1/48 Spitfire MkI 54 Sqn Hornchurch - Colin Gray ***FINISHED***

[Steve 1602]

Kit: Tamiya 1/48 Spitfire I

Decals: Victory Productions “Aces of the Empire”

 

Here’s my entry for the group build
 

The subject is Spitfire I R6893 “KL-T” 54 Sqn, based at Hornchurch in Summer 1940. This aircraft was regularly flown by Pilot Officer Colin Gray and he recorded a number of kills whilst flying this aircraft.

 

First, the box and sprues

 

 

 

And the profile from Victory Productions 

 

 

[Stew Dapple]

Nice choice Steve, Colin Gray and Al Deere of 54 Squadron were a pair of great Kiwi heroes  

 

Cheers,

 

Stew

[Steve 1602]

 

3 hours ago, Stew Dapple said:

Nice choice Steve, Colin Gray and Al Deere of 54 Squadron were a pair of great Kiwi heroes  

 

Cheers,

 

Stew

Thanks Stew. I am looking forwards to building this one; I considered Al Deere’s Kiwi, but that seem to be covered far more regularly than Gray’s machine.

 

I’m always humbled when I think of these young men from across the Commonwealth who defended the skies over Britain during that Summer. The New Zealand contribution stands out in particular with the high number of aircrew involved in the Battle from such a small and geographically distant country.
 

Steve

[Valkyrie]

Looking forward to seeing this, you do make a good Spitfire Steve, enjoy..

[Steve 1602]

Well, a start is a start. I’ve been searching through for 54 Sqn Spitfire photos to get an idea of typical aircraft Condition and code letter placement etc over the BoB period - perhaps not surprisingly there’s not a huge amount out there (at least not obviously in open source). Nonetheless I’ve found some useful reference photos which should help me. 
 

I have also downloaded some combat reports, operations summaries and Squadron operational records book for the BoB period. They were certainly busy...!

 

I’ve washed the sprues and am ready to make a start - I thought I should post some pics to serve two purposes:

1. It makes me think I’m making progress.

2. They may be of interest to others considering buying this kit.

 

So, sprue A Including headless pilot!

 

Sprue B with the fuselage and the curious cut-outs which Tamiya has employed 

Sprues C and D With the transparencies (I’m not looking forwards to attaching the separate armoured glass)

Sprue G - the wings (I’m assuming that Sprue E and F will be wings for other marks of Spit in due course)
 

 

And the photoetch

For those of a non-PE persuasion, these don’t appear to be alternative parts - its PE or nothing. There also doesn’t  appear to be any seat or head armour which should be fitted to KL-T so I’ll  need to raid the spares box or scratch from plastic card.

 

Overall, first impressions are very positive and I’m looking forwards to getting started! 
 

For added inspiration, this arrived today (For the princely sum of £2.50 delivered). It is secondhand but the spine doesn’t look as if its been opened. 
 

“Rabbit Squadron, Tally Ho, Tally Ho Red Section. We’ll take the rear starboard, yellow you take the port”

 

[Ralph]

Am very interested in this, as am going to do his plane in 1/72 as part of my Hardest Day themed builds as well! Great book!

Anyway, something I have been trying to confirm once and for all is whether the KLT Gray flew in the BoB had the blunt Rotol spinner rather than the conventional De Havilland one. 54 sqn was equipped with Rotol Variable Pitch props late in 1939 as part of field trials, and another batch of similarly equipped machines were delivered in July 1940. The only KLT pic I have found does indeed have this Rotol prop, but the markings indicate a time a bit before before the start of the Battle of Britain, and R6893 wasn't delivered until July. 

However, R6893 doesn't appear in this list of these Rotol equipped Mk1s.

 

https://www.key.aero/forum/historic-aviation/89374-spitfire-mk-i-ii-and-iia-s-prop-fittings?page=1

 

However, I now am wondering (and have in fact just about convinced myself) if the code R6993 on that list might be a misprint/typo for R6893? Checking the Airhistory spitfire serial website shows that R6993 didn't serve with 54sqn (or indeed 609sqn noted on the link above) but R6893 did, and all of the other serials on that list tie in to 54sqn and  609 sqns as per the author's indications in the forum link above. It might very well be that you need to source a blunt Rotol prop to accurately portray Gray's Spitfire...at least it's the way I am going to do mine. 

