MikeC

Just got my alert from Hannants that they'd received this into stock..
 
So, I bought one from Jadlam.. 
 
Using my saved up J points, it was significantly cheaper.. 

For me, there's a reason that it only costs ~£40 and not £80+ like a Kotare/Tamiya 

"...Supermarine's designers refused to have cameras or fuel tanks installed in the fuselage behind the cockpit.  They feared this would shift the centre of gravity too far aft.  So, in these two Spitfires [ie the two PR As], the modifications were limited to installing an F.24 camera with 5" focal length lens, in each wing, replacing the inner machine guns.  The cameras were fitted almost vertically, with a slight outward bias to cover a wider area in a single run. [my bold] The fields of view of the cameras overlapped only slightly."
P5 of Merlin PR Spitfires, Wojtek Matusiak, Ventura publications.
 
The 5" F.24 is pictured on P25 of the companion volume, Merlin PR Spitfires in detail , Malcolm Laird and Wojtek Matusiak, Ventura publications, and on P38 a photo and diagrams of the installation.

Hopefully now that PR Spitfires are in their sights the Seafires should also come under scrutiny, a long neglected subject and they already have the basics covered.
 
Cheers
 
Dennis

Hello:

   Here's what it looks like with all of the masking removed.  Things worked out really well, and I'm extremely pleased with the results.   
 

 

 

 
Mike

Hello:
 
   Since I had used the hot rod flames decal, and it broke into a million pieces, I couldn't make a photocopy of it.  But I did find a review of the decal sheet that included a picture, so I scaled that picture and printed it to make a template.  To make the outer hard edge between the flames and the gray, I placed a thin piece of clear plastic (ziplock bag) over the template, put the Tamiya tape on the plastic, and traced over the pattern.  
 
   To make the interior edge between the yellow and red, I made two other templates.  I glued the paper print to some card to make it a bit stiffer.  The little 'tadpoles' on the left are for the licks of flame that are aft of the main flame, to help cover the yellow as I paint the red edge.  
 
   
 
Here we are, most of the way done.  Things are going really well so far.  You can see the shadow of the 'tadpoles' to the left on the 3 licks of flame.

 
   The last step is to paint the lick of flame that's right below the intake warning.  To help place this, and to avoid a future conflict with the intake warning, I traced over the intake warning decal and made a tape template, so that I could see the space that the decal will occupy.  I then placed the outline of the flame just below the intake warning, then removed the intake warning tape template.  This is what it looked like once the red edge was done, and I had removed most of the tape protecting the yellow:  

 
Mike

I'm away from my ref library for a few days, I'll get back to you with a "told you so" plus chapter and verse, or an apology, as applicable. 

I'm away from my ref library for a few days, I'll get back to you with a "told you so" plus chapter and verse, or an apology, as applicable. 

I'm away from my ref library for a few days, I'll get back to you with a "told you so" plus chapter and verse, or an apology, as applicable. 

I'm away from my ref library for a few days, I'll get back to you with a "told you so" plus chapter and verse, or an apology, as applicable. 

Mk Va

Mk Va

"...Supermarine's designers refused to have cameras or fuel tanks installed in the fuselage behind the cockpit.  They feared this would shift the centre of gravity too far aft.  So, in these two Spitfires [ie the two PR As], the modifications were limited to installing an F.24 camera with 5" focal length lens, in each wing, replacing the inner machine guns.  The cameras were fitted almost vertically, with a slight outward bias to cover a wider area in a single run. [my bold] The fields of view of the cameras overlapped only slightly."
P5 of Merlin PR Spitfires, Wojtek Matusiak, Ventura publications.
 
The 5" F.24 is pictured on P25 of the companion volume, Merlin PR Spitfires in detail , Malcolm Laird and Wojtek Matusiak, Ventura publications, and on P38 a photo and diagrams of the installation.

You'll need to find a PR G/VII or XVIII in that colour.  They often wore camo, though, but in interesting colours.  
 
 

"...Supermarine's designers refused to have cameras or fuel tanks installed in the fuselage behind the cockpit.  They feared this would shift the centre of gravity too far aft.  So, in these two Spitfires [ie the two PR As], the modifications were limited to installing an F.24 camera with 5" focal length lens, in each wing, replacing the inner machine guns.  The cameras were fitted almost vertically, with a slight outward bias to cover a wider area in a single run. [my bold] The fields of view of the cameras overlapped only slightly."
P5 of Merlin PR Spitfires, Wojtek Matusiak, Ventura publications.
 
