Spitfires triple build - COMPLETED

[Dennis_C]

46 minutes ago, Col. said:

Nice work so far.

Having wasted a lot of time and effort detailling the cockpit of two Airfix XIX kits only to never see it again through the overy thick canopies I'd say either don't bother or get vacuformed replacements  

Yeah, Airfix canopy is simply horrible. Pity Eduard did a number of canopy options but not a PR windscreen.

 

29 minutes ago, alt-92 said:

Rob Taurus and Pavla have them.

Yup. Saw these on big H too. And added to some other goodies like e.g. eduard's exhaust pipes for eduard's mk.ix. Eduard's plastic exhausts are fine but with quite pronounced molding seam will not get perfect result. 

 

Honestly I had three attempts to use vacform canopies of which one canopy went completely ruined (for AZ Hueycobra), one was quite okay (Sword's T-33) and one could be okay but I favoured plastic one (OV-10). So I will try but who knows the outcome...

BTW with good canopy rear section of the cockpit for Airfix will require some work as OOB it's completely bare. Anyone knows if any special equipment to be there in PR version?

[Dennis_C]

Some comments regarding Airfix kit.

 

My prior experience with Airfix was quite positive in terms of fit. Some models were almost no putty (Defiant, Skyhawk, Hurricane). Some required not more than average sanding (Vampire, Gnat). But PR.XIX is not as straight. Fuselage parts and wing joint seem okay, but e.g. propeller is just awful. And no nice prop plug-in feature like in Hurricane or Defiant when you can insert prop rotating mechanism as the last assembly step. Here you just insert prop into fuselage before fuselage halves are joined. And then break it several times. 

 

My second impression is oversimplification. No undercarriage bay details, gear struts are molded together with covers (say hi to the 70s), rear wheel bay is very simplistic and bay doors are grossly thick. That's sort of okay for the complexity level but not strong impression after Tamiya and Eduard so some work needed before this is on par. 

Edited January 20, 2020 by Dennis_C

[alt-92]

1 hour ago, Dennis_C said:

And no nice prop plug-in feature like in Hurricane or Defiant when you can insert prop rotating mechanism as the last assembly step. Here you just insert prop into fuselage before fuselage halves are joined.

Caught me out with my first return after 20 years, n00b mistake  oh well. It's not like they spin nicely centered anyway.

1 hour ago, Dennis_C said:

Eduard's plastic exhausts are fine but with quite pronounced molding seam will not get perfect result. 

I reduce them slightly and tell myself they're weld lines. Not that far beside the truth actually.

[Col.]

1 hour ago, Dennis_C said:

BTW with good canopy rear section of the cockpit for Airfix will require some work as OOB it's completely bare. Anyone knows if any special equipment to be there in PR version?

There's three oxygen bottles lying on a shelf behind the seat and not much room for anything else back there. Have a look at some photos of what's included in Airfix' 48th scale kit and you'll get the idea  

[Dennis_C]

5 hours ago, Col. said:

There's three oxygen bottles lying on a shelf behind the seat and not much room for anything else back there. Have a look at some photos of what's included in Airfix' 48th scale kit and you'll get the idea  

Yeah. I had I look at 1/48 instruction. Some scratchbuilding is probably likely now

[Dennis_C]

It's been a while since I posted last time here. Some other projects distracted my attention like Sufa and Sword's JP5. 

But now the interiors of last of the three spits is ready for priming and painting. 

Some improvements made to Airfix offering:

- Eduard's PE used to make pilot seat, inserts into undercarriage bays, radiators.

- resin exhausts from Quickboost, and resin cameras and installation from Pavla. F.24 camera is gone into my Meteor FR.9 but no one will know this is not within my PR.XIX.

- scratched a shelf and three gas tanks for the cabin rear end. 

- lastly I borrowed Eduard's wheels, struts and chassis door as Airfix product is very basic.

Also cockpit details were removed for eduard's colour PE to be added later.

 

I did get a vac canopy from Rob Taurus. This is obviously way better than Airfix canopy. In fact oblique camera windows from airfix are bad too. They should be flat while airfix made them to fit fuselage curve. To be fixed later with plastic pieces. 

[Dennis_C]

Okay. So I had this:

 

And after couple hours of battling tiny and not very tiny pieces I got this:

 

Next steps would be to paint greens, silver, black etc. and get ready to fuselages assembly. 