Cheers, Ralph

Edited July 14, 2020 by Ralph

[Graham Boak]

IIRC, the first Spitfires with Rotol Props had magnesium blades not the broad root wooden ones.  I have not seen any pics showing the shape or the spinner.

[Steve 1602]

Thanks @Ralph that’s something to ponder. I had assumed a DH prop for this and I may stick with that. Looking at the list of serials at the link, all of the Spits listed were first flown from 18 Jul onwards, whereas R6893 was first flown on 4 Jul and on strength at 54 Sqn by  9 Jul. it would seem to be a bit of an outlier for that batch of rotol Spits. 
 

If only there was a photo 🙄

[Troy Smith]

2 hours ago, Graham Boak said:

IIRC, the first Spitfires with Rotol Props had magnesium blades not the broad root wooden ones.  I have not seen any pics showing the shape or the spinner.

 

see also

https://www.key.aero/forum/historic-aviation/89374-spitfire-mk-i-ii-and-iia-s-prop-fittings

 

Quote

54 Squadron;’s ORB contains the following entries.

1st November 1939. A new type of “Spitfire” fitted with a “Rotol” constant speed airscrew was collected by Squadron Leader OO ZENS who began to carry out intensive flying and reliability trials with this aircraft.

10th December 1939. The squadron commenced to reequip with Rotol Spitfires. Six new aircraft being flown from No 9 MU Cosford by pilots of the squadron.

19th December 1939. One Rotol Spitfire was collected from No 6 MU Brize Norton.

21st December 1939. One Rotol Spitfire was collected from No 6 MU Brize Norton and a second one from No 27 MU Shawbury.

29th December 1939. “B” Flight reequipped with Rotol Spitfires.

In December 1939 No. 54 Squadron recorded the delivery of the following “Rotol Spitfires”: N3097, N3103, N3104, N3110, N3111, N3122, N3124, N3130, N3160, N3172, N3174, N3176, N3183, N3185, N3187, N3188. In January 1940 N3180 and N3184 were also taken on charge and the old Spitfires sent to No. 152 Squadron.

I did not compile the list so I cannot confirm the veracity of it. I have seen the pages from the ORB and the quotes are accurate.

 

I'll stick a @gingerbob  in as he posted in the linked BM thread

 

[Steve 1602]

I should have started to do this from the start of the group build, but better late than never - I'll try to add the daily summary of activity for 54 Sqn each day to this thread. I'll catch up on yesterday's entry as the start point as Colin Gray was in combat:

 

13 July 1940 - 1410 - The whole squadron and later separate sections were on convoy patrol for nearly four hours.

13 July 1940 - 1714 - New Zealand to the fore again! This time in the person of P/O Gray. Three sections were patrolling Manston when seasoned Blue section (F/Lt. Way, P/O. Gray and Sgt. Nowell - all survivors of Dunkirk) were sighted by two Me.109's. Better prepared than the earlier and less fortunate Green section of the Squadron, the tables were turned on the 109's, chasing them at sea level almost to the French coast. P/O. Gray shot down one which crashed into the sea (confirmed by 56 Squadron). F/Lt. Way was unfortunate for the 109 he was chasing escaped.

The Squadron score now stands at:

(a) e/a certain casualties.  39

(b) e/a probable casualties.  21

(c) our own pilots missing or killed.  6

(d) our own a/c lost whilst engaging the enemy.  13

The Squadron is receiving a great deal of 'delayed action' publicity for the epic Calais-Marck. An article in "Life" (June 24th), "I fought in the sky over Dunkirk" by an R.A.F. Squadron Leader (S/L Leathart) was followed by a commentary in the Daily Mirror and now Phillips and Powis display an extract of the account in a full page advertisement for 'Master' aircraft.

13 Jul 1940 - 2100 - The day's work concluded with the Squadron investigating an enemy air raid en route for Rochford. No results were obtained. Sgt. Davis and Sgt. Gibbing were posted to the Squadron.

 

14 July 1940 - 0845 - Convoy patrols were again the order of the day. 5 Sections patrolled three convoys for a total of five hours.

[Steve 1602]

54 Squadron Diary:

15 July 1940 - 0400 - An early start was made on convoy patrols. By 0900 Hours six sections had been on patrol but without sight of the enemy. For the remainder of the day quietness remained at Rochford whilst rain fell continuously. P/O. Turley-George and Sgt. Collett joined the Squadron.

