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1:32 Hobby Boss Spitfire Mk.Vb Trop


Ralph Riese

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Airframe assembly... Kit went together pretty well. Rivets added to the engine cowl panel parts using the Tamiya kit parts as a guide. Fabric detail removed from upper tailplane parts and rivets copied from the underside parts. Fictional rivets added to the Vokes filter to tie it into the rest of the model.

 

1S-3.jpg

 

12S-1.jpg

 

4S-3.jpg

 

5S-3.jpg

 

8S-2.jpg

 

10S-2.jpg

 

Cheers, and thanks again for looking. Ralph.

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I have one on the way, so very interested in this build. Although its not the Trop, it is interesting to see what probs you come up with. Please explain any you find.....Harv :speak_cool:

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Thanks for the interest so far Gents. Wolf - this is my version of a cheap holiday. Grabbing some time off and sppending it quite self-indulgently.

 

As noted in reviews, the HB windshield is not suitable for the Vb Trop. Have tried to replace it with the windshield from Tamiya's Mk.VIII kit.

 

HBTamiya1.jpg

The Tamiya part before the carving...

HBTamiya2.jpg

 

HBTamiya3.jpg

Removed all plastic up to the instrument panel, the small locating pin on the Tamiya part, and the raised detail forward of the windshield.

 

HBTamiya4.jpg

The Tamiya gun sight was installed after a small adjustment to the mounting peg.

 

HBTamiya5.jpg

After checking that the gun sight didn't interfere with the windshield fit Tamiya thin glue was applied wher the parts touched.

 

HBTamiya6.jpg

 

HBTamiya7.jpg

 

HBTamiya8.jpg

 

HBTamiya9.jpg

The HB fuselage is wider than the Tamiya part so there's some reshaping to be done yet.

 

Gaps have since been filled with Revell Contacta glue. Will let it all set up before trying to fill/reshape. I usually stay well-away from anything like this - am sure that those comfortable with doing modifications would be able to get a much better result first up. Cheers, Ralph.

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Ralph, good job and a good update. I know it isn't the right windshield in the kit, but how is the fit of the kit part to kit body, know what I mean? Just trying to sort out probs before hand....harv :speak_cool:

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Canopy "fix" pics. harv: can't comment on the fit of the kit windshield as I did not try it.

 

HBTamiya15S.jpg

The joins were filled with a couple of applications of Mr Surfacer which was then wet-sanded.

 

HBTamiya16S.jpg

The hard edges were returned with the Tamiya scriber. The lower windshield-to-fuselage join line missing - plan to add that once everything has had time to really harden up.

 

HBTamiya17S.jpg

The HB fuselage is much wider than Tamiya's, so the Tamiya canopy won't sit down in either the open or the closed position.

HBTamiya18S.jpg

 

HBTamiya19S.jpg

The Tamiya windshield and HB canopy don't fit together in the closed position.

 

HBTamiya20S.jpg

Windshield masked and sprayed with Tamiya's XF-1 Flat Black acrylic.

HBTamiya21S.jpg

 

HBTamiya22S.jpg

And a couple of pics taken in full sunlight to "bare all". Shows the slight misalignment between the front of the windshield and the corresponding vertical panel line.

HBTamiya23S.jpg

 

If anyone is comtemplating the modification and would like larger size images to zoom in and study for themselves, shoot me an email at rriese@optusnet.com.au

 

Thanks for looking. Cheers, Ralph.

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Great work so far !

 

Any updates ? I'm very interested how it turns out, as I have Mk V and I want to turn it into Mk Vb using some Hasegawa parts. Did you try to correct the "too wide behind the cockpit" problem ? Besides the problem with the fabric wings, it is poking my eyes the most...

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Hello lazycat: no further updates - waiting on Master Model metal barrels to arrive.

 

There are numerous pics of early Vb's with the externally-armoured windshield so if you have the straight Vb kit, it can be built as an early Vb using the canopy parts supplied in the pit.

 

No - didn't try to correct the "too wide behind the cockpit" problem as I don't know enough about Spitfires to know what needs to be done.

 

The fabric surfaces on the upper tailplane parts took me about 40 minutes to sand and rivet.

 

Have a close look at the kit spinner and propeller blades. You might want to have a think about replacements - especially if you decide to model an early Vb.

 

Cheers, Ralph.

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I am talking about the area behind the cockpit where the overall shape on HB kit is much more round than it should be, old hasegawa kit has that shape right IMHO (more pointy) at the top.

Do not have comparasion pics at the moment...

Unfortunatelly I have no idea how to fix it without sanding the surface and loosing all details, and then of course transparent part would be too wide also...

 

Thx for info, waiting for new updates ;)

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