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Spitfire Mk. VIII to Mk. VII conversion, Hasegawa, 1/72


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Since my last build became so involved, I thought I'd work on something a little easier.  So, I am pulling out the Hasegawa Mk. VIII (Same kit as my Mk. VIII build from last month) along with the aftermarket Quickboost resin Mk.VII conversion kit consisting of pointed wing tips and pressurization intake.

 

I was able to get decals from fleabay and will be doing James J. O'Meara's Mk. VII, MD120 (NX-O) from March 1944.  There are some good pictures of the aircraft and the simple light sea gray over PRU blue is appealing after my last build. ;) 

 

I was looking for straightforward, but right out of the gate I have problems.  The Quickboost wing tips fall short in the direction of chord:

 

fxIiIpR.jpg

 

Plus it's a butt-join which makes it hard to line up.  I had a thought to check out the Eduard wing tips from the spares box, and looking from above it looks like they were made for the Hasegawa kit!

 

99MEyfc.jpg

 

But, they are much thinner and have a significant step on top and bottom where they meet the rest of the wing:

 

tkf2aLT.jpg

 

So, I hatched a plan to make spacers using the "regular" wingtips found in the Hasegawa kit.  I used my razor saw for an initial rough cut, and then sanded the spacers to size.  Lots of CA was used to get the right contour.  I must be doing something right, because after the spacers were put on, they matched the Eduard wingtips.

 

1CVhK6S.jpg

 

A little too much it turns out... When I glued them onto the main wing assembly, there was a step on the bottom of the wing where they met.  So I used some of my epoxy putty to make them a hair thicker and will sand them smooth tomorrow.

 

Lg1dvnY.jpg

 

The cockpit isn't my greatest work, but that was intentional.  On my Mk. VIII build I added detail to the cockpit only to find I can't see it now it's all buttoned up.  So in this case, I just painted the correct colors on, added some Eduard steel seat belts and called it good.

 

iapQAsg.jpg

 

cfbXnXN.jpg

 

Tonight I buttoned up the fuselage and added the pressurizer intake

 

MvTk8Ir.jpg

Edited by opus999
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14 minutes ago, opus999 said:

On my Mk. VIII build I added detail to the cockpit only to find I can't see it now it's all buttoned up. 

Even more so on the pressurised Spitfires as they didn't have the flipper door on the port side, so you can't see much even with the canopy open.

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1 hour ago, Bell209 said:

Even more so on the pressurised Spitfires as they didn't have the flipper door on the port side, so you can't see much even with the canopy open.

Yeah! I just filled those panel lines in. :) 

 

Here's a nice close-up of the canopy.  Apparently MD 120 was a later Mk. VII with a sliding Lobelle hood. 

 

spacer.png

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16 hours ago, SafetyDad said:

Following this with interest. I have a Tamiya Mk VIII in 1/32 that I've speculated about converting to a VII just as you are. Same reason - that paint scheme!

Nice canopy photo too!

Great work so far

:like:

 

SD

Happy to have you along!  I can't guarantee it will be terribly interesting or informative, but you never know! :)  

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Poser(s) for the day...

  1. I noticed that other models of MD120 don't have the tear drop shaped bulges on the upper wing to accommodate larger tires.  I did some research and found a thread about Mk.IX teardrop bulges.  That website stated that they were installed in the field if needed. My guess is I will need to sand these down, but I'd like to confirm this first.
  2. Hasagawa doesn't have the wing tank filler caps on the upper wing.  I still haven't completely determined if they were on the Mk. VII, but I think they were.  Spitfiresite.com's guide to spitfire wing types shows a drawing of the C wing "as fitted to the Mk. VIII". It goes on to say "The leading edge fuel tank was peculiar to this mark and was not mounted on Spitfires Mk. V and  IX." Which implies that the Mk.VII didn't have the fuel filler cap on top, Other model manufacturers make Mk. VII models both with and without the filler caps. None of the pictures I've found of the real MD120 don't show the upper wing.  The NASM Mk. VII, though, has red circles on the upper wing where the filler caps would be.  A minor thing, I know, but I'd like to find out!

