Spitfires: Previous builds, info, reference, and trivia

[nickdanger]

My current Spitfire shrine:

Marks represented: I, Vb, VII, VIII, IX, XII, XIV, XVI, and 22

Manufacturers: ICM, Hasegawa, Airfix, Hobbyboss, Eduard, and Academy

Edited March 2, 2016 by nickdanger

[Don]

This is my favorite of my few Spitfire builds (sorry about the little bit of dust...I just took it out of the cabinet and it looked fine until I saw the photos):

What makes it my favorite is not that the build itself is anything stellar, but the markings are particularly meaningful. I built it as a Spitfire Mk.I as flown by F/O Peter Pease. According to German crew members who were so impressed by Pease's bravery that they remembered his attack years later, F/O Pease single handedly attacked a group of He-111's escorted by a group of Bf-109E's on September 5, 1940. He flew his lone attack straight through the German bomber formation, taking snap shots whenever he could and was successful in causing the formation to breakup. He was all too quickly bounced by the escorting 109's and killed over Kent. When I read that story I just had to model this brave fighter pilots Spitfire. He was just 22.

The dust has since been removed. Again, apologies.

Regards,

Don

[dnl42]

FWIW, Airfix is running a sale in honor of the 80th Anniversary.

No financial interests, just passing on an email blast...

[Don]

FWIW, Airfix is running a sale in honor of the 80th Anniversary.

No financial interests, just passing on an email blast...

Thanks! I bought the 1/48 Spitfire Vb vs. Bf-109E "Dogfight Doubles" combo .

[Don]

Here is a nice documentary from 1976 on the Spitfire that I just watched:

Bader, Johnson, Tuck all make an appearance and all talk about the Spit. Good to put on in the background as you build.

Cheers!

Don.

[Bigasshammm]

Anyone use the MkVIII engine from Brassin in the Eduard kit? How's it fit? Look? Cowls able to go on or not?

Trying to decide if I want to pay the dough.

[AX 365]

My 1/48th Italeri Mk IX with CanMilAir decals as flown by Buck McNair, 421 Sqn, RCAF

The Russell Group Spitfire IX

Vintage Wings of Canada Spitfire XVI

Entry at Heritagecon 5

[Stefan buysse]

Hi,

Does anyone know (more or less) when Spitfires received the armour plates behind the head and the back of the pilot?

I noticed that my Tamiya Mk V has these plates but the Mk I doesn't.

Cheers, Stefan.

[Don]

Increased armor for the Spitfire, including head and back protection for the pilot, began in early-to-mid-1940 (to the tune of about 70ish pounds worth of armor spread throughout vital areas of the aircraft). So by the Battle of Britain most Spitfires had the armor upgrades. There may have been a few aircraft without them but I suspect they were either quickly replaced with newer Mk.I's or retrofitted fairly quickly. The Mk.II was built with these armor changes while coming off the assembly line so the Mk.V would most certainly have had them.

HTH

EDIT: The Tamiya Mk.I referred to without the armor, is that the 1/48 kit? I built the original Tamiya Mk.I release in 1/48 (see my pictures above from earlier in this thread) and it came with back and head armor. Curious.

Edited March 26, 2016 by Don

[Stefan buysse]

Thanks for the info, Don.

I'm actually relieved to read that they at least had that armor during the BoB.

Good to see the brave F/O Pease remembered in your model.

It is indeed the 1/48 kit (item 61032).

In my Mk V kit the head and back armor is on the Mk V specific sprue (sprue D).

I had a look in the Mk I kit and I cannot find these parts in there. They are not in the instructions either.

I'll post a picture of both sets of instructions.

Tamiya Spitfire instructions by StefanBuysse, on Flickr

Cheers, Stefan.

Edited March 26, 2016 by Stefan buysse

[Don]

Strange Stefan. Your pictures of the Tamiya Mk.I plans clearly show no back or head armor in the kit. I can't explain it sorry. I built mine straight OOB when it first came out and the cockpit was pretty much identical to the Mk.V kit shown in your Mk.V plans. A mystery I guess. Good luck with your build I look forward to seeing some work in progress reports .

Don.

