Smithy Posted April 7, 2018 Share Posted April 7, 2018 Bit late starting this thread as Easter got in the way but I'm now off and running. I am making a Spitfire IIa of 485(NZ) Sqn in spring/summer 1941, P7974 which was a regular mount of Athol Gordon McIntyre who was a Battle of Britain veteran from 111 Sqn. Athol was born in Auckland - my old hunting grounds - and attended New Plymouth Boys' High School where he was head boy in 1937. I'm using the Airfix new tool 1/72 Spitfire Ia kit for this and using the 3-D Kits Spit IIa conversion set. As it is late here and the light terrible I'll post some snaps tomorrow of progress, which amounts to some work on the cockpit and drilling out the hole for the Coffman starter. Really thrilled to be a part of this as this is my first GB here at BM and also looking forward to watching everyone's builds to celebrate this auspicious anniversary of the RAF. Cheers to all, Tim 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevehnz Posted April 7, 2018 Share Posted April 7, 2018 Nice idea for a build, I'll be watching this. I don't think I realised 485 had operated IIas, Something to plan for in the future. Steve. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smithy Posted April 7, 2018 Author Share Posted April 7, 2018 (edited) Hi Steve, Yes 485 operated the IIa and even the Ia for a time although it wasn't terribly long before they converted over to the Vb. As I mentioned above I'll post a couple of pics of my meagre progress, in the meantime here's a couple of snaps of Athol himself... And here he is third from the left posing for the press with some of the other 485 boys at Driffield just prior to the squadron being made operational: Edited April 7, 2018 by Smithy 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robert Stuart Posted April 7, 2018 Share Posted April 7, 2018 Hello Tim, Welcome to the Group Builds section here, we'll look forward to seeing your snaps 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zebra Posted April 9, 2018 Share Posted April 9, 2018 Looking forward to this. And there’s a connection to my Spitfire build - your pilot and mine (Johnny Gibson) went to the same school. Maybe we should start a New Plymouth Boys High School old boys group build! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smithy Posted April 10, 2018 Author Share Posted April 10, 2018 What a coincidence Zebra! Your build is coming along splendidly and I'm enjoying watching it. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smithy Posted April 12, 2018 Author Share Posted April 12, 2018 Finally got around to taking a snap. I've been super busy this week so haven't made much progress. One fun thing with this build is the white spinner. There is a lot of anecdotal and photographic evidence to suggest that 485's Spit IIs and Vs had their spinners painted white so I have decided to paint Athol's Spit with a white schnozz. Some paint touch ups needed but it shows where I am at the mo. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevej60 Posted April 13, 2018 Share Posted April 13, 2018 (edited) Good start Smithy,I't's a smashing little kit I've done a few over the last couple of year's and had the first couple "shot down" for putting a dark wash in the panel lines,the wing's are OK but the deep fuselage lines look awful with a wash so be careful. Edited April 13, 2018 by stevej60 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Graham Boak Posted April 13, 2018 Share Posted April 13, 2018 Be careful with this kit - make sure before going any further that the fuselage closes together properly with the cockpit bulkheads in place. There have been many comments that the fuselage does not join together properly, and/or that the the kit assembles with the wings too flat, requiring filing away part of the upper wing root. This is actually one problem, caused by forcing the fuselage together around the slightly oversize bulkheads, and hence distorting their sides and the fit of the wing. If you scrap away some of the cockpit bulkhead edges then the fuselage will fit together properly, and the wings will then attach with the correct dihedral. best remove the paint from the joining surfaces first. 3 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rabbit Leader Posted April 15, 2018 Share Posted April 15, 2018 Good to see this one making a start Smithy. I’ll join you in the ‘I’ve been busy and tardy’ line although have also made a small start to a similar kit only yesterday. I’ll start my WIP shortly however the home desktop computer fused / caught fire last night but thankfully put itself out before burning my house study down - this is the room where 95% of all my built kits, stash, references, decals etc. lives so I’m so lucky that my ‘hobby world’ is today still all intact! Thanks for the build and finish tips Steve and Graham. These are most helpful. Cheers and watchibg on.. Dave 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smithy Posted April 16, 2018 Author Share Posted April 16, 2018 On 4/13/2018 at 1:18 PM, stevej60 said: Good start Smithy,I't's a smashing little kit I've done a few over the last couple of year's and had the first couple "shot down" for putting a dark wash in the panel lines,the wing's are OK but the deep fuselage lines look awful with a wash so be careful. Thanks Steve. I personally don't like overdone and heavy looking panel lines so I'm planning on being super conservative with this considering the starting depth of the lines. On 4/13/2018 at 3:53 PM, Graham Boak said: Be careful with this kit - make sure before going any further that the fuselage closes together properly with the cockpit bulkheads in place. There have been many comments that the fuselage does not join together properly, and/or that the the kit assembles with the wings too flat, requiring filing away part of the upper wing root. This is actually one problem, caused by forcing the fuselage together around the slightly oversize bulkheads, and hence distorting their sides and the fit of the wing. If you scrap away some of the cockpit bulkhead edges then the fuselage will fit together properly, and the wings will then attach with the correct dihedral. best remove the paint from the joining surfaces first. Thanks for the tip Graham. I tend to dry fit everything several times to make sure I'm not going to have too much bother once the glue comes out. I'll keep an extra close eye on the bulkhead and fuselage fit. 10 hours ago, Rabbit Leader said: Good to see this one making a start Smithy. I’ll join you in the ‘I’ve been busy and tardy’ line although have also made a small start to a similar kit only yesterday. I’ll start my WIP shortly however the home desktop computer fused / caught fire last night but thankfully put itself out before burning my house study down - this is the room where 95% of all my built kits, stash, references, decals etc. lives so I’m so lucky that my ‘hobby world’ is today still all intact! Thanks for the build and finish tips Steve and Graham. These are most helpful. Cheers and watchibg on.. Dave Crikey Dave, that would've caused a bit of a fright! Pleased to hear it was only the glorified typewriter that went up in smoke. Looking forward to watching your build as well. Cheers all! Tim 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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