Spitfire PRXIX - Airfix 1/72

[CedB]

To complete my Spitfire PR collection I've pulled this one out of the stash:

OOB and an easy build (I hope).

Feeling slightly guilty that I'm spoiling myself with another Spitfire and making it easy on myself but hey, I'm sure I'll find something to expand my skills.

Possibly.

Like masking the three colours (!!??) on the nose... what the...?

[Beard]

We all need to spoil ourselves from time to time, Ced. As it's a Spitfire, I'll be tagging along.

Edited July 10, 2016 by Beard

[Antoine]

Nice choice, even if I'm not too sure of the overall kit quality.

One of airfix's first kit when they restarted business?

What'll be your camo's choice?

[keefr22]

I'm here again too!

Keith

[Simon382]

FYI I built the 1/48 version of the same kit and all I can say is that it was a joy to build. If yours is simply a scaled down rendition you should enjoy yourself. I would recommend the Barracuda cast air intake for the chin as otherwise you'll be left with a join line that's very difficult to remove as the kit part is a two piece affair.

[CedB]

Thanks Simon and welcome - spoiling myself is allowed? I didn't know that!

Hi Antoine and welcome - it looks good on the sprue runners and, according to Scalemates it was re-tooled in 2009 so not too old (sprue shots below)

I'll be finishing her as PS888 from 81 Sqn. Malaysia, April 1954 (like the box art, but the scheme shows a solid colour on the cowling - phew!)

Hi Keith and welcome!

Thanks Simon, especially for the warning about the intake - I'll have a look at that first and may need to place a hasty order!

Some shots of the sprues / runners / plastic:

Untitled by Ced Bufton, on Flickr

Nice internals except the ejection marks.

Eleven step build (nine if you're building wheels up like me). Nice

[Cookenbacher]

Another Spitfire is just fine by me Ced!

[AdrianMF]

It's a nice kit but early new Airfix. I rubbed some acrylic putty into all the panel lines except the engine compartment and camera door to tone them all down a bit. Otherwise it was great!

Looking forward to your progress...

Regards,

Adrian

[CedB]

Thanks Cookie and welcome.

Thanks Adrian. Ooo, filling panel lines sounds beyond my patience (as you'll see from the last PRIg build) and I prefer to call it 'weathering'. Lazy me.

After Simon's warning I wanted to make sure that the intake met by exacting standards (stop laughing you lot) so I chopped the parts off the sprue runner and checked them out:

Untitled by Ced Bufton, on Flickr

As you can clearly see in that photo (ahem) there's some flash along the seam, so I sanded that off and glued the parts together with TET. Here's the resultant seam:

and then the light catches the dings in the side:

Either there's a fault in the mold or some Erk has banged his head on the intake, twice. Tempting, but I decided to fill it with liquid green stuff. I've also cut the fuselage halves and lower wing off the runners and glued in the 'wheels up' parts, making sure they were as flush as possible on the other side:

[keefr22]

I'd have gone with the erk with the sore head...!!

K

[rob85]

I'm with you keefr22....

This is a nice kit, I enjoyed building both of mine! The CP needs lots of dry fitting as I found it a bit wobbly after building their mki that just clicks together.

Nice work with the intake Ced.

Rob

[amblypygid]

Ah, a very timely choice from my point of view, Ced. I have failed to build a 1/72 Spit to go above my son's bed, but this kit was going cheap this week at Home Bargains, and this is the scheme that I'm planning to do. But I've got plenty of Soviet stuff to get done for the GB before I can start.

[PhantomBigStu]

Another spit ced,

[azureglo]

I acquired one or two recently with a view to whiffery, your build should ease my path, I salute you sir!

A

[AlexN]

Pop!

[TheBaron]

It's a PR bird and it's you Ced so contractually obliged to watch.

Good luck!

Tony

[Seahawk]

I acquired one or two recently with a view to whiffery, your build should ease my path, I salute you sir!

A

Thank you. Suddenly I don't feel quite so guilty about my own recent over-indulgence at Home Bargains.

[CedB]

I'd have gone with the erk with the sore head...!!

K

Thanks Keith

I'm with you keefr22....

This is a nice kit, I enjoyed building both of mine! The CP needs lots of dry fitting as I found it a bit wobbly after building their mki that just clicks together.

Nice work with the intake Ced.

Rob

Thanks Rob - wobbly CP noted!

Ah, a very timely choice from my point of view, Ced. I have failed to build a 1/72 Spit to go above my son's bed, but this kit was going cheap this week at Home Bargains, and this is the scheme that I'm planning to do. But I've got plenty of Soviet stuff to get done for the GB before I can start.

Thanks Chris - it's a nice kit (so far)

Another spit ced,

Thanks Stu and welcome

I acquired one or two recently with a view to whiffery, your build should ease my path, I salute you sir!

[snip photo]

A

That's quite a haul Anil - I'll look forward to you building one (or ten!)

I did visit my local Home Bargains (about 10 miles away) and they had three landing craft and a fountain. Rats.

Pop!

Hi Alex and welcome

It's a PR bird and it's you Ced so contractually obliged to watch.

Good luck!

Tony

Thanks Tony and welcome

Thank you. Suddenly I don't feel quite so guilty about my own recent over-indulgence at Home Bargains.

Hi Seahawk and welcome.

