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Spitfire F.22 North Luffenham - Airfix 1/48


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My sister's birthday is in 10 days, what to buy for her? I have an idea, make her a model kit, the 1/48th Airfix Spitfire F.22/24. You will probably think I have lost my marbles however there is method in this madness (I hope).

 

Starting with the box art, this kit was originally released in 1996 and this looks like the 2004 'rebox':

 

49368261213_b712347acc_b.jpgSpit22004 by Ghostbase, on Flickr

 

The obligatory sprue shots, this was just prior to an application of Halfords grey primer:

 

49368261408_587f4d0644_b.jpgSpit22001 by Ghostbase, on Flickr

 

The kit has three decal versions available, I could adapt two of these depending which colour scheme I decide to finish the Spitfire in:

 

49368723966_1f017853ec_b.jpgSpit22003 by Ghostbase, on Flickr

 

So have started to detach the main parts from the sprues and cleaned them up, a few dry fits and this feels like a nice kit to build so far, have started to cement a few parts:

 

49368939017_da8becac9e_b.jpgSpit22002 by Ghostbase, on Flickr

 

Why build a kit for my sister? This is the reason why:

 

49368261168_94a47c7981_b.jpgSpitfire22PK328NLuffenham51DWB by Ghostbase, on Flickr

 

My father flew Hawker Tempests with 16 Squadron out of Fassberg in Germany 1946/47 then he went into the Royal Auxiliary Air Force when he demobbed and happily puttered about in Tiger Moths out of Rochester for a few years. By 1951 the Korean War was getting serious and the government decided to upgrade the piston engine pilots to jets and my father found himself at RAF North Luffenham with 102 FRS (Flying Refresher School) in September 1951. After an introduction on Harvards he found himself flying the Spitfire F.22 and I think the photo above shows how thrilled he was to finally fly the Spitfire. She is PK328 but I don't know her code. I do know that he flew PK431 coded M-41 which was in an aluminium finish and I hope to finish the kit in these markings.

 

My sister has a small display case dedicated to her dad and it already contains a Trumpeter De Havilland Vampire FB.5 which I built for her a few years ago and I think she will like a Spitfire F.22 too.

 

I have four days to build this kit!

 

Michael

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So much for building it in four days! Still, I got started. I think I must be the only Brit modeller over 60 who has never built a Spitfire, I have almost always built jets and compared to those this kit is so small and dainty. For a 24 year old kit the detail is good however I am having problems with where to fit the bulkheads in the cockpit and the instructions are a bit vague. I will probably cement the nose together first, add the instrument panel bulkhead, then add the rear bulkhead and cement the tail together. I have used an old pot of Humbrol 226 acrylic paint for the interior green and that didn't work too well! Onwards...

 

49399371932_8d12a5867a_o.jpg20200117_143248 by Michael, on Flickr

 

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4 hours ago, phildagreek said:

Keep going!

Keeping going, thank you! Might even have found my mojo. Seems that all the Spitfire 22/24 finished in aluminium had the same color wheel wells and undercarriage / door parts so I have completed the lower wings (apart from the radiators) and sprayed them with Halfords Aluminium rattle can spray, very happy with the result:

 

49401067507_9e160040a9_o.jpg20200117_212900 by Michael, on Flickr

 

I did manage to fit the cockpit instrument panel and bulkhead as I intended, maybe slightly off centre but can live with that. I also fitted the seat and rear bulkhead after taking this photo:

 

49400865781_94b3045a8f_o.jpg20200117_212932 by Michael, on Flickr

 

Michael

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Have done a little more work on the Spit 22 and she is starting to give some idea what she will look like when finished. Pretty well all the main parts have been cemented together and I have applied a coat of Halfords Aluminium from the spray can, this has gone on well and shown just a couple of small areas that might need filler however, overall, I am reasonably happy. So, on to the photos:-

 

49431218528_dfe28c27cc_o.jpg20200123_220625 (2) by Ghostbase, on Flickr

 

Just a little filler needed to seal the upper engine cover bulges...

 

49431218653_406736b74d_o.jpg20200123_220535 (2) by Ghostbase, on Flickr

 

The underside has gone together well, I did attach the radiators but they did not sit well so I have some sanding to do. The air intake under the nose needs sanding.

 

49431919827_3bde26c585_o.jpg20200123_220749 (2) by Ghostbase, on Flickr

 

This next photo reveals a problem, the Spit is not sitting level on her undercarriage legs. It looks worse than it is (thanks to a groove on the circular stand) but overall she is 4 mm out and also the legs should be slightly splayed outwards whereas I have attached them at 90 degrees. Corrective action needed 😥

 

49431919912_4b52f18a3e_o.jpg20200123_220602 (2) by Ghostbase, on Flickr

 

This last photo shows some of the few remaining parts to be attached.

