Supermarine Spiteful F Mk.XV - FINISHED > PAG.4

[DogfighterZen]

So, i'd been looking for the AZ 1/72 Spiteful kit, which is out of production and can rarely be found selling online.
Lee, AKA The Wooksta, came through and gave me a full kit and a bag full of resin spare fuselages, wings, stabs, and enough parts for 3 resin kits with canopies, decals, etc., plus a couple of vacformed kits.    
Being gift, i can't just let it sit in the stash forever so, as i've been in the mood for older kits, time came to dig it up and build it.

Can't say i have a defined plan for it, i just wanted to build it so, i'll decide about country and markings/paint scheme later. At first i thought of doing it using the kit's RAF option and that's still a possibility but i may end up deciding that after i choose the paint scheme.
If i went with the OOB whif RAF scheme, it would be almost the same i did on my latest couple of models so i wanted something different and began considering a simpler, all over NMF finish or one color for the top and another for the bottom.

The build has been a mixed bag with nice details on most parts but lots of dry fitting needed and also some tweaking of parts for a better fit.
The cockpit was a pain to glue in a reasonable position to have a pilot seated in there. I didn't use the framing part for the back of the cockpit because it was simply too big and created a gap on the aft top fuselage. It wouldn't be visible anyway because i had to raise the pilot's seat with some styrene scraps to have his head at a proper height.
The instrument panel's edges and carve out the cockpit's mating surface to get the fuselage to close with the smallest gap possible and that still took clamping... i even had to glue the cockpit floor back in place after closing the fuselage because it moved when i applied the clamps...
Still, it got fixed and the build progressed.
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Used a bit of clear packaging plastic to make the lens for the gunsight but had to remove it for the PSR stages...
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Got one of the AZ Seafang kits out and stole its contra prop, which needed some work in order to match the smaller diameter of the Spiteful kit's front end. It had heavy mold lines all over so some work would be needed anyway...
Had to cut the blades off of the aft prop to be able to sand it down to size and keep the circular profile, then reattach the blades.

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I've also spent a considerable amount of time sanding and dry fitting the canopy in place to ensure the best fit possible but i had to sand both the fuselage and canopy frames, both on the outside and inside but i finally got it to a point where i can be call it good enough.
Carved out and cleaned up one resin chin intakes...

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Now i've been dealing with the PSR and rescribing lost detail...
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This will still take some work before i can call it ready for paint...

[PR19_Kit]

That's looking very promising. I've always liked the look of the Spiteful, even if, it was a bit of a dead end.

[DogfighterZen]

 
The Spiteful is a beauty...especially with a contra prop...

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[kitbasher]

Yeah I agree that the Spiteful is a looker.  Great work so far - tempted to attack my AZ Spiteful as a result of your progress.

And good on yer, Lee, for providing the bits and bobs and inspiration.

[NARSES2]

Must admit from memory it takes a little work, but you've made a good start. Looking forward to seeing how you decide to finish it.

Here's one I did earlier as they say. Back in 2016 

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[PR19_Kit]

The Spiteful is a beauty...especially with a contra prop...

Almost EVERYthing looks better with a contra-prop.

And longer wings of course............... 

[DogfighterZen]

Yeah I agree that the Spiteful is a looker.  Great work so far - tempted to attack my AZ Spiteful as a result of your progress.

And good on yer, Lee, for providing the bits and bobs and inspiration.

Go for it! Just do a careful clean up of the parts to ensure that everything goes together as tight as possible and to reduce sanding and erasing detail as a consequence. I suggest deepening the fuel tank caps before any filling and sanding is done on the top front fuselage. These sit right in the middle of the fuselage split and will probably be easily erased with sanding so, you either forget about them or you'll have to engrave the small circles and rivets back on, which is easier to do if there's still some evidence of the lines that can guide the engraving tool. In this case, i used a needle attached to my X-acto handle to do it.

And yes, Lee is a true gentleman and gave me the chance to build one or 4 of my favorite prop fighters in 1/72 and i'm very grateful for that!     

Must admit from memory it takes a little work, but you've made a good start. Looking forward to seeing how you decide to finish it.

Here's one I did earlier as they say. Back in 2016 

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That looks good, Chris! 
It's that scheme that i initially wanted to avoid on this build but i've been thinking about it and i'm leaving the NMF finish for the Trumpeter 1/48 kit. The kit's surface and detail is much better and easier to get a decent metallic finish.
That means that i may end up going with the OOB whiff scheme for the camo'ed RAF bird, which i do like.

The Spiteful is a beauty...especially with a contra prop...

Almost EVERYthing looks better with a contra-prop.

And longer wings of course............... 

I'll take the contra-prop but i'll pass on the wing extensions, those are your responsibility.

[zenrat]

The last Spits and Seafires (24s and 47s) look better than the Spitefull IMO.  Whichever prop they had.

[DogfighterZen]

Well, i finally made time to sit at the bench and do something on this one...
Finished rescribing the panel lines and rivets lost during the sanding involved with getting this kit to fit properly.
All the seams need work but the wing root and several panel lines don't match the opposing fuselage half's so, i had to be in the root mindset to get this past the harder PSR and scribing work stages.
As that happened this past week, i took the opportunity and did just that.

The state of the build at the moment...
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Today i managed to do the last work on the panel lines and rivets so it was time to get the radiators and oil cooler scoop glued in place.
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Hoping to get some more work done tomorrow...

[NARSES2]

Progress    Looking forward to this.

[su27rules]

  

[DogfighterZen]

Thanks for the support, gentlemen. 
I'm calling it ready for paint, as soon as i get the canopy masked and glued on, that is...
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Last bits of work done were restoring some more faded panel lines, drilling out the gun barrels, reattaching the gunsight with a new piece of clear sheet styrene for the reflector glass, and making some seatbelts out of tamiya masking tape painted with XF-57 Buff.
Pilot is a bit scruffy but it'll do the job through the thick canopy. The top of his head is shiny cause the photo was taken right after i glossed his goggles' lens. You can also see the glue on the gunsight's glass still drying.

Also, the scheme and markings have been sorted out. It's a rather simple one with Olive Drab on top and light grey on the bottom. Still have to settle some details but just small stuff.

 

[2996 Victor]

Looking spot-on  Looking forward to seeing the paint and stickers go on!

Cheers,
Mark

[NARSES2]

Pilot looks pretty neat to me 

[Captain Canada]

Nice looking build !