Col. Posted November 27, 2022 Share Posted November 27, 2022 Tidy work again Alex and a coat of paint should reveal exactly how good a job you've made on the propeller. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alex Gordon Posted December 27, 2022 Author Share Posted December 27, 2022 Hello again Chums,a little more to show. Col,thanks old chum. A combination of avoiding making the innards and it being a tad too cold to sit and whittle has held the job back a bit.I've done as much as I'm going to do inside of this one,just the shiny glue marks to hide which was done with a brushful of paint.The oxygen hose has been made but not painted yet. The roller for the seat harness was made from copper wire and superglued in place. The instrument panel looked a bit bare so I chiselled off the bezels with the intention of repositioning them on top of the decal I was going to apply. The bezels are a bit too small to play with easily so I decided to give them a miss.I did have a go at the rudder pedals though,cutting out the centres leaving the upright sides and then gluing a bit of square rod in between to make the treads. Anyway,here it is all together and ready to go into the fuselage. The fuselage has been glued together and is now setting. More soon Chums,thanks for looking in. 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Corsairfoxfouruncle Posted December 27, 2022 Share Posted December 27, 2022 Good work on the office. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Col. Posted December 27, 2022 Share Posted December 27, 2022 Good to see this one coming together Alex. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigbadbadge Posted December 28, 2022 Share Posted December 28, 2022 Cockpit innards look great Alex, good to see the fuselage together too. Great work Chris 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alex Gordon Posted December 30, 2022 Author Share Posted December 30, 2022 G'day again Chums,a bit more done. Dennis,Col,Chris,thanks chums. The wing uppers have been glued on leaving me with fettle free joints. Most Spitfire kits have a rounded leading edge to the fin,this one is no exception. It should look like this Image found here https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8050709/An-explosion-colour-Newly-colourised-images-WWII-allied-airmen.html A spot of scraping and dodgy rescribing later gave me this. The lower wing was a tricky fit.I started with setting up the wings themselves and checking that the clipped tips would fit.A few minor adjustments later liquid glue was run into the joints and the whole lot set aside to sort itself out. The tips aren't a great fit but they are larger rather than smaller than the end of the wing so a bit of filling and sanding will do the job. Once that had set the joint with the rear fuselage was tackled.A few plasic card shims levelled off the edges. Once the glue had set on those the flap ends were clamped and glued. Thanks all for looking in,more soon. 8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigbadbadge Posted December 31, 2022 Share Posted December 31, 2022 Great Fettling Alex , getting there now, will look great I am sure. Chris 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Col. Posted January 1, 2023 Share Posted January 1, 2023 Nicely done Alex. There's a bit of filling in your near future but nothing outwith your skill set. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alex Gordon Posted January 1, 2023 Author Share Posted January 1, 2023 Hello again Chums,Happy New Year to one and all. Chris,Col,thanks chums. The propellor blade tips have been painted yellow. I don't normally use clamps but some brute force was required to push the wing centre section up to the fuselage so that the cowling underside will sit properly.This has taken two attempts so far and I'm hoping it works this time. More soon Chums,thanks for looking in. 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigbadbadge Posted January 2, 2023 Share Posted January 2, 2023 That prop is going tolook awesome greatcto see the final wing section to be glued. Great work Chris 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alex Gordon Posted January 3, 2023 Author Share Posted January 3, 2023 G'day again Chums,some progress. Chris,thanks old fruit. The underside of the engine cowling was offered up.The aft end sits flush with the wing but there was a good sized gap that needed to be filled. All the manipulation of the lower wing caused the port upper portion to detatch at the trailing edge so the fuselage was jerried up to push the contact faces back together for gluing and a couple of strips of 10 thou plastic card were fixed across the joint on both sides to stop them coming adrift again. Troy mentioned the agricultural nature of the runners and the tooling in general,the gates for the outer flap portions are pretty substantial. The outer portions of the flaps needed some working to make them fit.A spacer block was fixed at the inner end to make the hinge edge sit flush with the wing.These were then positioned,glued and then taped and clamped to make them conform to the shape of the wing. The inner flap portions were fettled to fit into their apertures and wiggled for best fit and most amount of available thickness of plastic for chewing off to match up to the surrounding contours. The mounting for the propellor was made up and fitted. The propellor has been painted black and looks good enough to me. Thanks for looking in Chums,more soon. 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigbadbadge Posted January 3, 2023 Share Posted January 3, 2023 Great fettling Alex, this is coming on very well indeed and looking good. That prop looks ace. Cracking work Chris 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alex Gordon Posted January 7, 2023 Author Share Posted January 7, 2023 Hello again Chums,I keep finding more bits to fettle. Chris,thanks old chum. The wheelwells had big gaps between the walls and the roof.It's the same on the highback IX and the Vc/Seafire III kits.The wing halves won't push together without some serious clamping which would definitely break something. I cut a couple of rectangles of thinnish paper and had an entertaining time inveigling them into the wells and then fixing them by dripping in some superglue. Once set and scruffed over with a sanding sponge they more or less look the part. The glassware has been fished out of its hitherto sealed bag.No fingerprints on this yet. The sliding portion of the canopy looks identical to that in the Seafire 46/47 kit.It seems to sit properly in this one so I'll use it. The radiator housings also sit properly without fettling,the first old tool Airfix Spitfire I've seen so far that does.The edges could do with some thinning down though. More soon Chums,thanks for looking in. 