1:32 Tamiya Supermarine Spitfire Mk.IXc

[corsaircorp]

Hello Bill !

Thanks for the clarification 😰

I was about to look the full movie Avatar ijust to see what the Banshees are doing in that !!!

I knew of the original Irish banshees… I tried to listen to her in the Burren in a windy night ….

But did'nt know of these "charming if you are a martian" little beasties….

Glad to hear for the first result, Best wishes for the drilling !

Can't wait to see that merlin going on ! Great job !!

So, you're a fan of 'Da mouse….

Glad that my kids did no longer ask to get there !!

Sincerely.

CC

[bigbadbadge]

1 hour ago, keefr22 said:

think it would have been well cool if he had designed a carrier jet that looked like that

Core yeah instead of being shot at you'd be eaten, scary enough thought for a potential enemy !!! 

 

Good luck for the remaining test Bill.

All the best

Chris

[Navy Bird]

Now, to be honest with you, I thought switching to 1:32 scale meant I didn't have to scratch-build crazy tiny bits of white styrene:

 

 

But alas, no. It's a good thing my Punch & Judy & Die thingamabob is graduated in micrometers.

 

Cheers,

Bill

 

PS. That's a dime, by the way. As in brother can you spare me one. It's about 17 mm in diameter. Oops, there I go trying to sound European again. It's really about 5/8 of an inch, right mates? 

 

[Stew Dapple]

Are you scratch-building a pack of Polos for the pilot Bill?  

 

Cheers,

 

Stew

[Procopius]

15 minutes ago, Stew Dapple said:

Are you scratch-building a pack of Polos for the pilot Bill?  

Sssshhh, don't stop him, let's see if he brings the pilot figure to life in the interest of veracity.

[Navy Bird]

11 hours ago, Stew Dapple said:

Are you scratch-building a pack of Polos for the pilot Bill?

 

I would, but I can't figure out how to emboss the letters. Thank goodness it's a British plane, and not American - as then there would be even more letters to emboss! *

 

10 hours ago, Procopius said:

Sssshhh, don't stop him, let's see if he brings the pilot figure to life in the interest of veracity.

 

Not sure what to do with a pilot figure, or more properly figger. I don't want one in the pit, 'cuz he would cover up all the gubbins and greeblies that I installed. Maybe some bloke sunbathing on the wing with a local lass...

 

Cheers,

Bill

 

* Life Savers vs. Polo, eh?

 

PS. The tiny discs with the central hole are actually my poor attempt at some kind of flange where a hose will attach. Tamiya have (understandably) left these out from some very prominent locations. I'll have some photos in a bit - I should have done most of these hoses and lines prior to putting the engine in the bearers. It's much harder now. I've also decided to take the lazy easy cheap more productive method of representing hose clamps. (Hint - it involves a paintbrush.) I've seen some builds where these are done in Bare-Metal foil - which look great - but I hate working with that stuff, and I only have a few more decades to live. Modeller's prerogative.

[CedB]

Bill I went to the Brooklands Museum today (another for the list?), saw their Hurricane with an open cowling, thought of you and took these:

 

 

 

I know it's a renovation, but I doubt they moved the name plates.

HTH?

[Navy Bird]

7 minutes ago, CedB said:

I know it's a renovation, but I doubt they moved the name plates.

 

Whew! You mean the red lettering. I thought you were pointing out the fasteners holding the rocker covers and the exhaust pipes on. I know it's 1:32 scale, but those might be out of my reach.  

 

Cheers,

Bill

[Silenoz]

That engine looks already fantastic...

 

Otherwise, for embossing letters, there are sometimes small letters on the sprue, which can be cut off and glued (trumpeter ships) And I've thought there were also some resin/PE letters:

 

http://www.greenstuffworld.com/en/hobby-accessories/589-letters-and-numbers-2mm.html

 

https://www.scalelink.co.uk/acatalog/Alphabets___Numerals___Alphabets___Numeraux.html

 

http://www.secretweaponminiatures.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=12&products_id=16

 

...

Edited January 17, 2019 by Silenoz

[CedB]

15 hours ago, Navy Bird said:

You mean the red lettering.

Yep, the 'Rolls-Royce' plates that you were worrying about here. Looks like the resin has them just right?

[BadKarma75]

Just caught up with this thread, yeah I know late on parade

looking fantastic Bill

and hope the new tests come back in the all good category 

[Navy Bird]

On 17/01/2019 at 10:15, Silenoz said:

Otherwise, for embossing letters, there are sometimes small letters on the sprue, which can be cut off and glued (trumpeter ships) And I've thought there were also some resin/PE letters:

 

http://www.greenstuffworld.com/en/hobby-accessories/589-letters-and-numbers-2mm.html

 

https://www.scalelink.co.uk/acatalog/Alphabets___Numerals___Alphabets___Numeraux.html

 

http://www.secretweaponminiatures.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=12&products_id=16

 

Cool stuff. Thank God those letters are all too big for 1:32 Polos in the hand of my Spitfire pilot. Otherwise, I would most definitely lose the last tendrils of my sanity. 

 

But I will keep these links because one never knows what's around the next RFI post. They may come in handy. Thanks!

 

On 17/01/2019 at 10:19, CedB said:

Yep, the 'Rolls-Royce' plates that you were worrying about here. Looks like the resin has them just right?

