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In a fit of misguided Spitfire enthusiasm I bought the Special Hobby Mk.XII with V1.

 

SH48192

 

It's a bit late for me to start in this GB, and I've never made a 1/48 Spitfire. But I really fancy a wheels up Spitfire and V1 combination and I was impressed with the pilot!

 

SH48192_9

 

AFAIK this isn't a new tool and has a few accuracy issues. So I checked the fuselage against the 1/48 plan in the Valiant Wings book Part 2 - Griffon engined Spitfires. The kit fuselage was 8mm too long :blink:! Then I checked the scale of the plan - which is 1:50 :huh:.

 

Compared against the Scale Planes drawing by Fred Spring, which looks excellent but I have no real idea of how accurate it is, the kit is short in the fuselage by 1mm and the shape conforms quite well, certainly better than the Airfix Mk.XII. Panel lines are more restrained than Airfix with some interesting raised panels on the rear fuselage, maybe this is right?

 

Dscf2614

 

So, this will hopefully be a fairly rapid OOB build.

 

Any comments, tips etc - most welcome!

 

Cheers,

 

 

 

 

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OK, the obligatory sprue shots - 0% complete!

 

Dscf2617

 

The sky codes are fairly restrained in their colour, a bit bright for sky but not bad. I'm going to model MB882 EB-B, the much photographed Mk.XII. But according to the info in the very nice accompanying booklet, it did 125 sorties including 30 anti-diver patrols in 153 hours 20 minutes between 30 Dec 43 and 11 Sept 44. I wonder if it wore D-Day stripes?

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4 hours ago, Johnson said:

the kit is short in the fuselage by 1mm and the shape conforms quite well, certainly better than the Airfix Mk.XII. Panel lines are more restrained than Airfix with some interesting raised panels on the rear fuselage, maybe this is right?

IIRC the Spring drawings are suspect.

 

the SH kit is way ahead of the Airfix kit.

Main fault, slightly to short fuselage,  2.5-2.8 mm,  for the non obsessed, don't worry.  If it bugs you, a 1mm extension in front of the tail, and trickier, a 1.5 mm extension in the fuel tank in front of the cockpit, which also pushes the wing forward.  

The raised panels are trying to show the overlapping of the skinning. 

 

The Airfix kit is too deep along the fuselage, fin and rudder too high,  exhaust are too low, wing too broad in chord, and so too far back... prop blades are too narrow. trenchy panel lines.  separate flaps.

 

Most of these are reasonably easy to fix with 'some modelling skill' except for the prop blades, which are just easier to replace, except there are no replacements, I think blades for a Mk.XIV can be used with some adjustment. 

 

2 hours ago, Johnson said:

 

The sky codes are fairly restrained in their colour, a bit bright for sky but not bad.

Sky is a bright colour, it's a very pale green. 

2 hours ago, Johnson said:

 

I'm going to model MB882 EB-B, the much photographed Mk.XII. But according to the info in the very nice accompanying booklet, it did 125 sorties including 30 anti-diver patrols in 153 hours 20 minutes between 30 Dec 43 and 11 Sept 44. I wonder if it wore D-Day stripes?

EB-Z did,  One of the decal options

SPITXIIDDAY.jpg&key=53de8dc9d82c27a8f9df

 

see

https://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/53232-spitfire-mk-xii-no-41-squadron-with-d-day-stripes/

 

the thin stripes were a 10 Group oddity, as the link explains.

 

HTH

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17 hours ago, Troy Smith said:

the SH kit is way ahead of the Airfix kit.

Thanks Troy, you have put my mind at rest. When I put the SH fuselage on the plan in the book I thought I'd bought a real lemon, until I realised the plan was the wrong scale!

 

I scanned the plan and printed it out at the correct size for 1/48 and the fit was much improved, but far from perfect. Here's the SH Mk.XII fuselage on the Fred Spring plan and the R.J. Caruana plan from the Valiant Wings book at the bottom.

 

Dscf2623 comb 2

 

The kit fuselage and wing fits the Fred Spring plan better, but which is correct I couldn't say.

 

18 hours ago, Troy Smith said:

Most of these are reasonably easy to fix with 'some modelling skill' except for the prop blades, which are just easier to replace, except there are no replacements, I think blades for a Mk.XIV can be used with some adjustment. 

 

Interesting what you say about the prop blades as the blades in the Airfix kit appear more like those used on the Mk.XII than the SH blades which are very brutal Mk.XIV looking. Having said that I have a dim recollection that I've seen a photo of a Mk.XII with blades similar to the SH ones, out with the reference books.

 

Dscf2627

Airfix 1/48 Mk.XII                                                                                                         Special Hobby 1/48 Mk.XII

 

 

EB-B MB882_3

 

And while on the subject of this photo of MB882, have you seen the colour version? I used a link here to avoid any copyright complications. I realise that its been 'colourised', but its a lovely rendition and does help bring out the detail.

 

Cheers,

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On 17/06/2020 at 16:33, Johnson said:

the R.J. Caruana plan

:hanging:

 

Sorry, he produces masses of material,  and he's certainly quantity not quality.  Not to be trusted, without supporting data...

 

The prop blades comparison is very interesting.  I'd used photos from here 

12EN224-06-001.jpg

But re-reading the link

https://www.key.aero/forum/historic-aviation/91549-spitfire-mk-12-en224-2009-thread-revisited

they are from a Seafire XVII. 

