Dave Gibson Posted January 29, 2011 Posted January 29, 2011 (edited) Hi all, I decided to make a start on my Airfix 1/48 Spitfire XII. Airfix are to be congratulated for producing an excellent kit. Caution! Airfix engineered the kit to be built closed up, or if open, to use the combined rear glazing/canopy. Use of this requires considerable cutting as indicated in the instructions. I decided on a more conventional approach. The rear glass is about 1.5mm too short. This is NOT the fault of Airfix as it is meant to be used with the canopy closed. However, the Falcon Spitfire collection have several replacements which would fit. The fuselage sides need building up to replace the missing material. I also decided to build the canopy rail. This is missed by most manufacturers. The changes can be seen as the white bits below. Sorry about the graininess of the pix. Thanks for looking. All comments are welcome. Dave Edited April 4, 2011 by Dave Gibson
The Lazy Builder Posted January 31, 2011 Posted January 31, 2011 Dave, Nice bit of detail work. Is this ' new'Spitfire the Mk1/V with a new fuselage or is it all new? Regards Ian
Enzo the Magnificent Posted January 31, 2011 Posted January 31, 2011 Is this ' new'Spitfire the Mk1/V with a new fuselage or is it all new? It's totally new. Check out the review here --> Linky
Dave Gibson Posted January 31, 2011 Author Posted January 31, 2011 Dave, Nice bit of detail work. Is this ' new'Spitfire the Mk1/V with a new fuselage or is it all new? Regards Ian Hi Ian, Thanks for the comments. This is new tool and is light years ahead of the MkI/V or even the IX/XVI. This is moving towards Tamigawa standard. Dave
keith in the uk Posted January 31, 2011 Posted January 31, 2011 Got one on the bench at the moment , nice little kit , thanks for pointing that out.
Dave Gibson Posted February 5, 2011 Author Posted February 5, 2011 (edited) I spent a bit of time on the cockpit this week. The detail is quite good, although I did use a couple of bits from the spares box. The Airfix instrument panel is a bit shallow in detail, so I used a spare etched effort and the throttle is a bit blobby so I replaced this with one from an Acadely XIV. I cobbled some harnesses together from lead foil. Tamiya Hull red was used for the seat and Tamiya 71 for the interior grey/green (as recommended for the Tamiya 1/32 Spitfire.) The oxygen pipe has yet to be added. The interior green looks a bit yellowy due to the artificial lighting I used. My first batch of pix were all out of focus, but here's the best of a bad batch so that you get a different angle on the green. The lighting here was fading daylight plus fluorescent. Thanks for looking. All comments are most welcome. Dave. Edited February 6, 2011 by Dave Gibson
Dave Gibson Posted February 6, 2011 Author Posted February 6, 2011 (edited) Ignore. An edit went wrong Edited February 6, 2011 by Dave Gibson
AnonymousDFB1 Posted February 6, 2011 Posted February 6, 2011 Looking good Dave, nice level of detail
Rabspat Posted February 6, 2011 Posted February 6, 2011 Looking good there, can't wait to get my hands on one of these. Just waiting for RM to deliver.
Severus Posted February 6, 2011 Posted February 6, 2011 Nice! Still I was somehow frustrated with the look of amount of opened canopies on spit. Definitly, you have pointed it out. The only remaining problem is, how to handle this in 1:72...
Dave Gibson Posted February 7, 2011 Author Posted February 7, 2011 Looking good Dave, nice level of detail Cheers Mish, Airfix gave me plenty to start with. Dave. Looking good there, can't wait to get my hands on one of these. Just waiting for RM to deliver. Thanks Simon, I can assure you that you won't be disappointed. Dave.
Dave Gibson Posted February 7, 2011 Author Posted February 7, 2011 Nice!Still I was somehow frustrated with the look of amount of opened canopies on spit. Definitly, you have pointed it out. The only remaining problem is, how to handle this in 1:72... Thanks Severus, It's a standard fix whenever I build a Spitfire. I can't see why the same procedure won't work in 1/72. Dave.
Gary Adams Posted February 10, 2011 Posted February 10, 2011 Caution! Airfix engineered the kit to be built closed up, or if open, to use the combined rear glazing/canopy. Use of this requires considerable cutting as indicated in the instructions. I decided on a more conventional approach.The rear glass is about 1.5mm too short. This is NOT the fault of Airfix as it is meant to be used with the canopy closed. However, the Falcon Spitfire collection have several replacements which would fit. The fuselage sides need building up to replace the missing material. I also decided to build the canopy rail. This is missed by most manufacturers. The changes can be seen as the white bits below. Dave Hi Dave, Looking good! Duh! never thought of that about the shortness....one of those things that's just too obvious! And the starboard rails (you pegged me correctly in your email). This area, as you know somehow is ignored on most models, not just Spits! This will help on my current build, the Classic Airframes Mk Vc. Hope things are calm where you are. Think of you with all the news we hear and the situation in the region. Cheers,
Dave Gibson Posted February 10, 2011 Author Posted February 10, 2011 Hi Dave,Looking good! Duh! never thought of that about the shortness....one of those things that's just too obvious! And the starboard rails (you pegged me correctly in your email). This area, as you know somehow is ignored on most models, not just Spits! This will help on my current build, the Classic Airframes Mk Vc. Hope things are calm where you are. Think of you with all the news we hear and the situation in the region. Cheers, Hi Gary, The Vc has it's own set of problems. The good news is that the rear glazing is the right length, so only the stbd canopy rail needs scratching. However, the door is waaaay too squat. If put it the opening, it's height should extend about 10 thou past the port canopy rail. In fact, the port canopy rail comprises part of the door. I hope that makes sense. This means scratch building a new door, or getting an Ultracast replacement. Cheers, Dave.
