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Dear Prudence, Won't You Come Out To Play - KP Supermarine Spitfire PR. Mk.XI "SEAC"


AliGauld

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19 minutes ago, AliGauld said:

You must resist, I'm in enough trouble with Mrs. Badge without Mrs. Victor hunting me down as well. :D

She's not Mrs Victor yet, but this time next year..... :D but fear not, Alistair, I shall not crack even under the fiercest interrogation!

 

22 minutes ago, AliGauld said:

You'll get to it when you're good and ready and will make a cracking job of it.

Thank you, but I think you're being far too kind! I'm thinking it could make an appearance in next year's Recce GB :)

 

Cheers,

Mark

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14 hours ago, 2996 Victor said:

She's not Mrs Victor yet,

My apologies.

 

14 hours ago, 2996 Victor said:

but this time next year..... :D

And congratulations.:penguin:

 

14 hours ago, 2996 Victor said:

but fear not, Alistair, I shall not crack even under the fiercest interrogation!

You have no idea how relieved I am by that. :D

 

Cheers,

Alistair

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3 minutes ago, 2996 Victor said:

Thanks :) it's timed to coincide with the tenth anniversary of the day we first met! Sentimental or what? :) 

 

Cheers,

Mark

I'd aim a day sooner or you'll get the dreaded 'took him 10 years' for ever more. 😄 

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5 minutes ago, Ngantek said:

I'd aim a day sooner or you'll get the dreaded 'took him 10 years' for ever more. 😄 

The big day is actually a few days earlier, as our honeymoon is booked to start the day after the actual anniversary date and we didn't want to rush from Chesterfield to Southampton! :D So I've hopefully avoided that particular remark!

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1 minute ago, 2996 Victor said:

apologies for the thread drift!

No need for apologies.

I'm not precious about stuff like that especially when it's about more important stuff than butchering styrene.

 

Cheers,

Alistair

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On 21/11/2022 at 08:19, bigbadbadge said:

Blimey Alistair,  you've cracked on with this quickly, great progress already.

I have been building mine a PR.IV and so will post a thread.

Great work 

Chris

Sorry Chris missed this one as I had half an eye on the football last night, whilst nipping in an out to the garage.

Looking forward to yours greatly.

 

Cheers,

Alistair

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18 minutes ago, AliGauld said:

Sorry Chris missed this one as I had half an eye on the football last night, whilst nipping in an out to the garage.

Looking forward to yours greatly.

 

Cheers,

Alistair

No worries fella, I was worried you might think I had not posted😉😄

No turning back now it's posted!!!

Thanks Alistair 

Chris

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For some reason I've not had as much time today to do everything I'd planned, might be something to do with not getting up until 11:00 of course.

Lazy so and so.

Then fending off numerous phone calls from the Roster clerk trying to get me to agree to 9 days straight with a night to early turn around.

This, despite the fact that we're not allowed to do more than 70hrs in a 7 day period. :angrysoapbox.sml:.

 

Some work was done though.

I got some shoddy detail painting done and the IP and seatbelt decals on.

 

tPdUiFo.jpg

 

BDZmRJ5.jpg

 

These were the last of my KitWorld 3D belts so will need to remember to order more up soon.

I was going to use the kit decals on foil but that simply wasn't working so fell back to these.

 

hiDfPCB.jpg

 

As Giorgio N advised the PR MK.XI was not pressurised therefore I didn't need the rear bulkhead and I figured the rear of the cockpit would look a bit bare.

So, I took the bulkhead, drilled some holes and sort of shaped it to shape.

It's less than stellar but under the canopy should look OK and give the impression of some thing structural there.

 

0AbOAgp.jpg

 

There should be some glue sloshed around tomorrow.

That's all folks. On an early tomorrow.

 

Thanks for looking,

 

Cheers,

Alistair

Alistair

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21 hours ago, mark.au said:

Some excellent progress Alistair, you’ll be slapping some blue paint around in no time!

Thanks Mark.

 

20 hours ago, bigbadbadge said:

Great progress Alistair, looking good, won't be long til the fuselage is together.  

Cracking job fella

Chris

Thanks Chris.

 

Some glue has been used.