[Dennis_C]

One month behind and here what I got:

Mk.I

Mk.IX

Mk.XIX

Photos were made as the sun was going down today so the best colour match to the reality is on Mk.XIX photos. Green is more yellowish than bluish.

Next steps would be cockpit assembly with PE, painting small details, etc. 

Mk.IX and Mk.XIX spinners are yet to be painted so masks from tips are not yet removed. 

Green used for cockpit is Vallejo model color 70.891 intermediate green. I find it close to Eduard's PE green as well as to eduard's suggested c364.

 

Any suggestions and criticism are welcome

Edited April 19, 2020 by Dennis_C

[It's a disease]

The Eduard IX is a dream build.

the airframe falls together. It is one of the best kits I’ve handled from the building perspective.

 

the Airfix xix also comes out pretty good, I have no bad memories of that build, I wanted another box for another day but never got around to picking one up. You won’t notice the cockpit, it looks great on the shelf!

 

i must say, I acquired the Eduard royal 1/72 spit, and my oh my! That little thing looks very good indeed. Completely blows away all other spits I’ve compared it with in this scale.

 

if you’re a fan, have a look, it’s worthwhile!

 

i built my xix prop this way;

stick the pin into the fuselage and leave the spinner/blades off. (I think the normal way of glueing the 3 parts is wrong)

then hang the prop on later.

 

It spins if you blow it

Edited April 19, 2020 by It's a disease

[Dennis_C]

1 hour ago, It's a disease said:

the Airfix xix also comes out pretty good, I have no bad memories of that build, I wanted another box for another day but never got around to picking one up. You won’t notice the cockpit, it looks great on the shelf!

Agree, both three kits look easy for assembly. Tamiya is the easiest of course having excellent fit and few parts. Eduard is very nice although a bit over engineered but that is okay. Airfix is simplistic so mine will undergo some modifications with aftermarket and scratchbuild to be on par with Tamiya and Eduard. 

1 hour ago, It's a disease said:

 

i built my xix prop this way;

stick the pin into the fuselage and leave the spinner/blades off. (I think the normal way of glueing the 3 parts is wrong)

then hang the prop on later.

I think I will go a bit different direction which I tried earlier on other models. I plan to do a round plug into fuselage which I will drill to insert and fix from inside the propeller's pin. Than after I glue together fuselage, I will enlarge the propeller hole to fit my round plug. After all is painted and decorated I'll glue in the plug with propeller into fuselage. Should be careful with glue but worked earlier. 

Although I agree your approach is easier. I should try it on some other models in the future.

[Dennis_C]

Started assembly with the most challenging one - Airfix mk.XIX. 

 

Settled all the interior PE, put frame 11 on its place as well as pilot's seat. 

I decided to only paint brown the interior part of the seat. The Spitfire will be representing it's last years in service on the Far East so let's think that technicians painted over the plastic from outside. 

 

Frame 8 with instrument panel:

Added drops of Kristal Klear to each instrument and compass. 

 

Lastly I replaced original Airfix camera windows with flat transparencies. Airfix provided curved details which is obviously wrong and I did not like the fit of that piece anyway. 

Not sure whether windows are well seen on the photoes though.

 

That is it for now. Next would be to assemble remaining cockpit parts, install cameras and close the fuselage. 

 

Thanks for watching

Dennis

Edited April 26, 2020 by Dennis_C

[Dennis_C]

Some progress on my Mk.XIX. 

Closed the fuselage, also put together wings. Done some rough sanding already but more sanding job is still to be made. 

 

All is okay except for the questionable joint between wing and fuselage. Seems some plastic strips are needed here... 

 

No drama, but wonder why this happened. Dihedral is okay so it's just a fit issue caused by either larger tolerances of the kit or me just pressing the fuselage halves too firmly. 

 

That is all for now, bedtime

Thanks for watching!

 

Dennis

[Adam Poultney]

Ah a fellow Spitfire addict! Can never have enough.... Got I think eight finished and an actively working on two now....

I'll give this a follow

[Dennis_C]

8 hours ago, Adam Poultney said:

Ah a fellow Spitfire addict! Can never have enough.... Got I think eight finished and an actively working on two now....

