Nick Belbin Posted November 10, 2020 Share Posted November 10, 2020 Hi all, Just a few pics of my too-late-to-be-included Battle of Britain group build entry. It's a kitbash of the Airfix and Tamiya Supermarine Spitfire Mk1. Both kits are relative compatible in the way things fit thanks to modern accurate measuring and scanning so using bits from different kits isn’t as difficult as it used to be. Essentially, I used the fuselage from the Airfix kit because I feel that it captures the subtleties of the nose best, and the wing and control surfaces from the Tamiya kit – I really like the taping as opposed to the scalloping of the Airfix kit – the undercarriage is also a superb piece of engineering ensuring strong and accurate fitting. The moulding of such things as the navigation lights is just beautiful. The cockpit was built up first. I used Eduard etch for the control panel and harness and their Brassin resin seat was also used. Various bits of wire were used for the most visible piping; holes were drilled out of the frame work supporting the seat and the one behind. I decided to use the backplate and spinner from the Tamiya kit and use the prop blades from Airfix. The Airfix blades are a little chunkier around their base which helped fill out the gaps around them in the spinner which looked more realistic to me. The most time consuming bit was next – mating the wing to the fuselage. It wasn’t difficult but needed a lot of plastic removing from both kits between the trailing edges of the wing-to-fuselage fairings. It also needed a fair amount of patience to remove the leading edge fairing from the Airfix fuselage – it’s moulded on the Tamiya wing. This also had a knock on effect with the front of the lower wing, chin cowling and carburettor intake requiring a lot of dry fitting and fettling. Anyway, I finally finished her last night: For what it's worth, the 'Work in progress thread is here: Thanks for looking. Nick 30 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
swralph Posted November 10, 2020 Share Posted November 10, 2020 Nice one.😀 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
djos Posted November 10, 2020 Share Posted November 10, 2020 Maybe too late for group build but luckily not for our eyes. Very very nice looking model, good work Best regards Djordje 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigbadbadge Posted November 10, 2020 Share Posted November 10, 2020 This looks absolutely wonderful Nick, it looks particularly authentic, the first image looks lovely put a hanger backdrop and you would have people guessing if real or not there. Never thought of cross kitting the two, that is a cracking idea. Great work. Chris 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alpha Delta 210 Posted November 10, 2020 Share Posted November 10, 2020 Lovely Spitfire, beautifully photographed. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMCS Posted November 10, 2020 Share Posted November 10, 2020 Niiiice 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sky Keg Posted November 11, 2020 Share Posted November 11, 2020 This Spitfire captures the intensity of that dark period in history. Outstanding results by combining kits to produce a masterpiece. Mike 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brigbeale Posted November 11, 2020 Share Posted November 11, 2020 Outstanding work!!! very well done. 👏👏👏 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dennis_C Posted November 11, 2020 Share Posted November 11, 2020 (edited) Great work and great idea to combine kits! Agree that Tamiya wing is better being more delicately made. And Airfix fuselage is definitely more accurate shapewise. Edited November 11, 2020 by Dennis_C 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
F-32 Posted November 11, 2020 Share Posted November 11, 2020 Very very nice work, I really like that 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Natter Posted November 11, 2020 Share Posted November 11, 2020 Ayup, I like that. Well bashed. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nick Belbin Posted November 11, 2020 Author Share Posted November 11, 2020 Gosh, thank you chaps, for the very kind words. Nick Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vinnie Posted November 12, 2020 Share Posted November 12, 2020 That's a cracking piece of work, Nick.👍 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IanC Posted November 12, 2020 Share Posted November 12, 2020 Nice Tamifix Spitfire! I like the exhausts.. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeff G Posted November 13, 2020 Share Posted November 13, 2020 Very good work, nice finish to it. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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