Spitfire Mk Ia from Revell 1/32 Mk IIa Kit

[stona]

I've decided to start a thread as I'm just starting to adjust and modify a few of the kit parts to make my intended subject.

My subject is an Eastleigh built Spitfire Mk Ia which first flew in January 1940 and was lost in March of the same year. It will be nice to do a pre-Battle of Britain aeroplane, with the somewhat less familiar markings it will carry.

To this end I have started the following:

1 Remodel bulges on cowling.

2 Remove strange lozenge shaped plates on top and bottom of wings and replace detail.

3 Remove crowbar from door.

4 Scratch build early circular shaped voltage regulator box to fit on back of frame behind pilot's head.

5 Reshape spinner and propeller blades or order replacements (haven't decided yet).

6 Order Barracuda set to replace kits metal covered ailerons with fabric covered ones and also oil cooler and radiator.

7 Make the proper style of seat cushion for the metal (not composite) seat fitted to early Spitfires.

I'm sure there are other things that some enthusiasts would change but I'm building an early Mk I from a Mk II kit and my alterations are to cope with that, not the fundamental shape of the kit about which I'm not concerned. There may be other things I need to do about which I am as yet unaware, we'll see.

More when I get back in a couple of weeks

Cheers

Steve

 

[steve scan]

Look forward to this, mine will be oob, a very nice version of this kit was kit of year in our club last Friday.

 

[stona]

A very nice Spitfire can be built OOB. The only thing I would do is my step 2. I have no idea what these strange 'plates' molded onto the upper and lower wing surfaces are supposed to be. I've never seen anything like them on any Spitfire and they can be removed in five minutes (for each one).

I've borrowed one of Paul's sprue shots to show the offending bits



Cheers

Steve

 

[tr1ckey66]

Hi Steve

Looking forward to your build. Be interesting to see a pre BoB Spitfire. I've addressed all the mods your talking about and it's relatively straight forward. I had to remove the detail off the inside of the door and rebuild the ribs with plastic card, you won't have that work with the Barracuda door (that's one of the items I've purchased for the other 2 aircraft).

The spinner and props we discussed are now finished on my first 3 aircraft and, I think, look ok. As I said the spinner in the MDC Mk 1 correction set is definitely a Rotol version. However, looking on their site, I did notice that they now do a DH spinner and prop. The kit part is definitely more DH than Rotol and just requires 5 mins with a sanding stick to round it off a bit.

Time is at a premium for me at the moment and it may be that you finish your Spitfire before me. I think you'll certainly finish before the 2 airfield Spits are complete.

I'm just happy that we finally have an acceptable kit in this scale.

BTW, those plates on the wings I think are strengthening plates from a museum example (the Science museum I think). Possibly used to suspend the aircraft???

Looking forward to the build

P

 

[Vaughan]

Looking forward to the progressing on this one Steve.

 

[stona]

I'm just happy that we finally have an acceptable kit in this scale.

BTW, those plates on the wings I think are strengthening plates from a museum example (the Science museum I think). Possibly used to suspend the aircraft???

P

I agree that it is acceptable. There will always be those who get out a micrometre and mither about a millimetre here or there and they are welcome to do so. For most of us this will look like a Spitfire, and a very affordable one too.

Those plates may well be exactly that, bearing in mind where they are positioned over and under the spar. It's not the science museum example unless they've changed it. I remember an eye attached to the spar, close to the wing root which is attached to a steel wire rope bridle by carabiners. I work in an industry where we hang a lot of 'stuff' over people's heads and was surprised that shackles weren't used. It's why I noticed I hope those 'biners are steel and rated !

Cheers

Steve

 

[papa 695]

Looks like this will be a very interesting build Steve so I will tag along with this one.

And it looks a little bit bigger than the last kit you did

 

[Gern]

Looks like this will be a very interesting build Steve so I will tag along with this one.And it looks a little bit bigger than the last kit you did

Yeah! It's only lunatics who would build those tiny little kits of the Victory ..... oooops!

