Marky's 1/24th Spitfire Vb ***FINISHED***

[MarkyM607]

Looking good so far. Yours is going better than mine!

I know you'll pull it out of the fire, I'm not the Spitfire expert remember!!

[JohnRatzenberger]

With no engine will the exhausts mount properly ? Maybe just trim the engine to make it all fit - I believe I did that with the Airfix 1/24 Hurricane, or maybe it was the Tamiya 1/32 Spitfire (who screws up a Tamiya kit ?).

[MarkyM607]

With no engine will the exhausts mount properly ? Maybe just trim the engine to make it all fit - I believe I did that with the Airfix 1/24 Hurricane, or maybe it was the Tamiya 1/32 Spitfire (who screws up a Tamiya kit ?).

I'm trying to put it off until I either A) work out a way, or B) forget about it!!
(I've glued the fuselage together so it would be a little bit or work to put the engine in. Might give it a try depending on how the build goes).

[MarkyM607]

With no engine will the exhausts mount properly ? Maybe just trim the engine to make it all fit - I believe I did that with the Airfix 1/24 Hurricane, or maybe it was the Tamiya 1/32 Spitfire (who screws up a Tamiya kit ?).

I'm trying to put it off until I either A) work out a way, or B) forget about it!!
(I've glued the fuselage together so it would be a little bit or work to put the engine in. Might give it a try depending on how the build goes).

As Jratz suggested I have sanded the engine down, the white areas on said engine are where plastic (and paint) have been removed. Managed to break one or two of the frames in the sanding and fitting process but she's in there now. Looks really nice to me and I'm glad I followed John's suggestion and fitted it. Ta!.

I've just started on the wing, the two cannon are made, aside from the ammo pack.

[JohnRatzenberger]

Good, the covers should fit on now.

[MarkyM607]

I've test fitted the top one and it looks good.

[MarkyM607]

Slowed down with build interest on this one lately, the wings are not 100% percent best at the seams. They are very nice otherwise but they do not give a smooth seam. It's not impossible to fix but it slowed me down a little. However more has been done in the last few days...

I fitted the gun covers as I want to display her in flight, hence why I went to the trouble of making and painting the pilot!!. The right wing ones do not fit well and needed sanding and scraping to fit. I still got gaps as I cut out the cannon 'l' shaped cover which I didn't need to do as it's for displaying the gun on the ground!..

Tailplanes built, these do fit well!.

[JohnRatzenberger]

Are the problem seams you mentioned along the top/bottom half of the wing or at the wing/fuselage joint ?

[MarkyM607]

Are the problem seams you mentioned along the top/bottom half of the wing or at the wing/fuselage joint ?

It's where the top half of the wing touches the bottom half, just a little bit of 'rounded corner' to the part edges rather than sharp corners, if that helps. Can't really put pics up as I've fillered them!!. The wing/fuselage join looks good actually!.

[MarkyM607]

A little more progress, some paint is on although I haven't fully finished construction!!. Still not sure what to do with the nose panels as they fit but not sufficiently to leave them unglued, they look as though they are just placed on the model. However if I glue it the engine will be lost from sight forever!!. Plus, some twit pushed the very snug fitting propeller plug into the model and bent the nose framing which has next to no strength at all!. It's straightened now but I'm still not sure what to do..(I want to post the aircraft in flight on the stand Airfix have provided).

[MarkyM607]

Realised I made a blunder with the fuselage paint. I did it in green and brown but it should be in green and grey!!. A quick repaint and starting on the wings saw this stage reached...


I've glued the side engine panels on, the top will hopefully remain removable and seems to fit quite well.

[iggie]

Nice work Mark, and you'd never know it's had a respray

[DazDaMan]

Getting there, Mark!

[ShaunW]

You are doing some great work with this Mark. Alas, the kit is based on a real old stager that is long in the tooth now and I'm not at all surprised by the fit issues that you have encountered. Back in the day these Airfix "Superkits" featured various "working" features such as removable access panels and control surfaces as was the fashion back then. Unfortunately, the kit design and tooling of the era did not result in close tolerances as do today's CAD designed offerings with result that those features often work against someone trying to build a half decent model. With patience and TLC a good model can result but it takes a fair old bit of work - most of the 1/24th Spits that I have seen built seem to either have the access panels fixed shut or strategically placed around the model to show off superdetailed interior work. I see that you managed to get the kit at a more reasonable price - certainly in my view, even as a classic kit enthusiast, there is no way that it is worth paying sixty quid for.

[MarkyM607]

Thanks everyone. Shaun I agree with what you said, I only grabbed this because it was £29-99 rather than £59-99. It isn't bad but yes it does seem a little casual with the fit!. It also has from what I can see, working undercarriage as you don't glue it to a slot but trap it between bits in the wings. All of the wing gun panels are meant to be removable, I wanted it in flight so I had to glue them, only the left wing ones were close to fitting well, the right wing ones needed sanding all around to get them acceptable. Still, it does have two propellers, two spinners, two types of filter for under the nose and another radiator part so bits there could be useful.