Supermarine Type 300, CMR kit 1/72nd scale

[Mr T]

The photos of the kit box and contents are in this post https://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/235070764-spitfire-prototype-cmr-and-spitfire-prif-airfixairkit-172nd-scale/

as TempestV asked me to separate my builds which is fair enough.

limited progress has been made as I am trying to finish my Mach2  Avro York for the Lancaster Group Build. So far I have cleaned most of the parts up and primed them and made a start on the cockpit using the photo etch instrument panel and seat belts and they seemed to fit well. I bought some of the Mig Ammo Ultra Glue for photoetch and clear parts and I am quite pleased with it. It is a bit like Rocket Glue n' Glaze, but thicker and higher grab. The fuselage halves had a bit of an issue as they were warped, but have responded well to being attached to a steel rule with elastic bands and dunked in hot water for a couple of minutes. After much reading the interior colour is some Vallejo model Air 'Eau de Nil' 71009, supposedly matched to BS216. There seems to be a very similar colour in their 'standard' range  named 70974 'Green Sky'

The photo shows the interior parts before I added the seat belts last night. 

I hopefully will get on with this a bit more this week as most of the cupboards in the house have been cleaned out and the conservatory has been cleaned inside and out.

[Johnson]

Nice start Mr T.

[Mr T]

Fuselage together now after a bit of a struggle. The fuselage halves were warped, which was sorted, but they are quite thin and flexible and it was an effort to get the halves to line up. I ended up doing a small section at as time and used cyanoacrylate and an accelerator. it is going to need some  filling which will be done once the wing is in place using Miliput which sticks to resin better than most fillers.

Speaking of which here is a trial fit of the wing to the fuselage and which will need some work to get a decent fit

Till the next time, thanks for looking.

[Johnson]

That looks pretty good Mr T.

 

I will probably be doing fuselage much the same way as you have. Good luck with the wings!

 

 

[Mr T]

The wing looks good, but I am not sure what the issue is. I think the leading edge is too thick where it crosses the fuselage and the wing fuselage fillet does want to stay in one place. 

[Johnson]

I had to trim front and back of the wing / lower fuselage, underneath where they join the two fuselage halves to get the wing to fit in the gap. Once it was in, a bit of cautious sanding of the wing roots to get a decent wing - fuselage join and the correct dihedral. But that was just a dry-fit trial, I haven't glued anything yet!

 

28 minutes ago, Mr T said:

the wing fuselage fillet does want to stay in one place. 

 

I had the same on my trial fit. When it comes to fixing I may have to glue a section at a time.

Edited April 22, 2020 by Johnson
More stuff

[Mr T]

The fuselage on my kit leaves a gap at the wing roots. I know I have not taken anything of the fuselage halves and so I assume it is down to shrinkage. I am going to try a canopy to make sure it fits before going any further. You get four in my version, two of the original and two when the windscreen was modified. 

[Mr T]

Wings and tail on the Spitfire now and not  without incident as well. There must be some warping on the wing and fuselage on this kit as it was difficult to fit the wings neatly and in the end I attached the wing  in stages after  a fair bit of sanding etc. Miliput has been used on the joints as it seems to stick better to resin and gives a bit of support. The tailplanes are interesting in that the starboard side is  relatively trouble free, but the part side location tab is too far forward and so the tailplane is too far forward by about 5mm. A bit of trimming sorts it out, but an odd misstep. Getting there and some odds and ends painted up. 

[Cookenbacher]

You resin builders are very brave in my eyes. Looks like it's well worth it though, that's looking great Mr T.

[Mr T]

QThanks for the comments and it is very much appreciated. I have kind of fell into resin kits without thinking about them. I do occasionally build vacform as well. I am going to participate in the rotorcraft group build with a Dragonfly and Alouette II that are resin, vacform and etch. I am a glutton for punishment. 

[Mr T]

More work done on the Spitfire prototype. Airframe mostly cleaned up and Radiator etc added under the wing. A bit of a set back when the seat fell out and disappeared. I made a new up out of a spare etc i found and lo and behold the original showed up. Stuck it back in with some Miliput to increase mating area. The canopy has proved to be a major hassle. OK so it is a vacform and not expecting miracles, but I just could not get it to fit. I think the fact that i had to dewarp the fuselage has done something to the cockpit dimensions as the vacform canopy is too narrow. After much cursing, i have used the early canopy out of the Airfix Va kit. Fits alright with some fettling. I have removed the heavy framing on the windscreen as this was not fitted to the prototype until later. just needs a polish and it can go on. One thing I have leathern about K5054 is that bits on it changed all the time as the airframe was refined. The odd bits of painting are just to see how my colouring matching to my painted out sample of an old Compucolour Supermarine Seaplane Grey. The photo looks only vaguely like the colour on the model.

Until the next time.

[Johnson]

2 hours ago, Mr T said:

One thing I have leathern about K5054 is that bits on it changed all the time as the airframe was refined.

I found the same Mr T. The early prototype I'm making had different engine cowlings. The kit is better suited to your representation despite what it said on my box (First Flight...).

 

The CMR canopies obviously aren't much cop, mine turned a nasty shade of yellow whilst being stored in the box.

[Mr T]

I think part of the problem with my canopies is that they are very thin and may have been distorted from the mould. I do not know about yours, but the carburettor intake shown on the kit instructions is not much like the one in the kit. The instructions show one that is like the production type, but photos show one much more the one in the kit early in the life of K5054. I am a little disappointed in some aspects of this kit. I wonder if the moulds and masters are getting a little tired?

 

[Johnson]

8 hours ago, Mr T said:

I wonder if the moulds and masters are getting a little tired?

That may well be the problem. I got my kit when they first came out and I was pleasantly surprised by the fit which was generally pretty good. You seem to have had more fit problems than I did, and I notice that your kit is moulded in a different resin. Still, looks OK now, hope the rest goes well.

 

10 hours ago, Mr T said:

the carburettor intake shown on the kit instructions is not much like the one in the kit. The instructions show one that is like the production type, but photos show one much more the one in the kit early in the life of K5054.

According to Alfred Price's The Spitfire Story 'the carburettor was lowered slightly to increase the ram air pressure' on 10th April 1936, the same day that the rudder was altered. The intake on your kit is certainly very different (lower) to the one on mine, so it would seem that CMR did their research and got it right.

[Mr T]

Yes, after I posted I went back to the same book. As with all prototypes, the Spitfire underwent a lot of changes in its lifetime and sorting them out is not always easy, especially as some may have been shortlived and possibly the documentation has not survived. 

[Mr T]

Modified Airfix canopy fitted, it needed some work to fit around the windscreen, but it has gone on better than the vacform one was ever likely to. Mixed some Vallejo paints to much my DBI DB34 Supermarine Seaplane Grey that has sat around since heaven knows when. I painted a wing of an old model to get a dry colour for the match and my, did it smell!. I wonder how I put up with it even with face masks etc.  Brush painted the kit after priming as I was surprised how well it brushed on the test pieces, Gloss varnished and decals on. The colour might not be exactly right (Will we ever really know?), but it has a nice thirties look to it and would have stood out amongst all the 'silver' aeroplanes at the RAF Pageant  in 1936. 

[Johnson]

Very nice, and a good save with the canopy!

[Mr T]

The parent of all the Spitfires has now been finished and in the gallery. I finished last week, but forgot to put a message on the build posting. 🙄