#1 DONE +++ Supermarine Jetfire Mk.I, 'YQ-G' of RAF 616 Sq., 1945 (pics @p.2)

Dizzyfugu · October 06, 2016, 09:57:14 AM

Just 2 pics for today - the air intake and its modified interior with a tight mesh (still w/o central bullet fairing, though), and a look at the belly right before painting starts, with a single, dry-fitted drop tank from the Yak-23 in place.
The landing gear (OOB, just the outer covers were added, as well as the tail wheel covers and a longer and bigger tail wheel from an Airfix Hurricane) has also been mounted:

1:72 Supermarine "Jetfire", early 1945 (Whif/Kitbashing) - WiP by dizzyfugu, on Flickr

1:72 Supermarine "Jetfire", early 1945 (Whif/Kitbashing) - WiP by dizzyfugu, on Flickr

Painting up next!

Captain Canada · October 06, 2016, 03:00:23 PM

That's so cool ! Love watching your work.

Dizzyfugu · October 07, 2016, 08:32:54 AM

Things take more shape, with basic painting, some light panel shading and decals, puzzled together from various sources:

1:72 Supermarine "Jetfire" Mk.I, aircraft 'YQ-G'/'PX204/G' of the Royal Air Force 616 Squadron; Culmhead (Somerset), early 1945 (Whif/Kitbashing) - WiP by dizzyfugu, on Flickr

1:72 Supermarine "Jetfire" Mk.I, aircraft 'YQ-G'/'PX204/G' of the Royal Air Force 616 Squadron; Culmhead (Somerset), early 1945 (Whif/Kitbashing) - WiP by dizzyfugu, on Flickr

Very conservative, I'll admit, but that's for the "underneath the radar" approach.

Old Wombat · October 07, 2016, 10:58:16 AM

Ooh! Looks good!

nighthunter · October 08, 2016, 10:47:38 PM

Love the look of this, Thomas!

Dizzyfugu · October 09, 2016, 04:10:38 AM

Thank you very much. And here she is, in full glory: a 1:72 Supermarine "Jetfire" Mk.I, aircraft 'YQ-G'/'PX204/G' of the Royal Air Force 616 Squadron; Culmhead (Somerset), early 1945.

1:72 Supermarine "Jetfire" Mk.I, aircraft 'YQ-G'/'PX204/G' of the Royal Air Force 616 Squadron; Culmhead (Somerset), early 1945 (Whif/Kitbashing) by dizzyfugu, on Flickr

1:72 Supermarine "Jetfire" Mk.I, aircraft 'YQ-G'/'PX204/G' of the Royal Air Force 616 Squadron; Culmhead (Somerset), early 1945 (Whif/Kitbashing) by dizzyfugu, on Flickr

Some background:
The Supermarine Jetfire was a stopgap solution in order to introduce a jet-powered interceptor agains German V-1 missiles that threatened the London region from June 1944 on. At that time, the only aircraft with the low-altitude speed to be effective against it was the Hawker Tempest, but fewer than 30 Tempests were available. They were assigned to No. 150 Wing RAF, and early attempts to intercept and destroy V-1s often failed.

One alternative was the jet-powered Gloster Meteor, which still was development - and in order to get the new engine into service (also as a response to Gloster's engagement for E.1/44 with the single-engine "Ace" fighter) Supermarine responded with the idea to replace the nose-mounted piston engine with a single Whittle W.2 engine: The "Jetfire" was born.

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1:72 Supermarine "Jetfire" Mk.I, aircraft 'YQ-G'/'PX204/G' of the Royal Air Force 616 Squadron; Culmhead (Somerset), early 1945 (Whif/Kitbashing) by dizzyfugu, on Flickr

1:72 Supermarine "Jetfire" Mk.I, aircraft 'YQ-G'/'PX204/G' of the Royal Air Force 616 Squadron; Culmhead (Somerset), early 1945 (Whif/Kitbashing) by dizzyfugu, on Flickr

The conversion was rather simple: the Jetfire was actually a Griffon-powered Spitfire XIV with as few changes to the original airframe in order to accept the W.2. The aircraft's forward fuselage was widened to accommodate the bulbous engine with a simple nose intake. The deeper forward part of the fuselage with its round diameter gave the aircraft a pronounced "pod-and-boom" configuration.

