Spitfire wheels down indicator—information please

[Seawinder]

I'm building the Airfix 1/48 Spitfire Mk. I as a Mk. IIa. I know the plane certainly (or at least almost certainly) had the gear down rods on the wings. I also know where they go: directly forward of the bulges at the panel line with the walkway stripe. What I don't understand is why no kit producers (or at least Airfix and Tamiya in their recent Mk. I) show any vestige of the items in their wing surface detail. So, I'm wondering what the wing looked like when they were not extended, and what sort of hole they emerged from when the wheels went down. Thanks in advance.

[Work In Progress]

There isn't really a hole. They are just small rods about a quarter inch across and when the wheels are retracted the top of the rod is flush with the wing surface. It's no more prominent than a flush rivet really when it is flush, and when it is extended then there's no real gap between the rod and the surrounding skin. Light painted rod - I have seen white and yellow - with the flush top the colour of the wing skin.

 

No-one moulds it in because it would be unmouldable in plastic. If you want to reproduce it, it's a case of drill a tiny hole and glue in a short length of fine wire or maybe something like a toothbrush bristle. Something that mikes up in the region of 5 thou.

 

There is a good picture on this page but good pictures are hard to find 

http://spitfiresite.com/2011/07/guided-tour-of-the-spitfire-pr-mk-xix-the-bowser-wing.html/dsc06091

Edited October 25, 2019 by Work In Progress

[gingerbob]

You can zoom in fairly well on the photos on this page.  Note that the starboard one cannot be seen (by me, at least!), which is as should be since the aircraft had gear up.  The port one, on the other hand, appears to be either fully or "mostly" extended, which it shouldn't be.  But then, the subject aircraft has been around the block a time or two.  (Note: the second duplicate photo appears to be a low-rez version.)

Edited October 25, 2019 by gingerbob

[Junchan]

This is a diagram of the Spitfire under carriage which shows the downlock indicator.

Here are wartime photos of Mk. I and Mk. Vc with the downlock pins extruded. You can see the extending angle and length of the pins.

I am posting a couple of photos of the restored examples to show the color of the pin.

 

Jun in Tokyo

https://www.flickr.com/photos/horaburo/albums

[Work In Progress]

That first colour pic is not a restored example, it's an unserviceable unrestored Spitfire  hanging from the ceiling of the Imperial War Museum. in Lambeth. It has a damaged indicator system. The wheels retracted, the starboard indicator flush and the port indicator part extended.

[dogsbody]

I found this:

 

 

 

 

 

Chris

[Seawinder]

Thanks everybody for the information and photos. Apparently, as I had gathered from other pics I've seen, the indicators are really strips rather than rods, so probably best represented by bits of sheet styrene. The photos also make clear that the indicators were just aft of the panel line, not actually on it. Really helpful; thanks again!