15 July 1940 - 1530 - The Squadron hangar was commissioned for an interesting function, when 65 Squadron was presented with 8 Spitfires by the East India Fund. The Under Secretary of State for India (The Duke of Devonshire). The Under Secretary of State for Air (Captain Balfour). Sir Alexander Murray, and The Officer Commanding R.A.F. Station, Hornchurch (Wing Commander Bouchier) all spoke in generous terms of the work done by Fighter Pilots. The A.O.C. No. 11 Group (Air Vice-Marshall Park) was present. The good wishes of our friends both far and near, symbolised in this gift, are greatly appreciated. The more so as we are now left alone in the struggle against Nazi-dom.

 

On to progress so far...

 

I fitted the fuselage inserts for an open canopy - the joins all look pretty good, but it's quite a complex solution and needs some care in getting everything together neatly. The engineering is really nice however and the joins are all along panel lines. Also, as you would expect from a new Tamiya kit, fit is excellent and the fuselages look like they will join nicely. I'm going to put as much of the cockpit together as I can before painting the internals.

 

 

 

 

[Stefan Buysse]

Hi,

 

Very interesting to have a thread with the new Tamiya Spitfire.

I have a thread with the old (1993) Tamiya Spitfire and I've been looking at my own new Tamiya Spitfire for comparison. I obviously like what I see in the new box. 

I saw that Tim Moff added head armour in his build of a 1993 Tamiya Spitfire (something which I had blissfully ignored until then).

To my surprise, neither of the Tamiya kits seem to contain head or seat armour.

I found in the Fündekals instructions that seat armour was added starting in June 1940. They don't mention head armour specifically.

Does anyone know if head armour was being added at the same time, or from when on that was being added?

 

Cheers, Stefan.

 

[Steve 1602]

16 minutes ago, Stefan Buysse said:

Hi,

 

Very interesting to have a thread with the new Tamiya Spitfire.

I have a thread with the old (1993) Tamiya Spitfire and I've been looking at my own new Tamiya Spitfire for comparison. I obviously like what I see in the new box. 

I saw that Tim Moff added head armour in his build of a 1993 Tamiya Spitfire (something which I had blissfully ignored until then).

To my surprise, neither of the Tamiya kits seem to contain head or seat armour.

I found in the Fündekals instructions that seat armour was added starting in June 1940. They don't mention head armour specifically.

Does anyone know if head armour was being added at the same time, or from when on that was being added?

 

Cheers, Stefan.

 

Hi Stefan, from this thread  Feb 1940 is given as the point head armour was fitted with seat armour from May - update to follow on my fun with seat armour tonight!

 

 

[Steve 1602]

54 Squadron Diary:

16 July 1940 - No operational flying during a further twenty-four hours of rain.

17 July 1940 - A most interesting and enlightening report on "DUNKIRK" has been circularised by H.Q. No. 11 Group. Great tribute is paid to the work of the Squadrons engaged from No. 11 Group. During the period of DUNKIRK 403 enemy casualties were confirmed, 203 unconfirmed for a loss of 143 of our own pilots. Our own Squadron accounted for 7.7% of the total enemy confirmed casualties. 7.9% of those unconfirmed. Our loss in pilots was 2.8% of the total. Local flying only for the training of new pilots during the early part of the day, a weather test over MANSTON and Blue Section patrolling ROCHFORD for 50 minutes completed the day's operations except for a limited amount of dusk landings.

 

On to progress so far....

 

Today I continued with the internals and assembled most of the cockpit sub-assemblies. As Stefan has pointed out above, the new Tamiya kit does not contain armour. I have to say that I have found that a little bit disappointing as other manufacturers have got that right. So two options, give it a stiff ignoring and stop whinging, or, add it and stop whinging.... Option 2 it is.

 

The Tamiya seat is quite nice and assembles with the seat supports attached, which gives it lovely rigidity, but presents a problem if wanting to mount seat armour as this fits between the back of the seat and the supports. I decided not to drill out the lightnening holes at this stage as I was worried about compromising the strength of the assembly. 

 

 

I added the head armour by raiding the spares box for an Eduard seat frame assembly. I removed the head armour from that and sanded it flat, before sanding the Tamiya frame flat and joining the armour to it. I also drilled out the lightening holes and cut out the slot for the seat belt to pass through the headrest (which needs a little tidying up). I'll add the Tamiya headrest later. I also cut some plasticard to shape for the seat armour, again using a spare part from Eduard as a template

 

 

Next some minor surgery, I cut the Tamiya seat away from the seat brackets and fitted those to the frame and drilled corresponding holes in the seat armour.

