David's 'Spiteful' contribution *** Finished ***

[DavidWomby]

I'm late (again) but this is what I have chosen. I'll build Spiteful RB521 flown by Winkle Brown in 1946. Here's a pic of her at Farnborough around that time.



As usual, I am building only what I have in the stash. So this will be the old Pegasus Spiteful F14 kit. I have three of them but it looks like there were two issues with some revisions. I have one moulded in white with a one-piece prop/spinner, separate exhaust stubs and cannons and pretty slab-like radiators and a large seat. Undercarriage is all injected too and you have to cut your own undercarriage doors from plastic card. Then I have 2 grey ones with exhausts and cannons moulded on and white metal for prop blades, undercarriage and doors and a smaller seat. The grey ones also have nicer moulded radiators and decals but only for RB515. Both have pretty fine recessed panel lines.



The instructions for both are this one sheet plan.



Being masochistic, I think I may try the white one. I'll also have to resist the temptation to convert it to Winkle Brown's Seafang F32 VB895 which I plan to build from one of these one day too!

David

[DavidWomby]

Aha! I just found some instructions - they are on the inside of the header card!



David

[JohnRatzenberger]

Good luck finding the suggested paints ....

[DavidWomby]

Yes, Compucolour! I never saw those. They must have come and gone on the modelling scene when I was out of the hobby.

I've been busy fettling and this kit needs a lot of that. I've been cleaning up heavy flash and sanding down joins so they'll match. I built a very rudimentary interior and I've cut out one set of undercarriage doors from plastic card - need to do the other side now.

I also dug two trenches so I could fit some nice Aeroclub white metal exhaust stubs. The trenches look pretty rough but are mostly covered when the exhausts are fitted.





The cannon stubs are pretty horrible but I have cut small grooves in the leading edges to locate them and will give them a go. If they don't work out it will have to be stretched sprue.



I hope to get to gluing something soon!



David

[DavidWomby]

Fuselage is closed up. Just a rough seat and floor in there. All painted interior green-grey. I'll add an instrument panel and pilot later. The armour behind the seat needs cutting down. The fin is attached and drying. It needed a shim to sit right and the join will need more filling that I expected.

I also made cannons by stretching 1/16" styrene rod. The ones in the kit suffered from very misaligned moulds. Only the first two have been attached so far.



Some lovely fine recessed panel lines on this kit. I hope I don't lose them all in the process of building and painting.

David

[splash]

That's definitely not one of Pegasus better kits

I will watch you work you magic on this kit with great interest, I recal years ago I baught a vac form conversation kit of a Spiteful that only had a body, you had to use the wings off the frog Attacker to build the kit.

Regards Splash

[DavidWomby]

Thanks, Splash.

I am a bit of a victim of my own success in the 90s and 00s in acquiring all sorts of obscure limited-run kits and conversions by people like Paragon, Pegasus, Maintrack and especially Aeroclub to fill niches in my collection of postWW2 British forces aircraft. I took years finding things like - Frog Sea Vixen, Merlin Meteor F8, Pegasus Spiteful, Swift FR5, Contrail TSR2, Aeroclub Gannet AEW3, Shackleton AEW2 conversion, Venom BF4, Vampire T11, etc, etc, etc, etc. Now I find these subjects all being offered by much more detailed kits - mostly from the Czech resin makers but also in injected form and now even by Airfix.

I sometime think I'd love to buy all the new, better kits of these subjects but a) I wouldn't be able to get rid of most of what I have, and b) I tend not to build to a great level of detail and don't much appreciate hidden interiors, etc.. So I am trying to just build what I have to a moderate standard and not acquire the tempting new offerings but it is hard some days (e.g. that Airfix Vampire looks soooooo good)!!!!!

David

[splash]

I know what you mean, I like the odd ball limited-run kits and find manufacturers like Pegasus fun to build. My current Tamiya Wildcat build is stress free but lacks the challenge factor.

[DavidWomby]

Some more progress. All 4 cannons are fitted and being faired in with putty. I have also put some brass rod pins in the wing roots to help them line up properly when I fit them.



I am struggling a bit with the solid slabs of plastic that represent the radiators. I think I'll stay simple and carve out a shallow recess for the front ends - like the one on the left below. For the rear ends, I may cut out a section and replace it with card to represent the moving flap in a partly open position or I may stick with another shallow recess.



David

[splash]

Nice work on the radiator.

[fredk]

Coming along well now

[DavidWomby]

I decided to stay simple so the rear end of the radiators have been carved out like the front.

The wings are on. Well and truly on as they spent the night held tightly in place with masking tape to hold the dihedral. The brass pins I added were a godsend. I don't like relying on just butt joins for wing roots or tailplanes but that's the way it's moulded.





I have to say that for its vintage and limited-run technology, the detail and fit on this kit is impressing me. The wing root gaps are pretty small. Larger on the bottom because of making the dihedral right and the large gap on the starboard underside wing root is only because I cut off the huge sprue gate too aggressively.

I am trying to decide on the undercarriage. I probably will build it 'in flight' as usual but I am tempted to put the wheels down because it is so different from the Spitfire.

David

[DavidWomby]

I have been playing with ways to do the undercarriage doors in closed positon but can't decide which way to do it.

These are two resin plugs I moulded then sanded down to fit and scored with the doors.





Then there's this way suggested by my friend CammNut. One piece of 10 thou plastic card cut to shape then split into 3 separate doors and glued to a rib of plastic which sits in the wheel well. The edges of the plastic card will be glued down to edge of the wheel well if I proceed with this but may stand a tiny bit proud of the wing surface.



David

[DavidWomby]

I've used the resin plug undercarriage doors that I made and also shaped a small bock of plastic for the tailwheel doors. Radiators are on and joins filled and I've started cleaning up the Aeroclub prop I'll use and painting the pilot. The hole is a tube let into the fuselage to hold the rod that I will use as a stand.



When the pilot is done, it's canopy masking and fitting then a coat of primer.

David

[Kitaholic]

Remember doing this many moons ago, last century in fact (God that sounds bad) and you're doing a far better job that I did. Keep up the good work