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1:32 Tamiya Spitfire Mk.IXc


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So while I’m trying to work out how to add the plumbing to the other side of the fuselage I decided to finish off the instrument panel bulkhead and control column sub-assembly.

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When I make another 1/32 Tamiya Spitfire I’ll remove the securing band for the 3 copper wires and attache them in one piece. Also I’ll replace the Tamiya IP decals with the Barracuda ones to get rid of the blue artificial horizon.

As a by-the-by I’ve decided not to use the Yahu version, to my eyes it looks a little too flat.

 

I had to dry-fit the IP and port fuselage sub-assemblies placed on the cockpit “floor frame”.

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The starboard fuselage plumbing will be next, once I work out what I need to do.

 

until next time

as always, any suggestions, criticisms or comments will be gratefully received.

rgds

John(shortCummins)

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What a beautiful build of a beautiful kit of a beautiful machine! I'm going to follow your work, I'm very impressed!

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23 hours ago, bigbadbadge said:

Looking lovely, it will be very impressive when mounted in the fuselage.

Great work

All the best

Chris

 

20 hours ago, (ex)Sgtrafman said:

Hey John

 

As Chris has said it will look ace when it’s completed and mounted in the fuselage, keep up the good work sir.

 

cheers

 

Iain

 

17 hours ago, Jur said:

What a beautiful build of a beautiful kit of a beautiful machine! I'm going to follow your work, I'm very impressed!

 

10 hours ago, Dunny said:

Coming along nicely John - I'm still hovering nervously over the box for this one...

thanks guys, I'm taking my time with this as I'm really enjoying the whole process, its a fantastic kit and I know that I'll be building the Mk.VIII, love the shark mouth Grey Nurse, and probably the Mk.XVI 

 

rgds

John(shortCummins)

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  • 2 years later...

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Having turned slightly green with envy looking at KiwiBob’s Kotare Mk1a Spitfire build…

…the Kotare kit looks wonderful and Bob’s doing a first rate job making me want to get one and build it! However, I can’t really justify spending around £100 on a new 32nd Spitfire while I’ve still got my Tamiya, also an outstanding kit, sitting on the shelf. So I’ve cleaned off the cobwebs, blown off the dust and made a promise (at least to myself as I've not mentioned it to the wife 😜) that I can buy the Kotare once this one is finished, it'll also give me time to save up some pennies.

 

June 2020, nearly 3 years ago, that was the last time this build was on my desk!, where does the time go?

 

I was trying to work out why I kept ignoring this fabulous kit and I think that it was because I was so disappointed with the instrument panel, the blue just looks so wrong.

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So, I had bought a Yahu IP and had previously decided not to use it as it was a little less 3D than the kit version, however as I really can’t live with the blue artificial horizon I chiseled off the offending kit version and replaced it with the Yahu one…

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I’m so much happier with how the IP looks so now I can “pull my finger out”, work out what I was going to do with the starboard side of the cockpit and get on with it.

 

 

Next I’ll be continuing with the cockpit…

 

until next time

as always, any suggestions, criticisms or comments will be gratefully received.

rgds

John(shortCummins)

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Ooooooo good to see this one on the go John, the yahu sets are very nice. Used one on my 32nd Sea Hurricane and really pleased with it. Will have to get one for my Tamiya Spitfire too.

IP and frame looks fantastic.

Chris

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20 hours ago, bigbadbadge said:

Ooooooo good to see this one on the go John, the yahu sets are very nice. Used one on my 32nd Sea Hurricane and really pleased with it. Will have to get one for my Tamiya Spitfire too.

IP and frame looks fantastic.

Chris

 

3 hours ago, Biggles87 said:

Good to see this one back John.

I’m a big fan of Yahu IPs ( I might have said that before ) and use them whenever  I can, especially in 1/32 scale where you can actually read the numbers on the dials.

