Spitfire F25

[PR19_Kit]

Yes, I KNOW the F24 was the last Spitfire ever made, but this is Whiff World, OK?

The F25s were almost land based Seafire F47s, with the naval stuff removed, but retaining all the handy bits, like contra-props and BIG rudders. in fact the F25s had the LARGEST rudders of any Spit/Seafire variant, mainly to counter the effects of that socking great prop hanging off the nose.

This started with the Special Hobby Spirfire 24 that I've just bought, and after seeing the plethora of stuff included with it I determined to make it a mix of a Seafire 47 and a Spitfire 24.



I started with the cockpit, as you do, and it's sort of OK, the instructions are just not very informative about what angles the various bits should be fitted.  I've left off the teeny-weeny rudder pedals, a) they're so small they're bound to become Carpet Monster fodder and b) you can't see them behind the panel anyway, and then I started on the props.

Just for Whiffdom's sake I've got the rear blades on the front half and the front blades on the rear. SH don't want you to do that as the blade's spigots are different sized squares, but I filed the big ones small and got on with it. It'd be interesting to see if anyone notices.   



The wings are pretty simple, but you need to box in the wheel wells first and one of the well walls is too tall, and that prevents the wings halves meeting. 

The application of a hefty file and some tape sorted that out.



Despite the fact that the kit comes with FIVE different rudders, the largest one wasn't quite large enough for what I had in mind, and later Spitfires had metal covered rudders rather than fabric ones. So I sanded off the largest fabric one, so it looked metal covered, and glued on the extension for the F24 rudder, so now it's HUGE!

I also glued in the panel moulding, only to find that it's too wide by about 1.5 mm. NOT good SH! Some filing will be called for before I  close up the fuselage of course.



It's probably going to be rostered with one of the colourful RAuxAF squadrons, and some of my Modeldecal Meteor sheets will come in handy there, I'm sure.

[Gondor]

I suppose if you can't extend the wings, make the rudder bigger!

Nice idea about the prop blades too 

Gondor

[scooter]

Azure blue all over and based at either Akrotiri or Nicosia might be a colorful option

[TomZ]

Those wings look awfully short.......   

TomZ

[Rheged]

You might wish to keep the arrester hook, and include in the backstory a comment about emergency wires at the end of shorter runways...................or on the other hand you may wish to ignore this as a silly idea.  Whichever,  I'm watching this build closely as I have a late model Spitfire in the stash that I need to "modify".

[perttime]

Any chance of fitting a Seafire 47 style (P-51ish) carb intake in the nose?
Surely no wide undercarriage?

[The Wooksta!]

The Xtrakit Spitfire F22 is an earlier incarnation of this kit and it was a vile, ill fitting inaccurate parcel of dog turds.  Much of the extra parts are geared for the Special Hobby kits, although the sting hook section is handy if you want to turn the infinitely superior Airfix 22 into a 46.

I did the CMK FR47 as a late Spitfire a decade or so back, although as an FR26, having used 25 for a PR variant. I have a few more tucked away.

[The Wooksta!]

Any chance of fitting a Seafire 47 style (P-51ish) carb intake in the nose?
Surely no wide undercarriage?

The very early F25s had the older intake.


TBH, the rudder on the 46/47 is no larger than a standard 22/24.  The Spiteful fin and rudder adopted from the 22 onwards cured the torque issue.

[PR19_Kit]

I could fit either intake as both are supplied in the kit, but I do like the look of the 47 one, even though it was a tad slower than with the earlier intake.

There's three different hooks in this kit, I won't use any of them, but I'm sure they'll come in handy sometime. This one fitted together quite nicely, the usual bugbear of Spitfire kits, the wing-fuselage joint, isn't too bad at all.

It's all together now, the basic assembly is anyway.



You see what I mean about the RUDDER! 

[The Wooksta!]

One of my attempts at sonething similar with something even worse than the Special Hobby/Xtrakit atrocity.

https://www.whatifmodellers.com/index.php?topic=30674.msg472002#msg472002

[PR19_Kit]

https://www.whatifmodellers.com/index.php?topic=30674.msg472002#msg472002

I'm amazed I never seemed to notice that one of yours before, but it looks pretty much how I intend my F25 to look, but with different markings of course.

[The Wooksta!]

It was circa 2010 and it rarely got an outing.  I've done something similar, albeit still unfinished, from the original CMK FR47 (that Pegasus used as a master) and the Pegasus FR47 too. Again, another that rarely got an outing.

[PR19_Kit]

Having been reasonably impressed with the way the wing/fuselage joint went on this kit I went away from my usual Revell Contacta Pro glue and brushed some De Luxe Plastic Magic liquid glue over the joint to mate the two bits together.

This morning I picked it up to check to see if it needed any PSR and the whole wing assembly fell off. 

Back to the traditional methods I think!

[Rick Lowe]

Well, that's disconcerting. And disappointing.

[PR19_Kit]

It's all glued back together now, with PROPER glue, and PSR'd a bit too.

Very few Spitfire kit manufacturers manage to get that wing/fuselage joint right so that the trailing edges are thin enough and that the wing's upper surface matches the fairing on the fuselage. This SH one isn't one of them I'm afraid, and it's needed PSR on both wing roots. :-(

AND the tailplane too!