EDIT: If your Mk.I needs the back and head armor, just trace the Mk.V armor onto Evergreen or similar plastic, including the locating holes for the back armor. The tabs for the back armor are still on the Mk.I seat based on what I see in your plans so it would be a simple procedure. For the headrest use any suitably sized round plastic rod (even sprue) cut to fit and round off the ends.

HTH.

Edited March 26, 2016 by Don

[Stefan buysse]

Hi, Don.

That's good advice on the evergreen plastic, especially for the "back" plate.

I may use Eduard Spitfire armor for the "head" plate. The Eduard Mk XVI has plastic parts for the armor: F81 (back) and F82 (incorporates the "head" plate). By using the Eduard PE for the Mk XVI, I'd have a spare F82.

Like you said, the tabs for the back plate are on the Tamiya seat, so it's probably better to use evergreen than trying to fit the Eduard part onto it.

Edit: I had look and the "head plate" from Eduard is considerably broader than the Tamiya part, so 100% plasticard replacement it will be.

Happy Easter,

Stefan.

Edited March 27, 2016 by Stefan buysse

[Jay Chladek]

This was the last Spitfire I did for a group build (done for the Interwar GB over at Britmodeller a couple years ago). It is a 1/48 Airfix Mk I kit. It is not the current kit, but the Humbrol Airfix recessed panel line one they did with parts in common with their Mk IX which was discontinued in favor of the current all new tooling one. It came with a two bladed prop and a non-bulged canopy, but even then it still took a fair amount of work to backdate it into a 19 Squadron Duxford bird from a press event in May 1939. So it has the rudder guard for the drag chute, a ring and bead gunsight (both donated by a Monogram P-40B and modified a bit, gun heater vents on the outer wing panels (before red doped fabric was used to cover the guns until they were fired to keep them from freezing), flash suppressors on the guns (also deleted when red doped tape was added to the gun ports to keep guns from from freezing) and deleted armor plate from the cockpit (the kit used the Mk IX headrest armor). I also used a Falcon vaccuform canopy for the sliding portion and a combination of kit and Illiad decals Pre-war sheet for the markings. The elevators were also cut off the tail and drooped.

Here are some images of the in progress and completed build:

Headrest modification:

Cockpit in completed model (with the crowbar deleted from the escape door):

Original aluminum dope control surfaces present on the bottom since control balancing during painting didn't take place at the squadron level yet and this plane originally had an aluminum finished bottom. You can also barely make out one of the gun heater vents near my thumb (the one on the black wing is longer).:

Completed model again. Note rudder guard, drooped elevators and antenna wire.:

Final picture. I also modified pitot tube to early two pronged configuration (not easy and I am not entirely happy with it. :

This model was so much fun to build, but it was also quite the challenge.

The rest of my build images can be found here if anyone wants to reference them for a similar build:

http://s92.photobucket.com/user/JMChladek/library/Airfix%20Spitfire

Edited April 9, 2016 by Jay Chladek

[Bigasshammm]

Hard edge or soft edge on Spit camo jobs? Doing a MKVIII in the "grey nurse" markings. Not sure if I should freehand or mask or get some blue tac?

K

[Jay Chladek]

In my experience, blue tac or poster putty would probably get you the best results of an ever so slight feather edge. I've done that approach on both my 1/72 and 1/48 builds and it seems to produce the best look to my eye anyway.

[nickdanger]

My Little Pony....Spitfire (?)

[nickdanger]

I don't know what ya'll do with kit boxes after the build is done, but I wouldn't be surprised if some don't save the artwork and chuck the rest like me:

[Bigasshammm]

I save the box tops of the racecars I do. But I don't ever save the aircraft boxes.

[Stefan buysse]

Hi,

You can tell from my "progress" with the two Tamiya kits that I have not exactly been using all my spare time for building. I had the opportunity to see P7350 displaying again. I always enjoy seeing a flying display by P7350, a genuine BoB participant. This time the weather was such that there were dark skies behind her and sun on the aircraft. :thumbsup:/>

It's the first time that I noticed that she has the later style oil cooler.

I know she was repaired after suffering a crashlanding during the BoB.

P73502016-1 by StefanBuysse, on Flickr

P73502016-2 by StefanBuysse, on Flickr

Cheers, Stefan.

Edited July 24, 2016 by Stefan buysse