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Best / Easiest kit to build a 1/72 Vc Spitfire (Trop)?


Wombat200

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Hi All,

 

Sorry if this is a re-hash - I did a search & could only find more general 'best kit' threads.

 

I'm looking to build a couple of Tropicalised Vc Spits in 1/72 - specifically those delivered to the RAAF for use in the Pacific.

 

I know Sword makes a ?good one, but I'm having trouble finding them.

 

My other option is the Tamiya Vb Trop & convert with aftermarket cannon blisters and cannon.

 

I've also seen a few older Airfix kits, but they seem to cop a bit of criticism for a bad wing?

 

I assume the PM kits are basic / terrible?

 

Not looking to build show-winners, just a straight-forward build out-of-the-box (mostly).

 

Cheers all :)

Edited by Wombat200
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Wombat - IMO I'd keep looking for the Sword kit or just wait patiently (like the rest of us) for a certain UK kit manufacturer to hopefully come to their senses.

There's also the chance that Eduard might also head down the Mk.V route after finishing off their Mk. VIII/IX/XVI series of Spitfire kits. 

You could convert the Tamiya Vb to Vc with all the various upper wing bulges, however don't forget the differences to the underwing.

I would also avoid the early Airfix VC attempt. The hard plastic and thickness of the wing trailing edge are just horrible.

 

I know that all the above is of no real use, however it just highlights the problem that modellers have in trying to produce a long line of RAAF or Malta based Spits. etc. I have an unbuilt Sword kit and the sprues look quite nice. I just hope it builds as good as it looks.

 

Cheers.. Dave.

 

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Hi Wombat,

 

Dave's right, the best kit currently is the Sword kit. I did a review a while ago on Aussie Modeller - http://www.aussiemodeller.com.au/pages/Reviews/acft kit/Louey_SwordSpitVc.html

 

I was at the Melbourne Model Expo and was sure I saw some on some vendors stands but since I wasn't looking for one I didn't pay much noticed. Since you're in Australia, these should be affordable if you can only find them. It *may* have been Aeroworks from Adelaide or then again it could have been one of a couple of vendors I didn't catch the name of.

 

Best wishes searching.

 

Michael

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Having built a number of the Sword kits, IMHO it's the current best bet, however I had some serious challenges with the canopy. It seems that the fuselage may be a bit on the fat side, so take care.

 

 

Edited by FinnAndersen
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Here is an old thread on this very topic

 

However not sure if the Aeroclub wings are readily available now. But if you see them.....

 

......or grab this one 

 

https://www.ebay.co.uk/p/pavla-u72051-1-72-resin-supermarine-spitfire-mk-vc-super-detailed-wing-revell/2085103567?iid=232157285140

Trevor 

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Hi Wombat,

 

I nearly forgot - There is the High Planes kit. Here's a built one - http://www.aussiemodeller.com.au/pages/Gallery/Aircraft_I-O/Jarvis_SpitVc.html

It has the advantage of having RAAF decals too but an easy build it probably isn't. It would also have vac canopies.

 

It does have the advantage of being available. Not sure if it might be better for accuracy on the items mentioned by Finn.

 

Regards

 

Michael

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41 minutes ago, Max Headroom said:

Here is an old thread on this very topic

 

However not sure if the Aeroclub wings are readily available now. But if you see them.....

 

......or grab this one 

 

https://www.ebay.co.uk/p/pavla-u72051-1-72-resin-supermarine-spitfire-mk-vc-super-detailed-wing-revell/2085103567?iid=232157285140

Trevor 

 

 I think Aeroclub wings (Or anything else 'Aeroclub') are pretty much rocking-hose poo these days.... And by the time you buy that Pavla conversion, the Revell kit, plus the Pavla VB tropicalising kit (I did consider it), it's adding up..... Esp for 2-3 kits.

 

 

Edited by Wombat200
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16 minutes ago, Michael louey said:

Hi Wombat,

 

I nearly forgot - There is the High Planes kit. Here's a built one - http://www.aussiemodeller.com.au/pages/Gallery/Aircraft_I-O/Jarvis_SpitVc.html

It has the advantage of having RAAF decals too but an easy build it probably isn't. It would also have vac canopies.

 

It does have the advantage of being available. Not sure if it might be better for accuracy on the items mentioned by Finn.

 

 

 

Yep, I'd overlooked that too - although having built a few of their kits, it's definitely not likely to be an 'easy build'. But as you say, it's available!

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2 minutes ago, Eric Mc said:

What about mixing and matching various kits?

 

Which Kits?  I'm far from a Spit expert & not aware of which other marks had the same wing? As I'm wanting 2-3, it would prove an expensive exercise to buy 2-3 kits for each build....

