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Abukir filters


DominikS

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Dear Forumites

I'm almost 100% sure that similar question has occured before but UG hasn't help me with it. That's why I decided to ask it here as there are lots of people who have huge knowledge about Spitfires.

 

I have a question about famous "custom" dust filters made by MU in Abou Kir/Abukir. Are there any existing drawings or detail photos? Until recently I thought that there was only one type but my friend, who is currently working on I.R. Gleed's Spitfire Mk.Vb from Africa has told me that there's something "wrong" with Gleed's Spit filter. I've looked at the photos taken during the session with No 601 sqn and noticed that he's right. Abukir filters on "The Winged Sword" Spits have different shape from Gleed's Spitfire. Later I've checked my books about Spitfires and found that there were, at least, two types...

1. Bulbous intake part and very thin aft part of the filter (as per 601 sqn Spits)

2. Bulbous intake part and wider aft part which looks as if they just modified the front part of Vokes filoter leaving the aft part without changes.

 

Thank you for any help.

 

Cheers!

 

Dominik

 

 

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I think you're right Dominik, but I've not ever seeen drawing of these or any way to tell which had each type other than photos. Possibly earlier Aboukir filters were the modified Vokes type until they got geared up with a more refined style. 103MU is a unit that many, including myself, would love to see a history of, they did some cool stuff.  Alas, they seemed to be too busy getting on with it than recording things. That is my understanding anyway. hopefully someone else will come along to prove me wrong. :)

Steve.

Edited by stevehnz
punctuation
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Aboukir filters,there were a few. Here are some photos harvested from the new which illustrate some variants. 
High altitude Mk.V 
Side.
403030629.jpg

Front
403030412.jpg

On a Mk.IX 
73765306.jpg

 

Grant

 

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On 08/06/2017 at 11:22, Vanroon said:

Aboukir filters,there were a few. Here are some photos harvested from the new which illustrate some variants. 
High altitude Mk.V 
Side.
 

Front
 

On a Mk.IX 
 

 

Grant

 

Grant,

 

Just curious- do you have any idea what that dark-colored patch on the rudders of the first three Spits in  your last photo are about? They appear to be in the same location, so unlikely to be battle damage. Hard to tell in a b&w photo, but they appear to be the same shade as the red of the fn flash and roundel.

Mike

Edited by Julien
Dont quote images in a reply
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  • 2 years later...

I'm trying to do Gleed's aircraft now in 1/72 and have just run into this conundrum. I'm also keen to find a close-up or definitive diagram of the bulged undercowl housing the enlarged oil tank that went with the Aboukir filter conversion. I hsd thought (i.e. hoped) that Gleed's machine didn't have that but a closer look at photos shows that it did. 

 

Justin

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Hello Justin

Perhaps these Mk.V profile drawings (nose section of tropical Spit V with Aboukir filter and enlarged oil tank included), done by Japanese modeller Jumpei Temma will help. The rest of Jumpei Temma's Spitfire drawings can be found here but while they look excellent to me, I could not find a drawing of Aboukir filter in plan view among them. Still, better something than nothing. Cheers

Jure

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19 hours ago, Bedders said:

I'm trying to do Gleed's aircraft now in 1/72 and have just run into this conundrum. I'm also keen to find a close-up or definitive diagram of the bulged undercowl housing the enlarged oil tank that went with the Aboukir filter conversion. I hsd thought (i.e. hoped) that Gleed's machine didn't have that but a closer look at photos shows that it did. 

 

Justin

Fwiw, the Hobby Boss Spitfire Vb trop kit, #80214, has parts in it for a machine with the deeper oil tank housing. Gleed's bird is one of the marking options. I won't guarantee it is spot on accurate but the basics are there including a convincing looking Aboukir filter.

Steve.

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Thanks folks. I thought I'd give the new-ish KP kit a go. Quite nice in terms of surface detail, and it has an Aboukir filter though it needs some work. But no enlarged undercowl so I'm trying to reshape it using plasticard & filler. Other things to think about are the slightly more rounded clipped wingtips than the ones you might see on a Mk XII for example. They seem to have been a local modification too. And getting the windscreen-fuselage join completely smooth is requiring "modeling skills" which in my case are more often than not accompanied by harsh language. By comparison, extending the rear fuselage by 1.5mm was easy. Can't wait to get to paint, but not there yet...

 

resized_e97aadfd-1a84-4cdc-856c-b58c462c

 

resized_641b8989-384c-48eb-9761-fb747a90

 

Justin

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I hadn't realised that the KP tooling was short in the fuselage, I shall check on that before doing mine.  However, have you checked the wing span?  This has been short on a number of recent Czech Spitfire kits including the Sword and, I thought, the KP.  Rather less straightforward to do anything about.

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6 hours ago, stevehnz said:

Yes for the filter, but not Gleed markings, at least not in this boxing, but maybe another.

Steve.

Edited: I did say "It's not the Tamiya kit he's thinking of, but the Hasegawa one"

 

... but ignore that as the earlier post was in ref to 1/72 not 1/48.

 

Why can't we delete posts, by the way?

