1:32 Tamiya Supermarine Spitfire Mk.IXc

[ruudster]

she's looking great Bill!

[Thom216]

Looking lovely!

[Navy Bird]

3 hours ago, Ex-FAAWAFU said:

A portly tail-dragging Naval jet, distantly descended from your current project?

 

Ye be right matey!   

 

 

The access panels on the wings fit exceptionally well, as was suspected. Tamiya made an interesting choice when they designed the mould for the large wing-top blisters, as the forward edge is oddly shaped, almost squared off. I've not seen any like this, although they may exist. Barracuda provide a resin replacement with a more rounded forward edge, and that's what I'll be using. Here is a comparison between the two - I'm sure you can see the difference.

 

 

The Barracuda resin is a good fit, but not quite as nice as the Tamiya plastic. A little Mr. Surfacer should fix it up nicely.

 

Cheers,

Bill

[giemme]

All at a sudden, this is coming together very quickly. Beautiful stuff!

 

And I have no clue about your side project, is there a WIP yet?  😏

 

Ciao

[Hamden]

 

Nice work on the Spitfire

I guess the next is a Supermarine Attacker?  look forward to watching you work your magic.

 

     Roger

[Max Headroom]

Mercy lawks, that’s coming together nicely and you’re raising the bar again! 👍🏻

 

Trevor

[Navy Bird]

Hi mates,

 

I've been working on the engine as my next stage, or mini-project, and I've encountered something I didn't expect. First, I knew that Tamiya did not provide valve covers with the "Rolls Royce" name on them. Accordingly, since I would like this on the model, I bought the replacement valve covers from Barracuda when I went on my big honking Spitfire buying spree. But the Barracuda resin parts are too short! It's only a bit over 1 mm, which doesn't sound like a lot but it works out to 1.25 scale inches and it's quite noticeable.

 

 

Plus, if you look closely enough, you can see that the Rolls Royce logo is not aligned with the valve cover, it's tipped a bit.   

 

No need to despair, as it turns out that Eduard provide this nameplate in photoetch in their exterior detail set and I have that ready to go. When I bought the Barracuda resin covers, I didn't know that Ed gave you the nameplate, otherwise I probably wouldn't have bought the resin. Got to pay more attention up front I guess, but I'm still a bit disappointed in Barracuda. They are normally very reliable - I'll send them a note and see if I can get a replacement for a future project. Wait, did he say a future project? Another 1:32 Spitfire perhaps or some other Merlin powered master of the sky? Methinks the man is mad!    

 

Cheers,

Bill

 

PS. Photos of engine stuff coming up!   

[keefr22]

Too short resin bits? Very reminiscent of Eduard's 1/48 Brassin 'replacement' cowling tops for their own Spitfire kits...!!

 

It is surprising to hear of an error like that from Barracuda though...

 

Keith

[Beggsy]

Or is the Tamiya piece too long?  Probably not, but perhaps worth checking just in case.

[Kev The Modeller]

I've had this very same issue with other suppliers of resin and PE, with PE it's often the scale that's all wrong!  I'm very, very selective these days with aftermarket, it's not cheap often costing as much if not twice what the kit cost!!

 

If you can't find a happy fit with these what about trying the remove the RR logo, cut either side/end and thin down from underneath, easy to say I know.  At least they wouldn't be a complete waste or try contacting them see what they have to say?    

[Kallisti]

That could be because of resin shrinkage. This kit is now at least 7 years old so those resin pieces could have been hanging around for a while and shrunk.

 

I've built this kit twice now and its one of my all time favourite kits! The last time I built it was part of a diorama featuring my Dad in the RAF in North Africa in 1943 you can see the finished results here:

 

Although in the photos in that thread I'd forgotten the tail fin flash and added it later and never got round to re-photographing it!

 

I'm sorry you wasted your money on the flap detail set, Spitfires hardly ever sat on the ground with flaps open. The only time they'd be open is if maintenance crew were working on them.

Your cockpit looks lovely and I love the seatbelts! The metallic effect of the oxygen bottles is nice as well.

 

I'll be looking forward to your ongoing progress

 

[Navy Bird]

12 hours ago, Beggsy said:

Or is the Tamiya piece too long?  Probably not, but perhaps worth checking just in case.

 

Since the Tamiya piece matches the cylinder heads, I'm pretty sure it's the right length.

 

8 hours ago, Kallisti said:

That could be because of resin shrinkage.

