Airfix Car Door Typhoon

[Stein Meum]

Hi!

 

I've got several of this kit in 1/24 scale. What I didn't know, was that at some point there was a change of seats and mainwheels. The tear drop kit has only the late seat and mainwheels.

At what point during production did the changes take place?

 

TIA

 

Stein 

[Tony Whittingham]

Hello Stein,

I am away from my references just now, but my recollection is that the seats changed at around the same time the engine mounts were rubberized. Early 1943 comes to mind. No doubt Chris Thomas will be able to clarify. I am awaiting my "car door" kit. Does it have both seats?

 

TW

[Chris Thomas]

6 hours ago, Stein Meum said:

What I didn't know, was that at some point there was a change of seats and mainwheels. The tear drop kit has only the late seat and mainwheels.

At what point during production did the changes take place?

 

No easy answer here Stein.  First thing to say is that the changes took place during the car-door period, so the 'tear drop kit' is correct and complete in this respect.

 

Very little documentary evidence has come to light as to when various changes took place in production, particularly the relatively minor changes.  Photos provide useful evidence but when some modifications were retro-fitted it blurs the picture.

 

As far as wheels are concerned the earlier wheels (narrower spokes) seem to have been replaced at the end of the DN serials.  All EJ serials (which were the next batch) seen so far seem to have the broader-spoked later wheels.

 

The change from the earlier seat (bucket style, like the Hurricane) to the sprung seat  seems to have taken place during the early months of 1943.  Few photos of Typhoons can be identified as having a particular type of seat. However I know that Beamont flew an experimental Typhoon with the sprung seat at the beginning of January 1943 and there is a photo of one of 257 Sqn's hangars at Warmwell in May 1943 with a large number of the old seats stacked at one side - perhaps having been recently removed.  

 

There is also a list (incomplete) of Mod Numbers which lists Mod 231 'Spring seat introduced'.  For comparison Mod 234 was concerned with repositioning of the camera gun from the outer leading edge to the starboard nose (c.Oct 42), Mod 241 was '20mm gun fairings introduced'(c. Dec 42) whereas Mod 286 (rear fuselage reinforcement) was installed as early as November 1942.  I guess there are other factors in play here i.e. priorities and supplies.  So although Mod 231 was registered before the others mentioned, slow supply of the parts and urgency of fitting (particularly Mod 286) probably meant that fitting of the new seats was delayed until the first months of 1943.

Chris

[Stein Meum]

Yes, Tony. Both seats are included, as are the two types of main- and tailwheels.

Thanks Chris! 2 of my "car doors" will be 56 Sqn planes from approx. mid-March 1943. Late seats it will be! Then there will be a 609 Sqn 1943 and 2 247 Sqn planes late 1943/early 1944.

Interestingly, both types of exhaust shrouds are included in both issues of the kit with none of the markings options calling for their use!

 

Stein

[Chris Thomas]

5 hours ago, Stein Meum said:

 

Interestingly, both types of exhaust shrouds are included in both issues of the kit with none of the markings options calling for their use!

 

 

That should keep you busy for a while Stein ...

 

Anyone wanting to use the exhaust shrouds could apply the early versions on XP-R, missing off the D-Day stripes and replacing the RP with bombs. I have seen a photo of the later fairings (like those on MN235, the surviving Typhoon) being retrofitted to a 245 Sqn car-door job, although I don't think this was the norm. Certainly none were delivered with them.