 

So, perhaps the Airfix blades are not that bad, but I still think they are a bit narrow,  but seems further study required! 

 

HTH

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21 hours ago, Troy Smith said:

but I still think they are a bit narrow

I'm inclined to agree. I'll re-profile the SH blades slightly.

 

13 hours ago, TEMPESTMK5 said:

Nice to see a MkXII in this Gb

Thanks Patrice!!

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Nice choice :) have gotten myself this one as well, but I'm going for a Dutch Diver hunter.
MB880/ EB-X, P/O van Goens, also 41 Sqn.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Sorry about the lack of progress folks, lots of reality and most of all a new pup getting in the way. But finally finished the cockpit with F/O Smith at the controls.

 

Dscf2633

 

No gun-sight yet as it would only get knocked off. Also missing are the rudder pedals which I did fit but obviously weren't going to work and have the Donald's flying boots as well, so he'll have to fly without a rudder. Scratch built and added (yes, I know, I said it would be OOB) are the radio control box and the supercharger control which is hidden behind the pilot's arm. Getting the RAF uniform blue right was a bit of a nightmare, it looks lighter in the photo than real life, but I will tone down the brighter bits a tad (not that anyone will ever see them again!) Got to thank Bill @Bill Livingston for suggesting the Optivisor which I can highly recommend, especially if you have older eyes like me.

 

And now I can close up the fuselage and get a move on, though finishing within the GB time frame looks pretty doubtful.

 

 

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38 minutes ago, Steve 1602 said:

The pilot looks excellent and that head angle makes it look far mor realistic than the normal ‘eyes front, hands on lap’ figures.

Thanks Steve. TBH I think he looks better than the photo portrays. He's looking at the V1 on his starboard side. I've done a trial fit with the fuselage closed and the canopy (which is a bit narrow anyway) on and its all very tight! His nose will be up against the perspex.  But it might have been like that.

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The nice thing about making a model of MB882 / EB*B is that it was probably one of the most photographed Spitfires during WW2. Good for getting the markings and details correct, but it also highlights the bits of the kit that differ from the real thing.

 

A lovely view of the underside (look at all that weathering - gulp! :blink:)

 

EB-B MB882_9e

 

The pic shows that the gun blisters on the bottom of the kit's wing are too large and for the outer cannon shouldn't be there at all. I could try to modify them but probably easier to remove them and add new ones. The outer cannon shell ejection slot needs filling.

 

Dscf2649

 

Now the cockpit's finished I can close up the fuselage. The fit isn't the best and the thickness of plastic isn't great, so I've added some tabs that will strengthen the join and help align the two halves;

 

Dscf2648

 

I've done the same at the wing roots as although the fit seems reasonable, the plastic is very thin.

 

Back soon I hope (dog willing).

 

Cheers,

 

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New cannon and MG blisters on the underside;

 

Dscf2650

 

I cut .0040" plasticard to shape and very carefully sanded to shape once the glue was fully dried.

 

The fuselage is all joined up, wings on next.

 

Thanks for looking. Any thoughts, criticisms and suggestions gladly accepted - before it's all too late!

 

Cheers,

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Fitting the wings. Not easy, in fact a bit of a nightmare. The mating surface between the top wing and the fuselage is less than a millimetre and there's nothing, no tabs or pins, to ensure they aligned along their length. The tabs I'd put in place were no help, wrong angle and interfered with the wheel wells, so they had to go. So it was a matter of gluing a section at a time and clamping;

 

Dscf2652

Modern modelling isn't supposed to be like this :(

 

Dscf2653

Still a gap :o (sorry about the photo, it just wouldn't focus!)

 

Dscf2658

Yes, that my Leatherman held by elastic bands! :blink2:

 

Dscf2663

:mental:

 

Dscf2665

But got there in the end! :)

 

Quite a bit of clean up to do. The amount of Tamiya super thin needed to hold everything in place did spread a bit. And some minor filling, but not too much, Should get the primer on soon.

 

Ho-hum. I keeps saying to myself;

'Why am I not building one of the nice Eduard kits in the stash?'... 

'Why am I not building one of the nice Eduard kits in the stash?'... 

'Why am I not building one of the nice Eduard kits in the stash?'... :banghead:

Back soon.

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That’s not looking like a relaxing build Charlie, but it’s a great mark of Spitfire to have in the collection and neatly spans the transition between Merlin and later Griffon engined Spits.

 

I’d certainly like to add one at some point, so it’s good to watch your build and understand some of the challenges!

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On 7/10/2020 at 9:41 AM, Johnson said:

'Why am I not building one of the nice Eduard kits in the stash?'... :banghead:

'Cos they don't have a XII, that's why!

/runs

 

But seriously, good work there, even if it's with heavy-duty tools used ;)

 

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On 7/9/2020 at 10:46 AM, Johnson said:

New cannon and MG blisters on the underside;

 

Dscf2650

 

I cut .0040" plasticard to shape and very carefully sanded to shape once the glue was fully dried.

 

The fuselage is all joined up, wings on next.

 

Thanks for looking. Any thoughts, criticisms and suggestions gladly accepted - before it's all too late!

 

Cheers,

I was pondering how to make cannon blisters for a Mk II Hurricane, thank you!

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