 

John

 

2 hours ago, 81-er said:

it's good to see this one picked back up again, John :)

 

James

thanks chaps

 

having looked at the kit again really don't understand why it took me so long to pick it up again?

 

rgds

John(shortCummins)

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For the plumbing for the starboard side of the cockpit frame I’ve used Barracuda’s resin as a guide as well as several reference photos, mainly for the “colour” of the pipes.

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Once again small holes were drilled into the plastic to help secure the wires…

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…plastic sheathing was stripped from some wire and then threaded onto the “plumbing” to act as a junction…

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…the pipes were then painted with vallejo 70.801 brass and the junction with mig steel.

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The final kit pieces were attached with the exception of the landing gear controls which will be attached once I’ve worked out the required length of the pipes.

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I also nailed the remaining pieces on the port framework.

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Next I’ll be looking at the seat and HGW harness.

 

until next time

as always, any suggestions, criticisms or comments will be gratefully received.

rgds

John(shortCummins)

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The sidewalls are looking great John like the extra wiring looks good and the idea for the junction is inspired. 

Will have to see how you get on with the HGW belts as got a set too although not looking forward to that bit!!!.

Great job

Chris

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You may be interested to learn?, that until May 1940 Spitfire seats were aluminium. After that a new material, SRPB – Synthetic Resin Bonded Paper – known as ‘the plastic seat’, one of the first synthetic composites, was put into use. Its official designation was Mod 189: “To introduce plastic seat as alternative design to assist production and provide alternative manufacture”

 

Information taken from the flyaspitfire.com website.

https://flyaspitfire.com/are-you-sitting-comfortably

 

The seat had previously been given a coat of vallejo matt varnish and then some ‘oil work’ was done with Abteilung ABT010 yellow and ABT165 faded white.

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The HGW harness was assembled and nailed in place…

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…lap belts and “bottom” strap of the shoulder harness attached to the back and sides of the seat…

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…PE armoured plate fixed to the rear of the seat…

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…"head" PE armoured plate fixed to the cockpit frame…

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…seat supports glued in place…

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…and attached to the frame…

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…shoulder harness threaded through the top armoured plate and then the straps folded and fixed to the seat.

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the HGW harness was very, very fiddly to put together however I think their worth it and if you take your time you'll get a half decent result

 

 

Next I’ll be assembling the cockpit…

until next time

as always, any suggestions, criticisms or comments will be gratefully received.

rgds

John(shortCummins)

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The harness does look fiddly even from the photos, but it looks absolutely amazing once it's in place

 

James

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Nice job on the harness John looks great, although not sure if will use or go for an Eduard PE set as used one on my Sea Hurricane and really pleased with the result.

Looking forward to seeing the cockpit go together.

Chris

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10 hours ago, 81-er said:

The harness does look fiddly even from the photos, but it looks absolutely amazing once it's in place

 

James

thanks James

 

it was very fiddly, I made it in several "sittings" of half an hour at a time, the most difficult was threading the buckles which required two sets of tweezers and a couple of anglo Saxon phrases!

luckily none of the PE pinged away!

 

10 hours ago, Keeff said:

That harness is superb .... as are all the other details you're adding 👌

 

Keith 😁 

thanks Keith

 

I used a fair amount of "artistic licence" for the plumbing as I half a dozen reference photos that show different pipework as well as different coloured pipes some aluminium/silver, black, cockpit green and brass/copper, these pipes could have been replaced during restoration?

 

9 hours ago, bigbadbadge said:

Nice job on the harness John looks great, although not sure if will use or go for an Eduard PE set as used one on my Sea Hurricane and really pleased with the result.

Looking forward to seeing the cockpit go together.

Chris

thanks Chris

 

my only issue with PE harness is getting them to look "rumpled", they tend to be too straight? having said that, in my opinion, once they've been added either type "lifts" the look of the cockpit and are worth the cross eyes and breath holding required to put them together.

