chuck540z3

July 19, 2018 Well Boys, this is "Goodbye", sort of. For a bunch of reasons that don't matter any more, I am taking my work back over to ARC where I started these build threads about 11 years ago. I started posting here about 4 years ago and I have enjoyed just about every minute of it as I learned a lot from the very best model builders there are anywhere. If I named those I would like to thank, I would forget and exclude somebody, so I won't even try. I will miss most of you, but it's not like I'm leaving the planet. To those I crossed swords with recently, I'd like to apologize and shake your hand. Life is too short for conflict, especially in a hobby we all should be enjoying. For those who might want to see this build to completion, and I am not recruiting anybody, the ARC link can be found below. 1/32 Tamiya Spitfire Mk IXc, "Kicked Up A Notch" at ARC Happy Modeling and Cheers, Chuck

Thanks everyone and also for the feedback above. Based upon my experience and what I can find on the 'net, cowling fit is a problem for most modelers. Although I have seen some pretty good examples of cowlings over a detailed engine, I can still find many gaps that shouldn't be there with my critical eye. I am certain that is why many pics of this kit show either no cowlings or maybe one or two fit at a time- and almost all shots are from some distance. One tip I can offer when trimming the firewall is to use some masking solution on the back of the engine to see what is touching and what is not. That way you can work on the high spots rather than other areas that down't need any more trimming. Cheers, Chuck

June 23, 2018 Well, it’s raining on a Saturday afternoon, giving me the perfect opportunity to do a few things to push this build down the road a little further at its glacial pace! Like most who build this kit, I’m going to paint the fuselage without the engine attached for ease of handling, but if there are any fit issues, the time to fix them is now. The other thing I want to explore is the fit of the cowlings, since I have noticed in other builds that the fit is usually not great and I added the Eduard PE brass plate dampeners to the cowling frames, which likely made it worse. I expected that I would, but I’d rather have this detail since the engine will be displayed most of the time, if not all of the time. First, the fit of the engine firewall. Not great. In Step #55, the instructions tell you to attach the engine, “so that the cowling frames match the fuselage shapeâ€. I’m not sure how they expect you to do this, since the cowling frames are already glued to the firewall and they really can’t be adjusted any more. Note the gaps at the bottom and the angle that the engine fits to the fuselage parts. In my case, it’s possible that there was some user error along the way to cause this problem, but I have no idea what it might have been, since the parts appear to fit in a certain way without allowing for adjustment. In any event, there is a fix. By cutting and sanding down the rear firewall and cross brace beneath it within the fuselage, you can correct this problem. It isn’t pretty, but it will never show later anyway. After at least 100 dry fits with adjustments in between, the engine fit looks good now with good alignment at the back of the firewall and cowling frames along the curvature of the wing. In preparation for the next steps, I sanded down the top of the firewall slightly for the top cowling and deepened the grooves for all cowling tabs at the front of the engine. One problem I did create was to add the brass Eduard plate over the kit metal plate used for the magnets. The top cowling fit isn’t bad and with a little adjustment and sanding underneath it, I can make it fit better. The side cowlings are only so-so, partly due to the loss of magnetism with the brass plates covering the metal underneath it. The bottom cowling could use some adjustments as well to reduce the gap at the top of it. To fix the loss of magnetism to the side cowlings, I ground down the very small kit ones then glued larger ones on top of them, making sure that there was still clearance to the cowling and engine frames. This really helped to adhere the cowling to the engine sidewall. The bottom cowling comes in 3 parts, with the intake made of 2. According to many pics of this cowling in the Montforton book, the middle and rear seams of this intake should be filled, in this case with CA glue. I suspect that the fit of the cowlings is problematic for most, because in the 5 builds in Brett Green’s book, Brett didn’t use them at all (or show them), while the other builds either glued the cowlings in place or when they were used, the fit is only so-so. I had some trouble with the cowlings on my Mustang build as well, but not as bad as this kit. With some fiddling, trimming, sanding and many hours of work, the end result can go from this…. To this… There’s no use playing with the panels until the engine is solidly glued to the fuselage, so that will be a few months from now. With the engine alignment corrected, at least now I have a chance. Till the next rain (or snow) storm! Cheers, Chuck

With a bunch of work sanding and rescribing the nose, you can get a decent looking Hog profile with just the kit plastic and Squadron canopy. Cheers, Chuck

Love it Steve! I also love the foam pipe insulation on a cardboard box as a platform to work on. Where did you ever get that brilliant idea? 🤔 Cheers, Chuck

Ditto all the comments above. Awesome build! Cheers, Chuckh

GEORGEOUS! Just like all your models, this model is a work of great skill and art. Cheers, Chuck

Hi Guys! I just heard from a friend of mine who was wondering why I hadn’t posted anything lately on this project, so I thought I’d explain why here as well for anybody who might have wondered the same thing. The answer is, “summer finally cameâ€, so I’ve been spending all of my free time outdoors rather than indoors at my modeling desk. I do this every summer lately, so no worries that this project is now on the shelf of doom! I usually do my best work when I’m motivated and right now the modeling mojo is pretty low, so it’s just as well that I take a break from glue fumes and plastic. Later and Cheers, Chuck

There is some highly skilled modeling going on here! I love your work. Cheers, Chuck

Incredible painting! I just love it. Btw, as you know, the pre-shading haters may cast a critical eye, so make sure you post a pic of the real deal before your model in the Ready For Inspection Forum, to prove you nailed it! Cheers, Chuck

One of the best cameo paint jobs I’ve ever seen. Bravo! Cheers, Chuck

Thanks guys for the kind comments. I really appreciate them. Hi Chris! As you know, my models take forever to build- usually a year or more- because I am actually making about half a dozen models one at a time and then finally putting them all together at the end of the build. This engine is clearly a model all on its own, as was the cockpit. There are many things I don't like about this engine, but most of them can only be seen with my close-up photography, which exposes every tiny detail, but also the flaws. I think this makes me a better modeler, because I'm always trying to minimize these imperfections, which can be a bit obsessive. If that makes me , so be it! The funny thing is, I am probably the most impatient guy I know of, yet my slow progress when modeling doesn't bother me at all and I actually find it quite relaxing and rewarding. I guess that's why we all model here. In our hectic lives of work, family and other activities, we can set aside some "me time" to research our aircraft subjects and try to replicate them with model kits and our ever growing skills of assembly and painting that we learn along the way. When I model, the time flies by and I don't think about work or other stresses in my life, so I find it time very well spent. I'm sure you guys feel the same way. Cheers, Chuck

I'll take that as a compliment! To prove you're right, I just HAD to fix that intercooler oil tank on the firewall on the right, which now has an oil cap that fell off in my prior post. All fixed now- and I blew off a bit more dust and crap on the engine. Cheers, Chuck

Thanks Guys! The front arm is kit supplied, but where it attaches in the middle and the linkages attached are scratch made from styrene, spare PE and electronic wire. The brackets on either side towards the rear are from the Eduard exterior kit. I just noticed that the engine is covered with lint and other crap in my new pics. Sorry about that, but handling this engine is now a very delicate operation and I've been using a soft paper towel (and resultant lint) as a platform so that I don't erode off any more paint or other fine details. That is why I've thrown in the towel on adding any more plumbing. Spitfire guys will notice that there's a few key coolant lines missing, but every time I add a new feature, an existing detail or other part is compromised. Time to quit now while I'm a bit ahead! Cheers, Chuck