The 5" F.24 is pictured on P25 of the companion volume, Merlin PR Spitfires in detail , Malcolm Laird and Wojtek Matusiak, Ventura publications, and on P38 a photo and diagrams of the installation.

Thanks Andy. I knew where the cameras were located but couldn't get my head around how they fit within the wing. Apparently shoehorned vertically with modest 5ins focal length lenses and not much scope for stereoscopic coverage to render 3D interpretation. So very basic.
 
 
Very nice looking but like many others I don't want a ~£270 early mark as much as a ~£100 Kōtare all-styrene depiction of a slightly later version. And I'm sure they would happily co-exist. 
 
Tony 

They were officially a light-medium grey, but bear in mind that as these were squadron (and individual aircraft) identification, they were painted on the unit after delivery of the aircraft.  There was thus scope for some variation between units.
 
Grey codes were introduced around March 1939.  If you can get hold of it, Michael J F Bowyer's Fighting Colours is still a very good basic work by one who was there at the time.  
 
Kotare are good, but I'm not convinced by the colour of those codes - they look a little too blue on my monitor. 

Thanks. A bit of a squeeze even with 5" focal length camera lenses. 
Intrigued that Kōtare plan, eventually, on doing all the key PR Spitfires. Will certainly be in for a couple. 
 
And a PR Mossie if they ever do one, without engines. The HKM just looks odder every time I see it, and the Revell is just too ancient.
 
Tony

"...Supermarine's designers refused to have cameras or fuel tanks installed in the fuselage behind the cockpit.  They feared this would shift the centre of gravity too far aft.  So, in these two Spitfires [ie the two PR As], the modifications were limited to installing an F.24 camera with 5" focal length lens, in each wing, replacing the inner machine guns.  The cameras were fitted almost vertically, with a slight outward bias to cover a wider area in a single run. [my bold] The fields of view of the cameras overlapped only slightly."
P5 of Merlin PR Spitfires, Wojtek Matusiak, Ventura publications.
 
The 5" F.24 is pictured on P25 of the companion volume, Merlin PR Spitfires in detail , Malcolm Laird and Wojtek Matusiak, Ventura publications, and on P38 a photo and diagrams of the installation.

And Malcolm is on the Kotare team  a very knowledgeable guy behind Ventura - another company with great products

Yes, you can find Hasegawa, New ICM, Old Matchbox, New Special Hobby and Even Older Monogram kits in new, shiny Revell-boxes.
 
That´s why I´ll recommend to check the kits on Scalemates!
 
https://www.scalemates.com/
 
Otherwise, they are as a box with chocolates(?), You´ll never know what you get in a Revell-box...  
 
I have found out the hard way....
 
Stefan 
 
 
 

Revell have also reboxed some of the ICM kits, one that springs to mind is the Tiger Moth.  This can get somewhat confusing, as Revell have also, in the past, reboxed the venerable old Matchbox Tiggie.

"...Supermarine's designers refused to have cameras or fuel tanks installed in the fuselage behind the cockpit.  They feared this would shift the centre of gravity too far aft.  So, in these two Spitfires [ie the two PR As], the modifications were limited to installing an F.24 camera with 5" focal length lens, in each wing, replacing the inner machine guns.  The cameras were fitted almost vertically, with a slight outward bias to cover a wider area in a single run. [my bold] The fields of view of the cameras overlapped only slightly."
P5 of Merlin PR Spitfires, Wojtek Matusiak, Ventura publications.
 
The 5" F.24 is pictured on P25 of the companion volume, Merlin PR Spitfires in detail , Malcolm Laird and Wojtek Matusiak, Ventura publications, and on P38 a photo and diagrams of the installation.

"...Supermarine's designers refused to have cameras or fuel tanks installed in the fuselage behind the cockpit.  They feared this would shift the centre of gravity too far aft.  So, in these two Spitfires [ie the two PR As], the modifications were limited to installing an F.24 camera with 5" focal length lens, in each wing, replacing the inner machine guns.  The cameras were fitted almost vertically, with a slight outward bias to cover a wider area in a single run. [my bold] The fields of view of the cameras overlapped only slightly."
P5 of Merlin PR Spitfires, Wojtek Matusiak, Ventura publications.
 
The 5" F.24 is pictured on P25 of the companion volume, Merlin PR Spitfires in detail , Malcolm Laird and Wojtek Matusiak, Ventura publications, and on P38 a photo and diagrams of the installation.

Like this Lysander:
 

 
Jari