 

 

After the Sword, I think the most straight-forward is the Tamiya Vb Trop plus aftermarket cannon & blisters.

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I'm no expert either. I was just wondering out loud.

 

Can the Airfix Vc wings be thinned down in some way - such as using the vacform technique of sanding on a flat surface, for instance?

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As others have already pointed out, the Sword kit is your best bet. They can still be found, if you find them grab them immediately as they may disappear at some point.

They may not be the easiest kits to build, sure are no Tamiya but can be built into good representations with some work

 

 

46 minutes ago, Michael louey said:

Hi Wombat,

 

I nearly forgot - There is the High Planes kit. Here's a built one - http://www.aussiemodeller.com.au/pages/Gallery/Aircraft_I-O/Jarvis_SpitVc.html

It has the advantage of having RAAF decals too but an easy build it probably isn't. It would also have vac canopies.

 

It does have the advantage of being available. Not sure if it might be better for accuracy on the items mentioned by Finn.

 

Regards

 

Michael

 

This kit may well be accurate as High Planes generally have a good reputation for accuracy, but building one of these requires patience and skills. They are old school short runs that will make the Sword offering look like a shake 'n bake kit in comparison...

 

 

7 minutes ago, Eric Mc said:

What about mixing and matching various kits?

 

Always possible with Spitfires: grab a good Vb, add outer wing panels from a Mk.IX. Alternatively replace the whole wings but this may mean having to fill the recess for one of the radiators while adding the outer panels only avoids this work. It may end up being expensive of course, depending on the chosen kits.

Mind, it's actually possible to simply rescribe a Vb wing into a Vc one: remove the gun related bulges from top and bottom, fill some now useless spent case ejection ports and some panel lines, rescribe new panel lines, carve new spent case ports, add new gun barrells and new bulges. The barrels are available in brass from Master and very nice they are too, the bulges can be found in a number of Mk.IX kits (the AZ kit for example has both large and small type). Some more detail may need sorting out depending on the base kit and the chosen subject, but the main work is as described above.

 

Another alternative is waiting... Eduard may at some point do a Vc but maybe the best candidate may be AZ, as they have recently done new tool Mk.Vbs. AZ has a very ambitious new releases program, hopefully a Vc will enter the list

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Sword also do a Seafire II and III, the II is their Vc with a seperate Seafire fuselage so you'll only need to obtain decals but the III (or at least some of the boxings, look for the one with D-Day markings) has a spare Spitfire Vc fuselage and wings so, if you have a spares box, or friends who do, (you'll need elevators, cannon and cannon bulges, undercarriage, radiator and oil cooler, propellor, cockpit and, canopy), you'll have a Seafire and a Spitfire Vc.

 

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Long ago I built a Smer Spitfire Vc.

I think it may be based on the Heller Vb with a new wing.

 

I don't think it's the same wing 'upgrade' as the Airfix Vc.

 

I can't speak for accuracy, but it built up quickly and had superb RAAF schemes OOB. It might be worth buying for decals and wings alone. The old Heller Spit looks nice, but again, I don't know about accuracy. I do know I'm going to build one soon, to help the old mojo :).

 

https://www.scalemates.com/kits/147075-sm-r-0871-supermarine-spitfire-mk-vc

 

Best regards 

TonyT

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19 minutes ago, TonyTiger66 said:

Long ago I built a Smer Spitfire Vc.

I think it may be based on the Heller Vb with a new wing.

 

I don't think it's the same wing 'upgrade' as the Airfix Vc.

 

I can't speak for accuracy, but it built up quickly and had superb RAAF schemes OOB. It might be worth buying for decals and wings alone. The old Heller Spit looks nice, but again, I don't know about accuracy. I do know I'm going to build one soon, to help the old mojo :).

 

https://www.scalemates.com/kits/147075-sm-r-0871-supermarine-spitfire-mk-vc

 

Best regards 

TonyT

 

I know that kit and I can say that accuracy is pretty poor, in common with the original Heller Vb on which the kit is based. The wing lacks the famous inverted gull section under the rear fuselage and it's not great in planform. The fuselage is too short and too rounded ahead of the windscreen. The radiators are poor and most details are what we could expect in the early '70s.

The schemes are sure great though and I can say from experience that the decals are very good (I believe they are from Propagteam). Considering the low cost at which this kit can be found, I fully agree that it's worth buying it for the decals alone.

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3 hours ago, Wombat200 said:

I assume the PM kits are basic / terrible?

 

You assume correctly, but you've probably guessed it from the deafening silence re this kit up to now...certainly the worst Option, and unless they had different moulds, not really Close to a Vc anyway.

 

In case you consider the wing mod route as suggested by Giorgio, you could look for the 1974 Airfix Vb. It has a small Problem with the aileron chord IIRC (symmetrical above and below), but otherwise should have a decent shape, and is/used to be around aplenty.

