R Palimaka

Some slow progress. An enforced day off work with a cold allowed me to do the gear doors. The kit doors as supplied are almost featureless, and flat. Here are pics of the correcting steps: the cardboard templates I made, one of the doors with the plastic card layers yet to be sanded and shaped, and a finished door sanded and primed. They just need some rivets added. I've ordered some sheets of Archer Transfers resin rivets, for applying to these and the inner doors and the wheel wells. I've also started on the gear legs and should finish them this weekend. For next time, I saved all the templates for the gear doors, the inner clamshell doors and the ribs for the wheel wells...sometimes I'm smart. If I was really smart I would cast all these doors as resin parts, but I'm not that clever.

I agree, very creative and clever problem solving. This is a very interesting project. Richard

Good Lord! I finally had a "stroll" through your build thread. That is some incredible detail work! Apart from everything else, the electronics equipment suite is brilliant, absolutely convincing. I found myself trying to read the placards. Definitely have to pay attention to this build, lots to learn. Excellent work! Richard

Beautiful! The weathering is extremely convincing! A gorgeous Spitfire. Richard

Now that's an entrance! Both are amazing builds, the finish on the Ki 61 is particularly impressive. Thank you for sharing those. Richard

Great work so far...ignore those other Spitfires. Richard

I love that you used the word "fellars"...so Texan. Thanks for the smile this morning. You made some good points about pricing, and what some of us buy to add on to the basic kit, even after complaining about the initial price. I think there is a good market for a well-priced decent P-51D. I think Revell made a good decision and we'll wait and see how they do. It won't be near Tamiya's price and like many said so far it will likely be available to more people. There will be complaints that it's yet another Mustang, when there are so many aircraft that haven't been done yet in 1/32. I really hope those kits eventually happen...but who would have thought ten years ago we'd have the kits that are available now. Richard

Good start, that first cut is always the hardest... I always thought the Czech machines were attractive. I will definitely be watching this build. Richard

The Brit Bits parts were the basis of the Freightdog set. Jen did a wonderful initial and very clean set of resin bits, but sold the molds to Freightdog who expanded on that and included many more parts including wheel bulges, proper wheels, cannons, etc. and a great decal sheet with instructions. You can definitely build a Seafire 47 from the Brit Bits parts (new nose intake plus wing fairing, spinner, prop blades, canopy, rudder hook, gunsight), but the Freightdog set is far more complete. I have a set of the Brit Bits parts too (I know, I'm nuts) Richard

Wow, just stumbled into this one. You've really set yourself a challenge, but you're going about it in a very methodical way. I think I'm going to learn a lot by following your build. A beautiful choice of aircraft by the way! Richard

Good luck on this one. Wonderful choice of scheme. It should look stunning and very different! Richard

I agree with most of what's been said so far. The Mustang is my favourite aircraft, and although I would have preferred a Mustang III (P-51B/C to our American cousins) a decently priced and accurate P-51D would make me happy too. I have a couple Tamiya Mustangs for those examples on which I want to expend the time and effort to take advantage of all that the kit offers. They are nearly perfect kits but require a commitment of time...and money. If Revell can provide an accurate and relatively inexpensive P-51D that is not too complex I think they will have a winner. I don't always want to spend a lot of time on highly detailed interior structures, gun-bays and the like. If the Revell kit can have a decent cockpit, accurate gear wells and dropped flaps as Patrick suggests above, then that will serve a somewhat different market niche than the Tamiya kits are aimed at...I think... Sometimes I just want an accurate and a not too involved model as a canvas for the markings of a pilot or unit I'm interested in. If they can deliver that at an attractive price then I think the Revell marketers got it right. I do empathize with those who have a favourite aircraft that has been ignored in 1/32 so far, but hopefully these kind of "staple" kits will help those dreams come to light. It's been pretty good for LSP modellers the last few years.

That is spectacular in the High Speed finish and large bright markings! Very meticulous work from assembly to weathering. Love it. Ricahrd

That is beautiful! Weathered just enough and the finish is very subtle, and the base is perfect. An excellent model of a powerful aircraft. Richard

If you're interested in a Seafire 47 I have an extra Freightdog conversion set. I don't really see myself building two now (despite what I told myself a couple years ago). It originally cost GBP25...about US$31.00. Send me a message if you'd like it... Richard

Well, if you're only going to build one...it might as well be spectacular!! Excellent work! What a beautiful finish. It's true, you don't see many P-38s, but maybe this will inspire others to follow. Richard

All three of them are very impressive builds!! Just beautiful, I love the weathering especially. I agree, group builds are great motivators. Richard

Hmmm...not sure what to think. All three of those aircraft are already out in 1/32 and in the case of the Mustang and Spitfire those kits are pretty much definitive and I can't imagine how you could improve upon what they offer. At the same time, I do see the argument about price and the amount of time needed to build them. If someone like Revell could produce relatively accurate but perhaps less complex and expensive models I think that would appeal to a lot of people...including me if I just wanted a quick canvas for markings of a particular pilot. Much as the Tamiya kits are beautifully engineered and fit precisely, it is a commitment. All that being said...if they had announced a P-51B, that would have been a real money-maker and much more exciting!!

Great choice! I've never seen the kit parts, but I've heard it's quite accurate in shape. Certainly going to follow this one.

Is that in addition to the 1/32 Spitfire IX they announced already?

Thank you Kev for your suggestion and honesty. It made me look again, and the final version is so much better. I've spent more time on the gear wells and doors for this one than I used to for entire kits! Next is the gear leg doors and the legs themselves. After that, I will finish the inside of both gear wells, and put the wings together...and hope it all matches up with the fuselage later! I really want to get started on the cockpit! This arrived yesterday from Airscale and it looks amazing:

I took the advice from Kevin and all those that followed Thank you gentlemen, good eyes! The original clamshell door additions I made were far too deep so I sanded the top layer down to about half and softened the roundness of the inside rim of the dish...if that makes sense? I also filled the three oblong slots with Milliput and Tamiya putty, sanded and primed it all. Just some final sanding and smoothing to do. I guess I tightened it up from both directions. Although it's not perfect it looks much more convincing now, an improvement over the kit parts anyway.

You are definitely transforming this old kit! The cockpit looks especially effective.

Another vote for the Hasegawa Spitfire V. Has good shapes and dimensions, and like others have said there is lots of aftermarket to enhance it, or build other variants. It's a great starting point for a show stopper...or OOB it is a very decent model of the Spitfire. Richard

And this is all I have to say...