 

I ended up using the photoetch nameplate because the resin rocker covers were just a wee bit too short. By the way, Barracuda never responded to my email to them, and that was quite some time ago. I shall have to ping them again.

 

3 hours ago, BadKarma75 said:

Just caught up with this thread, yeah I know late on parade

looking fantastic Bill

and hope the new tests come back in the all good category 

 

Thanks! I just wish it was going a bit more quickly, but that's the way it goes. It's amazing how long it takes to add some extra stuff - doing research to find photos, copying being motivated by other's work, etc.

 

Here where the engine stands now, with some details added on the port side behind the engine. There is photoetch linkage on the side of the supercharger (may be hard to see) and this was all leftover pieces in the spares box. The hoses and cables are all electrical wire of different gauge, except for the brass one which is solder.

 

 

 

The silver hose clamps are painted on. I'm going to switch over to the starboard side now and add some stuff there. However, there will still be more lines to add after the panel framework is added, as well as the forward coolant tank and oil reservoir under the front of the engine. And, of course, the ignition cables which are quite prominent. Lots more work to do! I think she'll look suitably busy once we're done.

 

Cheers,

Bill

[Stew Dapple]

Looks beautiful already Bill  

 

Cheers,

 

Stew

[giemme]

2 hours ago, Stew Dapple said:

Looks beautiful already Bill  

 

Cheers,

 

Stew

Agreed!  

So much so that you could leave the whole engine assembly out of the aircraft - it's a model in itself! 

 

Ciao

 

 

[Navy Bird]

2 hours ago, giemme said:

So much so that you could leave the whole engine assembly out of the aircraft - it's a model in itself!

 

Just wait until I put the other 287 parts on - then the engine will be lookin' purty good. I think Tamiya calculate their MSP based on the number of parts. If they want to sell the kit for a specific price, they keep adding parts until they get to that level.  

 

Cheers,

Bill

[giemme]

Alright, I'll wait....

 

Ciao

[bigbadbadge]

Looking very nice Bill this will look awesome when fully busied up.

 

Keep up the good work.

All the best

Chris

[CedB]

Wow  

[Navy Bird]

Hi mates,

 

Can any of you chaps point me to a photo that shows the top of the Merlin? Specifically, the pipes that go from the top front of the engine to the forward coolant tank - Tamiya have left these out and I think they are quite prominent. The photos I have show these from the side, but I'd really like to see them from the top since I'll have to scratch build them. Here is what I'm referring to:

 

 

Judging from my photos, there may be several flavours of these pipes. I'd like to make the easiest most historically accurate ones.

 

Cheers,

Bill

[Navy Bird]

Another item that Tamiya left off is what I suspect is a breather tube, or perhaps just the filler tube, for the oil tank. You can see it easily here:

 

 

I went to the Box of Misfit Fiddly Bits and made a facsimile of sorts. The tank itself is painted with Floquil Old Silver (man, I wish they still made this stuff). This should look better once I weather it up a bit.

 

 

This tube, when the tank is installed, lies in-between the engine bearers and the panel framework. The framework, as you can see in the above photos, has strips of some material that is between the panel and the framework. I don't know what this is for - anyone? Eduard provide these strips in photoetch, and the color of the etched brass is very similar to the actual strips. I think I'll leave it like it is. The eagle-eyes among you will notice that I drilled out all of the fastener holes on the framework. 

 

 

This was, shall we say, interesting to apply. I ended up using Gator Grip instead of superglue, mainly to give me more time to position. I hope it stays on!  

 

I've read many times on the net that these PE strips from Eduard interfere with the magnetic placement of the panels that Tamiya have engineered. Since my intent is to display the model with the covers off I figured this wouldn't be a concern. I like the looks of it though!

 

We're slowly getting there. Quite a few more cables and hoses to run. Thank God I don't have to do them all...

 

Cheers,

Bill

[CedB]

On 16/01/2019 at 23:58, Navy Bird said:

I thought you were pointing out the fasteners holding the rocker covers and the exhaust pipes on. I know it's 1:32 scale, but those might be out of my reach.

19 minutes ago, Navy Bird said:

The eagle-eyes among you will notice that I drilled out all of the fastener holes on the framework.

Ha! Good job Bill - you reached new levels of detail!  

Nice tank too, lovely stuff.

 

[Bell209]

10 hours ago, Navy Bird said:

The framework, as you can see in the above photos, has strips of some material that is between the panel and the framework. I don't know what this is for - anyone?

They're chafing strips. Stops the cowlings rubbing against the frame and wearing holes in them.

[giemme]

10 hours ago, Navy Bird said:

The eagle-eyes among you will notice that I drilled out all of the fastener holes on the framework.

Holy cow! I did notice. As @CedB says, you reached new levels of detail! 

 

Ciao

[Navy Bird]

I made the coolant connectors from styrene sheet and rod. They're not perfect, for sure, but they seem to resemble what I can see in the photos. Hopefully when I paint them black no one will notice them.

 

 

Now I'm back to the plumbing. Why are there so many cables and pipes? Jeez. And there are some that can't go on until the cowling framework is in place. Then there are the ignition harnesses, it never ends. But I like it.  

 

Did you notice that Tamiya moulded the splines in the propeller shaft? Why? I mean, it's cool and all that, but I scratch my head every time I look at it.

 

Cheers,

Bill

[giemme]

 

Ciao