Aerotech 1/32 Speed Spitfire

[Derek B]

Thanks Brad. The instructions say interior green (H78), so I'm not sure at this stage.

 

Kev

 

I think that I agree with Brad on this one. On balance, as the aircraft lower surfaces were sprayed with high speed silver lacquer paint, it is likely that the flap interiors were also sprayed the same colour at the same time (The wheel wells, legs and inner doors appear to be the same colour as the underwing surface).

 

Derek

[LSP_Kevin]

Thanks for your input Derek. I'm a little way off from needing to make a decision, but on balance I'd prefer to go with the silver, partly because I think it will look better in context, but also because the Tamiya AS-12 will lay down and wear better on the PE than their acrylic XF-71 (if you look closely you can already see signs of wear and chipping from handling on the white metal cockpit bulkheads).

 

Anyway, since this is a Speed Spitfire, it calls for a Speed Build, right? So, let's see how I got on with the instrument panel. Firstly, the two PE parts were removed from the fret and given a quick airbrushed coat of Mr Metal Primer:

 

 

Once dry, the two parts were glued together with CA, airbrushed with Gunze Tyre Black, and then given a light dry bush with Vallejo White. The kit supplies an instrument film of acetate sheet, so this was glued into position behind the the main assembly:

 

 

You'll notice that I haven't trimmed it at this stage. As the note on the acetate sheet suggests, I need to paint the back of it white, so leaving the extraneous part of the sheet intact gave me something to hold the part with while airbrushing the white on:

 

 

Disappointingly the dial detail doesn't show through at all, and I'm not sure why. It's not just a trick of the light or the camera; it's the same in person too. I thought fleetingly about placing some airscale decals in the holes, but the potential was there to really mess it up - especially if the fit wasn't close. Besides, I'm trying to stay as true as possible to the original kit, in effect making it a 'build review' to extend the in-box one I've already done on the website.

 

I trimmed the excess acetate with a small pair of cuticle scissors. Gluing the finished assembly to the white metal bulkhead proved to be problematic. Firstly, it had a natural curve upwards from the flat. Secondly, the PE tab that attaches the compass shelf to the bulkhead caused the IP to sit proud of the surface. That combination meant that it had to be bent down quite a way at the ends, and I had a bit of trouble getting it to stick down. I got there in the end, and here's the final result:

 

 

The instructions call for the compass to be 'pale blue'; for some reason I chose Vallejo Light Sky Blue, which to me looks totally wrong, and stands out like dog's balls! Well, I guess it's a splash of colour in an otherwise drab cockpit, but I reckon RLM 65 might've been a better choice. Wish I'd thought of it then, instead of now! The decal is supplied on a small supplementary sheet to the main one.

 

Anyway, at this point there was nothing left but to install it in the fuselage, and to be honest you don't even really need to use glue for this, so well does it click into place inside the the fuselage. I put a dab of CA gel at the top just to be sure, and slipped it into place:

 

 

 

 

A shame about the non-existent dial detail and the bright blue compass, but that can't be helped now. Not far off being able to install the rest of the cockpit now.

 

Thanks as always for looking!

 

Kev

[seiran01]

Looking good, like a true spitfire cockpit.

 

You could consider the instrument decals from Airscale if the dial issue is bugging you. You probably even have enough space to maneuver them in to place if you've already glued the panel in place

 

-Mike

[LSP_Kevin]

Looking good, like a true spitfire cockpit.

 

You could consider the instrument decals from Airscale if the dial issue is bugging you. You probably even have enough space to maneuver them in to place if you've already glued the panel in place

 

-Mike

 

As I mentioned in the post Mike, I considered the airscale decals, but I reckoned there was more scope to mess it up than save it. I couldn't be sure the airscale decals would fit. Plus, I'm having trouble with the acrylic paint chipping off the metal parts (both PE and white metal), so all the extra handling involved could have been a major problem in that regard. Of course, now that it's fitted, that's not so much of an issue, so perhaps I'll investigate that avenue. I used them in the IP I scratch-built for my Matchbox Spitfire, and you can see below how effective they are:

 

 

Kev

[Thomas Lund]

Too bad with the instruments Kevin, but the rest looks good.

 

I cannot shake the asymmetric flaps - that must have caused a rolling action when deployed... Anyone?

