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Spitfire FR Mk.XIVe - NH909 of 273S RAF, Saigon Jan 1946. ++++ Finished + RFI ++++


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In my ignorance I had no idea that the shape of the Academy kit was so bad.  I’ve got a half finished one from many years ago that I think can stay unfinished now…. (ok the prospects of it getting finished were in any event negligible…)

 

Looking forward to the ‘tired’ painting Mark.

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23 hours ago, hendie said:

oops, this fell off my radar for some reason but I just had a nice catch up this morning.    Despite the interesting interpretations by Academy you seem to be knocking this beast into shape Mark.

Thank you, it’s quite a thing changing it’s shape, I’m quite enjoying it.  If it’s not a sore subject, I’m missing the updates on your current build….

 

23 hours ago, blueYeti said:

Great builit, be my ref for futures.

I will watch👏

Glad to have you along for the ride.

 

19 hours ago, opus999 said:

Interesting research so far!  I'm keen to see how it progresses.  Nice work on the body too, the resin aftermarket looks great.

It’s a bit fascinating, these 473S Spits and what they were asked to do.  
 

7 hours ago, Fritag said:

In my ignorance I had no idea that the shape of the Academy kit was so bad.  I’ve got a half finished one from many years ago that I think can stay unfinished now…. (ok the prospects of it getting finished were in any event negligible…)

 

Looking forward to the ‘tired’ painting Mark.

Thank you.  Its badness is in direct proportion to one’s care factor in shape.  In this case, it’s bad enough that even I needed to fix it.

 

I’m procrastinating on the paintwork because I’m erring towards doing “W” NH909 instead of RN218.  Everyone who does a 473S Mk.XIV does RN218, which means I typically look for alternates… 🤷‍♂️.   There’s a bit more weathering opportunity with “W” too, so there is that.
 

In lieu of real progress I painted the prop blades (both sets, resin and kit plastic because the resin is a little wonky still and it’s detail is soft) and assembled the undercarriage with the addition - a first for me - of brake lines. One of them needs a little adjustment still, and the wheels need their flat coat.

 

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Cheers.

Edited by mark.au
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21 minutes ago, mark.au said:

If it’s not a sore subject, I’m missing the updates on your current build….

 

Which one? I took a small detour to the vehicles section and am currently dealing with the nightmare that is the Man from UNCLE Piranha.  As soon as that is buttoned up (or binned) I intend to get back to and finish off the 504 and then I have a VW T2 Bay Window to convert, and that's gonna be a L O N Gggggg process - snap together kit, wrong year etc. Lots of fun and 3d printing ahead on that one.

 

Nice work on the undercarriage. Don't you just hate it when you buy aftermarket stuff that turns out to be worse or only on a par with the kit it's meant to "upgrade"?

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7 hours ago, hendie said:

 

Which one? I took a small detour to the vehicles section and am currently dealing with the nightmare that is the Man from UNCLE Piranha.  As soon as that is buttoned up (or binned) I intend to get back to and finish off the 504 and then I have a VW T2 Bay Window to convert, and that's gonna be a L O N Gggggg process - snap together kit, wrong year etc. Lots of fun and 3d printing ahead on that one.

 

Nice work on the undercarriage. Don't you just hate it when you buy aftermarket stuff that turns out to be worse or only on a par with the kit it's meant to "upgrade"?


Well, it never occurred to me to go looking in vehicles to find you. I was thinking of the 504 but now I need to venture into pastures new as well…

 

I don’t buy a lot of aftermarket resin in particular for that reason; in addition to the dodgy prop blades the rudder needed work and I needed to use the the kit radiator faces as the resin was poor.  It pales though, when compared to the resin I [didn’t] use for the Bushranger.

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14 minutes ago, mark.au said:

I don’t buy a lot of aftermarket resin in particular for that reason

 

Poor fitting aftermarket resin? Well you know what the answer to that in the future might be, Mark…..:D

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25 minutes ago, Fritag said:

 

Poor fitting aftermarket resin? Well you know what the answer to that in the future might be, Mark…..:D


You might be closer in that comment than you think.  But ponder this, are you ready for the Somme-like barrage of questions that would unleash?  I’m a “show me” learner, not a reading learner…

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2 hours ago, mark.au said:

But ponder this, are you ready for the Somme-like barrage of questions that would unleash?

