The Wooksta!: Not a Spitfire Blog - comments thread.

[NARSES2]

Your talk about Magna kits made me go and look at what I have in the stash. I had a spell a few years ago of building quite a few of them, but not for ages. Still got a few, including a couple of Soviet types he produced when he moved to Spain I think ?

I might be doing a couple of Gloster projects, an F5/34 in Swedish or Polish markings and another F9/37 in Desert AF markings. I built my previous Reaper in 2008 apparently, never would have guessed it was that long ago.

[The Wooksta!]

Can I suggest Finnish markings for the Gloster?  The Finns had Fiat G50s, which were rather close in shape and design, so it'd be a better fit. 

I'd suggest the IAR80 for the Poles, given that the designer of it had escaped from Poland

[NARSES2]

Can I suggest Finnish markings for the Gloster?  The Finns had Fiat G50s, which were rather close in shape and design, so it'd be a better fit. 

Must admit I had thought that could be an interesting one for the table 

I'd suggest the IAR80 for the Poles, given that the designer of it had escaped from Poland

Oh that's interesting Lee. I didn't know that and I have 3 A Model kits in the stash. Thanks 

[NARSES2]

Be interested to see your progress with the Vallom XF8B-1 Lee as I've looked at mine in the box a few times and put it back, along with their P-75

[The Wooksta!]

It's fine apart from the wing.  The wing fits badly and then trying to get it to fit the fuselage is a pain.  I've sanded away a fair bit from the underside of the fuselage and then more from the wing itself.  Finally, I used a scalpel to mark where the fuselage halves hide the upper wing and then carved out a groove.  It seems to want to fit now, but I've yet to close up the fuselage as I still need to do a bit more work in the cockpit, which is fairly basic.

The engine needs a fair bit of cleanup but it's crudely moulded anyway and most is hidden by that beautiful resin cowling.  A coat of black and some dry brusing with gun metal should suffice.

I'm starting to become wedded to a Med Sea Grey/PRU Blue HADF scheme as I think it's not good enough for an NMF finish.

I was tempted by the P-75 but I had a really nice resin kit in the stash and I only wanted to do one anyway so never bothered with it.

The rest by comparison should be a breeze.

As for a Finnish F5/34 - I'd call it the Guardian, although I've seen it called the Griffin elsewhere on t'interweb - use a Gladiator serial.

[NARSES2]

Cheers mate

[NARSES2]

Odd you say that you detest the SEAC white theatre band scheme Lee. I find it's one of my favourite schemes.

Still it would be a sad old world if we all liked the same things 

[The Wooksta!]

I just find masking and painting theatre bands an absolute bind.  If I can avoid them, I usually do!

[kitbasher]

I don't know how you manage to be so prolific, Lee.  At the risk of sounding like a fan boy (and we can't have that!) both blogs are entertaining reads.
Couple of things: would welcome pics of the Bristol Buccaneer when done, also your workings out for Airfix Spit PR19 + Heller 16 = Spit 14.  Have an idea to do my own cross-kitting to get a high-back 14 as an alternative to Fujimiing which involves plastic, filler, possibly a hammer and undoubtedly profanity.

Alternatively I could just be asking for a friend 

[The Wooksta!]

Depends on whether or not you want an E or a C wing - Heller is an 'e'.  We'll contrate on that one as it's easier.

Fuselage mods - remove the pressurisation intake and the tiny outlet blister aft of the cockpit.  Scribe in the cockpit entry hatch.  Build the cockpit as normal but omit the flat bulkhead aft of the glazing and scribe in the rails.  Use the plastic port fuselage hatch and once installed, fill it completely as the 14 didn't have one.

Canopy.  Vacform of your choice or alternatively, either the Haesgawa mk VIII/IX canopy (a drop in fit) or the spare Airfix mk IX canopy from the Cartograph logo issue of the Airfix desert boxing (it always has a spare canopy, well, so I've found anyway).  Another option, but I've yet to try it, would be to use the spare canopy from the forthcoming Vc.  If you use the Airfix mk IX canopy, you'll need to build up the fuselage underneath the rear glazing.  I'm sure there's a vacform alternative to the Hasegawa canopy on the Falcopn Spitfire Special set.

You need parts of the 19 wing.  Remove the front locator tab and fit it to the fuselage where it normally goes.  The back of the wing, the fillet, cut off along the panel line just aft of the small flaps.  You'll need to fill the camera ports, so use the ill fitting clear bits as a base. Replace the incorrect Heller wheels with resin or plastic ones of your choice, (AZ mk IX has four spoke spare if you're doing an early-mid mk IX, their mk IX/XVI lowbacks give you the post war three spoke ones).

The Heller wing should in theory drop straight in but the trailing edge of the fillet may need some trimming to fit.  Alter the ailerons to the shorter mk VIII profile.   If you want tips for the wings, rather than clipped, there are various spare parts in the Eduard kits which is a handy source of spares

If you're going for the C wing, use an Airfix mk IX (if you can find the ones I mentioned earlier, it's even better).  Do the same mods to the 19 wing as you still need those bits and the same mods to the Airfix IX wing to get it to fit.  Do not throw away those bits as you can then do a clipped e wing mk IX/XVI from the remnants of the mk IX if you use a Heller wing.  The fix for the radiators is simple - cut them off and reattach - the cut takes out the amount of plastic to fix them.  You could use the Airfix 19 radiators on the c wing as they will fit but TBH, they're a bit clunky and best replaced with a Quickboost 14 set.

Sounds a bit involved but it's relatively straightforward.

[kitbasher]

Cheers Lee.  The 14c plan is more or less what I'd had in mind, with the leftovers going to make a PR.X or PR.XI.  The 14e tips much appreciated.

[The Wooksta!]

IIRC, there wasn't that many 14cs - about 50 or so before they all got the e wing.  All the 14 lowbacks are e wing - the oxygen bottles from the fuselage go in the redundant outer gun bays.

[kitbasher]

IIRC, there wasn't that many 14cs - about 50 or so before they all got the e wing.  All the 14 lowbacks are e wing - the oxygen bottles from the fuselage go in the redundant outer gun bays.

yep, knew the low backs were e wing.

[The Wooksta!]

Oh, there will be photos of the Bristol Buccaneer - I've some in progress shots, but TBH, I haven't got that far really.  I'm hoping to do some more work on the fuselge tomorrow, once I've got some sort of fin and rudder sorted out.

[Rheged]

Your  whiffs based on Chadwick surviving the crash that in real time killed him sound sensible and logical.  This  may also open up whole new tracts of previously unexplored territory.