 

 

I was then able to attach the seat armour, although I had to adjust the lower holes a little as the bottom brackets have a rectangular profile.

 

 

Finally, the seat was attached and we now have an armoured seat for the Spit.

 

 

 

Although that's all fixed, it's a bit of a drag to do and a shame that the Tamiya kit doesn't offer an armoured and unarmored option from the outset (oops, whinging again...!). I also think I need to remove the flare rack from the front of the seat for this Spitfire (if anyone can confirm that, it would be appreciated!)

 

I'm hoping that I'll complete the assembly of the cockpit and get things painted over the weekend so that I can start on the airframe. 

 

 

[Stefan Buysse]

Thanks for the link, Steve.

 

I'll continue to blissfully ignore all armour on my current build.

 

I'd be surprised if the upcoming Eduard kit didn't have the armour parts. I gather from Eduard's decal options that they'll include parts for a very early Spitfire with a two-bladed prop. I might well build one of those and transfer the armour parts to my Tamiya kit.

 

Nice work on the scratchbuilt armour parts.👍

 

Cheers, Stefan.

[Steve 1602]

Thanks Stefan, believe me, I was tempted to ignore it as well!

 

I think the Eduard kit includes options for armour and without - there are some sprue shots on here and there seem to be all sorts of combinations on offer. I have that on backorder and I'm hoping that it will arrive in time for me to enter another Spit into the group build. I've recently built a pair of Eduard XVIs for the Spitfire group build and they were an absolute pleasure to make - I hope their MkI is going to be similar.

Steve

[Bill Livingston]

14 minutes ago, Steve 1602 said:

the new Tamiya kit does not contain armour.

When I first read that I thought 'Ive just built one (it was my first aircraft, sometime this January and before I joined here) and I was SURE there was seat armour, so I looked up my construction photos... and then had a peer inside because I didnt believe them, either!

 

You are right... I never realised!

 

Here is some pictures of my cockpit build. I added quite a lot with brass and wire - but for some reason, not the seat armour. I found out that there was no seat armour fitted earlier on, so perhaps I just decided to leave it. At the time it was a one off build as my son had bought it for me at Christmas (because I never finish anything). So I didnt think it would matter and no-one would know anyway... Little did I know I would be bitten by the bug!

 

 

 

 

No seat armour...! Damn... I will never feel the same about this model again!!

 

Thats a major omission for a Mk I... Yet I have never seen this reported before. Weird...

 

Now I am REALLY looking forward to the Eduard Spits in August!

 

And yes, the flare rack should go... I fitted mine and by the time I worked out it shouldn't be there it was too late... I did buy a little PE set to use with it... but cant remember what it was... (Mind you, I dont remember adding the head rest either... I think Im going mad...)

 

I think its actually a nice kit... It looks like a Spitfire and it builds really well, but I suspect the Eduard MkI will become the standard... 

 

Your solution looks really good but you are right, its a shame you have had to add it yourself...

 

 

[Steve 1602]

That looks like another great Spit Bill.  The wiring detail gives the impression of a busy cockpit

 

I think your Spit is spot on with headrest and no seat armour - it looks like you chose the 92 Sqn option that was shot down over Dunkirk?  I think seat armour was just being introduced, so you’ve  got the right combination!
 

Thanks for confirmation of the rack - more sanding now awaits!

[Bill Livingston]

Thanks Steve... That was my first one - the one that got me into aircraft modelling - and spitfires!🙂

 

It IS the 92 Squadron Spitfire (Biggin Hill 1940).. phew... I must have thought about it then (see, told you my memory was terrible and it was only a few months ago. Luckily I had a label engraved for it otherwise I wouldn't have even known that!

 

One final picture... and then I'll stop hi-jacking your thread!

 

 

A bit bland... you can see why I decided to learn how to paint faded paintwork and try to add some variation in colour... but for a first aircraft for twenty odd years, the Tamiya was a perfect kit to start with...

 

Right, thats me off your thread... 🙂

 

 

[Bugle07]

Great build so far Steve (and Bill) and good scratch building of the armour. 

 

The armour that goes behind the seat. The seat I've just glued on place....

 

Knew something was missing. Scratch building ahead in my build then...

 

Geoff 

[Steve 1602]

Thanks Geoff!