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Col. Posted January 7, 2023 Share Posted January 7, 2023 Nice save in the wheelwells Alex 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wings unlevel Posted January 8, 2023 Share Posted January 8, 2023 7 hours ago, Alex Gordon said: The wheelwells had big gaps between the walls and the roof. That’s some proper fettling, love it! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alex Gordon Posted January 8, 2023 Author Share Posted January 8, 2023 G'day again Chums,some more to show. Col,Gerard,thanks chaps. Slots have been made to take the replacement exhausts. A set of radiator faces have been scratched up and fitted.The carburettor air intake has been put together and glued into place.I was going to use an ICM one but I decided on this set up for strength after all the pushing and shoving fitting the wing. There will be some filling inside the housings when they go on before they can be painted so there has been some masking.Removing the tape afterwards could be tricky so I've made a tab by folding each mask before fitting so that there's something to grab hold of once the work is done.Another slip of tape will keep the tab out of the way during painting. The rudder has been treated to a lamp glass and an actuator rod,a spot of filler will be needed to finish this bit. The tailplanes have been fitted and will need a touch of filler at the roots. The windscreen is now on. The upper cowling needed a tad of filling at the aft edge. Thanks for looking in Chums,more soon. 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Corsairfoxfouruncle Posted January 8, 2023 Share Posted January 8, 2023 Thats some fine detail work you’ve added to this. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigbadbadge Posted January 13, 2023 Share Posted January 13, 2023 Looking good Alex, cracking work. Chris 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alex Gordon Posted January 14, 2023 Author Share Posted January 14, 2023 Hello again Chums,a little more to show. Dennis,Chris,thanks chums. Lightening holes have been drilled into the rollover frame aft of the cockpit and the aft fuel tank filler tube has been scratched up and fitted.The lower edges of the windscreen have had a spot of Milliput to hide the joint. The tailwheel has been fitted,the fillery on the tailplane roots smoothed and the rudder actuator rod placed.It's not quite right here and has been made a little less sticky outy. There has been masking and Humbrol 21 Gloss Black paint sprayed on in two coats.I managed to get a dust inclusion in the second coat so a rub over with some 12000 Micromesh and a touch in here and there has got us to the point of decalling. Most colour profiles of this one show the wingtips painted gold,I'm not convinced. The kit decals for the upper wing roundels are full size,I'm of the opinion that they are the same size as the fuselage roundels. I can't say that I'm best pleased with the decals.The dot matrix printing I could forgive,the eyesight is not as sharp as it used to be,if the opacity was up to snuff.They have been bedded on a drop of Klear.The outer rings on the fuselage roundels come as separate items and it's my fault that this one is slightly off. I'll let it be and see if things alter once drying has happened. More soon Chums,thanks for looking in. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Col. Posted January 14, 2023 Share Posted January 14, 2023 Nice work again Alex and your interpretation of the photos makes good sense. Those decals certainly aren't the best but hopefully when seen from a normal viewing distance they'll do the job. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Corsairfoxfouruncle Posted January 14, 2023 Share Posted January 14, 2023 Looking great, I agree with the roundel size assessment. I also agree with the gold wingtip’s, I’m not seeing anything in these photo’s to show any color differences. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigbadbadge Posted January 15, 2023 Share Posted January 15, 2023 Great to see the paint on and decals too, , looking good in all over black. Chris 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alex Gordon Posted January 19, 2023 Author Share Posted January 19, 2023 G'day again Chums,last instalment for this one. Col,Dennis,Chris,thanks chaps. The spinner has been painted with the nearest match to the fuselage roundel ring that I have to hand,namely a particularly ancient Airfix G15 which stirred into life with little provocation and went on with no fuss. There has been the usual flurry of touching in and adding of the exhausts,spine and underwing antennas,the adding in of the wingtip lamp glasses with the carrier from gloss red and blue paint and several coats of Klear to try to hide the decal carrier film.I'm calling this one done.After a merry old time removing my fingerprints without knocking off any sticky out bits here are the piccies. With the ICM XVI I refinished last year. I nearly got it right. My thanks to Col and Dennis for doing their bit,Enzo for doing his and to all who dropped by and provided all the encouragement.I'm off to finish my half track now,see you all soon. 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Corsairfoxfouruncle Posted January 19, 2023 Share Posted January 19, 2023 Sweet looking Spitfire, its a great scheme for a post war aircraft. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Col. Posted January 20, 2023 Share Posted January 20, 2023 Nicely done Alex 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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