I will likely post those questions elsewhere on this site to try to get some expert help.

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36 minutes ago, opus999 said:

I still haven't completely determined if they were on the Mk. VII, but I think they were.

They were. The same capacity leading edge tanks as on the MkVIII: 14 imp gal per side.

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So I have a plan... I got a reply on my post about my questions:

it looks like I will need to sand off the tear drop shaped blisters on top of the wings.  I'll have to try and figure out a way to paint the identification lights on the bottom (shouldn't be too hard) and pencil in the wing top filler caps.  I think using a spare Eduard filler cap and tracing around it might work pretty well.  We'll see...

 

A couple more discoveries:

 

First, the kit has a bump behind the antenna that is not visible in the below photo, so that will need sanding off.

spacer.png

 

A closer look at the Lobelle sliding hood shows external rails under the canopy.  I think I can add those using some of my thinnest styrene sheet.

 

9VYecTs.jpg

 

OK, enough talking! More doing!! 

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Today's update is brought to you by the letter "S"... as in "shape" and "sand" and "Sanity" (as in "I'm losing my...").  Seems like all I did last night and tonight was sand and shape.  It's those darn wingtips (and maybe my darn OCD...:D).  It was really difficult to get them blended into the wing.  But I finally got them the way I wanted.  Plus I had to sand where the "teardrop blisters" were, and sand where I filled the canopy sliding rail.  You get the picture.  But I made all my changes and fixes!

 

First... The "teardrop blisters" for the bigger tires are gone:

NMAMR8X.jpg

 

The wing tips are blended in.  I tried to show them by reflecting the light, but it doesn't do them justice.  The seams are very smooth now.

 

d5fUIwr.jpg

 

nrcnPYo.jpg

 

Couldn't figure out how to show the same on the bottom as the Epoxy putty doesn't reflect.  You'll just have to take my word for it.

 

9nx3qwt.jpg

 

The canopy rails are gone... Also notice that the blister behind the aerial is gone too.

 

eUfjaWq.jpg

 

And as you can see, the wings were glued on.  It took a little sanding on the body to get the wings to fit because the wing roots were a little too wide.  but they settled in nicely.  I also got the underside of the cowl put together and that will need a little smoothing out tomorrow.  After that I'll try to fabricate some new canopy rails and it's already on to painting!

 

About painting.  I'd done some research about a month ago about PRU blue.  The following thread was very helpful:

A lot of the paints mentioned were not available or hard to get in the US.  But looking at the painted examples linked to in the thread (https://www.ipmsstockholm.se/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=10707&p=86459#p86459) and the fabulous table of sampled paint chip comparisons, I decided that I could mix my own reasonable version using my Model Master Intermediate Blue with just a touch of regular blue mixed in.  We'll see... it will take a little experimenting. 

Edited by opus999
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Made quite a bit of progress yesterday!  First off I got it ready to paint:

 

uNyZjzP.jpg

 

That involved a lot more smoothing and fixing a major error on my part.  I was using a spare fuel filler cap from one of my Eduard builds.  I did the same thing with my Mk. VIII build, which went swimmingly, but not so much here.  After drilling the same size hole as for the Mk. VIII, I pressed the cap in and "Crack!" the whole top of the a/c forward of the cockpit split open.  Easily fixed, but it took more time.  The fuel cap turned out to be a huge pain for some reason, but it all worked out in the end.

 

Also, I fabricated the Lobelle hood tracks from sheet styrene, matching as best I could the close-up picture I posted earlier.

 

IdNgwXV.jpg

 

After that, I primed everything (the grey on the starboard wing is sunlight)

 

2vTxsav.jpg

 

and applied the sea gray on top.

 

y3P2uh1.jpg

 

The pictures of MD120 I've seen don't show it to be terribly weathered, so I went easy with the pre-shade marbling (That is, there is minimal contrast).  After that was dinner and our family movie night, however after the kids went to bed I had about a half hour or so and was able to start applying the bottom color before I became too tired.