I'll give this a follow

Hi Adam, can't say I'm a Spitfire addict, originally simply wanted to add a Spit to the collection.  But could not choose which one to build - BoB mk.I to join my early Hurricane and Defiant, or an Israeli one for the IDF collection, or a post-war machine - was always fascinated by 5-blade propellers. Plus there are lots of good kits including an excellent one by Eduard which I was tempted to try. So here I am

And I have strong plans for at least two more in the future: trop mk.V in desert camo and the last in the series Seafire mk.47 for Korean war. 

Edited April 30, 2020 by Dennis_C

[Dennis_C]

Some good progress is reached over the last week. Almost everything is pulled together - wings attached, resin rudder, stabilizers, ailerons fitted, oil cooler intakes are in place. Quite a bit of sanding is over, just some final efforts here and there remaining. Wing had some sink mark as indicated by putty at various places - this is unfortunately pretty common for Airfix moldings. 

 

As mentioned some final sanding, elevator and rudder trim tabs and canopy are remaining pieces.

 

A little question - what colour were the interiors of rear wheel well painted with? I guess this is either silver or PRU Blue... maybe some other thoughts?

 

Dennis

[Dennis_C]

Okay. Mk.XIX is pretty much done for painting. Rob Taurus vacform canopy is on. That is the second vacform canopy in my modeller's career. Fingers crossed no CA vapours whitening will appear inside. 

 

Phew. The most complex of the three is almost ready. In fact can't call it really difficult, more this were self-induced complications to improve OOB kit.

 

Next would be Eduard's mk.IX and Tamiya's would be the last to assemble as it seems easiest in construction so far. 

 

Dennis

[Dennis_C]

Spent some time this week on mk.IX cockpit painting and assembly. Not the simplest one as tolerances are narrow and PE pieces are fiddly. Had some bad experience with paint chopping off the prepainted bits even those that were not bent were affected. 

As always dropped some klear into instruments on the panel. 

Brush painted smaller details, gunsight. Hope brown colour is more or less correct for the plastic material that was used for the seat.  

Pedals and steering wheel are yet to be installed prior to fuselage assembly. 

 

So far cockpit turns out beautiful enough for the open canopy display  

 

 

[Dennis_C]

Couple day light shots. Also added stick and pedals, finished seat and gunsight with future to give them more glossy look. 

 

So next step is to close fuselage and pass onto full airframe assembly

[Dennis_C]

Hey everyone, 

 

Some progress with assembling Eduard's mk.IX. pulled together the airframe. Some smaller bits, wing tips, and canopy are still remaining to be done. 

 

A little filler was needed primarily to hide seams where no panel joints exist on real thing. 

 

Detailing is of course incredible. Just look at all this riveting and engraved and raised details....

 

However this level of surface quality creates a risk of screwing up the whole model by bad dryfitting or misalignment of parts. And tolerances are almost zero! Everything should be pulled together with surgeon's precision!!!

 

Some areas where I would recommend extra care:

Front engine cowling. This is a very delicate seam with details that you (well me for sure) will never ever be able to restore if filler is needed or parts are not matched perfectly requiring sanding. I'd recommend installing two cowling pieces separately which I did not do originally and had to redo to avoid pronounced step on the fuselage side. On the way I destroyed the nice mesh in the carburetor intake and had to just blank intake off with a piece of plastic. 

 

Seam between lower wing and fuselage. Unlike most Spitfire kits here the joint is not on the edge but rather a millimetre away from the edge on the upper side. If your fuselage turns out 0.5 mm wider than it should (because of not excellent cabin fit which is super tight!!!) - you're getting a step here that will require filler. My case too. 

 

Lastly there is the place that worked worst for me. Three pieces (fuselage halves and wing lower part) meet on the lower fuselage causing inevitable (for me again) steps. I tried to align fit everywhere else except for this place... I just sacrificed it to the Tamiya Putty god... Still need to work this a little bit out. 

 

Overall mixed impression so far. This is definitely a super kit with excellent details made up to XXI century technology. It's well engineered, fit is good and well thought through. However it's definitely not putting itself together. My hands become soft when my eyes see those tiny rivets... Dryfitting is very recommended not to spoil the surface quality. Dryfitting, patience, firm hands, modest glue application... the kit is not for the beginner for sure, but is definitely revolutionary. 

 

Dennis.

[Dennis_C]

Hi there

 

Seems done with assembling of mk.IX.

