visible below the tread boards. That gives it a nice authentic look, as the real Spitfire did not have a cockpit "floor."

 

OK, well I'm off to dig in my back garden and see if the RAF buried any crated Spitfires there. My metal detector picks up something that it thinks is aluminium painted with Dark Earth and Dark Green - what else could it be?

 

Cheers,

Bill

[Procopius]

If my memory serves me, the wings are rather thick, and you may need to thin down the gear wells to close them properly. But I may have simply done it wrong.

[Navy Bird]

Thanks, PC, I'll keep an eye out for that. In the meantime, here is a better picture of the cockpit colours, more like what they look like to the eye. I forgot to change a setting on my camera. D'oh!

 

 

Digital colour baffles me. I ordered some white and neutral grey targets to help me get it right.

 

Cheers,

Bill

[Beard]

Nice work, as usual, Bill.

[keefr22]

My metal detector picks up something that it thinks is aluminium painted with Dark Earth and Dark Green - what else could it be?

Cheers,

Bill

Fairey Battle..??

That is a cracking looking 'pit Bill!

Keith

[CedB]

Looking really good Bill, lovely internals.

I think the tanks are compressed air bottles for the cannon (where fitted), machine guns, brakes, and flaps as discussed in this thread; thanks Edgar. Sadly the diagram is missing now but it is in the pdf collected by John Bius.

HTH

[Beard]

Looking really good Bill, lovely internals.

I think the tanks are compressed air bottles for the cannon (where fitted), machine guns, brakes, and flaps as discussed in this thread; thanks Edgar. Sadly the diagram is missing now but it is in the pdf collected by John Bius.

HTH

I've been referring to the cylinders behind the pilot as 'oxygen bottles' The oxygen bottle(s) (breathing, for the use of) was located in the rear fuselage, about half-way between the radio compartment and the tail.

[CedB]

Me too, until I started reading up on the PRs and read that some had extra oxygen bottles... with the Pavla conversion you can't get the extra fuel tank and the air bottles in (let alone extra ones) so I looked for references and found this cutaway of a PR Mk XI which shows the air bottles in their normal position (#64) and, as Simon says, one oxygen bottle half-way down the fuselage (#79).

I resisted using this diagram to replicate the internals and I hope it's not tempting you Bill - thereby lies a route to madness!

[Navy Bird]

I'm at the Geneseo air show today (hope it stops raining!) I can get the Revell (Matchbox) 1:32 Spitfire 22/24 cheap. Is this kit any good?

 

Edit: Too late, I bought it.

[Giorgio N]

Great cockpit Bill !

Re. the Matchbox 1/32 kit, it's old and simplified and needs a lot of work to be made accurate and better detailed. Nothing that you wouldn't be able to do of course... If it was cheap, it's still a good purchase !