 

49431919782_42bb3eca2f_o.jpg20200123_220941 (2) by Ghostbase, on Flickr

 

A few challenges to overcome but still motivated 👍

 

Michael

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Need to talk about guns. I believe that the Spitfire 22 has 4 x Hispano 20mm cannon however my dad did take a couple of photos which raise a question. These are a close-up of the photo I posted above, and one whilst in flight:-

 

49440585436_d0fcb5ee71_o.jpgNLuff005guns by Ghostbase, on Flickr

 

49440814697_c3160b7bd8_o.jpgNLuff009guns by Ghostbase, on Flickr

 

The First photo is of PK328 which had joined 102 FRS only 12 days earlier. The second is believed to be from PK431 / M41 on a cross-country to Llandudno.

 

So the question is, are the cannon capped or covered, or have they been removed? I suspect that they were removed. The purpose of 102 FRS was to assess and convert pilots onto jets and according to my dad's log book there was no air to air training or delivery of bombs / rockets. Would be interesting to know though. This really was the final Swan song of the Spitfire F Mk.22.

 

Just for comparison, photos below from the kit:

 

49441004722_88250304d6_o.jpg20200125_194625 by Ghostbase, on Flickr

 

49440305253_ac868df31b_o.jpg20200125_195459 by Ghostbase, on Flickr

 

Anyway, cut the barrels back and sand them to a smooth round end.

 

Michael

 

 

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31 minutes ago, Ghostbase said:

So the question is, are the cannon capped or covered, or have they been removed? I suspect that they were removed.

Cannons removed, front section of fairing removed and caps over the ends of the cannon fairings remaining on wing added by the look of it... I'll @gingerbob  here, as he's a good chap to ask.

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13 hours ago, Troy Smith said:

Cannons removed, front section of fairing removed and caps over the ends of the cannon fairings remaining on wing added by the look of it... I'll @gingerbob  here, as he's a good chap to ask.

 

12 hours ago, alt-92 said:

Looks like parts 68 to 71 should be appropriate after modification, the aft fairings are already staggered.

Thanks for the confirmation, is helpful to know that the cannons were removed. I wonder if the loss of weight made the F Mk.22 a bit of a hot rod? Anyway, to work...

 

Michael

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  • 2 weeks later...

Picked up this project today, this one is not going on the shelf of shame! I decided to get started on the decals and am applying all the markings common to an overall aluminium Spitfire in post-War Day Fighter Scheme. Fortunately the Airfix kit does have markings for a Spitfire operated by No.603 (City of Edinburgh) Squadron, Royal Auxiliary Air Force, Turnhouse, UK 1951. This is helpful because the Spitfire F.Mk 22's operated by 102 FRS were mainly hand-me-downs from the Auxiliary units and wore thir colour schemes.

 

Where have we got to?

 

49493412293_62fda91fcc_o.jpgIMGP3384 (2) by Ghostbase, on Flickr

 

49493412218_e8996d5bbe_o.jpgIMGP3385 (2) by Ghostbase, on Flickr

 

I have had to be careful with the Airfix decals and they did need some decal set to get them to attach but other than that they are going on fine. Now, back to 5th October 1951 and my father is flying Spitfire 22 M41/PK431 on an 11(11) 15,000' X/C Base-Llandudno-Malvern-Base, this consisted of 1.45 flight time. He took several photos from the cockpit (I think that makes him a naughty boy!) and one of these shows an aluminium coloured wing so I believe that PK431 was in aluminium finish.

 

49493909506_a0a20b8b39_o.jpgIMGP3387 (2) by Ghostbase, on Flickr

 

The next stage is to finish the Spit as PK431. The kit decals are for PK433 so those form a good base, just cut off the end 3 and replace it with a 1. Luckily I have an Extradecal set that can help:

 

49493909566_5012f32c71_o.jpgIMGP3386 (2) by Ghostbase, on Flickr

 

And it does help 😊

 

49494125647_1d85158506_o.jpgIMGP3383 (2) by Ghostbase, on Flickr

 

The 102 FRS Spitfires were a mixed bag of hand-me-downs, this really was the Spitfire 22 swansong, most were scrapped after their service in this hastily formed unit. As far as I can tell there were no unit markings other than the the M-xx codes. This was a camouflaged aircraft photographed by my father on another day:

 

49494081127_41888e6def_o.jpgnluff3 by Ghostbase, on Flickr

 

And a couple of aluminium finished Spitfires showing the large unit codes:

 

49494081017_29eb64ed00_o.jpgnluff4 by Ghostbase, on Flickr

 

Hoping to have this completed by this weekend 🤞

 

Michael

 

 

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