PaulH Posted February 10, 2011 Posted February 10, 2011 Nice work - I've started this kit anyone else find the fit of the wing halfs odd - as in very thick at the front making a clean seam line at the front impossible? Paul
Dave Gibson Posted February 10, 2011 Author Posted February 10, 2011 Nice work - I've started this kit anyone else find the fit of the wing halfs odd - as in very thick at the front making a clean seam line at the front impossible?Paul I'll try and post some more pix tomorrow of the wings. When I glued them together, the fit was quite good. There was a hairline space at joining of the leading edge. It was nothing significant at all. I applied a bit of Talc/CA filler and sanded it off when set. It was a very easy fix. Cheers, Dave
PaulH Posted February 10, 2011 Posted February 10, 2011 I'll try and post some more pix tomorrow of the wings. When I glued them together, the fit was quite good. There was a hairline space at joining of the leading edge. It was nothing significant at all. I applied a bit of Talc/CA filler and sanded it off when set. It was a very easy fix.Cheers, Dave Sounds like what I'm getting - mabye just me then being a fussy builder! Paul
Dave Gibson Posted February 11, 2011 Author Posted February 11, 2011 (edited) The kit builds quickly and the fit is good. However, Airfix have represented the radiator flap as a trapezium rather than a rectangle, so I cut it out and built a replacement out of 10 and 15 thou (0.28 and 0.43 mm) card. Some of the raised detail is a little restrained. The air intake on the top of the cowl is an example. I made a replacement out of sheet copper. As mentioned by Jonners, the wing needs thinning towards the tip, to accomodate the wingtip The wings go together well, but there was a hairline gap at the front of the leading edge. This was filled with a little CA/talc filler. The entire process took just a few minutes. I assembled the wings in my usual manner: add the upper halves and then attach the lower half. However, I did tape things together, and can report that an excellent joint should result if fully assembled wings are offered up to the fuselage. No filler has been necessary except for the wing leading edge. A vacform rear glazing was added. This part came from a Falcon set and was meant for a Tamiya Vb. It was about spot-on for length. The ailerons were set to match the position of the control column spade grip. Thanks for looking. All comments are welcome. Dave. Edited February 11, 2011 by Dave Gibson
thx6667 Posted February 11, 2011 Posted February 11, 2011 Great stuff Dave, I love the intake on the cowl, I must replicate that when I crack on with mine this weekend.
PaulH Posted February 11, 2011 Posted February 11, 2011 Excellent work so far - your right on the wing fit I've built mine as a complete wing unit - fit is light years ahead of the Airfix Mk1 on my bench - no widening etc need at all
Severus Posted February 11, 2011 Posted February 11, 2011 Thanks Severus,It's a standard fix whenever I build a Spitfire. I can't see why the same procedure won't work in 1/72. Dave. Problem is related to cockpit doors. If taken from reality, adding rails, sometimes you would end up almost with square doors...
Dave Gibson Posted February 12, 2011 Author Posted February 12, 2011 (edited) Problem is related to cockpit doors. If taken from reality, adding rails, sometimes you would end up almost with square doors... Hi Severus Cockpit doors are often moulded too small. The door in the middle is the correct size. This was made by Roy Sutherland (Cooper Details and Barracudacals). The one to the right is Tamiya, and I can live with that one. The one to the left is from the Czech made Vc (Eduard in this case) and is much too squat. Edit: I called the doors out incorrectly (don't know my left from my right) The top item is a Tamiya Vb fuselage side with the CD door fitted. Note how the canopy rail extends across the top of the door. The lower item is an unchanged Tamiya fuselage side. Note that if the Tamiya kit as built ith the canopy open and the door closed, the door and stbd fuselage side would be too short. You can check this out on the many Spitfire images which are on the net. Dave Edited February 12, 2011 by Dave Gibson
Gary Adams Posted February 13, 2011 Posted February 13, 2011 Hi SeverusCockpit doors are often moulded too small. The door in the middle is the correct size. This was made by Roy Sutherland (Cooper Details and Barracudacals). The one to the right is Tamiya, and I can live with that one. The one to the left is from the Czech made Vc (Eduard in this case) and is much too squat. Edit: I called the doors out incorrectly (don't know my left from my right) The top item is a Tamiya Vb fuselage side with the CD door fitted. Note how the canopy rail extends across the top of the door. The lower item is an unchanged Tamiya fuselage side. Note that if the Tamiya kit as built ith the canopy open and the door closed, the door and stbd fuselage side would be too short. You can check this out on the many Spitfire images which are on the net. Dave Good Stuff!! Very useful and something I overlooked.....Do I need to turn in my "Order of the Picker of Nits" badge? Cheers,
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