Spitfire PR XI Canopy and camera sighting cross-hairs.

[DOD]

Greetings all,

I hope someone can help with a couple of questions to help with my PR XI build.

 

First concerns the main sliding part of the canopy. Was this the same as the Mk IX?

In “Airframe and Miniature No 12” it states they had a ‘blown’ canopy but I can find no other references that confirms this. “Spitfire in Blue” about PL965 states that it was the Mk IX canopy, so I am a little confused. I have to say from photos I cannot seen any difference. If there is a specific ‘blown’ canopy can anyone supply details of differences?

 

 

My other question is a practical one about applying the cross hairs on the canopy. I have a couple of decals for this from a Pavla conversion set but have had no experience of applying decals to a canopy/clear part before. I have the original kit canopy and a Falcon Vacform one though I have not decided which one to use.

Can decals be applied as normal? Are decal solutions OK on clear parts? I presume I would seal it with a gloss varnish or something else after application? I have seen mentions of floor polishes and I believe specialist canopy coatings are available. Any recommendations?

 

Any help would be appreciated.

Cheers, David

[Tbolt]

For the decal, does it have a matt or gloss finish? If it's a Matt finish I would gloss coat it while it's still on the sheet. If it's already a gloss finish then I would apply it as it is and without any setting solution as you are going onto a very smooth surface.I would also trim the carrier film if there is a lot of excess.

 

But the best thing to do is use a spare decal off the same sheet and test it first on a spare canopy to see how it goes.

[Troy Smith]

20 hours ago, DOD said:

In “Airframe and Miniature No 12” it states they had a ‘blown’ canopy but I can find no other references that confirms this.

I don't have the Spitfire books,  I do have the Hurricane book and it is, in a word, shoddy.

Very professional looking,   but a jam packed error and omission fest. I can do 5 minutes without getting rather cross.    If this is the only source that states this, treat with caution.  

 

AFAIK, the Spitfire had the initial flat sided canopy, for the very early Mk.I,  then one which was slightly blown at the top, and then a more blown hood which came in with the Mk.V, and this is the 'blown' canopy, which became the standard high back Spitfire canopy.

 

For added vision, there are of course the specific PR canopies with the side blisters. 

 

I'll @gingerbob as he's rather good at this kind of Spitfire detail.   

[DOD]

@Tbolt

Hi there,

Thanks for input. I checked the decal. It is glossy with  very little carrier film. Tried a spare bit on a spare canopy and it works fine. I guess I was overthinking this! Thanks for saving me from extra work.

 

@Troy Smith. Thanks for your comments. This was the first book I bought in getting back into aircraft modelling and seemed a good alround source of information. I shall proceed with caution now.

 

Cheers

David

 

 

 

[Troy Smith]

Just now, DOD said:

This was the first book I bought in getting back into aircraft modelling and seemed a good alround source of information. I shall proceed with caution now.

Not one I have, but I have seen a list of errors in the Boomerang book, and similar comments to mine on their Mosquito book.    The author produces a lot of books on many types, he may well be an expert on some, but the sheer volume of work makes me dubious.   They often have some good photos, though again the captioning can be suspect....  

The profile artist is usually Richard Caruana, who is also very very prolific,  and not noted for accuracy in details..... 

The big problems with this kind of things is just tends to recycle the same wrong information.  

 

Anyway, 

THE book for Merlin PR Spitfires is the Ventura one

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Merlin-Spitfires-Detail-Classic-Warbirds/dp/0958229651

 

Seems to have vanished into the void, along with  the other volume I have never seen a hard copy of for sale, but was floating around the net as pdf, ,  that covered markings and operations, superb book,  best I have seen on the subject. 

CLASSIC WARBIRDS NO 10 MERLIN PR SPITFIRES

http://www.hyperscale.com/2007/reviews/books/classicwarbirds10reviewbg_1.htm

 

 

 Note, for the PR XIX, 

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Spitfire-Sweden-Mikael-Forslund/dp/9197767786

 

I was lucky enough to get one by chance, really cheap,  it has a lot of very interesting detail about the XIX that I have not seen elsewhere.

 

You may find the still here, and the link to the full film, of interest/use, the film is an absolute treasure trove of fine detail.

 

HTH

[DOD]

Hi Troy,

Thanks for the references. 

I did recently managed to get a copy of no11 for a very reasonable price by chance through Amazon. As you say no 10 never seems to appear but there are pdfs out there. The detail book mentions windscreens, PR X and PR IV canopies but not PR XI! (Hence my question).

I did see your post of the film at the time. As you say really good for details and you do not see aircraft from the right side so often, or do it seems.

Thanks again,

Cheers 

David