 

A word of warning for @2996 Victor the rudder pedal/ bottom of cockpit part is way too short so you'll either need to extend it or fit the parts in separately as I have done.

 

TjxizmT.jpg

 

This will get a wash before I head out to the fillums and if I feel brave there will be more glue involved.

 

Cheers,

Alistair

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3 minutes ago, bigbadbadge said:

Great to see it going together , shame about the floor section though.

Great work,  enjoy your film 

Chris

It's no real problem Chris as it'll never be seen when the canopy goes on.

Will do.

 

Cheers,

Alistair

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Just now, AliGauld said:

It's no real problem Chris as it'll never be seen when the canopy goes on.

Will do.

 

Cheers,

Alistair

Ahh yes that's true, I opened mine up in the end after doing the PE throttle quadrant and undercarriage selector,  I just hope I can cut the canopy okay😬

Chris

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59 minutes ago, AliGauld said:

A word of warning for @2996 Victor the rudder pedal/ bottom of cockpit part is way too short so you'll either need to extend it or fit the parts in separately as I have done.

Thanks, Alistair, that's a good tip! :) Bit of an oversight on KP's part.....

 

You've done a cracking job on the cockpit, if I may say so!

 

Cheers,

Mark

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3 hours ago, bigbadbadge said:

I just hope I can cut the canopy okay😬

I'm sure you've got a decent razor saw and it will go swimmingly.

 

2 hours ago, 2996 Victor said:

Thanks, Alistair, that's a good tip! :) Bit of an oversight on KP's part.....

 

You've done a cracking job on the cockpit, if I may say so!

 

Cheers,

Mark

Thanks Mark very kind,

It'll look a lot better after a wash. I hope.

 

Cheers,

Alistair

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9 hours ago, Ngantek said:

Nice work on the insides, that scratch rear section has come out very nicely. Good luck closing up!

 

Andy

Thanks Andy.

The rear section is a bit clunky and overscale but through the canopy should look OK.

The fuselage closes up nicely on a dry fit, whether that happens when glue is introduced is another matter.

 

Cheers,

Alistair

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Looking very nice so far.
 

And I hope you enjoyed your movie.
 

I wonder why only a few Spitfires had the bulged (bigger oil tank?) lower cowling - if it made a positive difference to performance or operation I would have expected the feature to get rolled into general production.

 

Regards,

Adrian

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8 minutes ago, AdrianMF said:

I wonder why only a few Spitfires had the bulged (bigger oil tank?) lower cowling

Range - the Merlin was a thirsty engine and drank oil (then spewed it out in a dirty streak along the bottom of the fuselage)

For most operational use the standard tank was sufficient, but for long range flights with overload fuel tanks a larger oil tank was desirable, PR work being a prime example of this,

The original MkI Spitfire oil tank was part of the lower nose cowling (the middle bit of the 3-part cowling wasn't a panel, it was the tank)

This was replaced with an enlarged tank giving a bulged lower nose on some Spits in the ME theatre (usually seen with the Aboukir filter as in the famous shot of Widge Gleed and a couple of 601 Sqn Vc's)

With the introduction of the Vokes filter a new enlarged tank was fitted inside the lower cowling above the filter - this seems to coincide with Spitfires re-enforcing Malta either by carrier in ops such as Calendar and Bowery or direct from Gibraltar, both long range ops with overload fuel tanks.

With the introduction of the 2 stage Merlin in the MkIX and a longer nose cowling (and more power/more thirst) a larger oil tank (compared to MkI) was fitted into the space available in the longer nose, this became the new standard, but again with demand for long range flights an even larger oil tank was fitted in a deeper lower forward cowling, demand coming this time for PR work.

You see this on only a few types as demand for standard types in high and it's more efficient production wise to fit this only to those for which role demands it until a major redesign for standard types allows incorporation into mainstream production.

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14 minutes ago, Dave Swindell said:

Range

Thanks, Dave, that's a fascinating insight and I for one had not considered the rate of oil consumption necessitated a bigger tank on the PR types - I presumed it was merely added insurance. Nor did I know about the increased oil tankage on the Malta aircraft, for instance.

 

8 minutes ago, AdrianMF said:

* or possibly just a bit more knowledgeable…

sadly in my case, only until I completely forget..... :confused:

 

Cheers,

Mark

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