 

yAmEgnq.jpg

 

It is a mix of 5 parts Model Master Intermediate Blue, with one part blue to about 15 parts leveling thinner.  I have become spoiled with Gunze and Hataka lacquers.  The Model Master enamel wanted to fight me all the way and I couldn't get the super fine lines needed to make a good pre-shade marbling.  Luckily, my approach on this build minimizes that marbling so the end result is satisfactory.  But it reminds me about how much I used to hate airbrushing before I discovered lacquers!

Edited by opus999
several minor errors
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I found a little time yesterday afternoon to finish painting the bottom.  Since then I've put 3 coats of aqua gloss on with a hairy stick.  I'm waiting for it to cure and I will be able to do decals.

 

Ly8rGq5.jpg

 

IvVBYAl.jpg

 

I have the decals from the Kopro release of NX-O and a new set of Eduard stencils, which will take a couple of hours because there are so many (I've been down this road before... can you tell?).

 

In the meantime, If I have the time, I still need to spray the undercarriage and paint the tires. 

Oh, yeah... and the canopy too. ;) 

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Lots going on today, but I was able to take a few minutes to spray the silver bits

 

tvR8BAZ.jpg

 

and the canopy (dry fit here)

 

QdxQn0X.jpg

 

I used precut masks for the canopy and wheels.  Worth every penny!  Applying the masks goes so quickly and easily... I really wouldn't want to go back to cutting my own!

 

Many Mk. VIIs had a triangular vent window (I think that's what it was) on the forward port side of the canopy. However, the picture I posted earlier of MD120 shows that missing.  I have mixed feelings about that -- It would've been neat to show that because it is a different feature from other Spitfire marks, and it would've been an interesting challenge.  But on the other hand, not having it makes things a lot easier. :) 

 

Maybe tomorrow I can start decals.

Edited by opus999
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Also, notice that the glass on the rear part of the canopy goes down farther on the fuselage than other spitfire marks.  This seems to be specific to the the Mk. VII (maybe the Mk. VI too, I'm not sure).

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The rear glass goes down lower on the Mk VII only. I only found out about this after I had completely finished my 1/32 PCM Mk IX which I had turned into a MK VII. It sits in the cabinet nice and shiny and no one will know the difference. (ie I'm not changing it).

TRF

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16 hours ago, fastterry said:

The rear glass goes down lower on the Mk VII only. I only found out about this after I had completely finished my 1/32 PCM Mk IX which I had turned into a MK VII. It sits in the cabinet nice and shiny and no one will know the difference. (ie I'm not changing it).

TRF

I seem to notice details after I'm done too.  That's a bummer.

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Looking ahead to wear and weathering, I've been looking for some pictures of MD120,  or Mk.VIIs with similar paint schemes, for a while now.  Not many to find, but I think I have a good idea of how to proceed.

 

First, I noticed in the pictures I already posted, there is some staining around the aft part of the panel covering the fuel tank in front of the cockpit.  Maybe even a little staining from something running down from it. 

 

In this picture, there are a lot of dark panel lines just behind the exhaust.  This seems characteristic of Mk.VIIs with this paint scheme, but this is the most extreme I've found:

XhpTUCE.jpg

 

This one shows the same, but is mostly covered by the wing:

9Uertjh.jpg

 

Same, but not nearly as dark.  I also have noticed in these last two pictures that the exhaust staining is not nearly as dark as the first picture.

l76UGNT.jpg

 

Same observations here:

62MTr6G.jpg

 

I haven't found any pictures that show the tops of the wings or the walkways, but I suspect they will be grubby.  There's a reason why you don't put a white carpet in a house full of kids!  :D 

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Decals did not go well at all.  The Kopro decals stick almost immediately and can't be moved or removed no matter what.  I got the roundel on without problem, only because I nailed the location on the first try.  The "NX" letter codes were a little crooked, but I was able to move them with a lot of effort.  The "O" went on crooked and broke apart when I tried to move it.  I was able to get the parts of it together with a ton of hot water and micro-sol, but there are chips missing from it that I don't know how to fix.  I got to the fin flash and knew I had to be precise, so of course my finger slipped, it went on terribly crooked and it was stuck for good.  I spent 4 or 5 minutes trying to move it, or get it to come up and little pieces kept breaking off.  I finally had to give up and sand it off. 