 

At least you've caught it early enough to find a fix I suppose 🥴

 

I’m still baffled at how Tamiya have missed it.... ooops, whinging again!

 

Steve

[Ozzy]

Thanks for the heads up Steve, I'll go and find some plasticard to add some armour. Bill your Spit looks fantastic.

[Steve 1602]

54 Squadron Diary:

18 July 1940

0445 - Red Section patrolled MANSTON for 40 minutes without incident.

0546 - "B" Flight investigated two enemy raids off Manston without result.

0933 - Both "A" and "B" Flights patrolled a convoy East of BURNHAM for an hour and twenty mins.

1300 - Informal photographs of the "Dunkirk Warriors" and of the whole Squadron with its many new faces were taken.

1700 -  The Squadron received a visit from Mr. Godfrey Winn ("Sunday Express") accompanied by S/Ldr. Ward (Press Liaison Officer) and F/Off. Cook (11 Group "Security"). A full page article in the Sunday Express (21.7.40.) on the "Fighter Pilot and His Type" followed. Many of the incidents quoted were recognised as Squadron anecdotes.

2300 - For the first time during our stay at ROCHFORD the majority of the Squadron relaxed after release at a dance organised for the Squadron by the Doctors and Nurses of the Southern General Hospital. This gesture was greatly appreciated and full advantage taken of it.

19 July 1940

0930 - Both flights were engaged in convoy patrols operating both from Rochford and Manston. For 71/2 hours a standing patrol was maintained.

2205 - The whole Squadron patrolled DOVER, on the return to Rochford "A"Flight investigated enemy activity, a fleeting glance of the exhaust of an enemy aircraft was obtained but the searchlights which could have pointed out direction failed to function and no interception was made. A stick of bombs was seen to fall across the Estuary from SHEERNESS to the mainland. F/Off, Patrick Shallard (The Squadron's first intelligence officer) relinquished his duties after a stay of 4 months with the Squadron. Flying Officer Smith succeeded him. F/Off. Blake (late "B" Flight Commander on special leave in South Africa) has now been posted to NAIROBI.

 

 I didn't get as much done as I had hoped over the weekend - a combination of "Dad Taxi" and hedge trimming (which always takes longer than I estimate!). Nonetheless I have made some progress with the cockpit and have most of the sub-assemblies ready for primer and then paint. 

 

I put all the PE items in the cockpit and also added some wiring to the control panel frame. I added the headrest to the head armour and also removed the flare rack on the pilot seat. 

 

 

A quick test fit of the cockpit tub revealed it all to be a nice fit and I placed it in the fuselage halves - again no issues identified! The PE toe straps on the rudder pedals look really nice, but I found them a bit of a pain to fit - in all honesty I probably would have preferred plastic parts as it will be all but invisible when everything is joined up - I suppose that at least I'll know they are there (as will you dear reader! 😉).

 

Finally, I added all of the sidewall details - I was going to paint these and add them separately, but I decided that I'd do it all as a oner now and then detail paint when the cockpit colours are on. A minor point was the need to clean up a number of ejector pin marks that would be visible with an open cockpit. Only a few scrapes of a craft knife were needed; it's worth doing as they would definitely show up under a wash or drybrushing.

 

 

 

I think I'll also add a little bit of wiring to add some additional interest and then get on with painting.

 

Steve

[Bill Livingston]

I remember this well..🙂

 

Its a good kit. I enjoyed it a lot (unlike my Hurricane, which is more about fixing faults than building).

 

Theres nothing really to warn you about... it builds really well and the cockpit looks fabulous when done. (Glad to see you removed the flare racks... mine were left in because I didn't know any better at the time).

 

 

[Steve 1602]

6 minutes ago, Bill Livingston said:

I remember this well..🙂

 

Its a good kit. I enjoyed it a lot (unlike my Hurricane, which is more about fixing faults than building).

 

Theres nothing really to warn you about... it builds really well and the cockpit looks fabulous when done. (Glad to see you removed the flare racks... mine were left in because I didn't know any better at the time).

 

 

Thanks Bill; It has gone together very nicely so far and I’m looking forwards to getting some paint on it. Nice though it is, I’m not yet enjoying the build as much as the Eduard (or even the Airfix) Spits. I can’t put my finger on what it is but it’s definitely not my favourite Spitfire to build over recent months.

 

I looked in on your Hurricane thread earlier today- great work again although it looks like Airfix have delivered you something of a Curate’s egg.

 

Steve