Grizly

One easy (and potentially expensive) upgrade for the Spitfire is replacing the engine with that from the Airfix Hurricane.

I see that Cybermodeler is now listing 'new' Airfix 1/24 Spitfire Mk.1a (kit 12001V) and Bf-109E (kit 12002V) kits to be released 2Q20. My quick search of the Airfix website shows what might be a re-issue of the Hurricane but can see no reference of the Spit or 109. Can anybody shed any light on these kits?

As 2020 rapidly approaches and more new kits will be released, remember when plastic models vaguely resembled the full scale item, rivets and panel lines were randomly placed, the number of parts could be counted on one's hand and there were no after market products to correct those fatal flaws?

I'd love to have a Tamiya 1/32 P-38J or L.

dmthamade - very nice build and I can understand how the rivets were of concern with your metal finish. I had similar issues with rivets with Trumpeter's P-47. In my case, the P-38's OD/grey finish minimized the appearance of the rivets considerably.

FunkyZeit, while I don't share you assessment of the kit, I do agree that Tamiya could produce a better kit. But how much better and for what price?

For dmthemade, fortunately I didn't experience any discomfort in that somewhat sensitive area of ones body during my build. As for the nose gear (and main gear), yes, I used the kit parts and don't recall having any issues with it.

For Dennismcc and Tim Hepplestone, further clarification should you be interested in adopting by build sequence... the following photo shows my first step in pulling the basic assembly together. In the photo you have (from left to right) the underside assemblies for the starboard outer, port outer and center section wing/tail boom components. As you can see, this approach provides perfect wing/tail boom joints.

For Bigg Tim, I did a little scratch building based on some research. See below. For Tim Hepplestone, It's a good kit but previous modellers have expressed frustration getting a good lower wing to nacelle joint and have invariably resorted to filling the joints with lots of putty. I found that key to completing the wing to nacelle/tail boom assembly was joining the lower wing half to the nacelles first rather than following the kit instructions. With this method you end up with a perfect seam/panel line joint that requires absolutely no filler. Its a but joint so I reinforced the inside with plastic strip. See below.

Trumpeter's kit built as Colonel Harold Rau's P-38J "Gentle Annie"

The first, AC*U is the Dragon 1/32 P-51D and was built with the help of Eduard's colour etch instrument panel and seat belts, some Mr. Surfacer to tone down the wing rivets, finished with Alclad II Aluminum, Model Master enamels and topped off with the excellent Leading Edge decals. The second aircraft represents a later squadron aircraft as it would have appeared after the avionics upgrade performed by MacDonald Brothers. It is the Tamiya 1/32 P-51D kit to which I revised the starboard side of the cockpit and the nav/com units behind the pilot's seat and moved the battery into the engine compartment in accordance with the afore mentioned upgrade. I also enhanced the engine compartment with Eduard's etch set, scratch built the ignition harnesses, added the Eduard Brassin instrument panel and seat belts to the cockpit and the Brian L Fawcett Models and Patterns zero length rocket rails. Again paints were by Alclad II and Model Masters and decals by Leading Edge.

Further to my last, an abbreviated narrative of my build can be found here in LSP. See https://www.largescaleplanes.com/articles/article.php?aid=667

How I extended the nose...

When I built my 1/24 Mk.IXc, I used/modified the exhausts from the Airfix Stuka kit. The build was the subject of a two part article in the Nov & Dec 1996 issues of Scale Models International. The following are two photos of my model and the last page of the article which lists the parts used.

Once again, I learned something new. Thanx Richard. As an aside, it is not my intention to model aircraft 273 pictured above which has the vented panel aft of the wing. Instead, I'll pick an aircraft that didn't have the vents such as 297.