thom Posted September 28, 2013 Share Posted September 28, 2013 Recently returned to the hobby after a lengthy self-imposed exile for family reasons. My wife was kind enough to buy me Tamiya's incredible 32nd scale Spit, and I've decided to build it up OOB except for the paint scheme, more of which as we go along. For now, all I've managed to do is get the engine built and in its frame. I'm doing almost absolutely nothing more than the kit suggests, just to get my eye in (can't guarantee the cockpit will remain unembellished...) so there are some glaring omissions from the engine bay. But I'm happy with how it's turned out. More to follow, as time and family permit. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
nicholassagan Posted September 28, 2013 Share Posted September 28, 2013 Looks good to me!!! I'm on the fence about building mine with an engine because I have a motor I want to install... Quote Link to post Share on other sites
thom Posted October 8, 2013 Author Share Posted October 8, 2013 Very minor progress to report. Spent a lot of time on the various parts of the cockpit, but things are slowly coming together. I've got just a few pics related to some of the things I've been doing - as I suspected I might, I've not been quite able to stick to building the cockpit OOB. First up, a picture of the IP. I'm experimenting with interior decals for the first time, and I'm now convinced they're the way forward, except next time I'll buy proper placards and the like, rather than trying to cobble together bits and pieces of old decal sheets to give the impression of the real thing, as you can see in this picture: Then there's the oxygen hose which I've scratched together from some styrene stock and copper wire. The stock is flexible enough to allow me to position this much later in the build. It'll be hooked up to the oxygen bottle with a bit of stiff wire, and sit in a little (fucntional) clip I've added to the sidewall (not pictured). Next is one of the frames. I suppose there must be a decent manufacturing reason why the lightening holes in the cockpit frames are only moulded as little depressions, but that does mean you have to spend hours drilling the things out... Lastly for this update, a little detail of the work I've done on the throttle quadrant, adding a little decal (I think, funnily enough, it might say 'DANGER', but it's nigh impossible to read!) and some wiring. This is done with really soft copper wire glued into holes drilled into the kit part. The beauty of this is that I can get the part into place on the sidewall and then worry about routing the wires, since they're so malleable. Right, that's it for now. I promise more interesting things are on their way! Tom Quote Link to post Share on other sites
nicholassagan Posted October 8, 2013 Share Posted October 8, 2013 Cool! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
thom Posted October 12, 2013 Author Share Posted October 12, 2013 Cool! Thank you. Things are a bit slow, but we're getting there. Here's the state of play with the sub-assemblies for the cockpit (apologies for the appalling photography - will get out a proper camera when there's something worth getting it out for!). I made a rod for my own back by deciding to make a cable to run the length of the starboard cockpit wall. This meant creating something which could be routed around/through bulkheads and/or frames, plus anything else already attached to the sidewall. In the end I got out my dividers and sketched a plan, which I then followed with a bit of copper wire. From here the next steps will be to finish off first coats of paint for anything still bare plastic, add a few more bits and pieces of detail (for instance, there's plenty more room for some decals), and then begin the process of adding some depth with paint effects. Thanks for looking. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
thom Posted October 16, 2013 Author Share Posted October 16, 2013 Cockpit is together. Couple of shots. First up, overall view: Starboard sidewall showing the newly cut down oxygen tube (wouldn't quite fit in) and a random placard I put on there for interest: Quote Link to post Share on other sites
nicholassagan Posted October 16, 2013 Share Posted October 16, 2013 nice pit. ;) Quote Link to post Share on other sites