 

EDIT: Just dawned on me that if the radiator outlet moves in unison with the flaps it might not be that bad...

Edited July 10, 2013 by Thomas Lund

[Lee White]

or perhaps the flap just sat over the sheet metal in that area- I remember seeing how McDonnell scabbed on air brakes to the Demon- Just put them on top of the wings, no need for actual wells for them to retract into.

 

http://www.aircraftresourcecenter.com/awa01/601-700/awa640-F3-Demon-Murph/02.jpg

Edited July 10, 2013 by Lee White

[scvrobeson]

I like it! It looks good so far Kevin. I just wish these Aerotech kits weren't so dang expensive, I would like to give one of these racers a shot.

 

 

 

Looks great

 

 

 

Matt

[LSP_Kevin]

Thanks for you comments and input fellas. More progress! The instructions tell you to cut a 20mm section off the supplied wire (it's silver on the outside and brass/copper on the inside, so I'm not really sure what it's made of) to fashion the lever that goes to the left of the pilot's seat. This is what it looks like when you do though:

 

 

It's way too long! By my estimation it should be more like 12mm long. So I grabbed an old pair of sprue cutters, nipped a few mm off the end, filed down the burr and repainted the cut end. Here's the finished cockpit ready to install:

 

 

It's not excessively detailed, and I've given it a very plain paint job, but I think it's pretty decent. I've just realised though that I've forgotten to fit the head rest, but that's easily done at any time.

 

I've decided to leave the instrument panel alone and keep moving, so here's the cockpit installed into the fuselage:

 

 

 

 

 

I'm not sure where the trailing strap out the back is supposed to go, so if anyone has a clue, please let me know! Otherwise I'll leave it as is, as I don't think it actually looks wrong at all.

 

There's nothing now preventing me from putting the wings on, so that will be my next step!

 

Kev

[DougN]

Nice progress Kevin, I'm tempted to break out the Spitfire Prototype kit as you've made this one look so easy!

Doug

[Out2gtcha]

Going quickly now!

 

Cheers,

[LSP_Kevin]

Thanks Dan. As it happens the wings are now on. Fit wasn't quite as good with all the internals fitted into the fuselage, but nothing a little filling and sanding won't take care of. More of an issue is the almost complete lack of dihedral. Probably not too much I could have done about that. Whether it ruins the look or sit of the model remains to be seen.

 

Kev

[LSP_Kevin]

Any chance of giving it a bit of a bend with somew heat. Or is that too risky?

 

Well, it's a once-piece resin wing glued to the fuselage with CA, so I reckon it's too risky. The amount of heat required to get that thick wing to budge would likely affect the integrity of the CA bond. I'd also risk giving the wing a curve rather than a dihedral. What I probably should have done was sand the mating edges on the fuselage a little bit to make some more room. This might have eased the fit and allowed for some dihedral. Why do I always think of these things after the fact?

 

Kev

[Anthony in NZ]

Awesome work Kev, its great to see kits like this being built!

 

Cheers

Anthony

[LSP_Kevin]

Thanks Anthony. I'm back with proof that the wings are fitted!

 

 

 

I had to remove quite a lot of resin from the fuselage where the wing and fuselage meet, but thankfully this was a remarkably quick and easy job thanks to how easy the resin is to sand. Not sure whether there still would have been a panel line at the wing root, but given that it'll be easier to eliminate it completely than try to reinstate it, along with the fact that this aircraft was meant to have had most of its panel lines puttied over, I'll probably do the same. After the Hughes I'm no longer that concerned about a lack of surface detail on the finished model.

 

Moving on to the tail planes, and we finally have our first real fit issue:

 

 

Firstly, they don't fit that well into their respective recesses. Not a huge deal, but still worse than anything else the model has presented so far. But a much bigger problem, that's a little bit harder to pick up clearly in the photos, is that fact that between them they're forming a nice 'V'. In other words they both point sharply upwards when set in their recesses. Not quite certain how to deal with it yet, but deal with it I must!

 

Kev

[TaffyMan]

Hi Kev – Great progress and she is looking very smart!!! Yeah I can really sympathise with you “why didn’t I do that way?” So you then say “I will remember that for next time!” then promptly forget it – or is that just me or age related!

 

Taff