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Rareplanes 1/72 Supermarine Spiteful (£5)


AdrianMF

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This one only dropped through my letterbox from eBay on Thursday. It’s not “collector price” because the packaging has been savaged and the spinner and wing roots have suffered from attic rash:

E0-F0-FD2-B-9-EB4-4-BA4-B386-F899-C4203-

 

I was just looking at it with a scalpel in my hand, and this happened:

117-BDC9-E-0339-47-E6-85-AD-DBE9-E24718-

 

I have a Frog Spitfire XIV+V1 kit that I can take mouldings from if the propeller and wheels don’t work out:

CBD7-A894-E89-A-482-A-ADA2-8-BB8-FF990-D

 

The canopy is not yellowed (good) but it doesn’t have a clean edge to show where to trim it (bad!). I thought at one point that I had messed it up but it suddenly fell into place after a bit more trimming.

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Oh goody, another vacform! That is a good start, from a good starting point. I think it is odd that it takes me more than a scalpel in hand to get that far...

 

Ray

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A bit more: box in the undercarriage, cut away the blobby air intake, add a guide for the wing spar (dummy spar dry fitted here), add some gluey fingerprints!

AF5-EF829-3-C7-C-49-BB-A1-E5-FE5-F9-BA65

 

I’m going for the early version before the intake was extended up to the chin. Rareplanes do provide a plastic shape that you can cut out to replace the whole lower cowling but that looks like a step too far to me for a fun build. If I were to do it I think Milliput would be my weapon of choice.

 

Regards,

Adrian

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..following with interest. Last time I saw gaps like that was on the Airfix DH 88 Comet. Guessing that here the plastic is much thinner (making filling and sanding a bit trickier...?)

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14 hours ago, FalkeEins said:

Last time I saw gaps like that was on the Airfix DH 88 Comet.

The gaps aren’t small but they are OK for a vac.


It’s one thing seeing gaps in a 1970s vacform kit produced on limited resources, but quite another thing to see the same size gap in a kit which was a bit rubbish, frankly, for even 1957, marketed only recently in a modern red box alongside such gems as the 1/72 Bf109E.


I wonder why Airfix even bothered to re-release the DH88. I mean, who under 40 (50, 60?) knows anything about the McRobertson air race? And if they do know anything, it should be that second place in the race was taken by the then-new DC-2 carrying paying passengers, providing a wake-up call to companies building fabric-covered biplanes.

 

Sorry, rant over. I’m looking forward to throwing a bit of Milliput over the whole thing and doing a bit of sanding!

 

Regards,

Adrian

 

 

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Some more progress tonight. I knocked up a quick cockpit around the rather nice seat and instrument panel that come with the kit:

9-A80790-F-2843-403-A-A674-AF958-A0-F1-B

 

And I decided I couldn’t live with the rather ill-defined exhaust stacks so I made some more from 1.2mm rod with the ends hollowed out:

A545-D3-D4-B338-4-CD5-8734-456-EA2543-E1

 

I cleaned up the kit undercarriage legs too - they might well make it onto the build!

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Great stuff Adrian

Recently pick up 2 Rareplane kits on evilbay I was the only bidder, but amazingly in the same auction an unbuilt Rareplanes Supermarine 224 went for over £50 !

Cheers Pat 

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13 hours ago, JOCKNEY said:

2 Rareplane kits on evilbay I was the only bidder,

I wasn’t specifically looking for a vac kit but I’d just been reading my new-to-me copy of Interceptor (thanks @Troy Smith for the recommendation) and this came up cheap and simple. I’ve got an MB5 in the stash to build one day to sit alongside it.

 

 

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8 hours ago, FalkeEins said:

the James Goulding title

Indeed, as Troy said. A very interesting read, full of useful information. For instance, I’ve just learned how different the prototype Hurricane was from the production ones. Great book!

 

Regards,

Adrian

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40 minutes ago, AdrianMF said:

For instance, I’ve just learned how different the prototype Hurricane was from the production ones.