thom Posted October 20, 2013 Author Share Posted October 20, 2013 Since I'm going to begin to put big, important things together soon, I thought I'd elaborate a little on the scheme I'm planning. A few years back, I bought Model Alliance decal sheet for a Hawk in 208 Sqn 90th anniversary colours (this sheet). The Hawk turned out like this: Also on the sheet were the decals for a 90th anniversary Tornado from 43 Sqn. It's quite a famous scheme; here's a link to a picture of it on JetPhotos.net. Although I have no intention of building the Tornado (when I do one, it'll be a dirty grey one!), I did take rather a shine to the decal, and promised I'd use it one day. When I got my big Spitfire, it occurred to me that I had a chance to use the decal, and so I hatched a plan for a bit of a what-if. The scheme I'm going for imagines a world where 43 Sqn paid for one of the UK's still-flying Spits to be painted up in a special anniversary scheme, consisting of the camo and codes of one of their WWII Spits, RK855 (code FT-C when with the squadron), combined with their notorious black-tail anniversary schemes. In order to visualise my idea, I drew up a profile: So, that's what I'm building. It'll not actually be a clipped wing Spit, which RK855 was, because I don't like clipped wings, and since I'm making things up as I go along I've decided I'll use the configuration I prefer. What do you think? ps: I know, I know, the tail wheel is missing from the profile... Forgot to draw it on, and it doesn't really matter anyway! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
nicholassagan Posted October 20, 2013 Share Posted October 20, 2013 That'll be interesting! Although I'd be inclined to put the checked strip on the top of the rudder... Quote Link to post Share on other sites
thom Posted October 20, 2013 Author Share Posted October 20, 2013 Yeah, I think you're right, that would look good. The Xtradecal sheet I bought for the 43 Sqn codes has the checkers, so it would be quite easy to incorporate them. Thanks for the idea. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
HOLMES Posted October 21, 2013 Share Posted October 21, 2013 thom, EXCELLENT Workmanship so far.. Looking mighty impressive.. : Quote Link to post Share on other sites
thom Posted October 23, 2013 Author Share Posted October 23, 2013 thom, EXCELLENT Workmanship so far.. Looking mighty impressive.. :yahoo:/>/> : :worship:/>/> Thanks, kind of you to say. Had a bit of fun dry fitting things: Hardly any of these bit are glued to any of the other bits yet, but it goes to show how well engineered this kit is. You can also see that I've been playing around with the location of the 43 Sqn logo. What you see there is a photocopy of one of the three layers of the decal, which I've used to check whether or not my original idea for the scheme would work. And the answer is no, it won't work. The issue is having to split the decal across the tail and the rudder, which, with three layers to accurately slice and recombine is a disaster waiting to happen. So, instead, I'm toying with the idea of ditching the black tail and instead painting her up in full wartime colours, but still with the concept that it's an anniversary special, and therefore might have a large scale version of the squadron crest just fore of the cockpit. I'm determined to use that decal, dammit! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
thom Posted August 19, 2015 Author Share Posted August 19, 2015 Well, it's been just short of 2 years since I posted an update, and in that time I've managed to achieve this: I've repositioned the rudder trim tab and added a brass wire actuator arm. Apologies for the quality of the picture, but it's only 2mm long and the macro mode on my camera is a bit weak. I'm hoping the pace picks up a bit from here on in, because at this rate I'll be more than 300 years old when its finished, and I really can't see anyone hanging around to find out how it went. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
thom Posted August 20, 2015 Author Share Posted August 20, 2015 (edited) Had a go at one of the other trim tabs tonight, and thought it might be interesting to show a comparison with the kit moulding, since there's one left I haven't done yet. This is the Tamiya representation (which is better than it has any right to be on a mass-produced kit, and really doesn't need to be replaced): And here's its twin on the other side after surgery (hmm, looks a bit messy, think I'll have to clean up a bit): The deflection is probably way larger than it was in real life, but this was done more for the effect than for true accuracy. Edited August 20, 2015 by thom Quote Link to post Share on other sites
thom Posted September 5, 2015 Author Share Posted September 5, 2015 It's not just trim tabs, you know - today I changed the rudder control arm. It's not wholly accurate (the real thing sandwiches the bracket on the rudder), but it'll do. Had to be done so that I could pose the rudder at full deflection. Looks like there's lots of cleaning up still to do, little scraps of plastic everywhere. Thanks for popping by. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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