Airfix Spitfire 1a 57 OTU Hawarden, North Wales

[Max Headroom]

Afternoon!

 

This is the Airfix 1/48 Spitfire 1a built straight from the box. Lovely kit except for the undercarriage- honestly what were they thinking about? After the first picture below, the starboard leg fell off and had to be re attached with superglue. If/when I do another, I will complete the assembly before closing up the wings. Tight tolerances meant that the dorsal nose piece in front of the cockpit wouldn’t quite fit. Beware!

 

I chose the 57 OTU machine mainly because of the local collection. It’s highly likely it flew over our house as Hawarden is only a couple of miles or so in a straight line from here. I first saw the only known photo of AR212 on a photo page in the Merseyside Aviation Society’s magazine ‘Flypast’ (no not FlyPast) in the early 80’s. Consensus at the time was that it was a white nose until a pilot’s diary was found confirming it to be yellow. I did have a pale yellow paint but it was so insipid and translucent, that I ended up painting it in a similar shade to the roundel (which I know is wrong btw).

 

This model is a sort of mini KUTA as I had been fiddling with it for a few years whilst other models were waiting for paint to dry or after market stuff to arrive and it came to the point where only a little effort was needed to complete it.

 

So here it is - just don’t look too closely

 

.....and then the undercarriage collapse

 

 

 

.....after the Cat 3(R) attention

 

 

Thanks for looking!

 

Trevor

 

 

 

 

 

 

[swralph]

Nice one Trevor.

[HOUSTON]

VERY NICE. its very NEAT.

sorry about the undercarriage. 

   

[bigbadbadge]

Great job, on this.  The yellow nose certainly makes this interesting and always good to model a local connection  too.

Cracking work. 

Chris

[Max Headroom]

@HOUSTON and @bigbadbadge thanks guys.

 

Lashings of superglue have cured the undercarriage issue. Honestly, this is a Really Stupid Idea. As I said, the next one will have the two components glued firmly together before assembling the wings. This is an ideal opportunity for a brass or white metal replacement. 
 

The yellow nose was a no brainer for me. I mistakenly initially painted the spinner black, so when I overepainted it in yellow, it gave a contrast to the cowling. If anyone asks, it was deliberate

 

Trevor

[bigbadbadge]

1 hour ago, Max Headroom said:

If anyone asks, it was deliberate

 

 

I like that.  Re the U/C legs i have seen some assemble before fitting and then cut them so you have a straight cut, drill both bits out then insert some brass rod to strengthen and then you can still assemble as per the instructions but have a strong U/C.

Will be doing that on my next one

 

Chris

[Troy Smith]

1 hour ago, bigbadbadge said:

Re the U/C legs i have seen some assemble before fitting and then cut them so you have a straight cut, drill both bits out then insert some brass rod to strengthen and then you can still assemble as per the instructions but have a strong U/C.

Will be doing that on my next one

it's getting it all to line up.....

my method, take top bit, mark a pilot hole in by the half leg section on the upper bit (pintle i think), drill up through and out top of pintle, attach leg with tiny tacking amount of superglue, then drill back up from hole in pintle into the leg, with a drill bit to match your pin.  detach leg.  you then have a aligned hole in pintle and leg,  allowing you to then follow kit assembly sequence, and add a leg at end with a strong join.  

 

The hardest bit is drilling by the half leg into the pintle.  

Make more sense looking at the bits.

 

@Max Headroom Trevor, I can sense you wanted this finished,  but a suggestion, try fairly hot water for Airfix decals, (I stick large metal pickle jar lid onto the coffee machine hotplate ) and bed them in diluted Kleer, the heat makes them very pliable.

 

Anyway, it's done

 

cheers

T

[bigbadbadge]

8 minutes ago, Troy Smith said:

it's getting it all to line up.....

my method, take top bit, mark a pilot hole in by the half leg section on the upper bit (pintle i think), drill up through and out top of pintle, attach leg with tiny tacking amount of superglue, then drill back up from hole in pintle into the leg, with a drill bit to match your pin.  detach leg.  you then have a aligned hole in pintle and leg,  allowing you to then follow kit assembly sequence, and add a leg at end with a strong join.  

 

The hardest bit is drilling by the half leg into the pintle.  

Make more sense looking at the bits.

Thanks Troy, I was partly there,  great suggestion thanks

Chris

[Max Headroom]

@Troy Smith thanks for the tip on the undercarriage.
 

Re the wing roundels, I used lukewarm water. My stash of Kleer ran out a while ago and I have been using Humbrol’s own Decalfix since. It’s been ok for most things but it did seem to fail me this time which is odd as I would have thought their own product would work on their own markings - apparently not. I’m thinking that I’ll get some Microsol and Microset as I have a few models coming up that are getting to the markings stage.

 

Trevor

[wellsprop]

Brilliant looking Spitfire I have no idea why Airfix designed the undercarriage like that, it's the same on the Mk V they made, both lovely kits but horrible undercarriage! 

[Max Headroom]

5 hours ago, wellsprop said:

Brilliant looking Spitfire I have no idea why Airfix designed the undercarriage like that, it's the same on the Mk V they made, both lovely kits but horrible undercarriage! 

The I and V share common sprues. I have the old Palitoy era Vb to finish too and the attachment on that is more solid. There are several useful leftovers on the MK.I sprue that I’ll use to finish it off with, such as clear clipped wingtips, aerial, fishtail exhausts, a wealth of spare canopies/windscreens and a MK.V prop and spinner. I’ll probably have a thread upgrading it soon.

 

Trevor

[Martin Axe]

Great turn out, I have to say having built this kit the undercarriage is indeed pathetic in its design and construction, why they did it that way heaven only knows!?