 

So I'm stuck.  I spent the whole evening trying to find decals for a Mk. VII.  I really want to continue with JJ O'meara's, but I was desperate enough to use anything.  But aside from another set of kopro decals, there was nothing.  Not even a Italeri Mk. VII kit.

 

I don't know what to do.  The one squadron code letter looks really bad and I'd like to do it over, but I couldn't find black outlined squadron codes.  I could probably paint the fin flash, but I'll need to order some insignia blue, so no matter what the build is on hold.  Plus, I don't know if I want to continue on with the Kopro decals. It seems likely that more of them will get messed up.  

 

I've been racking my brain trying to come up with a solution, but haven't.  My spare decal box didn't generate anything useful.  I thought about painting the roundels, but I don't think I have good enough equipment to make masks... and there's still the issue of the squadron codes.

 

So I really am at a loss how to fix this.

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I'm still pondering... 

 

I haven't been able to really do anything because school started and since they're learning from home with school-district supplied equipment, I've been playing tech support.  I did have a little time to experiment with those decals. I glossed up a paint mule and used some spares from that sheet.  I found that with hot water (which I'd been using) the decals stuck practically immediately.  When using cold water, I had 15 - 20 seconds of working time, but the decals were very brittle and prone to breaking.

 

So... with that in mind, I have a thought to make a jig to hold the a/c very still and try to get those decals in the right place right off the bat.  I don't have much to lose at this point.

 

Now as far as the broken up, crooked "O" goes... well... I think I could use sky to touch up some of the spots and the black outline might be fixed using my super small pencil I use for panel lines. It would still be crooked, however.  So, I am debating whether or not to search for a black-lined "O", or just let it go and display the other side. :)  I should post a photo of it for opinions.  The little things always look huge to the modeller. 

 

I found I have spray dark sea blue from my Banshee build, so I wouldn't have to wait a couple weeks for paint if I want to paint the fin flash.  A little more searching coughed up some fin flashes with the white stripe in the middle, but I can probably cobble something together.

 

So, for now, I think I'll try to get the rest of the Kopro decals on.  If that succeeds, then I'm home free. If not, well, I'll go searching for new decals!

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@opus999,

 

IIRC, the fuel tank cover is made of thicker gauge metal to serve as armor plating, so what you see is the shadow of the thicker cover versus the surrounding panels; thinking @Graham Boak or one of the other resident BM Spit experts can confirm or correct me.

Mike

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13 hours ago, 72modeler said:

IIRC, the fuel tank cover is made of thicker gauge metal to serve as armor plating, so what you see is the shadow of the thicker cover versus the surrounding panels; thinking @Graham Boak or one of the other resident BM Spit experts can confirm or correct me.

Mike

 

12 hours ago, fastterry said:

You're right Mike the cover over the fuel tank was a separate sheet of thicker Aluminium to resist small caliber fire. Anyway keep at it Opus you're doing good.

TRF

Hey, I didn't know that! Somehow I missed it in my Spitfire book.  Thanks for pointing that out -- I love learning new things about these aircraft.  

 

So, I'll just need to try to accent around that cover to match the photos.

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OK, Here's where I'm at...  I made a jig to hold the model, used cold water with the decals and tried my hardest to get the position right on the first try.  So, the good news is, the rest of the decals (minus stencils) are on.  Here's how the jig was set up:

 

eqkRg75.jpg

 

You can see that I used Tamiya tape to make guides for the decals.

 

Here is the side I started on earlier in the week:

 

aJP4XSN.jpg

 

I was able to re-construct the fin flash with some Eduard decals I forgot I had.  It started out with the Red/White/Blue and I just put more red and blue pieces to cover up the white.