Gern

 

[Ziper_it]

Wow, great thread start, I will not miss this one (and I have a 1/24 in the stash)

Francesco

 

[stona]

The Barracuda resin has arrived. I would like to reiterate I'm going to this expense (actually it's very reasonable) bcause I want to make an early Mk I, you can make a perfectly reasonable Mk II out of the box.

First up the radiator. It comes in three parts, first the cores which have to be set into the wing like the real things and will involve a bit of surgery.



Then the fairing and flap as two separate parts.





This is probably the most 'complicated' fix, simply because I'll need to hack a hole in the lower wing to make it all fit. It isn't rocket science and shouldn't be beyond the capability of any modeller with a little experience...even me.

Next is the oil cooler with the correct shape for a Mk I. This is almost a straight swop for the kit part.



Finally the correct fabric covered ailerons. This really is a straight swop.



I'm still undecided about the spinner and propeller blades but whilst contemplating correcting them I've started to eye up the kit exhausts rather suspiciously I'm away for about ten days from today, so I've time to think about it. Construction scheduled to start when I get home!

Cheers

Steve

 

[flyjoe180]

Those parts look good Steve, a bit of surgery required but as you say well within your capabilities. Look forward to seeing it come together.

 

[stona]

I have made a start on this.

Mostly I've been making the pilot and cockpit. The pilot is a nice resin figure from PJ productions. He had an oxygen hose molded down the left side of his body which I removed and replaced with one which is 'plugged in' at the correct place on the starboard wall of the cockpit.

I also added the wireless telephone wires from the socket by the right hand side of his seat to his earphones, though it's hard to see.

He's fitted with a Sutton harness which passes through his seat armour and you can just about make out the wires passing over the red divider on the rearmost visible frame which then attached to longerons further back in the fuselage.

The fuselage halves are just taped together at the moment, they'll be fitted properly and glued over the next day or two.



In other news I've hacked holes in the lower wing and fitted a new oil cooler. I'm still wondering whether to fit the Barracuda radiator or just improve the kit part. I have some radiator mesh from RB Productions which I bought ages ago for something else which I might use.

Cheers

Steve

 

[Alan 45]

Nice start Steve I'll look in on this one to see how good the kit is before I buy

 

[yak face]

Great looking pilot Steve ( is he playing air guitar?) and nice attention to detail regarding the wire from the shoulder straps going back into the fuselage , I tried to replicate that on my 1/72 Boomerang but you couldnt really see it after the fuselage was closed up. Excellent work matey , cheers tony

 

[Willi262]

Air guitar, that's great! I was thinking "air banjo" when I first saw him, but then I had to look a little closer...

 

[stona]

... and nice attention to detail regarding the wire from the shoulder straps going back into the fuselage...

There's another wire which goes from the metal 'block' where the shoulder straps attach to the two wires up to the bar (not yet fitted) which runs from the frame to which the seat is attached to the silver frame behind (under the rearmost clear canopy section). It was to stop the weight of that block and the wires dragging the harness through the slot and falling down behind the seat.



Sometimes I wish I'd not embarked on such details which, as you say, will hardly be visible later

Cheers

Steve

 

[flyjoe180]

Nice detail and work so far Steve, looking forward to more magic from your workbench.

 

[stona]

I've moved on to the wings and started to fit the fabric covered ailerons suitable for my subject. These are part of the resin set from Barracuda and very nice they are too.

For anyone else having a go at this it is VERY important to adjust the kit wings to take the new ailerons. The little instruction sheet from Barracuda asks you to bevel the inside of the wing surfaces to accept the ailerons. It is MUCH easier to do this before you join the upper and lower wings together. You just have to keep filing and test fitting until it all fits together. I did make some adjustments to the ailerons themselves too.



Now I need to make the separate wing tips fit seamlessly! I hate separate wing tips, even though I understand why the manufacturers do it. I expect Revell will be putting out a clipped wing version in the future.

Cheers

Steve

 

[stona]

Something like a Spitfire has finally emerged.



I'm girding my loins to get on with masking the canopy. Meanwhile I've made a start on some nice replacement exhausts from MDC. I've also got some propeller blades from them.

Cheers

Steve

 

[flyjoe180]

Looks great so far Steve.