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  • 2 weeks later...

Work on this one started tonight, as my Spitfire Vb is finally finished.👍

 

I have to say, on first impression I am very underwhelmed by this kit. Scalemates suggests it is a 2007 tooling but I'm not convinced - it does not seem to be even close to the standard of a modern Airfix offering.

 

Here's a few of the issues, starting with minor 'admin' errors I've spotted on the instructions.

 

The tailwheel is molded as piece no. 13; the instructions say it is piece 16. Piece 16 is a cockpit control lever, adjacent on the sprue...

 

inst-1jpg.jpg

 

The air scoop is made from piece numbers 45 and 46 on the sprue, not 55 and 56 as stated on the instructions:

 

inst-2.jpg

 

The instructions state that pieces 45 and 46 are alternative aerials! I guess the proof reader had a day off with this kit!🤣

 

inst-3.jpg

 

However, all of this pales into insignificance compared with the moldings. The piece d'resistance is the fit of the wings:

 

gaps.jpg

 

Each gap is the width of the scalpel handle! I have never seen anything like this before... 

 

For the sake of my mojo, this model will be a quick build without expending too much time on it. I don't think it deserves too much attention - silk purses and sow's ears springs immediately to mind... I'll be happy with a reasonably accurate looking Spitfire, but I'm not expecting anything too spectacular with this one!

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4 minutes ago, Back in the Saddle said:

Scalemates suggests it is a 2007 tooling but I'm not convinced - it does not seem to be even close to the standard of a modern Airfix offering.

2007 is not 'modern' I'm afraid.

Still an era when beancounters had too much sway.   

 

the outline is mostly very good, but it's really clunky, and suffers from really thick trailing edges.   You can see why Airfix tooled up a new wing to go with Vb fuselage.

 

A good model is possible, with a lot of sanding and scraping and a few spares...

 

5 minutes ago, Back in the Saddle said:

Each gap is the width of the scalpel handle! I have never seen anything like this before... 

Maybe the clamps? 

You can try attaching the upperwings to the fuselage and then adding  adding the lower wing.?

49905411731_442c247f75_b.jpg50620001 by losethekibble, on Flickr

 

HTH

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Oooff. Sorry to hear the kit isn’t quite up to scratch. Some modellers love That kind of thing. ( myself included ) some not so much. I’m sure judging by your last few builds you’ll have something to be proud of at the end. Hopefully some fun will be had also.  It’s all in the journey right. 😇 

 

I’ll tag along if I may.

 

Jont.

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2 hours ago, Troy Smith said:

2007 is not 'modern' I'm afraid.

True, but this one looks and feels like a 1960’s model! 😁

 

2 hours ago, Troy Smith said:

the outline is mostly very good, but it's really clunky, and suffers from really thick trailing edges.

I’d noticed those too - some sanding and thinning will be required...

 

2 hours ago, Troy Smith said:

Maybe the clamps? 

Possibly, but they were not that tight... I will see what it’s like once the fuselage is built and might try a spruce spacer to force the sides apart a bit more. If that still looks too gappy I will attach the top of the wings first as you suggested, then the bottom section. 👍

 

1 hour ago, The Spadgent said:

I’ll tag along if I may.

You’re welcome. I think you’ll see some fettling on this one! 😁

 

1 hour ago, The Spadgent said:

It’s all in the journey right. 😇

Yep! 😃

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I have cobbled together the cockpit. Nothing too impressive, as it will be barely visible under the canopy hood:

 

pit.jpg

 

I have also started work on the wing. The wheel bays and flap area are painted and washed. I'm committing the cardinal sin of building this one with the flaps down - I know I shouldn't, but wanted to add something to create a bit of interest on a relatively bland kit:

 

wings1.jpg

 

 

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1 hour ago, Back in the Saddle said:

I'm committing the cardinal sin of building this one with the flaps down - I know I shouldn't, but wanted to add something to create a bit of interest on a relatively bland kit:

I did that on one of my builds in the Spitfire group build.🙂

 

The pilots were fined if they left their flaps down after landing - or so i have read. I dropped them on my Spitfire as I wanted everything open and down... and the challenge of getting them built and looking good. 

 

I also really enjoyed doing the flap indicator on the wing top. I lost mine from the Eduard flap set PE and built one from scratch... (they went in the shredder when I was clearing up my bench. I had stuck them on to a bit of paper so I wouldn't lose them and then forgot!!!) Its probably my favourite part of the whole model! 

 

Good luck with them... I think they look really good down. Makes the Spit look like a 'bird of prey' when looked at from the rear...

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1 hour ago, Back in the Saddle said:

I have cobbled together the cockpit. Nothing too impressive, as it will be barely seen visible the canopy hood:

 

pit.jpg

 

I have also started work on the wing. The wheel bays and flap area are painted and washed. I'm committing the cardinal sin of building this one with the flaps down - I know I shouldn't, but wanted to add something to create a bit of interest on a relatively bland kit:

 

wings1.jpg

 

 

Nice job so far, about to tackle some more of mine this afternoon.

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Its been a busy weekend with the family but I managed a bit more work. The wings and fuselage were treated to Mr. Surfacer 500 and sanded back - they now look quite tidy. I glued the canopy into position then attached the wings to the fuselage:

 

joined.jpg

 

The wing/fuselage gap is still there, but not nearly as bad as it looked when I dry-fitted the parts together at the beginning of the build - phew! 😁

 

I think a couple of thin shims will soon sort them out - I'll stick some photos up next time...

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That was my second buy when getting back into the hobby :) just after picking up a Blenheim Mk.IF at Duxford.

She's a bit clunky indeed, but with some careful scraping, sanding and polishing cleans up ok.
 

Just make sure the mating holes on the undercarriage are cleaned of paint, otherwise you might encounter that the grip isn't really that great.

Mine's a bit splayed I see, need to fix that.

 

 

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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 2 weeks later...

The primer has been applied and I've done some pre-shading too:

 

tops.jpg

 

Afterwards I noticed the cowling still needed a little more attention, hence the bare area on the nose!

 

I ran out of Halfords grey plastic primer, so the underside was primed with white instead:

 

bots.jpg

 

The lower cowling is still separate at this point, to facilitate adding the propellor at the last moment - hopefully this makes painting the top coat much easier. I intend to get the sky sprayed later today (if the weather cooperates).  I'm also considering spraying the camouflage freehand for two reasons. One, I want practice this technique to see how it looks(!) and secondly I want to avoid hard demarcation lines between the dark earth and green. At the same time, I don't want them to be too soft either... I think I'll try it and see what happens!🤞

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I'm making the cardinal sin of building this one with the flaps down (apologies to any purists on here!)😉

 

Once the flap and undercarriage bays were masked, I applied three light coats of 'sky'. Coat 1:

 

sky1.jpg

 

Coat 2:

 

sky2.jpg

 

And coat 3:

 

sky3.jpg

 

I promise the pre-shading can still be seen in real life! I will leave it to harden then look at masking the underside and spraying the camouflage later in the week.👍

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  • 4 weeks later...
45 minutes ago, Paulaero said:

Can always use the painting diagram, I have copied them, making sure the scale is right, cut them out , wet them and lay over the model. Works just like the rubber masks used in real life ....

Wet them, why didn't I think of that....

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