Airfix 1:72 Spitfire Mk Vb canopy wanted

steelpillow · March 18, 2020, 10:40:04 AM

Durn thing just pinged off across the room and vanished, me and Senior Management spent over an hour fruitlessly scrabbling around on our hands and knees (I know, I know).
It's the relatively new-tool Vb. Has to be the same kit as I am whiffing a Twinfire with identical canopies.
Any chance someone has one getting lonely in the spares box? Happy to pay postage, etc.

The Wooksta! · March 18, 2020, 01:37:26 PM

Depending on the date it's to be in service, you'd be better off with the later mk IX style canopy and the one in the new tool Airfix kit will fit it.

Relatively new tool? It dates from 1974 and is nearly as old as me!

steelpillow · March 19, 2020, 01:38:26 AM

Thanks, but like I said, Has to be the same kit as I am whiffing a Twinfire with identical canopies.
Would look daft with different canopies.

zenrat · March 19, 2020, 01:55:21 AM

Oh I don't know. You could adjust your back story. maybe it was the prototype and was built from Spitfires of different marks?

PR19_Kit · March 19, 2020, 04:30:10 AM

Quote from: zenrat on March 19, 2020, 01:55:21 AM

maybe it was the prototype and was built from Spitfires of different marks?

By the time you've read Morgan and Shacklady's book you start to think ALL Spitfires were built from bits of different Marks, except K5054 of course.

steelpillow · March 19, 2020, 04:51:54 AM

Quote from: zenrat on March 19, 2020, 01:55:21 AM
Oh I don't know. You could adjust your back story. maybe it was the prototype and was built from Spitfires of different marks?

Sadly the historical novel which provides the back story is too tightly bound into real history. Only the Vc was shipped out for the defence of Darwin and only a handful were signed off for scrappage, despite being only modestly damaged, in the right place and at the right time. One is BS226, the other (to be decided) is one of BR480, BS188 or EE608.
The model is based on two of the Airfix Vc, which comprised a Vb kit with extra Vc bits thrown in. So without a matching canopy, I would need two identical ones which still happen to fit the particular Vb fuselage tooling.

Later came the MkVIII for the Pacific campaign and the famous "sharkmouth" 457 sqn. Truly the ultimate Twinfire from the ultimate pilot's Spit. Some camo colours are common between the two, so I am building them in parallel.

Mind you, the "Twinful" my main character put together back at Supermarine when he came home after the war was cobbled together from late-mark Spiteful Mk 14 and Seafang Mk 32 prototypes knocking around a hangar where everyone was about to be made as redundant as the aircraft. Basically the Spiteful airframe with the Seafang's six-bladed contra-prop. Guess I might as well get on with this one until I can get that canopy sorted.

kitnut617 · March 19, 2020, 07:02:28 AM

Quote from: PR19_Kit on March 19, 2020, 04:30:10 AM
Quote from: zenrat on March 19, 2020, 01:55:21 AM

maybe it was the prototype and was built from Spitfires of different marks?

By the time you've read Morgan and Shacklady's book you start to think ALL Spitfires were built from bits of different Marks, except K5054 of course.

Kit's right! most Spitfires evolved that way. As an aside, there was only three major design changes done, the Mk.I, the Mk.VIII and the Mk.XXI, all the other marks evolved from these three.

The Wooksta! · March 19, 2020, 05:57:09 PM

If you can find a 2009 tooling of the mk IXc, with the desert boxing and a Cartograf logo, you'll find two identical canopies in it - ALL of those I've acquired have had two canopies. That canopy WILL fit the older mk Vb with minimal sanding - I've done it.

major · March 19, 2020, 06:53:19 PM

I'll have a look over the weekend. I think I may have what you're looking for.
Which boxing is It?

Cheers... Ray

steelpillow · March 20, 2020, 03:00:47 AM

Quote from: major on March 19, 2020, 06:53:19 PM

I'll have a look over the weekend. I think I may have what you're looking for.
Which boxing is It?

Cheers... Ray

Any boxing should be fine. According to Scalemates, the only changes to the Vb kit over the years have been the box art. Of course, the Vc kit also has them.

The Wooksta! · March 20, 2020, 05:02:58 AM

The Heller produced Vc kits didn't have the Vb canopy but strangely included two of the newer Vc canopy which BTW was absolute cack. The ones produced in India for Hornby later did have both and the navalisation bits for the Airfix Club Seafire IIc. You'd need to do a lot more to the kit to do the latter, but the hook section means you could at least get an early Seafire Ib out of it. You also got Cartograf decals.

If you're basing your backstory on the Vc, they all had the revised canopy with the internal armour glass windscreen, so that's the canopy you really need. In addition, most of the Vb that served abroad had the revised canopy too.

steelpillow · March 20, 2020, 05:38:04 AM

Quote from: The Wooksta! on March 20, 2020, 05:02:58 AM
The Heller produced Vc kits didn't have the Vb canopy but strangely included two of the newer Vc canopy which BTW was absolute cack. The ones produced in India for Hornby later did have both and the navalisation bits for the Airfix Club Seafire IIc. You'd need to do a lot more to the kit to do the latter, but the hook section means you could at least get an early Seafire Ib out of it. You also got Cartograf decals.

If you're basing your backstory on the Vc, they all had the revised canopy with the internal armour glass windscreen, so that's the canopy you really need. In addition, most of the Vb that served abroad had the revised canopy too.

Thanks, that may change things a bit. The first question now has to be, did the original Airfix Vc release include additional canopies? If so, were they the cack ones, and if so, WTF did I do about it (cos I can't remember)?
Maybe I am safer getting a matched pair rather than just one. That also opens up my options a bit.

kitnut617 · March 20, 2020, 06:30:07 AM

Another option is Falcon, they do a specific box of vac canopies just for Spitfires. I believe most are available separately ---

Check here;

http://www.falconmodels.co.nz/

Rheged · March 20, 2020, 07:42:17 AM

Quote from: steelpillow on March 19, 2020, 04:51:54 AM
Quote from: zenrat on March 19, 2020, 01:55:21 AM
Oh I don't know. You could adjust your back story. maybe it was the prototype and was built from Spitfires of different marks?

Sadly the historical novel which provides the back story is too tightly bound into real history. Only the Vc was shipped out for the defence of Darwin and only a handful were signed off for scrappage, despite being only modestly damaged, in the right place and at the right time. One is BS226, the other (to be decided) is one of BR480, BS188 or EE608.

To take Zenrat's idea further, you mention "modestly damaged" Could this damage have included smashed canopies and thus scrounging one from another mark?

Backstories can adjust reality if necessary.............mine usually do!

steelpillow · March 20, 2020, 07:50:32 AM

Quote from: Rheged on March 20, 2020, 07:42:17 AM
Quote from: steelpillow on March 19, 2020, 04:51:54 AM
Quote from: zenrat on March 19, 2020, 01:55:21 AM
Oh I don't know. You could adjust your back story. maybe it was the prototype and was built from Spitfires of different marks?

Sadly the historical novel which provides the back story is too tightly bound into real history. Only the Vc was shipped out for the defence of Darwin and only a handful were signed off for scrappage, despite being only modestly damaged, in the right place and at the right time. One is BS226, the other (to be decided) is one of BR480, BS188 or EE608.

To take Zenrat's idea further, you mention "modestly damaged" Could this damage have included smashed canopies and thus scrounging one from another mark?

Backstories can adjust reality if necessary.............mine usually do!

Point already answered, if you look closely at the bit before your highlight.