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1 hour ago, Eric Mc said:

 

Can the Airfix Vc wings be thinned down in some way - such as using the vacform technique of sanding on a flat surface, for instance?

 

It would be a lot of quite tricky work as, IIRC, it is so massively thick it would need thinning on both the upper and lower surfaces.  And then you have the inaccurately shaped cannon bulges, and the cannon with doughnuts round the muzzles.  And the fact that the fuselage has raised panel lines while the wing has heavily engraved.  No, as everyone has said, avoid the Airfix Vc kit.  Or throw away the horrible Vc bits and keep the aged but still quite reasonable Spitfire Vb bits.

 

Sword all the way.

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If you do end up working from a B wing, remember that the later wing has more rake on the undercarriage - the axles are moved forward 2 inches IIRC.  Plus the doors are bulged around the leg.  I think that there may also be a different position for the inboard machine gun - have to check that.

 

I agree about the Sword kit, although I think it a little short in span.  I did thin down an Airfix Mk.Vc wing and alter the aileron but (as said above) it isn't the simplest of fixes.  The original Mk.Vb, it had a very odd "high rise" root, and it is this maximum thickness that the C wing is based on. 

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3 hours ago, Beard said:

Sword also do a Seafire II and III, the II is their Vc with a seperate Seafire fuselage so you'll only need to obtain decals but the III (or at least some of the boxings, look for the one with D-Day markings) has a spare Spitfire Vc fuselage and wings so, if you have a spares box, or friends who do, (you'll need elevators, cannon and cannon bulges, undercarriage, radiator and oil cooler, propellor, cockpit and, canopy), you'll have a Seafire and a Spitfire Vc.

 

 I'm guessing neither are tropicals, with the Vokes filter, though?

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Thanks all - I think a few have you have missed the "Easy to build  / Out-of-the-box" criteria, though ;)

 

i'll continue to watch out for the Swords;

 

Does anyone have any experience with the Tamiya kit? No-one seems to have mentioned it so far?

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The Tamiya kit has a mis-shapen wing and a mis-shapen fuselage.  It does fit together very well, and also provides the Vokes filter - which are widely available anyway.  And it's a Mk.Vb, so you are stuck with having to make the changes as on other kits.  Like the Tamiya,  no-one mentioned the Italeri, for similar if non-identical reasons.

 

You didn't leave us much choice: the only out-of-the-box build with good accuracy is the Sword, which you said you couldn't find.  I'll stick my neck out and suggest that if easy/OOB is the prime driver then the SMER/Heller is probably a bit nicer than the Airfix, but you're better off with a bit of chopping around (and even cross-kitting).  Pretty well anybody's nose, prop, exhausts and oil cooler on a decent Mk.IX?

 

You leave open the question of which Mk.Vc standard.  Wide cannon blister or narrow?  Extended horn elevators or original?  DH, DH Hydromatic, or Rotol prop?  Six or twelve exhausts? (OK, I don't think I've seen the latter on an aircraft with a Vokes.  Never say never...)

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2 hours ago, Wombat200 said:

 I'm guessing neither are tropicals, with the Vokes filter, though?

 

I have not seen an example of the Sword Spitfire V family that does NOT include a Vokes filter, whether required for the boxing or not.  (Both Spitfire PR.IV boxings have the Aboukir filter as well but cannot be built as standard Mark Vs.)  Just to stress that only Seafire III boxing SW72084 has the spare Mk V fuselage and upper wing halves. 

 

Edit: CORRECTION: SW72037 Spitfire Vc does NOT rpt NOT contain Vokes filter.  But the others do: see my post on next page.

Edited by Seahawk
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I have just built the Tamiya Spitfire Vb.

It is my first Tamiya aircraft kit.

I've been advised its inaccurate.

 

I have to say, I'm very close to finishing my first kit since 2006.

 

I don't know of a Tamiya Vc kit?

It might still be a very quick build even including wing mods.

 

I appreciate it may have profile issues, but it sounds like you need just a good, fast representation.

 

I normally build short run; Amodel etc. This was a breeze. Great fun.

 

Best regards

TonyT

 

Edit: Two more posts in the time it took me to type this. Both more informed than mine. I will agree with Graham; OOB quick solution, the Smer is ok, but obviously has issues.

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1 minute ago, Seahawk said:

 

I have not seen an example of the Sword Spitfire V family that does NOT include a Vokes filter, 

 

If you look at the pics here, of Box / kit No: SW72037 you can see the Voles filter is missing from the sprues. I don't know what other boxings it is missing from. I nearly bid on this kit before I realised.

 

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Sword-1-72-Scale-Supekrmarine-Spitfire-Mk-Vc-2-Complete-Kits-/172729348608

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