Spitfire Vc, 603 Sqn

[ch9862]

There are so many nice Spitfires here, the GB really doesn't need mine. But I want to put MDC Vc wings to some use finally - I bought them who knows how may years ago. I'll also use Eduard Zoom PE set, Ultracast propeller blades and their control surfaces (if I can find them; I know I bought them :wacko:).

I'll build Tamiya kit as 603 Sqn machine coded U-2, serial BR 124, as launched for Malta from USS Wasp. Judging by the pictures of this machine as well as others from the same operation, it had four cannons which implies wide gun bay blisters. Five-spoked wheels. 90 gallon slipper tank. It was built by Spitfire, which means de Havilland propeller - I'll have to buy Ultracast item for the blades. I don't see 'cheese slicer' wires in the picture, but since every Spit until mid-43 is supposed to have had it, I'll probably put them in.

[ch9862]

Zoom PE set is very small, it has few cockpit details plus instrument panel, harness and that's about it. Here's interior with base color.

[Matt]

Good start. Looking forward to see how those MDC wings turn out.

Cheers,

Matt

[ch9862]

Did a bit of work in the cockpit. Am not very happy with the wash, I'll have to fix it.

MDC wings seem OK for the most part, although they have wheel bulges, which I think were absent on C wing. Detail is not as crisp as on Tamiya parts, some lines would definitely benefit from being retraced. Another strange (to me anyway) thing are faint blister outlines on both top and bottom surfaces. They are positioned where B blisters would be, and although much smaller I'm suspecting they are leftovers from converting B wing to C. They don't show well in my pictures, but you can make out faint line on the left of both blisters - if you squint really hard :o.

Edit: Better wing pictures below. I gave them the same names as the old ones, so you might have to do Ctrl-F5 (IE, Fierfox) to refresh them.

Edited December 2, 2007 by ch9862

[The Mikester]

Nice work, the instrument panel is a beauty!

[ch9862]

Here are better pictures of the wings. I put dark brown wash so that panel lines show better in the photos. If you don't see wash in the panel lines, refresh the page (Ctrl-F5).

I also touched up interior wash; some halos to remove, but looks better to my eye.

Thanks for the comment on the panel, I wish I could take credit for it, but it's all Eduard :).

[ch9862]

Well... I started work on the wings by chopping off parts of the kit wings, and fitting MDC parts. Fit on top is kind of iffy, and worse on bottom. There is approx. 1mm missing at the leading and trailing edges; I'm sure this was caused by resin shrinkage. Trailing edge is relatively easy to fix, leading less so. In addition I'd need to shave wheel bumps off, fix panel lines (some of which I don't like) and what's left of original bumps. And make sure I get dihedral right :wacko:.

So I decided it's too much for me right now.

I'm sure it would be easier to convert kit wings to C standard, and not to have to deal with fit issues; which might be unique to my copy of resin parts BTW. Since I don't have another Tamiya Spit in my stash, I've shelved the project for now :(.

[ch9862]

After having recovered from the disappointment, I thought I'd see what can be done to salvage the project. I cut one wing in half, inserted strip of plastic and glued it back.

Here's wingtip before...

... and after

I wish the strip was a bit thicker, but even as is, it's close to fitting pretty well both the wingtip and fuselage.

[Mark M.]

That's the ticket! Nice save <_<

[ch9862]

Thanks for the encouragement, nothing's been easy with this model. Wings turned out to have crossection problems as well, which was highlighted after I glued them onto the fuselage.

Underside is way too flat, esp. on the port wing. Really disappointing. I'll probably use epoxy putty to mask these flaws.

I'm so not looking forwards to that ...

[The Mikester]

Excellent work, cockpit looks really good!

[Touvdal]

I must say I admire your effort to correct that kit, quite a job, well done :D

cheers

Jes

[ch9862]

So... blending in wing / fuselage connection turned out to be relatively easy. Here's underside

Blisters are not very accurate, esp. in profile. I have since filed their tops off.

They did not conform to wing surface either, I had to use Mr. Surfacer to eliminate seams.

[jrallman]

really looking great though, that work is paying off!

[Marcin_S]

Great work so far

[ch9862]

Thank you for kind words.

I partially painted the airframe, put some decals on, and masked them.

Looks pretty weird .

Edited March 2, 2008 by ch9862

[ch9862]

And here it is painted with some gray-blueish paint. I mixed dark sea gray and dark blue to get the color, then darkened it a little with black. Came out still a bit lighter than I expected.

[ch9862]

Ready for weathering. Unfortunately aircraft codes (U2) are way too tall - but I only realized this after decals were on :).

[johnsan]

That looks pretty good. She's looking close to being done.

[Maxidad]

Wow! All your hard work has really started to pay off. It's looking great.

[thom]

Lot better conversion than mine was, and a better paintjob too. Look forward to seeing it done.

[ch9862]

And I'm done - finally!

Can't say I'm very happy with the top color - it's too light, and too blue for my taste - but could be worse. It's a little better in person (not as vivid) - apparently my camera tweaked the colors a little. Model would benefit from more weathering (to reflect haphazard application of top color, not extensive use), but that's beyond my abilities right now.

I'm happy I managed to finish the model somehow. Phew! Thanks to everyone for encouragement - I do appreciate it :o.

Out of curiosity, I went through my books to learn more about the airframe. It was evidently made by Supermarine, first flown on March 25, 1942. Presumably finished in Temperate Land scheme, which I read as OG/DG/Sky. Desert camo (DE/MS) was probably applied in MU, before aircraft was loaded onto USS Wasp for delivery to Malta as part of Operation Calendar. Dark blue/gray (or should I say grey ) was then applied on top surfaces aboard the carrier.

During Operation Calendar, 50 Spitfires were to be flown to Malta. 47 were actually launched on April 20, 1942 (remaining three apparently arriving at a later date). Of these 50:

• 3 were destroyed on April 20
  
• 20 more destroyed by April 28
  
• 20 more destroyed by May 21
  

That's 43 out of 50 destroyed one month after the arrival. Only 5 remained in service by October 17, 1942.

As to reasons for their destruction:

• 20 were shot down by enemy fighters
  
• 23 damaged beyond repair (including 13 as a result of air raids)
  
• 2 struck off charge for unknown reasons
  

BR124 (if that's true serial of U-2) was damaged during air raid on April 28, 1942, and never flown again.

[SBARC]

I NEVER grow tired of looking at Spitfires....thanks for sharing. And reading the history behind these Spitfire does make one ponder how any pilot survived.

[The Mikester]

Gorgeous!

[thom]

Lovely finish, really did the kit justice.

As for the top colour, I don't think it's too dark at all. It's hard to find references for these birds in colour (for obvious reasons!), but there's definitely a wide range of opinions on what the top colour should be. Mine ended up a bit darker than that, but that was purely chance.

Once again, great build, and it's nice to have another Maltese Spit in the finished builds.