Internally, the front wing spar had to be bent into an inverted U-shape to clear the engine and its jet pipe.
The W.2 was mounted slightly angled downwards, and the jet pipe was bifurcated so that it ran along the fuselage flanks above the wings, with an exhaust just behind the wings' trailing edges. To protect the fuselage, steel heatshield were added to the flanks. Furthermore, the former radiator fairings for the Griffon and the respective plumbing were removed and faired over, saving weight and internal space – and weight was reduced as much as possible to achieve a decent performance with the rather experimental centrifugal jet engine. The conventional Spitfire tailsitter landing gear remained unmodified, just additional covers for the main wheels were added for improved aerodynamics at high speed.

1:72 Supermarine "Jetfire" Mk.I, aircraft 'YQ-G'/'PX204/G' of the Royal Air Force 616 Squadron; Culmhead (Somerset), early 1945 (Whif/Kitbashing) by dizzyfugu, on Flickr

1:72 Supermarine "Jetfire" Mk.I, aircraft 'YQ-G'/'PX204/G' of the Royal Air Force 616 Squadron; Culmhead (Somerset), early 1945 (Whif/Kitbashing) by dizzyfugu, on Flickr

The first prototype was already finished in October 1944, and taxiing trials started immediately. The heatshields proved to be too short and the heat from the engine exhaust melted the duralumin skin of the rear fuselage. Additionally, the tailwheel received a longer strut for a cleaner airflow under the stabilizer on the ground – the original, shorter strut created an air cushion under the stabilizer that lifted the whole tail upwards when the throttle was opened, resulting in poor handling at low taxiing speeds.

Modifications to rectify the problems took until late December, and by this time a second prototype had been completed. After a few taxiing tests, it was transferred to the Royal Aircraft Establishment (RAE) for full-scale wind tunnel testing that lasted until February 1945.

1:72 Supermarine "Jetfire" Mk.I, aircraft 'YQ-G'/'PX204/G' of the Royal Air Force 616 Squadron; Culmhead (Somerset), early 1945 (Whif/Kitbashing) by dizzyfugu, on Flickr

1:72 Supermarine "Jetfire" Mk.I, aircraft 'YQ-G'/'PX204/G' of the Royal Air Force 616 Squadron; Culmhead (Somerset), early 1945 (Whif/Kitbashing) by dizzyfugu, on Flickr

On the 26th of that month, the RAF issued requirements that the aircraft should have a maximum speed of 770 km/h (480 mph) at sea level and a speed of 850 km/h (530 mph) at an altitude of 5,000 meters (16,400 ft). It should be able to climb to that altitude in 4 1/2 minutes or less and it should have a range of 500 kilometers (310 mi) at 90% of maximum speed.

The Jetfire failed to meet these targets, but it was still fast enough to intercept the V-1 and was quickly available. The average speed of V-1s was 550 km/h (340 mph) and their average altitude was 1,000 m (3,300 ft) to 1,200 m (3,900 ft). Fighter aircraft required excellent low altitude performance to intercept them and enough firepower to ensure that they were destroyed in the air rather than crashing to earth and detonating. Most aircraft were too slow to catch a V-1 unless they had a height advantage, allowing them to gain speed by diving on their target.

1:72 Supermarine "Jetfire" Mk.I, aircraft 'YQ-G'/'PX204/G' of the Royal Air Force 616 Squadron; Culmhead (Somerset), early 1945 (Whif/Kitbashing) by dizzyfugu, on Flickr

1:72 Supermarine "Jetfire" Mk.I, aircraft 'YQ-G'/'PX204/G' of the Royal Air Force 616 Squadron; Culmhead (Somerset), early 1945 (Whif/Kitbashing) by dizzyfugu, on Flickr

Originally a total of 200 Jetfire Mk.Is were ordered, and on the drawing board an improved variant with a bubble canopy, a slightly larger tail fin, stabilizers with a 10° dihedral in order to get them better out of the jet efflux's path and an armament of four 20 mm cannon (the Mk.II) was already taking shape. But this initial and any follow-on orders were quickly cancelled or changed to the more advanced and promising twin-engined Gloster Meteor that finally became operational.

Consequently, the total production run of the Jetfire Mk.I just reached 26 aircraft: 18 were delivered to RAF 616 Squadron, the rest were used by the Tactical Flight at Farnborough that had been established in 1944 in order to prepare active squadrons for the radically new jet fighters. In late March 1945, the Jetfires became operational, upon which both tactical applications and limitations were extensively explored.