Another rabbit hole,  the book was mentioned,  in a thread on 'how do i make a prototype Hurricane' 

here 

https://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/235061223-hurricane-prototype-in-148th-where-do-i-start/page/2/#elControls_3475399_menu

 

which sent me on a hunt for images.....  it seems, from photos, this is the case ( the one on airwar.ru show if you click them.  ) but it's still in the 'more information required'  section.   though, as I note in the other thread,  the old 1/48th Monogram kit has not enough wing sweep on the outer panels, and closely resembles the Goulding prototype drawings in this respect.....

Apologies for the thread drift @AdrianMF,  but as it was mentioned it seemed a good idea to clarify this point.  Note, the book also has a drawing for a Fury monoplane.  actually, it's full of 1/72nd drawings, most of the major types discussed in the book are included, one of the reasons I suggested it to Adrian after his Gloster F.5/34, as those with a talent for some lateral thinking, scratchbuilding talents and spares could make some fascinating models...

  I think the sections I really found fascinating is the 1930's,  the early projects by other companies around the Supermarine 224 and Fury monoplane have some really quite odd ideas and shapes....  and WW2 era multi gun fighters.  there is a Gloster pusher with a Saab j-21 type layout and 12 gun nose,  etc etc

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Interceptor-Single-seat-multi-gun-Fighters-Multi-gun/dp/071101583X

at the moment the cheapest is about £5 posted. 

     

Back to the Spiteful/Seafang,   this maybe of use for Adrian and others,  the Spiteful wing was later used for the Supermarine Attacker,  and there is a walkround here,  with a lot of wheel well shots, which, AFAIK, are basically the same

http://www.primeportal.net/hangar/howard_mason/supermarine_attacker_f1/

 

as photos of Spiteful wells are in short supply, so this may help, even just for some simple 'busying up'

 

cheers

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Gosh that's all very complicated! Serves me right for following links :)

 

The wheelbay shots are great. I will be painting them medium sea grey unless anyone thinks to the contrary...

 

Regards,

Adrian

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On 04/08/2021 at 14:14, AdrianMF said:

I will be painting them medium sea grey unless anyone thinks to the contrary..

The logic for Supermarine wheel wells is the external parts are the external colour, internal the internal colour.  In the Spitfire case, when they switched to the 20 series wing with fully enclosed wells, due to the outer doors,  they went to the internal colour,  the linked Attacker shows  grey green... but, a quick google...

 

supermarine-spiteful-nn667-and-rb523-lon

 

supermarine-spiteful-rb518.jpg

 

supermarine-seafang-vg471-front.jpg

 

supermarine-seafang-vb895-wings-folded.j

 

All look like the underside colour to me. 

 

Reminds me just how purposeful the beast looked!

 

cheers

T

 

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@Troy Smith oddly enough we discussed this one in my Seafire 47 thread back in 2014 and,as was usual back then,Edgar had the answer

https://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/234934176-spitfire-mk-1-early-landing-gear-bay-colours/

 

Good work so far Adrian,your usual standard of building will make this one superb.

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Hi Adrian. Great to see you underway with another build. And what a cracking idea for a build - and a vacform!! Lovely work so far. :thumbsup:

Kind regards, 

Stix

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On 05/08/2021 at 19:08, Troy Smith said:

All look like the underside colour to me.

Me too. Thanks!

On 05/08/2021 at 19:27, Alex Gordon said:

Good work so far Adrian

Thanks Alex, made a bit more progress today.

22 hours ago, PlaStix said:

a vacform!!

I was regretting that a bit (especially as a Pegasus one has come up on the bay for less than a tenner) but I think I’ve got over the tricky vac bits now (he said, tempting Fate).

 

7 hours ago, stevehnz said:

pure beauty.

Its main shortcoming seemed to be that it wasn’t a Spitfire, sadly, and the Tempest/Fury/late Spitfire were all available to fill the gap until the jets got going.

 

Progress today! Cockpit painted and exhausts given a coat of black before fitting:

36238-D13-D524-4-AA1-9352-F760-EDFCEF1-E

 

A propeller housing more-or-less central and square, and the inner mechanism that should allow a freely-rotating prop:

46-F2660-D-59-EE-4-C0-B-AC50-FC3-ACCE17-

 

Fuselage together and and wings glued in over the wingspar:

F2095728-37-D6-4-C4-E-BB77-885690-CDBC3-

 

Starting to feel like a regular kit now!

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