A bit of detailing on the internals including a 3D-kits i/p (nothing is provided, just a blank, flat panel!)

Untitled by Ced Bufton, on Flickr

I've also fitted the cameras as directed. The lower ones are a fiddle as there's no perfect fit, but this is the best I could get:

Of course they'll need masking. Hmmm.

All this is ready for assembly now once it's dried:

[The wooksta V2.0]

Ced, if you haven't closed the wings up yet, give the trailing edge of the lower section a sand to get them to close without a step. And if you're using the prop - I know you do flying models - then ream out the inside of the spinner, again to get it to close up properly. Finally, there's a panel line scribed on the wingtips aligned with the aileron hinge line that doesn't exist and needs filling.

General tip. The wing from the PRXIX will fit pretty much any fuselage (although some surgery may be necessary on some) and is ideal for turning them into PRIVs onwards.

[It's a disease]

I've also fitted the cameras as directed. The lower ones are a fiddle as there's no perfect fit, but this is the best I could get:

Of course they'll need masking. Hmmm.

I did try masking them but, after a few failed attempts, blu-tac.

It did the job ok!

I'm not sure what the exact name is, but there is a canopy mask set available now, loads of strips of various radii, they may be of some use but I've not actually used the set.

[Leonl]

Here he goes again.... I blinked and nearly missed the last one... A bit like a Weeping Angel, it all happens when you're not looking!

I'm in... eyes wide open!

[rob85]

Need to find a home bargains, if they have any left there!

Nice work Ced, breezing through

Rob

[John_W]

_{I ended up building two of these (One of each scheme) as Mojo restorers a few years back. The RAF scheme was one of my first airbrushed models.}

_{Lovely little kits to build.}

_{Nice work so far.}

[azureglo]

CedB, on 11 Jul 2016 - 1:17 PM, said:

I've also fitted the cameras as directed. The lower ones are a fiddle as there's no perfect fit, but this is the best I could get:

Of course they'll need masking. Hmmm.

All this is ready for assembly now once it's dried:

Try this Mr C: I had some badly fitting landing lights on my last completed build. I filled them with Roket odourless cyano, waited 2 hours then sanded and micro meshed to glassy transparency. A couple of quick RP Toolz punched masks and voila: Perfectly flush and clear lights that follow the fuselage contour.

Cheers

A

[CedB]

Ced, if you haven't closed the wings up yet, give the trailing edge of the lower section a sand to get them to close without a step. And if you're using the prop - I know you do flying models - then ream out the inside of the spinner, again to get it to close up properly. Finally, there's a panel line scribed on the wingtips aligned with the aileron hinge line that doesn't exist and needs filling.

General tip. The wing from the PRXIX will fit pretty much any fuselage (although some surgery may be necessary on some) and is ideal for turning them into PRIVs onwards.

Thanks Wooksta. I'll make sure I check for those later... if my memory doesn't fail me!

[snip my post]

I did try masking them but, after a few failed attempts, blu-tac.

It did the job ok!

I'm not sure what the exact name is, but there is a canopy mask set available now, loads of strips of various radii, they may be of some use but I've not actually used the set.

Thanks It's - I have one of those which I'd forgotten; the 'Canopy Survival Kit'. That has circles that were just the right size - thanks for reminding me!

Here he goes again.... I blinked and nearly missed the last one... A bit like a Weeping Angel, it all happens when you're not looking!

I'm in... eyes wide open!

Ooo Leon, the scariest Dr Who enemies IMHO. Welcome - just don't blink!

Need to find a home bargains, if they have any left there!

Nice work Ced, breezing through

Rob

Thanks Rob.

_{I ended up building two of these (One of each scheme) as Mojo restorers a few years back. The RAF scheme was one of my first airbrushed models.}

_{Lovely little kits to build.}

_{Nice work so far.}

Thanks John - I am enjoying it, lovely kit to build.

BLINK - ooo no, that's too scary, I'm going to stop it before I give people nightmares...

There's a gap between the seat and the bulkhead which is probably intentional but needs careful lining up while glueing and drying:

Untitled by Ced Bufton, on Flickr

The close up of the 3D-Kits i/p is intentional. Beard recommended these and they're nice, and free 'for non-commercial use', but their website seems to be down at the moment so I can't post a specific link. If it's parked permanently and you'd like a copy PM me. It's a pdf file that you print and stick on to any flat panel.

The instructions would have you assemble the cockpit internals and stick them in the starboard fuselage. Weird, as the port side has much better location slots:

I dry fitted the fuselage halves to check the join before the parts were inserted (really good) and then dry fitted the internals. Bearing in mind Rob's warning I did push them up the bottom (fnaar fnaar!) and then applied TET to just one side and then pulled the fuselage apart again.

While that was drying I got out the 'survival kit', found three little round masks (hard to do yourself without a sharp punch set) and stuck them in the middle of the lenses:

Once the internals were glued I could fit the pilot and his arms - he fits! No surgery needed this time:

Yes, I can see the badly filled ejector mark - shhh, don't tell anyone. Flickr lost a picture for me so I forgot to say that I'd used Humbrol filler and cleaned up with my new fibre glass pen - good technique and one I will use again (with more care, obviously). She's now closed up, another lovely join:

Those Berna clamps are just holding the parts in place (they're great for this) - no clamping required, well done Airfix!