1:72 Supermarine "Jetfire" Mk.I, aircraft 'YQ-G'/'PX204/G' of the Royal Air Force 616 Squadron; Culmhead (Somerset), early 1945 (Whif/Kitbashing) by dizzyfugu, on Flickr

1:72 Supermarine "Jetfire" Mk.I, aircraft 'YQ-G'/'PX204/G' of the Royal Air Force 616 Squadron; Culmhead (Somerset), early 1945 (Whif/Kitbashing) by dizzyfugu, on Flickr

Despite many shortcomings (sluggish acceleration, poor climb and agility except for a very good roll rate), the still rather experimental and primitive Jetfire was able to fulfill its intended V-1 interception role, and two V-1 interceptions were achieved during the following weeks. In the front line units they were quickly replaced by more effective types like the Gloster Meteor, the Hawker Tempest or the Republic P-47 Thunderbolt. Anyway, the Jetfire was still helpful to path the RAF's way for operational jet fighters and helped discover new high speed problems, including compressibility buffeting at higher speeds, causing increased drag, and it showed clearly the limits of traditional fighter aircraft designs.

1:72 Supermarine "Jetfire" Mk.I, aircraft 'YQ-G'/'PX204/G' of the Royal Air Force 616 Squadron; Culmhead (Somerset), early 1945 (Whif/Kitbashing) by dizzyfugu, on Flickr

General characteristics:
Crew: 1
Length: 31 ft 8 in (9.66 m)
Wingspan: 36 ft 10 in (11.23 m)
Height: 10 ft 0 in (3.05 m)
Wing area: 242.1 sq ft (22.49 m2)
Airfoil: NACA 2213 (root), NACA 2209.4 (tip)
Empty weight: 8,434 lb (3,826 kg)
Gross weight: 12,211 lb (5,539 kg)

Powerplant:
1× Rolls-Royce B.37 Derwent turbojet, 2,000 lbf (8.9 kN) static thrust

Performance:
Maximum speed: 748 km/h (468 mph)
Range: 395 km (247 miles) with internal fuel only
Service ceiling: 12,750 m (41,820 ft)
Rate of climb: 12 m/s (2362 ft/min)
Thrust/weight: 0.45
Time to altitude: 5.0 min to 30,000 ft (9,145 m)

Armament:
2× 20 mm British Hispano MkV cannons (120 RPG) and
2× 12,7 mm (0.5") machine guns (250 RPG) in the outer wings
Provision for up to six "60lb" 3" rockets under the outer wings,
or two 500 lb (227 kg) bombs, or a pair of drop tanks

1:72 Supermarine "Jetfire" Mk.I, aircraft 'YQ-G'/'PX204/G' of the Royal Air Force 616 Squadron; Culmhead (Somerset), early 1945 (Whif/Kitbashing) by dizzyfugu, on Flickr

1:72 Supermarine "Jetfire" Mk.I, aircraft 'YQ-G'/'PX204/G' of the Royal Air Force 616 Squadron; Culmhead (Somerset), early 1945 (Whif/Kitbashing) by dizzyfugu, on Flickr

The resulting aircraft of this kitbash looks better than expected, even though the change of the exhaust arrangement came unexpected – even though I think the Jetfire became more appealing through the side pipes, despite the overall tadpole proportions.
As a side note, the story is not over yet, because there's an engine-less Yak-23 left over, and I wonder what it might look like with a piston engine grafted to the empty nose?

And, as an addendum, some impressions from the V-1 that comes with the FROG Spitfire Mk. XIV kit and found some use as prop for two pics:

1:72 Fieseler V-1 cruise missile (WiP by dizzyfugu, on Flickr

Flyer · October 09, 2016, 05:36:20 AM

AXU · October 09, 2016, 05:39:16 AM

Nice built Dizzy

sandiego89 · October 09, 2016, 06:14:18 AM

Great job, like the pose with the V-1 especially!

-Dave

Dizzyfugu · October 09, 2016, 06:23:21 AM

Thank you all very much. I must agree: I was scaptical, too, because I originally expected a Yak-15-ish, hideous thing to emerge. But through the bifurcated exhaust arrangement the whole thing turned out much more elegant - and the Jetfire looks pretty realistic, too!

NARSES2 · October 09, 2016, 07:25:07 AM

I was wondering how this would turn out and now I know. It really works

Fantastic model and has given me ideas for a Centaurus engined Spitfire ? Would need clipped wing tips and would be used in the Far East ? Something to muse on. I do have a "spare" Centaurus so might get around to putting up against an Airfix Mk 22 ? Note the word "might"

andrewj · October 09, 2016, 07:39:48 AM

Nice build , looks very convincing.

Andrew

Old Wombat · October 09, 2016, 08:16:05 AM

Gondor · October 09, 2016, 08:35:41 AM

Very nice indeed

Gondor

Captain Canada · October 09, 2016, 08:39:53 AM

Great stuff ! Love the pics...you make it seem so real. Excellent work !