advise on dropping Spitfire tail-plane needed...

[yeehah1]

21-09-07

Spitfire gurus...i need help here.

I am building a Spitfire..sort of.. and I want to drop the tail-planes and off-set the rudder.

I am using the 1/32 Hasegawa Spitfire Vb kit.

I have cut the necessary bits like so....

But before I potentially destroy these bits...what's the best way to go about this?

After the cut, both surfaces are flat and blunt, but I take it I need a curved surface? Wouls I glue a piece of stretched spru to the newly cut edge of the tail palne to be dropped and then sand/blend them together to get a smooth rounded surface that looks as if it's slotted together (as well as indiacteing the two hinges?).

Or is there a better way to do this?

I need to off-set the rudder as well, so the same method would apply, yes?

Thanks in advance for any help.

Liam

[Edgar]

What you need to remember is that the elevators, and rudder, fit into a recess, so that, whatever the position, the gap stays (more or less) the same. The maximum downward angle, for the elevators, is 23 degrees, with the rudder 28 degrees, in either direction. All I've ever done is sand the mating faces at an angle, and glued them back into place; no-one has ever commented that they appear to be short. If you're really concerned, glue a piece of 10 thou plasticard onto the face(s) of the moving part(s,) then sand it to an angle, with a faintly rounded l/e.

Edgar