Battle of Britain Fighter: 92 Squadron Spitfire 1a

[shar1982]

I'm making my own RAF 100 collection of models and I thought it would be nice to join in this group build while filling some gaps in my collection.

 

It goes without saying that the Battle of Britain needs representing in the history of the RAF and I've chosen the new tool Airfix Spitfire 1a. Out of the box it will be!

 

 

[Robert Stuart]

Welcome to the build shar1982, that Spitfire is a nice little kit, it shouldn't give too many problems

[shar1982]

I built the new tool Spit XIX when it first came out and liked it a lot. Hoping for more of the same!

[Tempestwulf]

The Mk.I/II/Va kit is better than the XIX in my book as it has enclosed wheel wells. Sprue connection points under the nose leave an indent that'll need filling. It's small thankfully. I have 6 of these build, I think Stew or PC has about 100, and are a fun relax build.

[shar1982]

My concern about this kit is that it doesn't look to have enough dihedral in the wings. I've noticed that on quite a few finished models, so it's not just one person's error. We'll wait and see!

[PhantomBigStu]

Cut the mounting pins off and shave the wing roots down (refilling as needed) and you'll have the dihedral, built almost as many of these as Stew and PC myself, actually should get one out the stash, been over a year since I last did one 

 

also not to be spoilsport but thats a post BoB scheme.....;) I can send you one of the 100's of spare BoB DW-K decals if you want though 

Edited April 3, 2018 by PhantomBigStu

[shar1982]

Thanks for the kind offer of decals, but I'll go with what I've got. My research shows that X4561 first flew on 27/9/40, so that's good enough for me!

[johnd]

The Germans hold the end of the BoB to be July 1941, so well within scope.

 

John.

[Troy Smith]

4 hours ago, PhantomBigStu said:

Cut the mounting pins off and shave the wing roots down (refilling as needed) and you'll have the dihedral, built almost as many of these as Stew and PC myself, actually should get one out the stash, been over a year since I last did one 

 

also not to be spoilsport but thats a post BoB scheme.....;) I can send you one of the 100's of spare BoB DW-K decals if you want though 

 

1 hour ago, shar1982 said:

Thanks for the kind offer of decals, but I'll go with what I've got. My research shows that X4561 first flew on 27/9/40, so that's good enough for me!

 

leave off the Sky band,  paint the spinner black,  and leave the port wing sky and that is most likely what X4561 looked like before November 1940

The only tricky bit would be trimming of the yellow ring on the underwing roundel.

see here for more info

https://boxartden.com/reference/gallery/index.php/Modeling-References/Camoflage-Markings/01-Supermarine-Spitfire

 

 

[Beard]

The Airfix Spitfire I is a nice little kit.

Aside from what others have suggested, I'd also suggest:

1. ream out all of the holes that the mounting pins go in, just a bit, it'll help with fit
2. use a small piece of stretched sprue to replicate the rudder accentuator, Airfix left it off
3. watch the fit of the canopy, it'll probably need a little shaved off the back end

 

 

[shar1982]

So, best place to start is at the beginning and in this case it's the cockpit, seat, floor, bulkheads and instrument panel.

 

 

 

Fuselage has now been joined and clamped and glued, ready for more work in the morning.

[shar1982]

I fear I've fallen into an all too common trap with this kit...

I commented up thread that I didn't like the natural wing dihedral angle that this kit gives you and indeed I managed to work a bit more of it into my wings.

However, I didn't ensure the fuselage joined up tightly round the instrument panel (rushing along too quickly) and that has had big implications for the fit of the canopy. Removing material from the canopy hasn't resulted in a good fit, so I'm going to have to add slivers of plastic to the cockpit coaming to get the fit OK.

 

Blast my own impatience!