 

I've built this kit twice now and its one of my all time favourite kits! The last time I built it was part of a diorama featuring my Dad in the RAF in North Africa in 1943 you can see the finished results here:

 

Nice diorama and a great tribute! I wonder how I missed that one. And you're right about shrinkage probably being the culprit.

 

Quote

I'm sorry you wasted your money on the flap detail set, Spitfires hardly ever sat on the ground with flaps open. The only time they'd be open is if maintenance crew were working on them.

 

Your cockpit looks lovely and I love the seatbelts! The metallic effect of the oxygen bottles is nice as well.

 

The PE set won't entirely go to waste, as there maybe two parts I can still use! Although, not necessarily on this kit...   

 

11 hours ago, Kev The Modeller said:

If you can't find a happy fit with these what about trying the remove the RR logo, cut either side/end and thin down from underneath, easy to say I know.  At least they wouldn't be a complete waste or try contacting them see what they have to say?    

 

I think I'll just use the Eduard PE RR logo and add that to the Tamiya valve covers. It might even look better, as the edges of the letters, being etched, may look sharper than the resin pieces. I will be sending a note to Barracuda, along with my photo and see if they can replace the set.

 

 

So, let's see, the Merlin engine block, cylinder heads, oil pan, et al - these are painted semi-gloss black? I have some photos from museum pieces and that seems to be the case. Also, I just read a review of this kit on the Spitfire Site, and the author says the tail wheel strut is 1.5 mm too long, which would result, I suppose, of the tail setting too high. That's the first I've read of this - can anyone confirm before I get out the saw? As a card carrying member of the Empennage Attitude Appreciation & Enforcement Consortium, I simply must have this right on my model.

 

Cheers,

Bill

[Buzby061]

Good to see you back in harness with this.

 

I used the Barracuda rocker covers on mine & didn't have any problem with them.

 

Pete

[Navy Bird]

Moving on from my little Supermarine side project, I'm back on the big Supermarine main project. Now let's see, where was I? Right - the Merlin. I assembled all the main engine block parts, and added the PE Rolls Royce nameplate. I wondered why Tamiya left this out, but when I realised the second version of this kit to be released was the Mk.XVI, then it made sense. Of course, I suppose they could have provided two sets of rocker covers - one for Rolls Royce and one for Packard, but whatever.

 

 

Eduard give you some "tartin' up etch" like this end plate for the intercooler pump, but I'm not quite sure what the value of it is. It's unlikely to be easily seen when viewing the completed model, but I suppose it satisfies some primal need that is present in the modeller. You know, whatever it is that makes one pump out his chest, take a swig of bitter, and proclaim to his mates "I even put the end plate on the bloody intercooler pump!"  

 

 

(And whist he's bragging about the photoetch, I hope he remembers to fill that little sink hole there...)

 

The main parts of the engine, propeller gear housing, and the carburettor/supercharger assembly were given a coat of Gunze H12 Flat Black (which due to the dearth of Gunze supply in the US, was flown in from Taiwan specially for this occasion).

 

 

There are a few more gizmos to be added here after they get painted their respective colours. My plan is for the finished model to be displayed with the engine panels off, so I'll need to come up with some way to make this look like something other than a big hunk of black plastic. Note that some portions were protected from the black paint - this is solely due to the tolerances that Tamiya hold in the moulding process. Take the rod sticking out of the back of the engine block - if that had any paint on it, the supercharger would not slide over it.

 

Also note that the Rolls Royce nameplate doesn't exactly jump out at you. From what I can tell from period photography, this is correct. However, once in a while you stumble upon a photo like this one:

 

 

And you think, I'll put a bit of a red wash in the letters, and they'll pop nicely. But I suspect that is a restored warbird engine, or a museum piece that isn't completely representative of a wartime power plant. So unless you guys can convince me otherwise, the RR letters stay as they are.

 

Next up is the assembly of the firewall and engine bearers, and Tamiya have really gone to town on these.

 

 

Lots of detail painting and washes to come...along with more little gizmos, pumps, radiator lines, etc. Quite nice actually. I think this will be impressive right out of the box, and with the addition of the Eduard stuff or anything else I might think of, she's gonna look right dapper. Speaking of the Eduard stuff, they provide a lot of small pieces that are meant to represent strips of rivets for the bearers, and for the panel framework. I put the first two on, and then realised that they were replacing the Tamiya metal parts which the magnets in the panels stick to. You see, the Tamiya photoetch is steel, so I don't think Eduard's brass will work. Last time I checked, brass was not magnetic. So off came those two Eduard pieces...  Must. Pay. Attention. To. Instructions.   