 

And a close up of the bad "O" -- I did a little touch up with "sky" paint, but haven't done anything about the outline yet.

 

WYqbNmh.jpg

 

I dunno... it still looks crooked to me.

 

Here's the other side

 

89RQIhR.jpg

 

The squadron code overlaps the serial number.  The instructions for the kit that these decals came from have you put the squadron code over the serial number.  I couldn't find any pictures of the starboard side of MD120, but I do have some of MD110, and MD111.  MD110 does not have the overlap, but MD111 does.  I couldn't figure out how to position them to avoid an overlap, so I went with it.

 

The squadron codes don't look right to me on this side for some reason, even though I had the tape guides.  I believe the "O" is smaller than the "NX".

 

 

I started on the Eduard stencils last night ( you can see the wing walkway stripes ), but more back-to-school schedule craziness happened, so I didn't get any farther than that.  Hopefully I can do some tonight.... 

Edited by opus999
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I'm so close!  

 

Yesterday I completed all of the stencils.  After that I did some oil wash in the wheel wells and gave it some oil stains along the bottom and various little dirt and oil streaks.  After that, I gave it an initial coat of Mr. Color GX113.

 

o6hxO0p.jpg

 

hwTf9vM.jpg

 

Today was all the little details. I painted the yellow propeller tips, which is a job where you take a ton of time to paint a very little area, which always makes it completely unsatisfying.  

 

ZYDQRak.jpg

 

I used water color to put a wash on the landing gears and wheels, and once dry, they got a shot of Testor's metallizer sealer.

 

mQ0PatS.jpg

 

I cut the bar behind the seat out of my smallest diameter styrene rod and glued it in place (to be painted later)

 

x3W4Cjm.jpg

 

Then I set out to go over the panel lines.  I elected to leave the panel lines on top alone because with the light color, there was already plenty of contrast.  I only had to draw in the ones that had been sanded away.  I just needed to make sure that I drew them in lightly so they wouldn't stand out.  My weapon of choice:

 

iJWJ6Uu.jpg

 

I did, however go over all of the bottom lines as they didn't show up at all, really.  Once that was done, I used the Tamiya pastels to add dirt streaks, powder streaks, exhaust, and those panel lines behind the exhaust that I posted pictures of earlier.  After that was the final coat of Mr. Color dull.

 

6PMu4tN.jpg

 

uD33Y6G.jpg

 

Oh, yeah... I was able to draw in some wing fuel filler caps, but I didn't get any fuel stains around them because I needed a dull coat for the pencil to draw, but using an oil wash on a dull coat just makes a mess.  So it will have to go without.

 

jsG6cga.jpg

 

The last thing I did was work on the landing gears.  I am using some spare Eduard gears because the detail is much better than the Hasegawa gears.  They need bigger holes to fit into, and for some reason it took a lot of trial and error, but I got them on finally.

 

ucnOwXp.jpg

 

I really wanted to finish today, and I am awfully close, but I have some paint that is drying and, frankly, I'm just not feeling it today.  We're having one of our famous dust storms, and coupled with smoke from fires in our state has made the light outside a dim, eerie yellow-tan. I took a picture out the window over my bench.  It really doesn't do it justice.

 

3nhNW1z.jpg

 

Makes for a very dreary day.  

 

 

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Just a little work last night to put it over the finish line.  I did a little paint chipping, but not much as the pictures I saw of MD120 showed it wasn't too dinged up.  I elected to go over the panel lines on the fuselage to get them to match the wings. Some final assembly and it was done.

 

Obq9DUY.jpg

 

For some reason, despite trying to be very light with the pencil, the panel lines toward the top behind the cockpit (in the picture below) came out very dark.  I'm really not happy about that, but I haven't thought of a way to lighten them up.

 

Ub0wgCb.jpg

 

In the end I think it turned out OK.  Probably not my best work... lots of stuff went wrong ...  but it looks pretty good on the shelf.

 

I'll try to get a proper RFI out in the next couple days...

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