 

I think you know a few folks frequenting this parish who would be more than willing to answer any questions likely to arise

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5 hours ago, hendie said:

 

I think you know a few folks frequenting this parish who would be more than willing to answer any questions likely to arise

 

9 hours ago, Fritag said:

 

Poor fitting aftermarket resin? Well you know what the answer to that in the future might be, Mark…..:D

 

So this happened today...

 

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...there may be questions to follow...

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37 minutes ago, mark.au said:

So this happened today...

 

And so it begins.... :thumbsup:

 

Wish I'd had the printer when I did my Spitfire Vb at the end of last year.  Could have done with a nice gunsight like that....

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Mark,

 

Crikey - this is progressing at a gallop! 3D printing eh - look forward to seeing more of this! How are you finding Fusion? I use Solidworks in my work life...

 

Cheers,

 

Roger

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2 hours ago, bigbadbadge said:

Looking forward to the new Airframe and weathering opportunities,  crikey 3D printing now too, wonderful.

Chris

Let's not get ahead of ourselves...  I thought I'd see if I could make something that looked like something in Fusion 360 first.  There's a lot more to this proof of concept to go yet!  🙂

 

1 hour ago, Fritag said:

 

And so it begins.... :thumbsup:

 

Wish I'd had the printer when I did my Spitfire Vb at the end of last year.  Could have done with a nice gunsight like that....

Yes, it begins, but only to see if this brain of mine can grasp the concepts necessary to produce anything that might prove useful.  I'm currently exploring how to attach an objet to this object, i.e. the reflector frames attached to the top.  Don't remind me about the geared wheels at the bottom!

 

39 minutes ago, Ngantek said:

Yeesh, you're not making it easy on yourself Mark! Nice work on the cowling, I would've panicked if I'd seen a misfit like that. Those superposition shots you do are great, what program do you use?

Thanks mate.  I use a a program called Pixelmator Pro; it cost around AU$100 and has pretty much all the functionality I'd ever use form Photoshop at a fraction the price.

 

20 minutes ago, Dunny said:

Mark,

 

Crikey - this is progressing at a gallop! 3D printing eh - look forward to seeing more of this! How are you finding Fusion? I use Solidworks in my work life...

 

Cheers,

 

Roger

I am several steps before classing myself even as a beginner in any 3D design so I can't really comment Roger.  The screen shot above is the result of about an hour's work fiddling around seeing what different tools do.  Knowing what I learned doing that, it would take no more than five minutes now.  The biggest challenge [for me] is how to approach the creation of the finished shape/structure, understanding the logic of it; I guess thinking in 3D is what I'm driving at.  I've never done that before - I imagine that for someone like you who can already think that way the program would be quite easy to pick up.

 

As it happens, I've lost the resin gunsight and the kit one isn't appropriate.  I'm going to need to either raid the spares bin or learn Fusion and buy a printer; option two would make it a AU$500 gunsight....  🤦‍♂️  (but it would be interesting....). 

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13 minutes ago, mark.au said:

I guess thinking in 3D is what I'm driving at.  

You hit the nail on the head. Once you have that any CAD package uses broadly the same principles. Bring on the $500 gunsight,

 

Cheers,

 

Roger

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Quick thing that occurred to me Mark, wouldn't a late mark, particularly post war spit like this be using the square Gyro gunsight mark II? I know little about these things, but I have a feeling the 'diamond ring' deflection lag design was introduced mid war? I'm probably wrong, I just thought I'd flag it for comment by people who actually know what they're talking about, before you spent too much time 3d modelling!

 

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1 hour ago, mark.au said:

I'm currently exploring how to attach an objet to this object, i.e. the reflector frames attached to the top.

 

There's nearly always several different ways to do something in Fusion, Mark.

 

In this instance it looks like you created the gunsight with the centre of the disc on the origin (good).

 

So you should be able to create a sketch on a plane that is in a vertical orientation to the gunsight.  That plane (I think from your screen print) will run through the centreline of the gunsight.

 

The use 'project' from the create menu (or Control P) to get the outline of the top disc of the gunsight onto that plane.

 

Then sketch the side on view of the reflector frame - I should imagine it will be a fairly simple triangular shape, place the bottom lines of the reflector frame shape onto the top (projected) line of the gunsight.