 

I read somewhere, not sure where as its not on either the packet or instructions?, that CA shouldn't be used on the "fabric" only PVA. I used the mig PVA, which is very good as its quite "thick" and "grabs" quickly but takes a while to set giving reasonable time to position the part. This created its own "issue" with the paper/fabric as it is quite springy so I had to fold the piece, hold it in place with tweezers and use a clothes peg to keep the tweezers clamped on the fabric, after 5 minutes or so I could remove the tweezers and fix the other side of the fabric using the same method.

 

looking at the photos I think the fabric is a little too clean? so I think I'll use some heavily diluted brown ink to give a little "life" to them and make them look used rather than brand new.

 

rgds

John(shortCummins)

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The plumbing for the landing gear control(s) caused a bit of a quandary as it really could only be fitted after the sidewall frame was attached to the instrument panel bulkhead frame.

I used these reference photos, found on the internet, to give me some idea of how the pipes should look…

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…the second photo appears to show the pipes as black?, or they could be dirty? anyhow I’ve opted for the pipes being a mix of brass and black, I’m not sure if they’ll be seen once the cockpit is closed?

Also notice how the control housing is grey green or black in each photo, this could be either due to a different type, MkI MkV MkIX etc, where it was built or, more likely, changed during restoration?

 

I drilled some holes to accept the wires and temporally fitted the side wall and IP frame to the “floor” so that I could work out the lengths of wire needed…

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…these were then fixed to the control box and bent to shape…

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Before I can fix the sidewall frames to the subassembly floor I need to fix the rear cockpit frames to the floor, before I did that to try and make them look a little “used” I gave the seat harness a touch of very diluted Liquitex acrylic ink transparent burnt umber, approx 99% water 1% ink.

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I could then fix the sidewall fames to the cockpit subassembly…

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Next I’ll be adding the final touches to the cockpit.

 

until next time

as always, any suggestions, criticisms or comments will be gratefully received.

rgds

John(shortCummins)

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On 02/04/2023 at 20:26, 81-er said:

That looks really, really smart, John! Excellent work with the plumbing :)

 

James

thanks James

 

hopefully quite a bit of it will be seen once the fuselage is closed.

 

rgds

John(shortCummins)

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Many moons ago @Biggles87 (John) suggested that the Barracuda resin cockpit “enhancements” were worth looking at and I plumped for their BR32003 cockpit upgrade set. However I’m only going to use the oxygen hose and “OXYGEN” decal.

 

The Barracuda decal was applied to the oxygen tank…

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…and then the straps were repainted vallejo 71.305 interior grey green

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My reference photos show the oxygen hose either a pinkish brown or khaki brown so after a primer I gave the Barracuda hose a coat of vallejo 70.819 Iraqi sand and then a wash of Tamiya brown panel liner.

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The voltage adjuster and altitude switch were fitted to the rear of the seat frame (I hadn’t forgotten these honest) as well as the oxygen bottle…

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… the hose was then attached to the frame and oxygen bottle.

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“spare” gunsight bulbs were glued to the fuselage wall.

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The reflector gunsight was painted with vallejo 70.995 German grey, 71.305 interior grey green and 71.034 sand brown…

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…the reflector glass was edged in vallejo 70.937 transparent yellow, this gives the glass a slight yellow hue…

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…attached to the IP…

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This is how it looks against the fuselage side.

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Next I’ll be closing the fuselage and dealing with the rudder, elevators and horizontal stabilisers…

until next time

as always, any suggestions, criticisms or comments will be gratefully received.

rgds

John(shortCummins)

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2 hours ago, Biggles87 said:

Looking good, well very good actually.

Glad you were pleased with the Barracuda bits, I think a splash of colour and some placards make all the difference, especially in the larger scales.

Cheers

 

John

 

thanks John

 

I agree, my favourite bit is the OXYGEN decal, it really adds something special, thanks again for the tip 👍

 

rgds

John(shortCummins)

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