Jump to content

Tamiya 1/32 Spitfire Mk. IX


Recommended Posts

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.

IMGP2533-1.jpg

More to follow, as time and family permit.

Link to post
Share on other sites
  • 2 weeks later...

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:

2013-10-06171809.jpg

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).

2013-10-06171727.jpg

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...

2013-10-06171915.jpg

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.

2013-10-08210054.jpg

Right, that's it for now. I promise more interesting things are on their way!

Tom

Link to post
Share on other sites

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!).

2013-10-12205158.jpg

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.

2013-10-12204835.jpg

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.

Link to post
Share on other sites

Cockpit is together. Couple of shots. First up, overall view:

IMGP2540.jpg

Starboard sidewall showing the newly cut down oxygen tube (wouldn't quite fit in) and a random placard I put on there for interest:

IMGP2543.jpg

Link to post
Share on other sites

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:

hawkfinal01.jpg

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:

drawing.png

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!

Link to post
Share on other sites

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.

Link to post
Share on other sites

thom,

EXCELLENT Workmanship so far..

Looking mighty impressive.. :yahoo:/>/>

: :worship:/>/>

Thanks, kind of you to say.

Had a bit of fun dry fitting things:

IMGP2547.jpg

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!

Link to post
Share on other sites
  • 1 year later...

Well, it's been just short of 2 years since I posted an update, and in that time I've managed to achieve this:

IMGP4969.jpg

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.

Link to post
Share on other sites

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):

IMGP4977.jpg

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):

IMGP4978.jpg

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 by thom
Link to post
Share on other sites
  • 3 weeks later...

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.

IMGP4981%201.jpg

IMGP4986%201.jpg

Looks like there's lots of cleaning up still to do, little scraps of plastic everywhere.

Thanks for popping by.

Link to post
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...