Head in the clouds. Posted February 20, 2021 Share Posted February 20, 2021 This little side project was taken on before Christmas when one of our club members suggested a Spitfire build to be finished by the New Year, needless to say that did not happen, no one finished on time. The base kit is the Tamiya Spitfire MK1 kit, being sound and good on detail and going together well. The conversion was given to me by a club member and is the now discontinued Paragon conversion which is equal to the Tamiya base kit in quality, the parts fitted superbly and the finish was silky smooth. If you want to build K5054 by way of conversion the Paragon set, if you can get one, is the way to go. Only one prototype of the Spitfire was built and mine is modelled on the way it looked prior to it's first flight on 5th March 1936. Now, one cannot talk about modelling K5054 without talking about the colour scheme, particularly prior to it's first flight, all known pics are in black and white and eyewitness accounts are few. I studied all the pics I could get hold of and while my iteration may not be to everyone's idea of what is correct it is the way I chose to go. As I said earlier the kit went together well but I did have a bit of a mare trying to get rid of the incorrect panel lines above the wing, having to sand and re-apply filler several times but we got there in the end. Two small lights were added to the wing tips and the upper wing re scribed with the panels lines running the length of the wing and not across the chord. The aerial was removed, a few little alterations to the cockpit, pitot tube on outer port wing and swapping the elevator actuator rods to the underside. Also the small air scoop in the centre of the fuselage was corrected. The Paragon set gives you the correct wheels, rudder, undercarriage doors(not fitted pre first flight), straight canopy, canopy surround front wind-shield, spinner and propellers. One very noticeable element of K5054 pre first flight are the rather battered engine cowl panels, I assume they were either unfinished or temporary items thrown on for the photographic opportunity, I have tried to replicate these, how well is down to your opinion. The other, often debated item is the colour of the oil cooler cowl. I found a picture of Spitfires on the production line in 'Wings of Fame' 3 together and not 'one' matched in colour or tone of panels in this area so I took the liberty of painting it a dark metal colour, can't remember which one....sorry! Some have suggested it may be red but I cannot see any reason for this and certainly no image to substantiate this point. Paints used were Alclad and MRP paints,the rear fuselage being in the MRP Annodised Aluminium(greenish)and both laying down well. The control surfaces were done in Tamiya grey to represent doped fabric. The decals were aftermarket items and went down well but colour saturation in places was not brilliant and the serials came in two parts, the white outer area onto which is placed the black inner serial leaving little room for error. I thoroughly enjoyed this build and I hope you like her. 51 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigbadbadge Posted February 20, 2021 Share Posted February 20, 2021 I like this and like the effect on the engine panels and fuel tank panel against the rest of the airframe it looks good . Got the Airfix/Aeroclub conversion along with the Paragon 32nd scale conversion to do may just have to get the kits out and have closer look now. Great work thanks for sharing. Chris 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SAT69 Posted February 20, 2021 Share Posted February 20, 2021 Looks very good to me! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
woody37 Posted February 20, 2021 Share Posted February 20, 2021 Fantastic, the subtle weathering looks great 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wellsprop Posted February 20, 2021 Share Posted February 20, 2021 Very nice! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Head in the clouds. Posted February 21, 2021 Author Share Posted February 21, 2021 Thank you for your kind comments folks. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
swralph Posted February 21, 2021 Share Posted February 21, 2021 Very nice build.😀 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevej60 Posted February 21, 2021 Share Posted February 21, 2021 Love it,great job on her! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Head in the clouds. Posted February 21, 2021 Author Share Posted February 21, 2021 Thanks again folks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vinnie Posted February 21, 2021 Share Posted February 21, 2021 Great looking model and a very interesting piece of history. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neil Posted February 21, 2021 Share Posted February 21, 2021 Very nice indeed! 🙂 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Head in the clouds. Posted February 22, 2021 Author Share Posted February 22, 2021 Thanks folks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wulfman Posted February 23, 2021 Share Posted February 23, 2021 Lovely job on the Spitfire, nice work ! Wulfman 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spitfire Posted February 23, 2021 Share Posted February 23, 2021 Very nice work, looks great to me, must build one someday, I have the 1/32 scale Paragon conversion somewhere and the decals (Ventura ?) Cheers Dennis Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Head in the clouds. Posted February 23, 2021 Author Share Posted February 23, 2021 Thank you folks. 2 hours ago, spitfire said: and the decals (Ventura ?) They are the decals I used, albeit in1/48, they behaved very well but I did find that half way into the blue disc of the roundel it went more opaque but once on it is only noticeable under certain lighting and angles. This was only on the large wing roundels and I don't know if I just had a Friday afternoon batch. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kapam Posted February 24, 2021 Share Posted February 24, 2021 Wow! Beautifully done! The model really highlights how the Spitfire was a thing of beauty right from the prototype. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Head in the clouds. Posted February 24, 2021 Author Share Posted February 24, 2021 16 hours ago, kapam said: The model really highlights how the Spitfire was a thing of beauty right from the prototype. Indeed, if it ain't broke don't fix, or, if it looks right it will fly right. Both can be said of the Spitfire. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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