 

Finish the sketch and use the extrude function to create the 3D reflector frame.  Do an offset extrude and you have the option in the 'Operation' Box to select 'Join' (make sure the gunsight 'body' is visible) which will make the frame part of the gunsight.  Repeat the extrude from the same frame sketch just offsetting in the other direction.

 

See what I mean?

 

BE5B0150-306C-48EC-93A7-F7B1FC762D77

 

8B4E28B0-0D35-4887-9184-1BA1247F0859

 

Other methods are available :D

 

If the frame isn't vertical and/or parallel to the centre line then you'd need to start creating new construction planes, where you want them and at the angle you want them, to sketch on.  It's straightforward enough to do but maybe that comes just a bit later.

 

It's generally just a matter of (as you say) being logical.

 

 

 

 

 

Edited by Fritag
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  • mark.au changed the title to Spitfire FR Mk.XIVe - NH909 of 273S RAF, Saigon Jan 1946
2 hours ago, Ngantek said:

Quick thing that occurred to me Mark, wouldn't a late mark, particularly post war spit like this be using the square Gyro gunsight mark II? I know little about these things, but I have a feeling the 'diamond ring' deflection lag design was introduced mid war? I'm probably wrong, I just thought I'd flag it for comment by people who actually know what they're talking about, before you spent too much time 3d modelling!

 


You might be right there.  Some investigation is required.  Thanks for the heads up.

 

1 hour ago, Fritag said:

 

There's nearly always several different ways to do something in Fusion, Mark.

 

In this instance it looks like you created the gunsight with the centre of the disc on the origin (good).

 

So you should be able to create a sketch on a plane that is in a vertical orientation to the gunsight.  That plane (I think from your screen print) will run through the centreline of the gunsight.

 

The use 'project' from the create menu (or Control P) to get the outline of the top disc of the gunsight onto that plane.

 

Then sketch the side on view of the reflector frame - I should imagine it will be a fairly simple triangular shape, place the bottom lines of the reflector frame shape onto the top (projected) line of the gunsight.

 

Finish the sketch and use the extrude function to create the 3D reflector frame.  Do an offset extrude and you have the option in the 'Operation' Box to select 'Join' (make sure the gunsight 'body' is visible) which will make the frame part of the gunsight.  Repeat the extrude from the same frame sketch just offsetting in the other direction.

 

See what I mean?

 

BE5B0150-306C-48EC-93A7-F7B1FC762D77

 

8B4E28B0-0D35-4887-9184-1BA1247F0859

 

Other methods are available :D

 

If the frame isn't vertical and/or parallel to the centre line then you'd need to start creating new construction planes, where you want them and at the angle you want them, to sketch on.  It's straightforward enough to do but maybe that comes just a bit later.

 

It's generally just a matter of (as you say) being logical.

 

 

 

 

 


Homework!  Thank you Steve, for taking the time to put that together.  I’ll continue to play around with Fusion360, I think I have a germ of understanding upon which to build.  
 

57 minutes ago, hendie said:

see?  I told you so!

 

You did!

 

Some paint was applied today, as well as the software shenanigans.  I start with the pre shade; the pic below shows that and some of the first pass.  The paint is a mix of artists acrylic, slightly darker than MSG but quite thin.

 

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Next, a slightly lightened mix, thinned just a bit more.  A few more passes…

 

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Next, I added some beige to the mix, it was looking a bit too blue.  Thinned a little further, sprayed all over almost as a filter…

 

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Last, some post shading with a re-darkened mix, thinned further before re-lightening it and applied a filter to blend everything together.

 

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As a finish, I poured the remaining paint away but didn’t clean the pot, instead adding a clear gloss which became essentially the final filter.  The sealing coat serves two purposes, protecting the finish and allows for a good seal on the masking to come when I paint the markings.

 

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Underside painted, I’ll let it all set up and then mask for the uppers.

 

Cheers.

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This morning I found some flaws in the underside paint work so buffed them out and touched up.  I used a slightly lighter mix because last night’s efforts were still a little dark, and I emphasised the texturing a tad too.  I then reapplied the clear gloss.  Then I started work :)

 

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I’m happier with this than how it was, by the time I’ve completed the remaining treatments it’ll settle in nicely.  Next is the markings.

 

Cheers.

 

 

 

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