 

 

All pieces are attached. Canopy will stay open so door and sliding part to be attached later. Same for more obvious undercarriage, exhaust pipes, airscrew etc. 

 

As you can see I'm using transparent wing tips, also bought Master brass guns. Installing super tiny barrels into shorter fairings costed me some nerves!!!

 

Downside view

 

Closer study of references brought me to the thought that Israeli Spitfires LF.IX coming under Velveta operation should have had bomb racks installed. I did not drill holes upfront so now hoping I placed racks in the correct locations. 

 

Lastly here two Spits awaiting the third mk.I to move all together to the paint shop. 

 

 

Best wishes,

Dennis

[Dennis_C]

The third one reaches the assembly workshop. Progressed with the cockpit over the weekend. Ready for closing fuselage now:

The other side:

Yeah - the pilot put couple bricks under the seat to keep it on the proper level:

The guy hopes no one ever notices

 

Looks like earlier mk.Is had metal seat painted green. So did I.

 

While the kit itself is very good and builds up nicely - the canopy is a real disaster here. It is nicely molded with no seams, very transparent. But it distorts light so heavily that you literally see no interior. 

Just compare the Tamiya's piece

And vacformed canopy

 

Disaster...

Airfix crude piece of plastic from mk.XIX that is twice as thicker as this produces less distortion!

Stupid me ordered a Rob Taurus replacement for Airfix mk.xix but not for this. Luckily Rob Taurus gives you both open and closed options for mk.XIX. I utilised closed canopy for mk.XIX so I can reuse the movable part from opened canopy set for mk.I. front screen is not as horrible as it is flat. Same about rear piece. 

 

Okay. 20 minutes later:

 

Thanks for watching! Stay safe

 

Dennis

Edited June 24, 2020 by Dennis_C

[Dennis_C]

Hi All, 

After some distraction recently for other projects and time out of city I finally finished my Tamiya Spit. 

After deeper reading and watching BoB photos I understood that the right canopy for BoB Mk.I is actually raised but non-blown one. Which is not as distorted in Tamiya moulds as is blown canopy. 

Otherwise construction was fairly smooth and was quickly complete. 

Larger parts all had a very good fit. But small intake on the fuselage consisted of two parts that were barely matching each other and the wing surface - fairly annoying fitting and then sanding exercise.

 

All the three Spits are now ready for paint workshop.

 

All three are more or less enjoyable builds so far and should look great next to each other on the shelf some day!

 

Stay safe!

 

Dennis

Edited July 11, 2020 by Dennis_C

[Dennis_C]

Some general thoughts on the construction:

Tamiya is the simplest one. Jumps together okay. You need to make sure fuselage is not too wide after closing - internal bits fit is very tight. You may end up with wrong dihedral in case fuselage too wide for the assembled wing. 

Canopy is bad. Think about vac formed one. 

Shape is okay to me. In particular I really do not see how the wing is different to Airfix. Eduard's is a little narrower-chorded though. 

Eduard goes together very well too. But requires excellent dry fitting and careful glue application. Detail is so abundant and delicate that a beginner might easily destroy the beauty. Also there is much more pieces than in Tamiya kit so build is not as quick. 

Some parts in Eduard set required sanding seams remaining from moulds. Moulding quality is a bit inferior to Tamiya. 

Cockpit is super great and can be made with almost resin quality with only plastic parts. So a great choice for resin and PE haters. 

Airfix is typical Airfix of 10 years ago. Much less surface details. Acceptable fit. Transparencies are bad. Curved instead of flat ventral camera windows. Very thick canopy. Undercarriage is primitive so I'm going to use donation from Eduard. Cockpit is minimalistic so mine is 90% Eduard's PE. With all the perks added - PE, vacformed canopy, resin surfaces and exhausts - and I do not count undercarriage and wheels from Eduard - will be the most expensive of the three Spits, although the initial kit is indeed the cheapest. 

 

Hope this is helpful for any future Spit builders. 

 

Dennis 

[bigbadbadge]

Interesting comparison between the three kits and great work.  

All the best

Chris

[Dennis_C]

23 minutes ago, bigbadbadge said:

Interesting comparison between the three kits and great work.  

All the best

Chris

Hi Chris, 

Thanks for appreciation! The project stays very engaging for me. It allows for interesting comparisons of both different kits and Spitfire types. Also gives very good understanding of Spitfire evolution. 

Really happy I started this

Dennis