Edited by Work In Progress
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1 hour ago, Work In Progress said:

Why can't we delete posts, by the way?

After you post, there is a bar with a selection along the bottom edge. Select 'options' and you get a pop-up which says 'hide'. Hit this, you don't need to fill in the why bit.

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10 hours ago, stevehnz said:

Yes for the filter, but not Gleed markings, at least not in this boxing, but maybe another.

What is wrong with me lately? You are correct, @stevehnz I had taken the IRG decals out of my Italeri kit and put them in the Tamiya box, as I have always wanted to do Gleed's Spit. BTW, @DominikS, the Tamiya kit also has the deeper lower cowling for the enlarged oil tank. Sure wish Italeri had taken a little more time with their Mk Vb and IX kits, as they looked so nice in the box, but not no nice when you start comparing them to accurate drawings- lots of nice detail bits, though!

Mike

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13 hours ago, Graham Boak said:

I hadn't realised that the KP tooling was short in the fuselage, I shall check on that before doing mine.  However, have you checked the wing span?  This has been short on a number of recent Czech Spitfire kits including the Sword and, I thought, the KP.  Rather less straightforward to do anything about.

Graham, the KP Vb wingspan is similar to the Sword kits, which after much reflection I decided was acceptable providing it's not parRked too near an Eduard or an Airfix. However it's not as short in span as an old-mould AZ IX, which is very short. And the short-run Vc wing that is added to the KP Vb kits is even worse if I remember correctly. So I' going to cobble together a Vc from spare bits of my Sword Seafire III box.

 

Justin

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2 minutes ago, Bedders said:

 So I' going to cobble together a Vc from spare bits of my Sword Seafire III box.

 

Snap.  Which turned out to be fairly simple except finding a tailwheel/leg in my spares box, or from anywhere else.  I did ask John Adams if he had any spares left, and he came up trumps with a pack of 4 almost complete Spitfire undercarriage sets.  Sadly the tailwheels were from Hurricanes, but the thought was there.

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  • 3 months later...
On 11/20/2019 at 7:40 AM, Bedders said:

I'm trying to do Gleed's aircraft now in 1/72 and have just run into this conundrum. I'm also keen to find a close-up or definitive diagram of the bulged undercowl housing the enlarged oil tank that went with the Aboukir filter conversion. I hsd thought (i.e. hoped) that Gleed's machine didn't have that but a closer look at photos shows that it did. 

 

Justin

I was trying to find some information regarding the Aboukir filters for a 1/72 spitfire project I'm planning to complete from something I started years ago! I came across this thread and wondered what happened to this one Justin?

 

My own reference is mostly the SAM/MDF publication on Merlin engined Spitfires. In that publication there are 1/48 drawings which clearly show the "normal" nose profile of a MK V, plus two different profiles of the Volkes filter and the Aboukir. The three pictures below show a small part of the plans, detailing the three profiles. The Aboukir seems to have a slightly bulged under chin, but nothing like the Volkes. Is this correct for an Aboukir? I can see Justin has increased the bulge slightly on his, which seems to go with what the plans are showing.

 

I know @Procopius, @Stew Dapple and @Test Graham had an earlier thread on this also, so have included them.

 

1. No Filter

 

IMG20200310165315

 

2. Volkes Filter

 

IMG20200310165253

 

3. Aboukir Filter

 

IMG20200310165303

 

Thanks

 

Terry

 

 

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The Hobby Boss Spitfire Vb/Trop is of an example with the Aboukir filter & enlarged oil tank & to my eye appears about right in this respect, with markings for Gleed's machine & a SAAF example WR-R. The HB kit is fairly accurate with some quirks, you'd need to replace the prop & canopy & find some undercarriage doors, plus remove the oversize fairings under the outer wing.

Steve.

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On 3/10/2020 at 5:20 PM, Terry1954 said:

I was trying to find some information regarding the Aboukir filters for a 1/72 spitfire project I'm planning to complete from something I started years ago! I came across this thread and wondered what happened to this one Justin?

Hi Terry, good question. Basically as soon as I saw that Airfix will be issuing a 1/72 Vc later this year I downed tools on this one, and look forward to seeing the new kit once it emerges. With any luck it'll be a good basis for conversion to Vb and VI, as well as Seafire IIc and assorted short-nosed PR variants. Looking forward to Christmas!

 

Justin

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8 hours ago, Bedders said:

Hi Terry, good question. Basically as soon as I saw that Airfix will be issuing a 1/72 Vc later this year I downed tools on this one, and look forward to seeing the new kit once it emerges. With any luck it'll be a good basis for conversion to Vb and VI, as well as Seafire IIc and assorted short-nosed PR variants. Looking forward to Christmas!

 

Justin

Yes, the new Airfix Vc is eagerly awaited. The one I'm working on is actually an old Heller V. It had been lying partly made in a box of "old spitfies" that I have collected over the years, and I decided to try and finish it for a bit of light relief, then I got all focused on doing a proper job with a correct nose profile etc. I suspect Airfix might bring out a decent one just as I finish it!

 

Terry

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