 

Happy Boxing Day,

Bill

[CedB]

4 hours ago, Navy Bird said:

I even put the end plate on the bloody intercooler pump!

Just the usual Navy Bird attention to detail then - but have a well deserved beer anyway Bill, it's all looking marvellous.

[giemme]

5 hours ago, CedB said:

Just the usual Navy Bird attention to detail then - but have a well deserved beer anyway Bill, it's all looking marvellous.

Agreed, on all accounts!

 

Happy Boxing Day everybody!

 

Ciao

[CJP]

so valuable to hear other modellers experiences with after market products

 

cjp

[woody37]

It's great to sit back and watch as our resident expert modellers bring to life some of these amazing planes and this thread is one of them. Loving your work Bill

 

[Kallisti]

Be careful about using museum based Merlin engines for reference, they have often been repainted and aren't a good representation of the engine in the field.

 

I believe the reason Tamiya omitted the RR nameplate was due to licencing costs. The engine can look superb when exposed

 

 

 

 

 

Edited December 27, 2018 by Kallisti

[Navy Bird]

Hi mates,

 

I'm slowly crawling along here, but I think we're making some progress. I've spent some time on the firewall and engine bearers, and although this isn't finished yet I figured I'd put up a couple of photos.

 

 

 

 

I've test fit the engine, and it pops in nicely. Typical Tamiya. Once the engine is in place, there will be some additional details added. Anyone have a plumbing diagram for the Merlin in a Spitfire Mk.IX? That would come in handy! In lieu of that, I'll keep trying to copy be inspired by what I can find on the web.

 

I've started work on the engine, to try and make the overall black finish more interesting. Obviously, a wash or two and perhaps picking out some bolt heads and stuff like that. As I work on this part of the project, I keep thinking how I could do this in my usual 1:72 scale. This, of course, means I have some additional illness to add to my known malady list.  

 

Cheers,

Bill

[Bedders]

Looking lovely Bill and I'm taking close note for a future build. My only thought (NB a charitable one, with modeller's sanity uppermost in my mind) is to avoid going too OTT on the washes and highlighting of the base colour: the real thing can look a bit monotone (though this is of course a restored example): http://forums.airshows.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=81676&mobile=off

 

Justin

[Troy Smith]

On 27/12/2018 at 16:31, Kallisti said:

Be careful about using museum based Merlin engines for reference, they have often been repainted and aren't a good representation of the engine in the field.

 

25 minutes ago, Navy Bird said:

Anyone have a plumbing diagram for the Merlin in a Spitfire Mk.IX? That would come in handy! In lieu of that, I'll keep trying to copy be inspired by what I can find on the web.

 

I've started work on the engine, to try and make the overall black finish more interesting. Obviously, a wash or two and perhaps picking out some bolt heads and stuff like that.

all from here  https://www.flickr.com/search/?w=8270787%40N07&q=spitfire

courtesy of @Etiennedup flickr 

 

which may give a good idea of wha the wartime ones look like

 

"...bloody thing won't budge.." by Etienne du Plessis, on Flickr

 

Spitfire maintenance by Etienne du Plessis, on Flickr

 

Spitfire Mk.XVI     1945. by Etienne du Plessis, on Flickr

 

Spitfire  VIIIc at Wonderboom. by Etienne du Plessis, on Flickr

 

Engine overhaul   c1943. by Etienne du Plessis, on Flickr

 

Spitfire LF Mk. IXe ,  1946. by Etienne du Plessis, on Flickr

 

for detail,  a warbird walkround is going to be better

PR XI but same engine, deeper oil tank

 

 

 

HTH

[CedB]

More lovely stuff Bill, you know the detailing will be 'fun'  

[giemme]

That firewall assembly is already looking like a masterpiece in itself!

 

Ciao

[Navy Bird]

@Troy Smith those are great photos, thanks. It's interesting that the oil tank is grey-green in most of the shots (although silver in one). Tamiya have you paint the tank AS-12, which is "Bare Metal Silver" but now I'm wondering whether grey-green is more appropriate for wartime?

 

Cheers,

Bill

 

PS. I think the last three shots in the "Rolls Royce Merlin Engines" walkaround topic link are actually Griffons.